President Trump’s plan to use the Justice Department to take revenge on his perceived enemies may have hit a major hurdle. Earlier this month, Memphis federal district court Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. issuedan opinionIn response to a motion to dismiss retaliatory and selective prosecution in the criminal case against Kilmer Abrego Garcia.
The judge found that “the totality of the events surrounding the bringing of the Abrego indictment creates a sufficient evidentiary basis to conclude that there is a ‘realistic possibility of retaliation,'” giving him the right to discovery and an evidentiary hearing before ruling on his motion.
This decision will have wide-ranging implications. This is probably the death knell of the prosecutions against Former FBI Director James Comey And New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), as well as other perceived enemies whom Trump has threatened to prosecute merely for political revenge. List of Trump’s enemies Involved Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) And Former CIA Director John Brennan.
The government erroneously said Abrego was a Salvadoran immigrant. Sent to notorious CECOT prison In El Salvador. After his lawyers obtained an injunction from the Supreme Court to facilitate his return to the US, the government continued to pursue him, blaming him Human trafficking charges based on traffic stop in November 2022.
Abrego argued that his prosecution was in retaliation for exercising his constitutional and statutory rights to sue the government. his case Challenged his deportation to El Salvador through a federal civil action in federal district court in Maryland.
The court based its findings, in part, on surprising Entry Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch told Fox News that the government began investigating Abrego after a Maryland judge questioned the government’s case and “found that he ‘had no authority to deport her,'” and that she was “doing something wrong.”
moreover,the court foundThat “the timing of Abrego’s indictment” supports his claim that the executive branch may have prompted the U.S. attorney “to bring criminal charges against Abrego in retaliation for his Maryland lawsuit” and to successfully obtain an injunction from the Supreme Court directing the government to facilitate his return from El Salvador to the US.
court found That “just days after the Supreme Court’s decision,” the government “reopened its investigation into Abrego” and “ten days after that,” “Abrego was convicted.” It also relied on the “years-long delay” between the traffic stop and the indictment. The “903 days” was significantly longer than “all criminal cases involving traffic stops in the Sixth Circuit” over a 15-year period.
The important consequence of this decision is that Abrego is now entitled to discovery and to present that evidence at a public hearing. The court-ordered discovery will focus on what motivated the “actual decision makers” who directed and approved his prosecution.
Abrego may oust Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Schrader, who resigned On the day the grand jury returned the indictment, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch and others at the Justice Department and the Memphis U.S. Attorney’s Office who are familiar with the reasons for the indictment filed.
He can also subpoena documents related to the decision to prosecute him. This highly unusual opportunity for Abrego to unveil a public hearing is likely to be extremely embarrassing for the Justice Department and the White House.
There is a direct line from the Crenshaw opinion to the Comey and James prosecutions, which are also retaliatory prosecutions. Exhibit A will be Trump’s20 September Satya Social PostAsked Bondy to “delay no further” against Comey, Schiff and James. There is also a litmus test for TrumpstatementIn the last few years,be settledComey and James are his two main political enemies.
Those statements, combined with events before Comey and James were indicted, smack of retaliation. When Eric Seibert, Trump’s chosen U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and others in the office declined to seek indictments against Comey and James, Trumpforced him out,
To ensure that Comey and James would be convicted, TrumpappointedA new US Attorney, Lindsey Halligan, who blindly followed Trump’s orders to convict. Halligan, an insurance attorney, has never been a prosecutor, has no understanding of federal criminal law and has no knowledge of how to prepare federal criminal charges.
Based on the judge’s reasoning, Comey and James should be able to mount a highly aggressive defense and obtain testimony from all those who participated in or have knowledge of the fraudulent decision to convict them, subpoena relevant documents and present the results at a public hearing.
The end result of these hearings is not simply to dismiss baseless impeachments brought by Trump out of vindictive political vendetta. For lawyers who participated in Trump’s retaliation tour, the consequences could be quite serious – Rudy Giuliani joining Hall of ShamerejectedThe former lawyer who did Trump’s illegal bidding.
Nick Ackerman, a former assistant special Watergate prosecutor and a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, is a lawyer in New York City.
