Trump DOJ Stonewalls Criminal Contempt Inquiry

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

Will Emil Bové have to testify?

There’s a lot of weekend news to cover this morning, but I want to continue to keep the contempt of court proceedings in the original Alien Enemies Act case front and center.

Trump’s DOJ faced a deadline set Friday by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of D.C. to submit affidavits from officials involved in the decision to continue AEA deportation flights in mid-March, even after Boasberg ordered the deportations to stop and the planes turned around.

Trump’s DOJ acknowledged that it was taking a narrow view of what Boasberg meant by “involved in the decision” and submitted statements from only three senior officials:

It is worth noting that Blanche explicitly mentioned that former DOJ official and now appeals court judge Emil Bove was involved in providing what he claims was “privileged legal advice” to DHS in this matter. It remains to be seen whether Boasberg will require a statement or testimony from a sitting judge whose potential contempt of court occurred before taking office.

In its filing accompanying the statements, the DOJ recanted its earlier identification of Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign as being involved in the decision and did not submit a statement from him, saying he had only relayed Boasberg’s oral and written orders.

In filing these statements, the Justice Department remained defiant. Among other arguments, he told Boasberg that:

• given the statements, there is no basis for the testimony of witnesses in the contempt investigation;
• attorney-client privilege would prevent the lawyers (Blanche, Bove and Mazzara) from testifying;
• he could be engaged in a constitutional fight to obtain Noem’s testimony;
• no criminal contempt occurred because his order was not “clear and reasonably precise.”

Seizing on the confusing mess that the lagging Washington Circuit Court of Appeals made of Boasberg’s contempt investigation, the Justice Department relied heavily on the concurring opinion of Appeals Court Judge Gregory Katsas: “[I]A leading jurist like Judge Katsas concluded that the defendants’ interpretation of the TRO is legally correctit is impossible to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants’ interpretation is so unreasonable as to render their conduct criminally contumacious.”

Boasberg has moved the criminal contempt investigation forward as quickly as the D.C. Circuit will allow him, so hopefully we’ll know what he wants to do next in this case today.

Another wrongful eviction case

The Trump administration deported a Guatemalan man to his home country despite an immigration judge’s order barring his return to Guatemala over fears he would be tortured there. U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama of El Paso accused the Trump administration of “blatant lawlessness” in the case and ordered it to facilitate Faustino Pablo Pablo’s return to the United States by Dec. 12.

SCOTUS Acquires Birthright Citizenship

The legal theory invented by the right that birthright citizenship is not guaranteed by the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment is going to be decided by the Supreme Court during its current term.

Pam Bondi needs to talk to Pam Bondi

Last year, before becoming attorney general, Pam Bondi wrote a brief to the Supreme Court for the America First Policy Institute in which she argued: “Military officers are required not to carry out unlawful orders. »

Boat watch in Venezuela

Among the new features:

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continues to deny ordering special operations forces to kill everyone aboard a suspected drug smuggling boat in a September 2 attack, but in a new twist, NBC News reports that Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley told lawmakers in a classified briefing last week that Hegseth ordered everyone killed “because they were on an internal list of narco-terrorists that he said U.S. intelligence and military officials could be lethally targeted.
• The boat’s second strike killed the two survivors of the first strike, Bradley told lawmakers, but he ordered a third and fourth strike to sink the boat, according to the NBC News report.
• Despite the administration’s claims, the boat was not bound for the United States but to meet a larger ship bound for Suriname, CNN reports.

Clash around Halligan looms

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has ratified the continuation of Lindsey Halligan as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, despite a judge’s ruling that she was not appointed to the position, the New York Times reports:

The office told department officials that because Judge Currie’s order did not require any specific action to be taken, such as firing Ms. Halligan, she could stay even if the judge declared her appointment invalid, the sources said.

In other words, the administration’s position was that because the court order did not explicitly remove Ms. Halligan from her position, it could keep it.

Under Judge Currie’s ruling, only judges in that district can now appoint an acting U.S. attorney — but they have not publicly made a decision to do so.

New ruling thwarts Comey re-indictment

Over the weekend, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of D.C. issued a temporary restraining order barring prosecutors from accessing documents seized years ago belonging to Columbia University law professor Daniel Richman, James Comey’s close friend and attorney. Since the documents at issue largely form the basis of the now-dismissed indictment against Comey, the ruling could delay any effort by Trump’s DOJ to re-indict him.

Trump’s DOJ leads attack on voting rights

Mother Jones: “Over the past six months, [the Trump DOJ] demanded complete, unredacted voter rolls from dozens of states in an effort to create the federal government’s first-ever national database of registered voters, complete with their private information: party affiliation, voting history, Social Security numbers, driver’s license information, and even physical characteristics.

The death of independent agencies

Before the Supreme Court’s oral arguments today on whether President Trump can unilaterally fire an FTC commissioner, a Washington Circuit Court of Appeals panel of two Trump appointees ruled that Trump lawfully fired — without cause — Cathy Harris, a Democratic member of the Merit Systems Protection Board, and Gwynne Wilcox, a Democratic member of the National Labor Relations Board.

Destruction: Vax Edition

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel made up of allies of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dramatically changed the recommendation that infants receive the hepatitis B vaccine immediately, upending 30 years of wildly successful public health policy.

Corruption: forgiveness edition

• Trump is very angry that his pardon of Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar (Texas) did not engender enough personal loyalty for Cuellar not to run for re-election, which could cost Republicans a recovery in the 2026 midterms.
• Trump pardoned sports director Tim Leiweke — who was convicted by the Trump Justice Department — after a round of golf with former Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), who was one of Leiweke’s lawyers, the WSJ reports.
• Convicted fraudster David Gentile, the former private equity executive whose seven-year sentence was commuted by Trump, will not have to pay $15.5 million in restitution under the terms of the pardon order, Politico reports.
• Trump’s DOJ said it would be up to Attorney General Pam Bondi and pardons attorney Ed Martin to decide which people and crimes are covered by Trump’s expanded pardons related to the 2020 fake voter scheme and other Big Lie-related offenses.

Indiana redistricting hangs in the balance

As the Indiana House passed a new GOP-friendly congressional district map in mid-decade, all attention is turning to the Republican-controlled state Senate, where its fate is not as simple as one might expect.

Such a big boy

At the 0:42 second mark, Trump’s mask comes off for a moment and the insatiable need of an unloved child appears: