Judge weighing disciplinary referral for DOJ lawyers in Venezuela deportations case
US district judge James Boasberg has said he may initiate disciplinary proceedings against justice department lawyers for their conduct in a lawsuit brought by Venezuelans challenging their removal to a Salvadoran prison in March.
Boasberg, a prominent Washington DC, judge who has drawn Donald Trump’s ire, said during a court hearing that a recent whistleblower complaint had strengthened the argument that Trump administration officials engaged in criminal contempt of court by failing to turn around deportation flights.
Boasberg also raised the prospect of referring DOJ lawyers to state bar associations, which have the authority to discipline unethical conduct by attorneys. He said:
I will certainly be assessing whether government counsel’s conduct and veracity to the court warrant a referral to state bars or our grievance committee, which determines lawyers’ fitness to practice in our court.
A justice department spokesperson declined to comment.
Boasberg has been hearing an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit brought on behalf of alleged Venezuelan gang members removed from the US under the rarely invoked 18th-century Alien Enemies Act. The detainees in the case were returned to Venezuela last week as part of a prisoner exchange, after spending four months in El Salvador’s Cecot prison.
The migrants’ lawyers have disputed the gang membership claims and said their clients were not given a chance to contest the government’s assertions.
Boasberg said in April that the Trump administration appeared to have acted “in bad faith” when it hurriedly assembled three deportation flights on 15 March at the same time that he was conducting emergency court proceedings to assess the legality of the effort.
In court filings, justice department lawyers have disputed that they disobeyed a court order, saying remarks Boasberg made from the bench were not legally binding.
In a 2-1 order, a federal appeals court in April temporarily paused Boasberg’s effort to further investigate whether the Trump administration engaged in criminal contempt.
Boasberg said during today’s hearing that the delay from the appeals court was frustrating for the plaintiffs, and that a whistleblower complaint from Erez Reuveni, a former DOJ attorney who was fired in April, strengthened the case for contempt.
Reuveni described three separate incidents when justice department leaders defied court orders related to the deportation of immigrants living in the country illegally.
Attorney general Pam Bondi, in a post on X, called Reuveni a “disgruntled employee” and a “leaker”.
Key events
White House does not support GOP senators’ request for special counsel to investigate Obama administration over Russia probe – report
The White House does not support the request by Republican senators John Cornyn and Lindsey Graham for a special counsel to investigate what they call the “Russia collusion hoax,” NBC News is reporting, citing a source familiar with the matter.
“While we appreciate the shared goal of transparency and accountability, the president is confident in the Department of Justice to handle the investigation,” the source told NBC.
The Department of Justice announced last night that it was forming a “strike force” to to investigate (baseless) claims that the Obama administration carried out a “treasonous conspiracy” by using false intelligence to suggest Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Donald Trump.
A special counsel appointed during Trump’s first term already investigated the origins of the Russia probe.
Judge weighing disciplinary referral for DOJ lawyers in Venezuela deportations case
US district judge James Boasberg has said he may initiate disciplinary proceedings against justice department lawyers for their conduct in a lawsuit brought by Venezuelans challenging their removal to a Salvadoran prison in March.
Boasberg, a prominent Washington DC, judge who has drawn Donald Trump’s ire, said during a court hearing that a recent whistleblower complaint had strengthened the argument that Trump administration officials engaged in criminal contempt of court by failing to turn around deportation flights.
Boasberg also raised the prospect of referring DOJ lawyers to state bar associations, which have the authority to discipline unethical conduct by attorneys. He said:
I will certainly be assessing whether government counsel’s conduct and veracity to the court warrant a referral to state bars or our grievance committee, which determines lawyers’ fitness to practice in our court.
A justice department spokesperson declined to comment.
Boasberg has been hearing an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit brought on behalf of alleged Venezuelan gang members removed from the US under the rarely invoked 18th-century Alien Enemies Act. The detainees in the case were returned to Venezuela last week as part of a prisoner exchange, after spending four months in El Salvador’s Cecot prison.
The migrants’ lawyers have disputed the gang membership claims and said their clients were not given a chance to contest the government’s assertions.
Boasberg said in April that the Trump administration appeared to have acted “in bad faith” when it hurriedly assembled three deportation flights on 15 March at the same time that he was conducting emergency court proceedings to assess the legality of the effort.
In court filings, justice department lawyers have disputed that they disobeyed a court order, saying remarks Boasberg made from the bench were not legally binding.
In a 2-1 order, a federal appeals court in April temporarily paused Boasberg’s effort to further investigate whether the Trump administration engaged in criminal contempt.
Boasberg said during today’s hearing that the delay from the appeals court was frustrating for the plaintiffs, and that a whistleblower complaint from Erez Reuveni, a former DOJ attorney who was fired in April, strengthened the case for contempt.
Reuveni described three separate incidents when justice department leaders defied court orders related to the deportation of immigrants living in the country illegally.
Attorney general Pam Bondi, in a post on X, called Reuveni a “disgruntled employee” and a “leaker”.
US will not attend Israel-Palestine two-state conference at UN, state department says
The United States will not attend an upcoming UN conference on an Israel-Palestine two-state solution, state department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott told reporters during a press briefing today.
The conference, which has already been rescheduled once, is due to take place next week at the United Nations.
The prospects for high-profile announcements on recognition of a Palestinian state had already been dealt a serious blow after it was reported that French president Emmanuel Macron was not expected to attend.
Venezuelans deported by Trump to El Salvador describe ‘horror movie’ mega-prison
Marina Dunbar
Venezuelan men who were deported by the US to the notorious Cecot prison in El Salvador without due process are speaking out about treatment they described as “hell” and like a “horror movie”, after arriving back home.
A total of 252 Venezuelan nationals were repatriated in the last week in a prisoner swap deal between the US and Venezuelan governments, with many able to reunite with family after their ordeal in El Salvador.
Carlos Uzcátegui tightly hugged his sobbing wife and stepdaughter on Wednesday morning in western Venezuela after he had been away for a year.
He was among the migrants being reunited with loved ones after spending four months imprisoned in El Salvador, where the US government had transferred them without due process, sparking uproar over Donald Trump’s harsh anti-immigration agenda. The US had accused all the men, on sometimes apparently flimsy evidence, of being members of a foreign gang living in the US illegally.
“Every day, we asked God for the blessing of freeing us from there so that we could be here with family, with my loved ones,” Uzcátegui, 33, said. “Every day, I woke up looking at the bars, wishing I wasn’t there.
“They beat us, they kicked us. I even have quite a few bruises on my stomach,” he added before later showing a bruised left abdomen.
Arturo Suárez, whose reggaeton songs surfaced on social media after he was sent to El Salvador, arrived at his family’s home in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, on Tuesday. His sister hugged him after he emerged from a vehicle belonging to the country’s intelligence service.
“It is hell. We met a lot of innocent people,” Suárez told reporters, referring to the prison he was held in. “To all those who mistreated us, to all those who negotiated with our lives and our freedom, I have one thing to say, and scripture says it well: vengeance and justice is mine, and you are going to give an account to God [the] Father.”
Democrat cuts foreign aid deal to help advance Mike Waltz UN ambassador nomination to Senate floor
Former national security adviser (of Signalgate infamy) Mike Waltz’s nomination as US ambassador to the United Nations is back on track after a Democrat cut a deal to advance him out of committee, Politico reports, marking just the latest development in a rollercoaster day for Donald Trump’s nominee.
Despite Republican senator Rand Paul voting no (derailing plans for a committee vote yesterday), ranking member Jeanne Shaheen sided with the other Republicans on the foreign relations committee to vote to advance Waltz, narrowly by 12-10. Having cleared that key hurdle, Waltz now goes to the Senate, where he will likely be confirmed.
There was no immediate indication of when the full Senate might consider the nomination. A spokesperson for the chamber’s majority leader John Thune, said there were no scheduling updates.
Thune has indicated he might delay the Senate’s annual August recess if Democrats do not allow Republicans to confirm Trump nominees more quickly. In a recent post on his Truth Social platform, Trump urged the Senate to stay in Washington for votes on his nominees.
Politico notes: “The partisan swap reflected ideological divides around isolationism: Paul objected to Waltz’s vote to keep troops in Afghanistan, while Shaheen said in a statement that despite some concerns (including the aforementioned Signalgate, which in part cost him his job as national security adviser), she saw Waltz as a potential ‘moderating force’ against the likes of vice-president JD Vance, defense secretary Pete Hegseth and Elbridge Colby. Some Democrats also worried about who might replace Waltz if his nomination failed.”
Shaheen said she had worked out a deal with committee Republicans and the state department to unlock $75m in lifesaving foreign aid for Haiti and Nigeria, Axios reports.
However, Shaheen said she may not necessarily vote for Waltz’s confirmation.
Justice department forms ‘strike force’ to investigate Obama over 2016 election
David Smith
The US justice department has formed a “strike force” to investigate claims that the Obama administration carried out a “treasonous conspiracy” by using false intelligence to suggest Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Donald Trump.
Pam Bondi, the attorney general, announced the new force’s formation after the release of a trove of declassified documents from Barack Obama’s national security team by the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.
Today, two Republican senators, Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn, both members of the judiciary committee, called on Bondi to appoint a special counsel into what they called “an unprecedented and clear abuse of power” by Obama’s administration.
“For the good of the country, we urge Attorney General Bondi to appoint a special counsel to investigate the extent to which former President Obama, his staff and administration officials manipulated the US national security apparatus for a political outcome,” the senators said in a statement.
Gabbard has alleged that Obama and his senior officials concocted a “years long coup” against Trump – manifested in a special counsel investigation and FBI inquiries – by “manufacturing” intelligence in the weeks after Trump’s 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton that was meant to show collusion between his campaign and Russia.
She has recommended that criminal charges be pressed, including against Obama himself. Trump has embraced her argument and has said Gabbard’s findings reveal “irrefutable proof” of treason.
Bondi set the scene for a justice department investigation after Gabbard presented what she claimed was evidence of a crime at a White House news conference on Wednesday.
“The Department of Justice is proud to work with my friend Director Gabbard and we are grateful for her partnership in delivering accountability for the American people. We will investigate these troubling disclosures fully and leave no stone unturned to deliver justice,” Bondi said in a statement.
Fox News cited a source close to Bondi’s strike force as saying no serious lead is off the table. However, any moves to prosecute Obama are likely to be stymied by last year’s US supreme court ruling granting presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution for acts committed in the course of their presidential duties.
The ruling was widely viewed as favoring Trump, who has faced criminal investigations for acts committed in his first presidency – including the retention of classified documents. Ironically, it may now form an obstacle to Trump’s stated desire to pursue “retribution” against his political opponents.
Obama’s office issued a rare statement on Tuesday, calling the allegations “outrageous” and “ridiculous”.
US to bring Gaza ceasefire consultation team home from Doha
Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said the administration has decided to bring its consultation team home from the Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha.
In a post on X, Witkoff said:
We have decided to bring our team home from Doha for consultations after the latest response from Hamas, which clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza. While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith.
He went on to add:
We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza. It is a shame that Hamas has acted in this selfish way. We are resolute in seeking an end to this conflict and a permanent peace in Gaza.
For more on this, you can follow our live coverage of the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza here:
Donald Trump’s relentless public – and very personal – criticism of Jerome Powell and flirtation with firing him have previously upset financial markets and threatened a key underpinning of the global financial system – that central banks are independent and free from political meddling.
His visit, against the backdrop of his antipathy for Powell, contrasts with a handful of documented previous presidential visits, including most recently former president George W Bush’s swearing-in of former Fed chair Ben Bernanke.
Republican senator Mike Rounds told Reuters it’s critical that Powell maintains his independence, but saw no problem with Trump’s visit.
He said:
I think the more information the president can glean from this, probably the better off we are in terms of resolving any issues that are outstanding.
He noted that Powell had indicated “that they have had a significant amount of money, just in terms of foundation work and so forth, that was not anticipated to begin with,” and said of the Fed chair:
I think he has to maintain his independence. That’s critical for the markets. I think he’s done a good job of that.
Reuters notes that Donald Trump’s visit to the Fed has come about as the president continues to struggle to deflect attention from the political crisis consuming Washington over his administration’s refusal to release files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reversing a campaign promise.
White House officials ramped up Trump’s pressure campaign on Fed chair Jerome Powell in recent weeks, accusing the Fed of mismanaging the renovation of two historic buildings in Washington and suggesting poor oversight and potential fraud.
The White House’s budget director, Russell Vought, has pegged the cost overrun at “$700m and counting,” and treasury secretary Scott Bessent called for an extensive review of the Fed’s non-monetary policy operations, citing operating losses at the central bank as a reason to question its spending on the renovation.
The Fed’s operating losses stem from the mechanics of managing the policy rate to fight inflation, which include paying banks to park their cash at the central bank. The Fed reported a comprehensive net loss of $114.6bn in 2023 and $77.5bn in 2024, a reversal from years of big profits it turned over to the Treasury when interest rates – and inflation – were low.
The Fed, in letters to Vought and lawmakers backed up by documents posted on its website, says the project – the first full rehab of the central bank’s two buildings in Washington since they were built nearly a century ago – ran into unexpected challenges including toxic materials abatement and higher-than-estimated materials and labor costs.
Fed working with White House to accommodate Trump’s visit
The Federal Reserve is working with the White House to accommodate Donald Trump’s unexpected visit to the US central bank later today, amid escalating tensions between the administration and the independent overseer of the nation’s monetary policy.
“The Federal Reserve is working with the White House to accommodate their visit,” a Fed spokesperson said in comments reported by Reuters. Trump’s visit to the Fed’s headquarters in Washington, a rare appearance at the central bank by a US president, was made public by the White House late last night.
Trump has repeatedly demanded that Fed chair Jerome Powell slash US interest rates and has frequently raised the possibility of firing him, though Trump has said he does not intend to do so (he also cannot do so over a monetary dispute). On Tuesday, Trump called Powell a “numbskull”, as he has many times before.
Trump will visit the Fed less than a week before the central bank’s 19 policymakers gather for a two-day rate-setting meeting. They are widely expected to leave the central bank’s benchmark interest rate in the 4.25%-4.50% range where it has been since December.
The visit also is taking place as Trump battles to deflect attention from a political crisis over his administration’s refusal to release files related to convicted sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein, reversing a campaign promise.
In a schedule released to the media on Wednesday night, the White House said Trump would visit the Fed at 4pm ETon Thursday. It did not say whether Trump would meet with Powell.
Market reaction to the visit was subdued. The yield on benchmark 10-year treasury bonds ticked higher after data showed new jobless claims dropped in the most recent week, signaling a stable labor market not in need of support from a Fed rate cut. Stocks on Wall Street were trading higher.
Adrian Horton
Hulk Hogan, the wrestling star turned vocal supporter of Donald Trump, has died at the age of 71, his manager confirmed.
Chris Volo told NBC Los Angeles that Hogan, given name Terry Gene Bollea, suffered a cardiac arrest at his home in Clearwater, Florida, and died surrounded by his family.
Instantly recognizable from his blonde horseshoe mustache and bandanas, Hogan was one of the most popular wrestling stars of the 1980s and considered one of the sport’s greatest of all time. Known for his ring theatrics and sizable physique, he helped transform professional wrestling into home entertainment, primarily through his partnership with Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame for a second time in 2020, as he became a more prominent figure in Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (Maga) political movement. He starred at the 2024 Republican national convention, ripping off his shirt, WWE-style, to reveal a Trump 2024 T-shirt.
Senate Republicans sink Democratic attempt to force release of Epstein files
Senate Democrats’s attempt to force Republicans to vote for more disclosure of the Jeffrey Epstein files failed Thursday morning, the Associated Press reports.
The vote marked the first time many Republicans in the the Senate had to take a stand on the matter, the AP reports, as they voted against forcing the release of the case files.
The vote unfolded with tense exchanges as the Senate judiciary committee prepared to advance a bill meant to address opioid trafficking.
Cory Booker, a Democratic senator, offered an amendment to the bill that would have kept it from going into effect until the Epstein files are released.
But Republican senator John Cornyn successfully stymied that effort by offering a separate amendment that nullified Booker’s. Instead, Cornyn said he trusted attorney general Pam Bondi to handle the matter.
Republicans on the committee all voted for Cornyn’s amendment, while Democrats voted against, saying, “No on concealing the Epstein files.”
Mike Johnson on Epstein case: ‘It’s not a hoax’
Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, broke with president Donald Trump over in an interview with CBS News when he insisted the Jeffrey Epstein case is “not a hoax.”
The speaker said he wants “full transparency’” in the case and called for the release of more information. Johnson’s interview with the US media outlet comes amid immense pressure on the Trump administration from Republicans and the Maga base over the Epstein files.
“We want everybody who is involved in any way with the Epstein evils, let’s call it what it was, to be brought to justice as quickly as possible,” Johnson said. “We want the full weight of the law on their heads.”
Johnson said he had “never seen the Epstein evidence, it was not in my lane.”
Bondi facing Democratic calls to testify about Epstein files
US attorney general Pam Bondi is facing Democratic calls to testify before Congress after it was reported that she told Trump his name was among many high-profile figures mentioned in the Jeffrey Epstein files, the Associated Press reports.
The justice department said early this month that it would not be release the Epstein files despite a clamor from online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and members of Trump’s base.
Senator Adam Schiff responded to the report by calling on Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel to appear before the Senate judiciary committee.
The justice department declined to comment on the report but issued a joint statement from Bondi and deputy attorney general Todd Blanche, who is currently meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell in Florida, saying that investigators had reviewed the records and “nothing in the files warranted further investigation or prosecution.”
It’s worth remembering also that the inclusion of a person’s name in Epstein’s files does not imply wrongdoing. Epstein was known to have been associated with multiple prominent figures, including Trump.
Meeting between Ghislaine Maxwell and DoJ official underway – report
The meeting between Ghislaine Maxwell and deputy attorney general Todd Blanche is currently taking place in downtown Tallahassee at the US attorney’s office, ABC reports.
According to the outlet, Blanche arrived at the courthouse at around 9am where Maxwell’s lawyers were also seen entering the building.
Speaking to ABC, Maxwell’s appellate lawyer David Markus said: “We’re looking forward to a productive day.”
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