Raw Story: Trump’s DOJ reminded judge is not blind after blown-off order
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Tag Archives: U.S. Department of Justice
Law & Crime: Judge drags Trump admin into court for emergency hearing after ‘credible sources’ say layoffs will continue despite restraining order
A federal judge in California will haul the Trump administration into court for an emergency hearing on Friday afternoon amid concerns that several thousand federal workers may be laid off in the coming days — in direct violation of a temporary restraining order.
Judge sets emergency hearing over potential Trump admin violations of layoffs order
The judge in the case said the pre-planned layoffs are “the epitome of hasty, arbitrary and capricious decisionmaking.”
Guardian: Growing number of US veterans face arrest over Ice raid protests
Veterans are facing federal charges after protesting Ice sweeps and Trump’s national guard deployments. The justice department claims the veterans were violent
US military veterans increasingly face arrest and injury amid protests over Donald Trump’s deportation campaign and his push to deploy national guard members to an ever-widening number of American cities.
The Guardian has identified eight instances where military veterans have been prosecuted or sought damages after being detained by federal agents.
The latest incident occurred in Broadview, outside Chicago, where 70-year old air force veteran Dana Briggs was charged with felony assault on a federal officer on 29 September.
A widely shared video on social media shows a masked US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agent advance on and knock over the elderly veteran during a protest outside an Ice detention center.
Federal prosecutors claim Briggs committed assault when he “made physical contact with an agent’s arm while the agent attempted to extend the safety perimeter”.
Briggs pleaded not guilty and was released on an appearance bond.
Jose Vasquez, a former US army staff sergeant and executive director of the progressive veterans’ organization Common Defense, which counts Briggs as a member, said veterans like Briggs “have stood up at Ice protests and faced arrest because we recognize a pattern of state-sanctioned abuse”.
Another veteran, John Cerrone, was arrested while protesting outside the Broadview Ice detention the day before Briggs. A social media video shows a group of masked agents tackle the 35-year-old marine corps veteran, who served as a combat infantryman in Afghanistan, as teargas floats in the air.
Cerrone says he was held for nine hours at the Broadview facility, alone in a cell with walls covered by blood, hair and mucus. He says that while he was behind bars he was visited by an Ice agent who boasted that he had shot Cerrone in the head with rubber bullets and exclaimed: “Where is that pussy!”
“Their conduct was completely unprofessional in my experience in combat infantry,” Cerrone said. “Even in Afghanistan, we had very clear rules of engagement. The conduct of these agents was such that if it occurred in Afghanistan, they would be removed from the front line. They would be court-martialed.”
Cerrone was released after receiving a citation for “exhibiting disorderly conduct on federal property”, a misdemeanor under federal law, which he plans to contest.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told the Guardian: “Anyone who assaults or otherwise harms law enforcement officers will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.” Jackson added that “Ice officers are facing an 1,000% increase in assaults because of unhinged rhetoric from activists and Democrat politicians smearing heroic Ice officers.”
Jackson and a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson did not provide data to back up the claim about a 1,000% increase.
In a brief reply to questions from the Guardian, a Department of Justice spokesperson said: “Under this Administration, we follow the law and have a one-tier system of justice, and this Department of Justice will relentlessly uphold the rule of law to protect our nation.”
“What drives so many veterans into action is not only the injustice faced by immigrants and protesters, but also the larger threat to democracy rooted in government brutality and militarization,” Vasquez, the Common Defense leader, said. “The disturbing escalation in arrests and violence signals that the basic freedoms we once swore to protect are under attack.”
Not all of the veterans discussed in this story indicated their military service at the time of the incidents or their arrests.
On Thursday, the US district judge Sara Ellis issued a temporary restraining order restricting federal agents from “using riot control weapons” against journalists, protesters and religious practitioners in Chicago unless there is probable cause that the individuals have committed a crime.
In a statement in the wake of Briggs’s arrest, Demi Palecek – an Illinois army national guard member who is running as a Democrat for a state legislative seat in Chicago – criticized Ice agents for their lack of training.
“As a military member, I can tell you – the way they handle weapons is reckless and dangerous,” she said. “I’ve seen Ice agents with their fingers on the trigger of real M16s, pointing M9s directly at people. Trigger-happy. No trigger discipline… with this level of escalation and incompetence, people will die.”
An DHS spokesperson countered that “Ice and other federal law enforcement are using proper force with professional training to protect the public as well as federal buildings from violent Antifa-aligned terrorists.” Those arrested assaulted Ice officers, the spokesperson said.
Veterans have also protested Ice’s use of a Chicago area VA hospital’s parking lot as a staging ground for immigration raids.
Senator Tammy Duckworth – a former US army helicopter pilot who lost the use of both legs when she was shot down over Iraq – offered her support to demonstrators on 17 September, demanding that secretary of veterans affairs, Doug Collins, evict agents from the Edward Hines Jr VA Hospital.
“It adds injury to insult when VA surrenders resources in support of reckless, paramilitary activities that do nothing to enhance Veteran care – and even worse, are actively harming Veterans and US servicemembers by rounding up these patriotic Americans, along with their family members, and deporting them with little or no due process out of the country they were willing to risk their lives to defend,” she wrote.
“We have veterans who are staying away and not getting healthcare or coming in carrying their passports,” said Aaron Hughes, an Iraq war veteran and former Illinois national guardsman, who is a member of the anti-war veterans group, About Face, which organized the protest.
Nicholas Podjasek, a 34 year-old US air force veteran born in Honduras, told the Guardian he cancelled a primary care appointment at the Hines VA which had been scheduled for Thursday.
Though Podjasek, like nearly all veterans is a US citizen, he said many are nonetheless worried about being detained by Ice “because we are brown”, citing a Trump administration policy that legalized racial profiling in immigration enforcement.
“These people are masking themselves and they zip tie children,” he said. “They’ve broken into people’s homes and apartments. They could easily detain me on public transportation on the way to the VA or right outside the gate.”
In an email to the Guardian, VA press secretary Peter Kasperowicz denied such fear exists. Kasperowicz said the VA was “proud to support its federal partners in the fight against illegal immigration” and that there “has been no impact on veteran care or facility access” from Ice agents’ use of the Hines VA parking lot.
In Portland, Oregon, US marine corps veteran Daryn Herzberg II, who served in Afghanistan, is seeking $150,000 in damages after he was hospitalized after being tackled from behind by Ice agents while protesting outside a federal facility in Portland on 13 August.
A video posted on social media shows an agent grabbing Herzberg by the hair and slamming his face into the ground multiple times while saying, “You’re not talking shit anymore are you?” according to a Federal Tort Claims Act complaint filed by his attorney.
A DHS spokesperson countered that the former marine corps sergeant, who was honorably discharged in 2012, “is well known for acts of violence outside the Ice facility in Portland, including throwing rocks and other objects at the building and personnel.” The spokesperson also said Herzberg has “used fake blood to falsify injuries” and “perpetuated and encouraged violence” against Ice.
Herzberg has not been charged with a crime. His attorney, Michael Fuller, denied the spokesperson’s assertions and said “the Ice assault video speaks for itself.”
“The fact that DHS won’t attribute its slander of a US marine to an actual witness speaks to the baseless nature of its allegations,” the attorney said.
As previously reported by the Guardian, Afghanistan war veteran Bajun Mavalwalla II faces federal conspiracy charges after participating in a 11 June protest that sought to block the transport of two Venezuelan migrants who were in the country legally seeking asylum when they were detained by Ice.
In Washington DC, attorney general Pam Bondi announced on 14 August that she was charging Afghanistan war veteran Sean Charles Dunn with felony assault after he allegedly threw a sandwich at a Customs and Border Patrol agent. However, prosecutors were unable to secure an indictment from a grand jury.
Other notable veterans arrested, include:
Iraq war veteran and US citizen George Retes, 25, was arrested on 10 July by Ice during a raid on a cannabis farm in Ventura county, California where he worked as a security guard. He was held in federal custody for three days.
Retes is seeking damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act, alleging wrongful arrest. In an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle, he wrote: “If it can happen to me, it can happen to any one of us.” In a social media post on X, the Department of Homeland Security alleged he was arrested for assault. As of this writing, no charges have been filed.
A DHS spokesperson told the Guardian that the justice department was reviewing the case, “along with dozens of others, for potential charges related to the execution of the federal search warrant in Camarillo”.
On 25 August, 20-year army combat veteran Jay Carey – who served in Iraq, Bosnia and Afghanistan – was arrested and faces two federal misdemeanor charges after burning a flag in front of the White House. Carey, from western North Carolina, was part of a small group of veterans who came to Washington to protest the national guard’s deployment to that city.
On 13 June , an 87-year-old disabled veteran in a walker was arrested after he traveled from an assisted living facility in Florida to protest Donald Trump’s military parade. John Spitzberg, whose service spanned the army, air force and air national guard, was among dozens of veterans arrested for protesting what they said was the politicization of the armed forces and Trump’s authoritarian instincts. Spitzberg is a member of Veterans for Peace.
Growing number of US veterans face arrest over Ice raid protests
Veterans are facing federal charges after protesting Ice sweeps and Trump’s national guard deployments. The justice department claims the veterans were violent
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/13/us-veterans-protest-ice-raids
Miami Herald: Judge Deals Blow to Kari Lake — Rejects Layoffs
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth has issued a ruling halting the planned termination of 532 employees at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), rejecting acting CEO Kari Lake’s proposed layoffs, which were based on claims of non-compliance with legal standards in news coverage. The decision comes as Lamberth considers civil contempt proceedings against Lake’s administration for allegedly providing misleading information to the court. Lamberth ordered the immediate disclosure of additional documents related to the reduction-in-force (RIF) plan, citing ongoing non-compliance and signaling potential sanctions if the administration fails to meet deadlines set for Oct. 15.
Lamberth criticized the agency’s lack of transparency, stating, “Time and time again, the defendants have resisted the Court’s efforts to obtain information concerning whether they have fashioned a plan for compliance.”
He remarked, “The Court no longer harbors any doubt that defendants lack a plan to comply with the preliminary injunction, and instead have been running out the clock on the fiscal year while remaining in violation of even the most meager reading of USAGM and Voice of America’s statutory obligations.”
The judge highlighted statutory breaches, particularly the reduction of Dari and Pashto broadcasts by Voice of America, warning that the proposed layoffs would create significant coverage gaps in critical regions such as North Korea and China. Lamberth noted, “Equity is allergic to rigidity.”
The ruling ensures job security for USAGM employees through mid-October and mandates that Lake reinstate legally required programming to address compliance failures.
In response, Lake sharply criticized the judge, stating, “I think some of his rulings have been absurd, as I said, terrible.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/judge-deals-blow-to-kari-lake-rejects-layoffs/ss-AA1Oi2Pb
O’Keefe Media Group: BREAKING: DOJ Deputy Chief Admits Government Will “Redact Every Republican” While “Leav[ing] All the Liberal, Democratic People” on the Epstein Client List; Says Ghislaine Maxwell Was Moved to a Lower-Security Prison As “A Benefit… to Keep Her Mouth Shut”
“They’ll [DOJ] redact every Republican or conservative person in those files, leave all the liberal, Democratic people in those files, and have a very slanted version of it come out… without really seeing any of their bad behavior,” admitted Joseph Schnitt, Acting Deputy Chief at the Office of Enforcement Operations for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), on hidden camera to an undercover OMG journalist. Schnitt confirmed that the government is in possession of an extensive trove of Epstein-related documents but warned that any release would be politically manipulated.
Schnitt admitted that “There’s thousands and thousands of page-open files,” and further described how the department would handle disclosure of the material: “If they’re released in any way, it’s going to be very redacted.”
He further revealed new information regarding Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. “She got transferred to a minimum security prison,” Schnitt said, despite her conviction as a sex offender. “It’s against BOP policy because she’s a convicted sex offender. And they’re not supposed to get minimum security prisons, which is an interesting detail because she’s getting a benefit, which means they’re offering her something to keep her mouth shut.”
Schnitt also revealed internal conflict within federal law enforcement over the release of said files. “The head of FBI [Kash Patel] really wants to… second-in-command [Dan Bongino] at FBI has been causing problems, because he’s like, ‘No, these [Epstein Files] have to be released.’ He added, “The FBI wants them out. The top two guys that will do it. But they work for Bondi, so… Bondi wants whatever Trump wants. Internally there’s a lot of conflict.”
Despite public assurances that the government has been transparent, Schnitt admitted that nothing substantive has been revealed: “Whatever they’ve released has already been publicly released anyway, so they haven’t released anything new. Even though they were the ones that were claiming that they were going to release everything.”
OMG has reached out to the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Joseph Schnitt regarding Schnitt’s statements.
In response, the DOJ released a statement to OMG. According to the DOJ, Schnitt “had no role in the Department’s internal review of Epstein materials,” his comments were based only on “what he learned in the media,” and “have absolutely zero bearing with reality.”
BREAKING: DOJ Deputy Chief Admits Government Will “Redact Every Republican” While “Leav[ing] All the Liberal, Democratic People” on the Epstein Client List; Says Ghislaine Maxwell Was Moved to a Lower-Security Prison As “A Benefit… to Keep Her Mouth Shut” – O’Keefe Media Group
DOJ Deputy Chief claims GOP names will be redacted from Epstein files while Democrats remain. Also says Maxwell was rewarded to stay silent.
Investigate West: Accused of racism and retaliation, this Idaho sheriff is now working with ICE
Former employees say Sheriff Larry Kendrick made racist jokes at work and was demeaning to women
This is a lengthy article that illustrates type the quality of bigoted & abusive local law enforcement agencies that are signing up as ICE partners. Click one of the links below to read the article.
Straight Arrow News: DOJ whistleblower says Trump appointee ordered defiance of courts
“They’re putting attorneys who have dedicated themselves to public service in the impossible position of fealty to the President or fealty to the Constitution – candor to the courts or keeping your head low and lying if asked to do so,” Reuveni told The New Yorker. “That is not what the Department of Justice that I worked in was about. That’s not why I went to the Department of Justice and stayed there for fifteen years.”
Shortly after three planes filled with alleged Tren de Aragua gang members took off for an El Salvador supermax prison in March, a judge issued a verbal order with a simple instruction to government lawyers: turn the planes around. The planes, however, continued to El Salvador.
Now, a whistleblower says a top Department of Justice (DOJ) official authorized disregarding the judge’s order, telling his staff they might have to tell the courts “f- you” in immigration cases.
The official was Principal Associate Attorney General Emil Bove, whom President Donald Trump nominated to be a federal judge. Leaked emails and texts from whistleblower and former DOJ lawyer Erez Reuveni, released during the week of July 7, came days before a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Bove’s nomination to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If the committee approves, Bove’s nomination will advance to the full Senate.
At Bove’s direction, “the Department of Justice is thumbing its nose at the courts, and putting Justice Department attorneys in an impossible position where they have to choose between loyalty to the agenda of the president and their duty to the court,” Reuveni told The New York Times.
Bove is perceived by some as a controversial choice for the lifetime position. He served on Trump’s defense team in the state and federal indictments filed after Trump’s first term in the White House.
In 2024, after Trump appointed him acting deputy attorney general, Bove ignited controversy over his firing of federal prosecutors involved in cases involving the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol and over his role in dismissing corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Early this year, the federal government was using an arcane 18th-century wartime law – the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 – to remove the alleged gang members from the United States without court hearings. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of the District of Columbia ruled the removals violated the men’s right to due process, setting up the conflict with the DOJ.
The leaker’s emails and texts suggest Bove advised DOJ attorneys that it was okay to deplane the prisoners in El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act.
The messages also cite Bove’s instruction for lawyers to consider saying “f- you” to the courts.
When Reuveni asked DOJ and Department of Homeland Security officials if they would honor the judge’s order to stop the planes to El Salvador, he received vague responses or none at all.
While the email and text correspondence allude to Bove’s instruction, none of the messages appear to have come directly from Bove himself. The official whistleblower complaint was filed on June 24.
Bove denies giving that instruction. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last month, Bove said he “never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order.”
The leak prompted outrage from both sides of the political spectrum. Some say deporting people without trial to a supermax prison in El Salvador violates due process rights and a DOJ lawyer telling other lawyers to ignore a court order should put him in contempt of court.
However, Attorney General Pam Bondi – who served as one of Trump’s defense attorneys during his first Senate impeachment trial in 2020 – responded on X, saying there was no court order to defy.
“As Mr. Bove testified and as the Department has made clear, there was no court order to defy, as we successfully argued to the DC Circuit when seeking a stay, when they stayed Judge Boasberg’s lawless order. And no one was ever asked to defy a court order,” the attorney general wrote Thursday, July 10, when the emails and texts were released.
Bondi was referring to the DOJ’s immediate emergency appeal to the D.C. Circuit of Appeals requesting a stay of Boasberg’s temporary restraining order. The DOJ did not turn the planes around, arguing that a verbal order by the lower court is not binding and that the planes had already left U.S. airspace.
On March 26, the DOJ lost its appeal, with the D.C. Circuit voting 2-1 to uphold Boasberg’s ruling. The DOJ appealed again, this time to the Supreme Court, arguing that the lower courts had interfered with national security and overreached on executive immigration power. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the DOJ, 6-3, and lifted the lower court’s injunction on April 9.
Bondi accused the whistleblower Reuveni of spreading lies. She said on X that this is “another instance of misinformation being spread to serve a narrative that does not align with the facts.”
“This ‘whistleblower’ signed 3 briefs defending DOJ’s position in this matter and his subsequent revisionist account arose only after he was fired because he violated his ethical duties to the department,” Bondi wrote.
Reuveni worked at the DOJ for 15 years, mostly in the Office of Immigration and Litigation. Bondi fired Reuveni in April for failing to “zealously advocate” for the United States in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was accidentally deported to the El Salvador prison and whose return the Supreme Court eventually ordered.
Bondi and other Trump administration officials have fired many DOJ and FBI employees, saying the administration has broad constitutional power to do so.
“They’re putting attorneys who have dedicated themselves to public service in the impossible position of fealty to the President or fealty to the Constitution – candor to the courts or keeping your head low and lying if asked to do so,” Reuveni told The New Yorker. “That is not what the Department of Justice that I worked in was about. That’s not why I went to the Department of Justice and stayed there for fifteen years.”
DOJ whistleblower says Trump appointee ordered defiance of courts
A Trump judicial nominee told DOJ lawyers to ignore court orders to return planes carrying alleged gang members, a whistleblower claims.
https://san.com/cc/doj-whistleblower-says-trump-appointee-ordered-defiance-of-courts
Miami Herald: ‘Evil is Powerless’: ICE Official Announces More Arrests
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.
Ft. Worth Star Telegram: ‘Null and Void’: Judge Strikes Down Executive Order
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.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/null-and-void-judge-strikes-down-executive-order/ss-AA1EIHeq