Trump Admin Stonewalls Another Judge With Incompetent Witnesses

A lot has happened. Here are some of the things. This is the TPM Morning Memo.

The big news from yesterday’s hearing in Baltimore federal court is that more than 100 asylum seekers were illegally deported in violation of a court-approved settlement agreement involving unaccompanied minors.

I happened to be the only reporter present at the evidentiary hearing before U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, who fortunately denied a last-minute uncontested request to seal the hearing. My full article is here.

My interest in this case frankly has less to do with the immigration issues at stake, although they are undoubtedly important in their own right, and more to do with the fact that this case constitutes an important front in the ongoing battle between Trump’s executive branch and judiciary.

The case – awkwardly titled as JOP v. Department of Homeland Security – is one of the “facilitated” cases, arising from the unjustified expulsion case of Abrego Garcia. Early in the case, Judge Gallagher modeled himself closely on how U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis handled the Abrego Garcia case, which was upheld by the Supreme Court. As in that other Maryland case, wrongful evictions in violation of court orders were followed by obstruction by the Trump administration.

Since then, the JOP case has moved away (at least for now) from the narrower question of “facilitating” the return of those wrongfully deported to a broader inquiry into why wrongful evictions continue to occur, to the tune of a “few hundred” people out of a class of litigants that numbers, by the government’s estimate, between 70,000 and 75,000 people. But one thing remains the same: The Trump administration continues to use the Justice Department to obstruct federal judges by presenting witnesses who cannot testify competently on the issues before the court.

That would have been the biggest news from yesterday’s hearing, during which a frustrated judge continued to denounce the administration for failing to give him witnesses who could testify based on their personal knowledge of what happened that led to the evictions in violation of the settlement agreement.

We’re back at it today, after a stern order from Gallagher for the government to do better today. I’m going to court now. Stay tuned.

“Go big and go strong”

Our old friend Aakash Singh, a senior official in Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office who made a prominent appearance in the Abrego Garcia criminal case, is back in a well-reported New York Times article on the Trump administration’s targeting of anti-ICE protesters:

In a conference call in late January, the official, Aakash Singh, laid out the department’s basis for pursuing the protesters: Presidential National Security Memo 7, a sweeping directive issued by President Trump last September. It expanded the definition of domestic terrorism to include not only violent crimes like assault, but also relatively minor crimes, like revealing officers’ personal information or obstructing immigration controls.

Mr. Singh said that “coordinators” at U.S. attorneys’ offices tasked with charging protesters under NSPM-7 should “harass” federal agents to come forward with cases, according to people familiar with his remarks. He also suggested the department wanted headlines accompanied by indictments, promising that Washington officials would “destroy” the work of prosecutors.

“Go big,” Mr. Singh said, “and go strong.”

Retribution: Trump DOJ Edition

• Axios: Former FBI Director James Comey has been subpoenaed to investigate retaliation by investigators in South Florida.
• NYT: Two unnamed former FBI agents who were fired for their work in the Jan. 6 Trump investigation are filing a lawsuit over their wrongful firings, saying they were targets of “political retaliation.”

Completely crazy

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything as tortured, corrupt, and distraught as President Trump’s attempt to save his own political skin by lifting sanctions on Iran so that Iran can sell its oil and stabilize energy prices while simultaneously waging a war against Iran.

As I was in court most of the day yesterday, I don’t have a clear sense of how this new development is playing out in the public sphere. But it’s really one of the most striking things I’ve seen during Trump II’s presidency.

Supporting your opponent in an armed conflict that you launched in a desperate attempt to mitigate the consequences of your election war could forever remain the supreme example of Donald Trump putting his personal and political interests ahead of the national interest.

Trump’s election-year self-rescue shores up a key economic lifeline for Iran — while inevitably boosting its warfighting capabilities — while the U.S. military is actively in harm’s way in the air and at sea. All to drive down gas prices ahead of the midterm elections.

Latest news from the Middle East…

• WSJ: US warplanes and helicopters launch battle to reopen Hormuz
• Faced with overwhelming evidence, President Trump walked back his wild claims that Israel attacked Iran’s South Pars gas field without his knowledge.
• The WSJ tracks critical energy assets affected by the Middle East conflict, including most recently a major oil refinery in Kuwait.

For your climate change radar…

In what could be the major challenge to President Trump’s attempt to destroy U.S. climate policy, a coalition of states and cities has filed a lawsuit to reinstate the EPA’s findings on greenhouse gas emissions.

Judge blocks RFK Jr’s anti-trans finding

U.S. District Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai of Oregon blocked HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s December declaration that providers of gender-affirming care for minors “do not meet professionally recognized standards.”

Corruption: Trump Coin Edition

I don’t want to lose sight of the fundamental anarchy that putting Trump’s face on an American coin represents, but it also represents a perfect illustration of the absurdism that a personalist regime encourages.

Just take a look at the abject dedication of the Trump-appointed members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts as they talk about their very particular big-boy need to have the biggest coin…at least the 3 inches that are the current largest coin, via the AP:

Some commissioners highlighted Trump’s penchant for big things and advocated for the larger piece. …

“I think the president likes big things,” said Commissioner James McCrery II, who was the architect of Trump’s proposal for adding a 90,000-square-foot ballroom to the White House.

[Commissioner Chamberlain] Harris told McCrery she agreed with him. She works at the White House as special assistant to the president and deputy director of the Oval Office.

“I think bigger is better. The biggest draw, I think, would be his preference,” Harris said, speaking of Trump.

Stay tuned later today!

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