Tag Archives: District of Columbia

Miami Herald: ‘Evil is Powerless’: ICE Official Announces More Arrests

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The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a targeted operation focusing on “egregious criminal alien offenders.” The operation is part of the “Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful” program, aiming to improve public safety through enforcement actions. President Donald Trump’s administration emphasized its commitment to reducing crime in the capital, and the latest efforts saw the arrests of 189 undocumented immigrants in Washington, D.C.

Director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in Washington, D.C. Russell Hott stated that the operation targeted high-crime areas. The action resulted in arrests of individuals allegedly connected to violent criminal organizations, including MS-13 and the 18th Street gang.

And again I have to ask, “How many of these 189 “criminals” were guilty of anything worse than a traffic violation? And how many were actually convicted in a court of law? ICE is all about numbers, not quality or accuracy.

MSN

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/evil-is-powerless-ice-official-announces-more-arrests/ss-AA1Fmyc2

Ft. Worth Star Telegram: ‘Null and Void’: Judge Strikes Down Executive Order

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A U.S. federal judge recently ruled that Executive Order 14230, which targeted law firm Perkins Coie LLP, is unconstitutional. Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued the ruling in the case Perkins Coie LLP v. U.S. Department of Justice, et al. The court has granted Perkins Coie’s Motion for Summary Judgment, permanently blocking the enforcement of the executive order.

The court declared the executive order “null and void,” invalidating restrictions that stripped security clearances from Perkins Coie lawyers and halted their dealings with the government. The U.S. Department of Justice, the primary defendant, attempted to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming the executive order was valid, but the court rejected this argument.

‘Null and Void’: Judge Strikes Down Executive Order
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/null-and-void-judge-strikes-down-executive-order/ss-AA1EIHeq

Raw Story: ‘Unfit to serve’: Trump DOJ official dragged after unveiling ‘name and shame’ crusade

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As the Department of Justice becomes the Department of Revenge:

Outgoing acting U.S. Attorney Ed Martin is moving to a new Justice Department effort named the “Weaponization Working Group,” and he’s already issuing threats, NBC News reported on Tuesday. However, legal experts have their own comments, and one has citations.

Martin, a defense attorney who represented several Jan. 6 defendants, could not garner support from a top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee for the U.S. attorney post. So, he has been shifted to the Justice Department for the working group that aims to investigate anyone involved in the probes into President Donald Trump and his allies, NBC said.

In a news conference on Tuesday, Martin told reporters, “There are some really bad actors, some people that did some really bad things to the American people. And if they can be charged, we’ll charge them. But if they can’t be charged, we will name them. And we will name them, and in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are ashamed. And that’s a fact. That’s the way things work. And so that’s, that’s how I believe the job operates.”

It’s a move that side-steps long-standing Justice Department protocols, NBC News said, and legal experts caution that it could lead to lawsuits.

“I mean, if the government wants a slew of Privacy Act lawsuits, I guess that’s their business,” said national security lawyer Bradley P. Moss on Bluesky.

…

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), who serves as the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, called for Martin to be pulled from working anywhere in government.

“Ed Martin is unfit to serve in the federal government. His ties to Nazi sympathizers and antisemitic extremists make American Jews feel less safe. Trump must rescind this dangerous appointment immediately and never allow Ed Martin to serve in any position in the United States government,” he wrote on X, while also sharing a letter also signed by Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Brad Schneider (D-IL).

A past precedent:

Semafor reporter David Weigel pointed to a key quote in the report by Ryan Reilly: “The justification given for Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey was that Comey had given a press conference in which he released ‘derogatory information’ about then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016.”

https://www.rawstory.com/department-of-justice-2672000423

And here’s a U.S. Senator who is less than enchanted with Trump’s nomination of Ed Martin to be the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C.:

https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/ed-martin-2671901204

But King Donald keeps supporting his favorite hater:

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-ed-martin

New York Post: Trump’s weaponization czar hints at international targets, accepts that GOP killed his DC US Attorney nomination: ‘It worked out great’

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Newly minted weaponization czar Ed Martin is gearing up to take on a myriad of bad actors who the Trump administration says weaponized government powers to punish conservatives and MAGA supporters over recent years.

Martin’s list of potential targets is very wide, including propagators of Russiagate, prosecutors in Capitol riot cases, individuals who allegedly helped cover up COVID-19 origins and even international organizations that have censored Americans.

“The truth is important, and we need it,” Martin told The Post. “Then, after the truth is known, we need to hold those accountable that did the wrongdoing, and we need to also help those who are victims. We have both of those obligations.”

Weaponization Czar = Minister of Trump’s Personal Revenge

Trump’s weaponization czar hints at international targets, accepts that GOP killed his DC US Attorney nomination: ‘It worked out great’
His list of potential targets includes propagators of Russiagate, prosecutors in Capitol riot cases, individuals who allegedly helped cover up COVID-19 origins and even international organizations.

https://nypost.com/2025/05/11/us-news/trumps-weaponization-czar-ed-martin-hints-at-international-targets-accepts-that-gop-killed-his-nomination-it-worked-out-great

Politico: Trump’s Controversial US Attorney Is Coming for Medical Marijuana

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The Donald Trump era has cost the District of Columbia thousands of jobs, blown a billion-dollar hole in its budget and caused a downgrade of the city’s AAA bond rating.

Now Trump’s interim U.S. Attorney, Ed Martin, is coming for the capital’s weed, too — and threatening to upend a tacit agreement where federal prosecutors have respected Washington’s local marijuana laws.

The opening salvo came via a letter from Martin to a D.C. medical-marijuana vendor. “Your dispensary appears to be operating in violation of federal law,” he wrote, “and the Department of Justice has the authority to enforce federal law even when such activities may be permitted” by local laws. So much for the store’s legal license.

It’s a turn of events that ought to petrify anyone who thinks Washington’s deep-blue local electorate should be free to choose permissive blue-state rules.

But it’s very on-brand for Martin. A longtime anti-abortion activist who previously represented Jan. 6 defendants, he’s been at the center of constant culture-war controversies ever since Trump made him D.C.’s top federal prosecutor in January.

Trump’s Controversial US Attorney Is Coming for Medical Marijuana
The Trump-allied prosecutor has threatened Wikipedia, medical journals and Congressional Democrats. Now he’s putting a medical-marijuana dispensary on notice, too.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-s-controversial-us-attorney-is-coming-for-medical-marijuana/ar-AA1E3otC

Associated Press: Colorado fights Trump administration bid to help imprisoned loyalist Tina Peters

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Trumps politicized Dept. of Justice is trying to insert itself into a local Colorado case where it has absolutely no business intervening:

Colorado officials say President Donald Trump’s administration appears to be wielding its “political power” to give unprecedented help to a former county election clerk who was convicted of allowing Trump supporters to access election equipment after his 2020 defeat.

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 Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser wants Magistrate Judge Scott T. Varholak to block the Justice Department from getting involved. Lawyers from Weiser’s office said the Justice Department has not given any good reason why it should intervene and has just repeated Peters’ arguments.

“Tina Peters was not prosecuted because of any political pressure; she was prosecuted because she broke the law. And just as they did not prosecute her for political reasons, her prosecutors will not accede to any political pressure to give her preferred treatment in sentencing or terms of confinement,” lawyers from Weiser’s office said in a filing.

Colorado fights Trump administration bid to help imprisoned loyalist Tina Peters
DENVER (AP) — Colorado’s chief deputy attorney general urged a federal judge on Tuesday to reject the Trump administration’s unprecedented bid to help an imprisoned former county clerk who embraced Trump’s lies that he lost the 2020 election because of fraud. The U.S. Justice Department in March submitted a federal court filing in support of Tina P…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/colorado-fights-trump-administration-bid-to-help-imprisoned-loyalist-tina-peters/ar-AA1DmfAe

Reason: Supreme Court Rejects Trump’s Claim That He Can Summarily Deport Anyone He Describes As an ‘Alien Enemy’

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!!!!!!!!!!

The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously agreed that alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua have a due process right to challenge President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to summarily deport them.

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As the Court’s unsigned order in Trump v. J.G.G. notes, “‘it is well established that the Fifth Amendment entitles aliens to due process of law’ in the context of removal proceedings,” meaning “the detainees are entitled to notice and opportunity to be heard ‘appropriate to the nature of the case.'” Specifically, the majority says, “AEA detainees must receive notice after the date of this order that they are subject to removal under the Act. The notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs.”

That order decisively rejects the Trump administration’s attempt to deport suspected gang members without judicial review.

Supreme Court Rejects Trump’s Claim That He Can Summarily Deport Anyone He Describes As an ‘Alien Enemy’
The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously agreed that alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua have a due process right to challenge President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to summarily deport them. At the same time, the majority lifted a temporary restraining order (TRO) that blocked those deportations, saying Venezu…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/supreme-court-rejects-trump-s-claim-that-he-can-summarily-deport-anyone-he-describes-as-an-alien-enemy/ar-AA1CxXGN