Guardian: Throwing their bodies on the gears: the Democratic lawmakers showing up to resist Trump

Republicans may literally own social media platforms, but some Democrats are buying back legitimacy with protests

A flock of Ice agents, some masked, some sporting military-operator fashion for show, smooshed the New York City comptroller, Brad Lander, up against a wall and handcuffed him in the hallway of a federal courthouse in early June, shuffling the mild-mannered politician into an elevator like the Sandman hustling an act off the stage 10 miles north at Harlem’s Apollo Theater.

Like at the Apollo, Lander’s arrest was a show. News reporters and cellphone camera-wielding bystanders crowded the hall to watch the burly federal officers rumple a 55-year-old auditor asking for a warrant.

“I’m not obstructing. I’m standing here in this hallway asking for a judicial warrant,” Lander said. “You don’t have the authority to arrest US citizens.”

“This is an urgent moment for the rule of law in the United States of America and it is important to step up,” Lander told the Guardian after the arrest. “And I think the dividing line for Democrats right now is not between progressives and moderates. It’s between fighters and folders. We have to find nonviolent but insistent ways of standing up for democracy and the rule of law.”

“There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part,” Mario Savio, a student leader in the free speech movement, a campaign of civil disobedience against restrictive policies on student political activity, said 60 years ago during a campus protest. “You can’t even passively take part. And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop.”

Hannah Dugan, a Wisconsin judge, allowed a man to leave through the back doors of her courtroom, allegedly in response to the presence of immigration officers waiting to arrest him. FBI agents subsequently arrested Dugan in her Milwaukee courtroom on 25 April, charging her with obstruction.

The FBI director, Kash Patel, posted comments about her arrest on X almost immediately, and eventually posted a photograph of her arrest, handcuffed and walking toward a police cruiser, with the comment: “No one is above the law.” Digitally altered photographs of Dugan appearing to be in tears in a mugshot proliferated on social media. Trump himself reposted an image from the Libs of TikTok website of Dugan wearing a Covid-19 mask on the day of her arrest.

Three days later …

It’s long read — best to click on the link below and read the article in its entirety.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/30/democrats-trump-resistance

Politico: McIver heads to court as watchdog group files complaint against Alina Habba

The charges against the New Jersey Democrat stem from a confrontation at an ICE facility.

Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) is expected to appear in federal court for the first time Wednesday morning on a trio of charges following a May scuffle outside a federal immigration facility.

At her arraignment in Newark, McIver will plead not guilty, spokesperson Hanna Rumsey said. McIver is accused in a three-count indictment of slamming a federal agent with her forearm, “forcibly” grabbing him and using her forearms to strike another agent.

McIver’s allies, including two other Democrats who were with her during the incident, have decried the charges as political and have said she was roughed up by federal agents. Her allies are also trying to turn the tables on the federal prosecutor bringing the case, the interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba.

The Campaign for Accountability, a liberal watchdog group, filed a complaint this week against Habba with the New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics.

The complaint alleges Habba has acted improperly since becoming a prosecutor and cites her actions in the McIver case, along with comments about turning “New Jersey red” and announcing investigations into its Democratic governor and attorney general over immigration.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/25/mciver-heads-to-court-as-watchdog-group-files-complaint-against-alina-habba-00422080

NBC News: Sen. Alex Padilla is forcibly removed from DHS Secretary Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem’s news conference in Los Angeles

[Bimbo #2] Noem was in L.A. to address the ongoing protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Federal agents handcuffed Padilla after his removal.

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., was forcibly removed from a news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday after he tried to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem during a media event related to immigration.

“I am Sen. Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” Padilla told [Bimbo #2] Noem, which prompted several men dressed in plainclothes to push him out of the room. A top FBI official later said bureau personnel and Secret Service agents were involved in his removal.

Padilla’s office shared a video of the incident with NBC News. The video shows Padilla being taken into a hallway outside and pushed face forward onto the ground as officers with FBI-identifying vests tell him to put his hands behind his back. The officers then handcuff him.

Padilla to reporters later Thursday that he was waiting for a scheduled briefing from military officials when he learned [Bimbo #2] Noem was in the same building and decided to join her briefing.

“I was there peacefully,” he said. “At one point, I had a question, and so I began to ask a question. I was almost immediately forcibly removed from the room, I was forced to the ground, and I was handcuffed.”

Like everything else that spews out of her mouth, Bimbo #2 Noem lied; He had clearly identified himself, and Bimbo #2 Noem had met with him previously on several occasions:

Bimbo #2 Noem offered a different account in an interview on Fox News in which she falsely said Padilla did not identify himself before he was forced out.

And a summary from Senator Padilla:

“If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, if this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they’re doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country,” he said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/rcna212688

Rep. LaMonica McIver indicted on federal charges over clash with law enforcement at ICE facility in New Jersey

The interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Alina [Bimbo #4] Habba, said the Democratic lawmaker, who plans to plead not guilty, was indicted on three counts of interfering with law enforcement.

Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., was indicted Tuesday on federal charges stemming from a confrontation with law enforcement at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Newark last month.

The interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Alina [Bimbo #4] Habba, said on X that a federal grand jury indicted McIver on three counts of “forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers.”

McIver called the legal proceedings “a brazen attempt at political intimidation” and said she will plead not guilty.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/lamonica-mciver-indicted-federal-charges-ice-new-jersey-rcna212221

Deadline: Trump Deploys 2,000 Troops To L.A. As Backlash & Protests To ICE Raids Surge; POTUS Action “Purposefully Inflammatory,” Newsom Warns

Reeling from widespread harsh ICE raids and responding protests and resistance over the past 24 hours, Los Angeles has become a powder keg with Donald Trump deploying 2,000 California National Guard troops over the objection of Governor Gavin Newsom and other SoCal leaders.

As rock-throwing and bellowing Angelenos sought to stop undocumented individuals being targeted by masked and heavily armored federal agents from being dragged away from a Home Depot in Paramount, Calif. and LA’s Westlake neighborhood on Saturday, Trump took to social media to announce a de facto takeover of the City of Angels. “If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can’t do their jobs, which everyone knows they can’t, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!” he said (caps’ Trump).

Declaring “to the extent that protests or acts of violence directly inhibit the execution of the laws, they constitute a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States” in a memorandum today, Trump says the federalized troops’ “duration of duty shall be for 60 days or at the discretion of the Secretary of Defense.”

Raising the stakes even more, and seeming to disregard federal law, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth proclaimed that “if violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert.”

https://deadline.com/2025/06/trump-national-guard-los-angeles-ice-raids-newsom-1236426811

Alternet: ‘One of the worst’: Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem slammed for ‘false accusation’ against man who was framed

Authorities have acknowledged an error in their initial assessment of a Wisconsin man who was arrested last month under suspicion of threatening President Donald Trump, CNN reported Tuesday.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Secretary Kristi Noem had previously labeled Ramón Morales Reyes, an undocumented immigrant, as a potential threat based on threatening letters allegedly written by him. However, a subsequent investigation revealed that Morales Reyes, who cannot read or write in English, was framed by Demetric Deshawn Scott, a 52-year-old man from Milwaukee.

Bimbo #2 doesn’t care who or what she hurts. Just ask her goat or puppy.

Never mind, the goat & puppy are dead — Bimbo #2 shot them.

https://www.alternet.org/kristi-noem-dhs

Esquire: Trump Has a New Scapegoat for His Inability to Enact Tariffs: Conservative Legal Puppeteer Leonard Leo

President mad again. President big mad again. President big mad on social media platform. President big mad at judges and at guy who recommended them. Very big mad, indeed.

“Where do these initial three Judges come from? How is it possible for them to have potentially done such damage to the United States of America? Is it purely a hatred of ‘TRUMP?’”’ What other reason could it be? I was new to Washington, and it was suggested that I use The Federalist Society as a recommending source on Judges. I did so, openly and freely, but then realized that they were under the thumb of a real ‘sleazebag’ named Leonard Leo, a bad person who, in his own way, probably hates America, and obviously has his own separate ambitions. He openly brags how he controls Judges, and even Justices of the United States Supreme Court—I hope that is not so, and don’t believe it is! In any event, Leo left The Federalist Society to do his own ‘thing.’ I am so disappointed in The Federalist Society because of the bad advice they gave me on numerous Judicial Nominations. This is something that cannot be forgotten!”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/trump-has-a-new-scapegoat-for-his-inability-to-enact-tariffs-conservative-legal-puppeteer-leonard-leo/ar-AA1FNnl3

Another article:

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-calls-leonard-leo-sleazebag-judge-picks-tariff-ruling-2078800

MSNBC: The charges against Rep. McIver aren’t about assault. They’re about intimidation.

The Trump administration wants to see how far it can go in silencing dissent.

Earlier this week, the Department of Justice took the unusual step of filing federal charges against Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver, alleging that she assaulted federal law enforcement officers during a protest outside an immigration detention facility. (McIver has denied wrongdoing and called the charges “purely political.”)

Let’s get something straight: what’s happening to McIver is not about law and order. It’s not about whether she assaulted a federal agent or obstructed justice. It’s about the federal government weaponizing its power to intimidate those who dare to push back — and, in this instance, against Black women in positions of authority.

Under a recent law, members of Congress have a legal right to show up to conduct oversight of federal detention facilities without prior notice.

But President Donald Trump’s administration doesn’t see this as public servants doing their jobs. It sees a threat to its claims to be free from oversight, whether that’s from Congress, the courts or the media.

This is not just about McIver, though. And it is not just about race —though that is central. What’s happening to her should send a chill down the spine of every elected official — Democrat or Republican, Black, white, or otherwise.

Because this isn’t isolated; this is an escalation.

Trump wants to send a message to silence dissent, criminalize opposition and remind all of us that we are not safe under his regime. That if we stand up, we may pay the price.

Because Trump is just getting started.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/lamonica-mciver-criminal-charges-trump-ice-rcna207996

Daily Mail: Alina [Bimbo #4] Habba fires back after liberal mayor caught on hot mic insulting her pro-Trump team

After a hearing on Wednesday, Baraka was caught on hot mic saying of the judge: ‘Jesus, he tore these people a new a–hole. Good grief.’

U.S Magistrate Judge André Espinosa lambasted Trump’s prosecutors for the misdemeanor charges against Baraka and said at the virtual hearing.

‘An arrest of a public figure is not a preliminary investigative tool. It is a severe action,’ he said.

Habba told the Daily Mail that the case was dismissed due to prosecutorial discretion.

“Prosecutorial discretion” = stupid prosecutor Alina “Bimbo #4” Habba knew she was about to get her ass handed to her on a platter, so she dropped the charges so as to avoid any further embarassment.

However, continuing the prosecution of Congresswoman Rep. LaMonica McIver is going to boomerang even more badly. 😀

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14740513/alina-habba-reacts-newark-mayor-ras-baraka-insult.html

Raw Story: ‘Partisan hack’: Top House Dem tears into Trump DOJ prosecutor

The top Democrat in the House took a swipe at Alina [“Bimbo #4”] Habba, the acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, after she announced plans to charge a sitting member of Congress with assault.

Habba has held high-profile roles but had no prior prosecutorial experience and limited federal court experience prior to her appointment as interim U.S. attorney in March. On Monday, she sparked fierce backlash for charging Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) with assault during a congressional visit to a federal immigration detention center in Newark.

And on Wednesday’s Alina “Bimbo #4” Habbas ridiculous charges against the mayor of Newark were dismissed with prejudice.

But House Minority Hakeem Jeffries gave a more blunt assessment of Trump’s acting attorney.

“Alina [“Bimbo #4”] Habba is a partisan hack and Trump lackey who will never be confirmed as a United States Attorney,” he chided on X on Tuesday evening.

That post came hours after he and other House Democratic leaders said in a shared statement that the charge was “extreme, morally bankrupt and lacks any basis in law or fact.”

https://www.rawstory.com/alina-habba-2672172937