David Kurtz

Trump DOJ Defies Another Court Order in Abrego Garcia Case GREENBELT, MD—If the Justice Department had brazenly defied a judge’s order a...

Overnight Abrego Garcia's lawyers immediately notified the court of Costa Rico's publicly stated position. This comes after the Trump admin defied a court order this week to put on a witness w/ direct knowledge of the matter
www.courtlistener.com/docket/71191...
talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump...

Costa Rica says it would accept Kilmar Abrego García, contradicting U.S. The statement from a Costa Rican official conflicts with what the Trump administration told a federal judge about its attempts to deport the undocumented immigrant

Undermining the already-dubious claims the Trump administration has been making in court, Costa Rica says it remains willing to accept Abrego Garcia on the same terms it has offered since August:

www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

The One With the History of TPM Take a trip into the Wayback machine in this bonus episode, as...

As part of our 25th anniversary celebrations, @johnalight.bsky.social & I co-moderated a discussion of TPM's history as a publication, featuring @davidkurtz.bsky.social as well as TPM alum NY Mag's Katie Thompson, ProPublica's @paulkiel.bsky.social & NOTUS' @evanmcs.bsky.social

Audio version here!

Is Trump Giving Illegal Orders? Dems Just Blew That Question Wide Open From the boat bombings to deportations to prosecutions, the evidence mounts. And the speaker of the House could get to the bottom of it if he wanted to. Yeah, right.

Adding to @gregsargent.bsky.social's spot-on post:

SefDef Pete Hegseth laid the groundwork for this back in February by firing the top JAGs for the Army and USAF (the Navy JAG post was already vacant). He wanted pliant JAGs who wouldn't get in the way of illegal orders. apnews.com/article/pent...

In fairness, Norman fooled 'em by calling it "Marshall Law!!" ...

talkingpointsmemo.com/feature/mark...

A Brutal Ending to One of the Worst Trump II Cases A Thoroughly Unsatisfying Result U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher just unsealed this...

An asylum-seeker wrongfully deported to CECOT then repatriated to Venezuela may have succumbed to the violence he was fleeing, a federal judge says in a newly unsealed opinion that declines to hold the Trump admin in contempt of court for violating her orders
talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

Trump DOJ Defies Another Court Order in Abrego Garcia Case GREENBELT, MD—If the Justice Department had brazenly defied a judge’s order a...

My report from court in the Abrego Garcia case, where the Trump admin continued giving US District Judge Paula Xinis the runaround, defying her explicit orders by once again putting a cipher on the witness stand who couldnt survive even friendly DOJ questioning talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump...

Morning Memo | TPM | Substack The essential political news roundup from David Kurtz and the team at TPM. Click to read Morning Memo, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

Morning Memo, your one stop for only the day’s essential political news morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com

Boasberg made no mention of Bove yesterday in court. I’d imagine that Boasberg would wait until the testimony of other witnesses makes Bove’s testimony essential before he goes kicking the giant ant hill of summoning an appeals court judge into his court for a possible contempt of court referral.

Bove — who has denied proposing to defy the courts and said he doesn’t recall the fuck you remark — is now a Trump-appointed federal appeals court judge, setting up the potential for a titanic clash over his testimony in the contempt inquiry.

A key witness is former acting DAG Emil Bove, who, according to Reuveni and internal comms, allegedly told DOJ lawyers in advance of the AEA deportations that they might have to tell the courts “fuck you” and that it was legally permissible to deplane the AEA detainees despite Boasberg’s order.

Will Emil Bove Have to Testify in AEA Contempt of Court Inquiry? The Most Important News of the Day While the James Comey case...

Judge Boasberg wants to hear testimony from DOJ lawyers involved in the Alien Enemies Act case at the outset: Erez Reuveni, who became a whistleblower, and Drew Ensign, who’s rarely been seen in this case since his dubious representations to the court in March.
talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

How James Comey’s Vindictive Prosecution Claim Fared In Court ALEXANDRIA, VA—This morning’s hearing on James Comey’s motion to dismiss for vindictive...

There was one moment in particular when the judge sounded convinced that Comey had cleared the high bar for a successful vindictive prosecution claim. Plus other highlights from the hearing BEFORE it was revealed the Comey indictment might be fatally flawed:

talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/how-j...

Contempt Proceedings in the Original AEA Case Are Back On … For Now WASHINGTON, DC—After months of delays, a federal judge is prepared to swiftly...

In a hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg signaled that he wants to begin taking testimony from Trump administration officials involved in the mid-March 2025 Alien Enemies Act deportations as soon as the Monday after Thanksgiving. My report:

talkingpointsmemo.com/news/contemp...

Story updated with the key exchange between Judge Nachmanoff and prosecutor

talkingpointsmemo.com/news/due-to-...

Due to Botched Paperwork, Comey May Never Have Been Properly Indicted ALEXANDRIA, VA—In a stunning admission, prosecutors in the James Comey case conceded that...

Questions about the nuts and bolts of the indictment paperwork that have bedeviled the case from the beginning came into much sharper focus after persistent questioning from U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff in federal court Wednesday in Alexandria, VA.
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/due-to-...

Breaking: In DOJ Paperwork Snafu, James Comey May Never Have Been Properly Indicted

Just out of court, where judge established that second operative two-count indictment of Comey was never presented to or voted on by the grand jury.

Judge wanted immediate additional briefing on that issue.

Morning Memo | TPM | Substack The essential political news roundup from David Kurtz and the team at TPM. Click to read Morning Memo, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

Morning Memo, no Bates stamps, no coverups, just the day's essential political news:

morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com

It’s not clear what makes James’ attorney suspect that the gap represents the IG’s documents, but they are requesting a court order for Halligan to provide them with a specific set of documents that have a common Bates stamp signature.

Before he was ousted, Allen turned over to U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan’s office some of what he had unearthed that, according to news reports, he felt legally obligated to provide, suggesting it may have been exculpatory evidence favorable to James.

Allen and about a dozen officials within Fannie Mae’s ethics and internal investigations unit were fired after looking into complaints about FHFA director Bill Pulte’s access to the personal mortgage records of prominent Democrats, including James.

Intriguingly, James’ attorneys say the discovery they’ve already received from the government contains a gap in the Bates-stamp sequence that suggests “over 100 pages of discovery likely turned over by the former FHFA Acting Inspector General has not been produced.”

What Is Lindsey Halligan Hiding From Letitia James? The Retribution: Letitia James Edition A quick update on the big coverup...

A quick update on the big coverup in the Letitia James case:

In a new filing Monday, James lawyers asked the judge in the case to order the gov't to produce the documents reportedly turned over to prosecutors by former FHFA acting Inspector General Joe Allen.

talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

Morning Memo | TPM | Substack The essential political news roundup from David Kurtz and the team at TPM. Click to read Morning Memo, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

Morning Memo, a safe 🎋bamboo-free zone🎍 where you'll find only the day's essential political news: morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com

The Trump DOJ certainly won’t prosecute anyone for defying Congress. It’s not clear that the GOP-controlled Congress itself could enforce its demand, either legally or politically. Practically, there’s no real way for Congress to know if the Trump administration buries damaging documents or files.

Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-KY) is defending the White House using similar language: “the Department of Justice has turned over what they’re legally allowed to turn over."

In the short term, no enforcing mechanism exists that would incentivize the admin to abide by Congress’ demand.

That language was echoed by an unnamed White House official: “This idea that the federal government is in possession of documents that they can legally hand over with respect to Jeffrey Epstein, and we’re keeping them from the public is a fallacy, like, it’s not true.”

“Legally entitled to” is doing a lot of work there.

The Trump White House and his DOJ will make that determination and can use it to throw a broad protective blanket over any evidence damaging to Trump.

Trump Gives Himself An Enormous Out on the Epstein Files Epstein Politics Shift on the Hill President Trump’s absurd effort to avoid...

Trump and the White House seem to be leaving themselves a pretty big out. In his social media post declaring he didn’t care if House Oversight got the Epstein files, Trump caveated it by saying they “can have whatever they are legally entitled to.” Well...
talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

Fitzpatrick, the magistrate judge, ordered prosecutors to turn over grand jury materials and recordings to Comey this afternoon. The Justice Department just filed an emergency motion to stay that order so that it can appeal the decision to the district court judge who is overseeing the case.