Marcy talks about how Trump's #DOJ is going after Chris Krebs & will look at everything that happened at CISA in the last 6 years.
Listen to @emptywheel swear live 5 ET on @nicolesandler show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzLQfgpm2kM
https://nicolesandler.com/listen-live/ @lolgop @GottaLaff
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#doj
37 posts19 participants0 posts today
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Anybody who gets “in the way” of #Trump’s efforts to deport migrants will be charged “for obstruction, for concealment,” #AlinaHabba, the interim US attorney in #NewJersey, warned.
“I will come after them hard,” she said.
The move is part of a broader effort by Trump to use the #DOJ to punish Democratic state & city officials who refuse to help carry out the admin’s extreme #immigration agenda & to quash so-called #SanctuaryCities.
"Where is he?" The judge asks about #AbregoGarcia. And Drew Ensign of the #DOJ doesn't have that information?
I am not a lawyer but am asking those who are: what constitutes contempt of court?
We are all one administrative error away from being in this situation. We are all Abrego Garcia, Khalil Mahmoud, Rumeysa Ozturk, and the others whose names we don't know.
"Where is he?" The judge asks about #AbregoGarcia. And Drew Ensign of the #DOJ doesn't have that information?
I am not a lawyer but am asking those who are: what constitutes contempt of court?
We are all one administrative error away from being in this situation. We are all Abrego Garcia, Khalil Mahmoud, Rumeysa Ozturk, and the others whose names we don't know.
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The law & democracy die in darkness: "Trump admin tells court in Alien Enemies Act case (Abrego Garcia) that it won't share information as to steps it is taking to repatriate Abrego Garcia, effectively rejecting court order. A lawless government."
-E Lee
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The hearing has started.
Via Anna Bower:
Drew Ensign, who has represented the gov in the JGG matter before Judge #Boasberg, is here for #DOJ.
Judge #Xinis begins by explaining why we're here: #SCOTUS ruled, & directed the court to clarify its order re: "effectuating" the return of #KilmarAbregoGarcia.
Xinis: Contrary to what the govt put in its briefing, there is no need for further briefing. Now I need to know if the defendants are willing to answer my 3 questions I've asked...
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In a filing ~45 mins after the deadline had passed, #DOJ lawyers wrote:
“In light of the insufficient amount of time afforded to review the Supreme Court’s Order following the dissolution of the administrative stay in this case, Defendants are not in a position where they 'can’ share any information requested by the Court. That is the reality.”
This is another escalation of the #Trump admin’s refusal to acknowledge the #equal #power of the #JudicialBranch.
The Trump admin’s lawlessness is only surpassed by their inhumanity. The DOJ purposefully missed the deadline in the deportation case of KA Garcia.
The Washington Post · Judge orders government to lay out steps for return of wrongly deported man
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NEW NOW
#DOJ says #Trump admin will NOT comply w/ Judge Xinis' order because the deadline is "impracticable."
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mdd.578815/gov.uscourts.mdd.578815.59.0_1.pdf
Civil Rights Division: acted as a sort of police of the police. When govt officials violate Americans’ #rights -the Div often enforces the law against LE.
H Dhillon heads it -helped Trump spread the Big Lie +ardent culture warrior & will likely be a major figure in the admin’s war on DEI -more pernicious: looking the other way on police abuse, leading to fed tolerance of over-policing policies like “stop & frisk” & racially biased pretextual stops of driv...
#DOJ #USPol https://www.thebulwark.com/p/justice-department-civil-rights-division-trump-authoritarian-plans
The Bulwark · One Justice Department Office Is Key to Trump’s Authoritarian Plans
Replied to Nonilex
"We have just passed the 11:30AM deadline, & #Trump’s #DOJ has not filed a response as ordered – per Kyle Cheney."
This legal charade will continue until someone from #Trump's legal team is charged with contempt of court and incarcerated
None of these criminals -- all the way up to Trump himself -- have suffered any real-world consequence for their conduct
Why should they ever stop?
Nothing bad ever happens to them
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Anti-empathy = death cult: the #DOJ's disgusting delay of #Abrego Garcia's return; the kidnapping of the #RumeysaOzturk #KhalilMahmoud's imprisonment; cuts to #Medicaid, #SocialSecurity, #Alzheimer's research & "So it Goes" to quote #Vonnegut.
"Trump's sociopathy now outranks the empathy of Jesus in MAGA eyes. But there's another angle to this, as well: This is about the MAGA right's unhinged obsession w/gender & escalating hatred of women."
https://www.salon.com/2025/04/11/magas-on-empathy-exposes-misogynist-fears/
Salon.com · MAGA demonizes empathy as the "pathological feminine" — and it's why women shouldn't be Supreme Court justices
Anti-empathy = death cult: the #DOJ's disgusting delay of #Abrego Garcia's return; the kidnapping of the #RumeysaOzturk #KhalilMahmoud's imprisonment; cuts to #Medicaid, #SocialSecurity, #Alzheimer's research & "So it Goes" to quote #Vonnegut.
"Trump's sociopathy now outranks the empathy of Jesus in MAGA eyes. But there's another angle to this, as well: This is about the MAGA right's unhinged obsession w/gender & escalating hatred of women."
https://www.salon.com/2025/04/11/magas-on-empathy-exposes-misogynist-fears/
Salon.com · MAGA demonizes empathy as the "pathological feminine" — and it's why women shouldn't be Supreme Court justices
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Abrego Garcia's attys urged the judge to reject #DOJ’s request for delay. They argue the #Trump admin has been under order to begin facilitating Abrego Garcia's return for multiple days before #SCOTUS' stay Mon.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mdd.578815/gov.uscourts.mdd.578815.54.0.pdf
“This Court's order to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return was issued one week ago. It was not stayed until Monday afternoon. Accordingly, the Govt should have been taking actions Fri, Sat, Sun, & Mon morning, & the Govt can report on those.”
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NEW
#Trump’s #DOJ is trying to cancel today's #KilmarAbregoGarcia hearing & delay filing a response to the judge's order until next week.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mdd.578815/gov.uscourts.mdd.578815.52.0.pdf
The 9:30 deadline has passed with no information from the Justice Department about Abrego Garcia's location or status, as demanded by the judge. She has not granted an extension, unclear if she will.
Pam Bondi is a criminal. She needs to be removed by any means necessary.
One of the stranger things about analyzing Downmarket Mussolini's fascist executive orders is the way folks around me are always prepared to write off some of the most dangerous things Der Leader tries to do as mere "petty vindictiveness." Take for example Trump's recent executive orders targeting a law firm that sued Fox News for spreading lies about an electronic voting machine company, and two former members of his previous administration - a DHS official who refuted Trump's blatantly false claims that the 2020 election was rigged for Joe Biden, and a whistleblower he's accusing of Espionage Act violations and has accused of treason in the past. Is this about revenge for our (not so) beloved tangerine tyrant? Of course, but particularly in the first two cases, this is also about establishing Der Führer's "Big Lie" about the 2020 election being rigged against him, as the only officially sanctioned truth the government, and by extension its judiciary branch, should recognize.
First up we have the president signing an executive order designed to punish Susman Godfrey for forcing the Trump regime's quasi-official state news outlet, Fox, to settle with Dominion Voting Systems after they spent literally months openly broadcasting fascist conspiracy theories about the 2020 election (that Trump lost) being rigged:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/09/trump-executive-order-fox-news-law-firm
Trump signs order targeting law firm behind $787.5m Fox defamation suit
"Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday punishing the law firm that helped Dominion Voting Systems obtain a $787.5m settlement from Fox for lies about the 2020 election.
The order against the firm, Susman Godfrey, marks the latest effort by the president to punish attorneys and firms who have opposed his interests.
The order seeks to harm the firm by limiting its attorneys from accessing government buildings, revoking security clearances and essentially making it impossible for it to represent anyone who has business before the federal government."
Like a lot of Trump's efforts to punish or intimidate law firms, this blatantly unconstitutional executive order is mostly about trying to put Susman Godfrey out of business by denying them access to the federal government, and the courtrooms it controls. What's telling here is that Trump isn't even trying to make the argument that the firm broke any laws, or violated any rules; no reason for the executive order was given, and the president has only said
"there were some very bad things that happened with these law firms,” because Trump hasn't found a valid excuse for this ideological policing and he's not ready to just up and admit he's trying to take out his perceived political enemies for A) disputing conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and B) forcing his friends at Fox to pay for its libelous claims about Dominion.
Which then brings us to Trump's blatantly authoritarian use of the DoJ to target two of his political "enemies" that served in his administration, but spoke out against the regime and in Krebs's case, actively debunked "The Big Lie" Trump has been telling about the 2020 election being rigged against him since it happened:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/09/trump-justice-department-critics
Trump orders DoJ to investigate duo who debunked claims of election fraud
"Donald Trump’s persecution of critics intensified on Wednesday when he ordered the justice department to investigate a whistleblower and a cybersecurity director who refuted unfounded claims of election fraud.
The US president signed memorandums targeting Miles Taylor and Chris Krebs, former homeland security officials who served in the first Trump administration."
Look my friends, I'm not expecting you to find much sympathy for a Big Law firm rolling in filthy lucre, or two former fascist collaborators that are now finding out the leopards will indeed eat their faces, but in this situation the "who" of this story, is far less important than the "what." What Trump is doing here is weaponizing the US government to punish folks for contradicting his "enforced unreality" surrounding the 2020 election, and let me assure you that there are a lot of people in the judiciary, legal profession, and media who have gone on record saying that Trump's claims where baseless (fascist) conspiracy theories, so that isn't just a question of the president arguing with the experts about some bullshit he picked up on Fox News. Furthermore, Trumps actions ultimately seek to make his enemies, the enemies of the United States government; this is a classic sign of a state sliding into an authoritarian dictatorship and thus cannot be dismissed as Trump simply being a petulant vengeful manchild.
Smoke em if you got em, because if Trump gets away with this, we're through the looking glass and his every utterance becomes our new reality.
The Guardian · Trump signs order targeting law firm behind $787.5m Fox defamation suit
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…The #SolicitorGeneral is the #DOJ’s fourth-highest-ranking official, sometimes referred to as the “10th justice” because that person is so often involved in the cases the court accepts.
In addition to presenting the government’s views at the court, the office develops the department’s broader appellate strategy. It has traditionally hired lawyers from politically diverse backgrounds to provide an array of legal perspectives.