Big Hearing in Nashville Today
I wanted to alert you to something we’re on today. Among other things, it’s the kind of outside-the-box reporting that brings in your subscription dollars. We sent David Kurtz to Nashville today for a hearing in the Abrego Garcia case. Since we are at a number of murders and false imprisonments at this point, remember that the Justice Department admitted that Abrego Garcia was mistakenly included among those sent last spring to the custom dungeon in El Salvador. He was only brought back to the United States after being re-indicted. His lawyers argued to the judge that the charges should be dropped because it is a case of vindictive prosecution. Normally, this is an extremely high bar for the defense to clear. But in this case, the judge responded by saying he was inclined to think the defense was right. Today’s hearing was scheduled to give the government the opportunity to prove the defense and (especially) the judge wrong.
What interests us in this affair is not only the fate of Abrego Garcia. As we know, Trump is currently very keen on vindictive prosecutions. But the indictments of Comey and James were dismissed on largely technical grounds. This is therefore the first opportunity in Trump II to see this issue litigated. That’s a really important audience. After the hearing, David Kurtz and John Light will host a live discussion that you can follow to find out what we learned. Check back here soon for more details on how you can register. (A text story will of course also follow.)
