How DOJ’s ‘Brashest Enforcer’ Is Key to the Abrego Garcia Case
INSIDE: Aakash Singh ... Sunshine Sykes ... Lori Chavez-DeRemer
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Remember This Name
A new Bloomberg piece on a key figure in the Trump DOJ could have real-world, on-the-ground implications for Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s vindictive prosecution claim.
The subject of the profile is 33-year-old associate deputy attorney general Aakash Singh, who works in the office of Todd Blanche and is described as DOJ’s “brashest enforcer” in transmitting the demands of the Trump White House to the 94 U.S. attorneys around the country.
“He’s brought an unprecedented move-fast-and-break-things approach to steering contentious cases that have drawn rebukes from judges and juries and alarmed top prosecutors,” Bloomberg reports, citing a conference call Singh led last month with U.S. attorneys where he declared President Trump to be their “chief client.”
After Singh was endorsed for a role at Main Justice by right-wing bomb-thrower Mike Davis, he “reported to the deputy AG’s office 13 months ago and quickly became an omnipresent figure prodding US attorneys’ offices for information far more frequently than chief prosecutors had experienced in prior administrations,” according to Bloomberg.
It’s a great profile on its own terms, with lots of granular detail and nuance, but it is also very relevant to Abrego Garcia’s claims of vindictive prosecution in his criminal case in Nashville, where a key evidentiary hearing is scheduled for next week. Singh is perhaps the central figure in the vindictive prosecution saga.
Here’s the backstory on Singh’s controversial role …
After months of slow-rolling the production of documents sought last year by Abrego Garcia, the Trump DOJ finally coughed up relevant materials for the judge in the case to review last fall. After reviewing the documents, U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. ordered on Dec. 3 that they must be turned over to Abrego Garcia (emphasis mine): “The documents that must be produced connect back to Blanche because the documents suggest that Singh had a leading role in the government’s decision to prosecute and Singh works in Blanche’s office.”
The Trump DOJ has argued that interim U.S. Attorney Robert McGuire solely made the decision to prosecute Abrego Garcia, and the inquiry should stop there. But after reviewing the documents, Crenshaw was unconvinced: “These documents show that McGuire did not act alone and to the extent McGuire had input on the decision to prosecute, he shared it with Singh and others.”
Crenshaw’s order lists the various internal DOJ documents at issue and Singh’s role overseeing McGuire’s handling of the case, which in many ways mirrors Bloomberg’s description of Singh’s MO. Here are the Singh-related documents from Crenshaw’s order:
April 27, 2025: “Aakash Singh email requests time to discuss Abrego’s cooperating witness with Assistant Attorneys General in Tennessee, Alabama and Texas, including McGuire.”
April 28, 2025: “Aakash Singh receives Tennessee Highway Patrol report on Abrego.”
April 30, 2025: “Aakash Singh receives email from Assistant Attorneys General in Tennessee, Alabama and Texas regarding Abrego’s cooperating witness and his appearance before the grand jury.”
April 30, 2025: “Emails between Aakash Singh, McGuire and Jacob Warren, regarding criminal charges arising from the November 2022 Abrego traffic stop. Singh writes ‘It’s a top priority.’ McGuire writes ‘we want the high command looped in.’”
May 18, 2025: “Aakash Singh receives an email update on Abrego indictment, grand jury testimony, whether indictment will be sealed or open that states: ‘We’re working over the weekend to finalize an indictment that we will send to you tomorrow night or first thing Monday.’”
May 20, 2025: “Aakash Singh requesting memo from McGuire and others.”
Abrego Garcia was indicted on May 21, 2025.
This generally matches with how Bloomberg describes Singh’s micromanagement of U.S. attorneys, “an unwelcome deviation from decades of apolitical norms” in which they reported directly to the deputy attorney general but still had considerable autonomy:
[Singh’s] emails ordering case-specific data, such as listing all investigations fulfilling various Trump policies, and with single-day deadlines, have proven particularly problematic. Complying with those demands has meant late nights for supervisors redirected from reviewing search warrants or advancing significant prosecutions, several DOJ lawyers said.
Some since departed US attorneys’ offices leaders said the process felt like overt bullying, as they saw no evidence Singh found utility in the data.
In anticipation of the evidentiary hearing on his vindictive prosecution, Abrego Garcia subpoenaed Singh and other top DOJ officials, including Blanche, to testify. The Trump DOJ has fought tooth and nail to keep them from having to testify.
For now, Judge Crenshaw has punted on whether to enforce those subpoenas. He has given the Justice Department a chance at next week’s evidentiary hearing to prove it didn’t engage in a vindictive prosecution. If it fails to prove it, Abrego Garcia wins. If it does establish a good faith basis for the prosecution, Crenshaw will consider letting Abrego Garcia make his case by enforcing his subpoenas and forcing Singh and other DOJ higher-ups to testify.
I’m planning on attending the evidentiary hearing in Nashville next week in person and look forward to bringing you that coverage. More on all of this next week.
Trump Banner Defaces Main Justice
The Destruction: DOJ Edition
Because President Trump has broken the Justice Department, criminal defendants in real cases are not being prosecuted, the AP reports: “A growing number of defendants are beginning to escape accountability, as the remaining prosecutors are forced to dismiss some cases, kill others before charges are filed and seek plea agreements and delays.”
The lead example in the AP story: A 12-time convicted felon was scheduled to stand trial next month on methamphetamine trafficking charges but walked after the prosecutor on his case retired and U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen couldn’t find a replacement.
Mixed News on Mandatory Detentions
The Trump administration’s unilateral reinterpretation of the long-standing law for when undocumented immigrants already in the country can be detained — a position that has been nearly universally rejected by district court judges — found new life from another appeals court yesterday.
For those catching up, this new unmoored interpretation led to (i) the flood of habeas cases that has inundated federal courts; (ii) dozens of judges in hundreds of cases ordering migrants freed from detention; and (iii) the Trump DOJ becoming so overwhelmed by the staggering new caseload that it has missed deadlines, ignored court orders, and in at least one instance been found in contempt of court.
In oral arguments, a three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals — which includes Minnesota — was “friendly” to the Trump administration position that the law allows it to detain all undocumented immigrants without bond hearings. The uber-conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has already sided with the Trump administration’s interpretation.
Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Sunshine S. Sykes of Riverside, California, who previously certified a class action case to challenge the administration’s interpretation of the statute, issued a new order for DHS to provide notice to thousands of immigrants detained nationwide that they can join a lawsuit against the government and get either a hearing or be immediately released, the NYT reports.
Sykes was particularly miffed that the administration continued to detain migrants under its interpretation even though she had set aside an immigration court’s ruling that ratified that interpretation:
Respondents have far crossed the boundaries of constitutional conduct. Somehow, even after the judicial declaration of law that the DHS was misguided in its act of legal interpretation that nullified portions of a congressionally enacted statute, Respondents still insist they can continue their campaign of illegal action. The shameless submission that is Respondents’ Opposition deliberately seeks to erode any semblance of separation of powers.
Thread of the Day
Immigrant advocate Aaron Reichlin-Melnick explains the impact of a new DHS memo, first reported by Chris Geidner:
Only the Best People
The anesthesiologist husband of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer has been barred from the department’s D.C. headquarters after at least two female staff members complained that he had sexually assaulted them, the NYT reports. One of the alleged incidents was reportedly caught on a secrity camera, and the D.C. police sexual assault unit is investigating:
After the women described the incidents to investigators, Dr. [Shawn] DeRemer was barred from entering the Labor Department’s premises, according to people familiar with the decision, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the allegations and ongoing investigations surrounding the department.
The Labor Department under Chavez-DeRemer has been a hot mess, with most of the scrutiny on the secretary herself, not her husband:
The inspector general’s office is investigating a formal complaint that Ms. Chavez-DeRemer was having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a subordinate — a member of her security detail — and abusing her office by taking staff to strip clubs, drinking alcohol on the job and taking personal trips at taxpayer expense. Her lawyer has denied the allegations.
Neither of them responded to the NYT for its article.
The Corruption: Crypto Edition
WSJ: Pardoned Binance Founder Hobnobs With Trump Sons and Administration Officials at Mar-a-Lago Crypto Fest
Amazon Tops Walmart
A landmark in the history of American capitalism: Amazon’s annual revenues in 2025 surpassed Walmart’s for the first time, dethroning it as the largest U.S. company by revenue.
Graffiti of the Day
Hot tips? Juicy scuttlebutt? Keen insights? Let me know. For sensitive information, use the encrypted methods here.
Best... graffiti... ever !!!
these judges are not up to the task at hand. put these people in jail or nothing will change, even if it’s just long enough for DOJ to run to appeal. overwhelm the appeals court and we might see things change.