Tag Archives: Mayor Eric Adams

Raw Story: ‘Show me your badge!’ NYC mayoral candidate arrested by ICE

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New York City Comptroller Brad Lander (D), who’s running to be the city’s next mayor, was arrested by ICE agents at an immigration court in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday.

Politico’s Jeff Coltin posted the arrest video to X, writing, “Mayoral candidate Brad Lander was cuffed and detained by ICE agents after asking to see a warrant for people who were detained after an immigration hearing.

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amNewYork reported, “The city’s elected financial watchdog, and a Democratic candidate for mayor, appeared at 26 Federal Plaza on the morning of June 17 to observe immigration hearings involving individuals marked for potential deportation. Lander’s arrest, which amNewYork observed, occurred as the comptroller and his staff walked arm-in-arm with an immigrant whom federal agents — representing ICE, the FBI and the Treasury Department, each of whom wearing masks to conceal their faces — moved to seize after a court hearing. Moments earlier, the immigrant had their case dismissed pending appeal.”

The news outlet reported, as ICE agents moved in to arrest him, Lander yelled: “Show me you warrant! Show me your badge!”

https://www.rawstory.com/ice-arrests-ny/

https://www.rawstory.com/ice-arrests-ny

Washington Post: ‘No Kings’ protests nationwide to push back on Trump’s ‘overreach’

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In the hours before tanks barrel down the streets of Washington for President Donald Trump’s grand military parade Saturday, thousands of Americans will gather across the country in defiance of what they call his dangerous brand of authoritarianism.

The organized day of protests in over 2,000 cities — dubbed “No Kings Nationwide Day of Defiance” — comes after a week of unrest and anger in Los Angeles and other cities following immigration raids in the L.A. area and the Trump administration’s move to federalize the National Guard and dispatch Marines to California.

No Kings organizer Ezra Levin said that interest has “skyrocketed” since those protests began — with individuals in 200 more cities signing up to host No Kings events just this week. He said more people are now expected to turn out than the estimated 3.5 million who participated in a similar nationwide day of action in April.

“We’re no longer talking to folks who are just paying attention to politics,” said Levin, the co-founder of the liberal advocacy group Indivisible. “People are seeing this overreach by Trump and saying, ‘I don’t like that — what can I do?’”

Images of immigrants being swept up at moments in their daily lives — at car washes and Home Depots, to name just two places — seem to have struck a chord with a wider swath of the public than was previously engaged, observers say, though the concept of deporting those in the country illegally still has broad support.

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‘No Kings’ protests nationwide to push back on Trump’s ‘overreach’
On the same day as the president’s military parade in D.C., thousands of people are expected to protest what they call his dangerous brand of authoritarianism.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/06/13/no-kings-protest-anti-trump-army-parade

New York Times: If We Can’t Prosecute Trump’s Foes, We’ll ‘Shame’ Them, Justice Dept. Official Says

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Few, if any, of those singled out have done anything to invite conventional prosecutorial scrutiny, much less committed crimes to warrant an indictment under federal law.

President Trump has kept up a steady bombardment of suggestions, requests and demands to arrest, investigate or prosecute targets of his choosing — the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey, various Democrats, officials who refuted his election lies, Beyoncé, the Boss.

But Mr. Trump’s directives have so far hit a stubborn snag. Few, if any, of those singled out have done anything to invite conventional prosecutorial scrutiny, much less committed prosecutable crimes to warrant an indictment under federal law.

But a Trump loyalist, given new, vague and possibly vast power, has found a workaround.

In recent days, Ed Martin, the incoming leader of the Justice Department’s “weaponization” group, made a candid if unsurprising admission: He plans to use his authority to expose and discredit those he believes to be guilty, even if he cannot find sufficient evidence to prosecute them — weaponizing an institution he has been hired to de-weaponize, in the view of critics.

In other words, if they can’t prosecute their target, they’ll engage in character assassination.

So much for a professional Department of Justice!

https://archive.is/SLN1j#selection-707.0-730.0

USA Today: In latest Trump overhaul, Justice Department may change who prosecutes public corruption

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The review comes after President Donald Trump criticized the alleged ‘weaponization’ of prosecutions of public officials including him.

The Justice Department is considering moving decisions about whether to prosecute public officials such as members of Congress to regional U.S. attorney’s offices rather than at headquarters, part of President Donald Trump‘s overhaul of the department and its public corruption enforcement.

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The review aims to ensure that U.S. attorneys in 94 offices nationwide share equal responsibility with headquarters officials in choosing whether to pursue public corruption cases, according to a department official speaking on background. No final decisions have been made, the department official said.

It would put these prosecutions under the control of political appointees who can quickly be replaced to do the President’s bidding, e.g. the appointment of Trump’s Bimbo #4 Alina Habba as the acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey. Previously such prosecutions were managed by DOJ’s career professional staff.

In latest Trump overhaul, Justice Department may change who prosecutes public corruption
The Justice Department may move decisions about charging public from headquarters to regional U.S. attorney offices.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/19/justice-department-public-corruption-prosecutions/83722654007

Daily Beast: Pam Bondi Toys With Axing DOJ’s Public Corruption Unit

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The Justice Department is considering scrapping a key safeguard that prevents politically motivated prosecutions of Congress members.

Attorney General Pam Bondi is reportedly considering doing away with a critical Justice Department safeguard designed to prevent politically motivated prosecutions of elected officials, according to multiple officials familiar with a proposal circulated last week.

The change would remove the requirement of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section (PIN), a Watergate-era department responsible for reviewing and approving prosecutions of public officials and signing off on federal prosecutors’ indictments of lawmakers. Instead, Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys would have the power to bring corruption charges without centralized oversight.

PIN also handles voting-related matters. In the case of a contested election, they would determine how the DOJ would intervene.

The damage has mostly been done already as the office effectively has been gutted:

Since Trump took office, PIN has already been hollowed out, as have other DOJ offices. The 30 prosecutors working in the office at the end of the Biden administration have been cut to fewer than five. Several have resigned, been reassigned, or were fired after clashing with Bondi and other Trump appointees.

Pam Bondi Toys With Axing DOJ’s Public Corruption Unit
The Justice Department is considering scrapping a key safeguard that prevents politically motivated prosecutions of Congress members.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pam-bondi-toys-with-axing-dojs-public-corruption-unit

Roll Call: Pardons for friends, retribution for foes

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Critics say Trump has Used the Powers of the President in Ways That Raise Alarms

President Donald Trump spent much of the last four years decrying Justice Department prosecutions against him and his supporters, and one of his first executive orders in January said it sought to end the “weaponization of prosecutorial power to upend the democratic process.”

But since then, Trump has used the power of his office for actions that critics and experts say inject politics into federal investigations and prosecutions, such as memorandums last month initiating government investigations into actions of two former officials who have been critical of him.

Trump wiped away the criminal cases of his supporters for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and has given pardons for supporters and erstwhile allies. The Justice Department since January has dropped a high-profile criminal case against New York Mayor Eric Adams, and made personnel moves that target employees involved in the investigations of Trump and the criminal probes of rioters.

Pardons for friends, retribution for foes – Roll Call
President Donald Trump has used the power of his office in ways critics and experts say inject politics into the criminal justice system.

https://rollcall.com/2025/05/07/pardons-for-friends-retribution-for-foes