It’s Not Enough But It’s Something: DC Tenuously Holds The Line Against Trump

INSIDE: Kari Lake ... Lisa Cook ... Abrego Garcia

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A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.

More The Exception Than The Rule

Examples of capitulation and surrender to Trump’s authoritarianism continue to outpace those of defiance and resistance. But over the last few days in the District of Columbia, which Trump is pretending to occupy, we’ve seen a few instances of holding the line against the worst of his transgressions. They’re relatively small and by themselves, they’re not enough. But two examples in particular stand out:

You Will Deny Me Three Times

Three different federal grand juries in D.C. refused to indict a woman on felony charges that she assaulted an FBI agent during an immigration protest in July. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office finally conceded Monday and knocked it down to a misdemeanor, which doesn’t require a grand jury to charge.

It is relatively unusual for a grand jury to return a no-true bill.

It is highly unusual for three grand juries to return no-true bills in the same case.

It is questionable, to say the least, for prosecutors to persist in pursuing a felony indictment with a third grand jury.

Sidney Lori Reid, a protestor, was accused by prosecutors of injuring an FBI agent near the D.C. jail during the transfer of alleged gang members.

The Trump DOJ does not seemed chastened by the debacle of this case, the NYT reports (emphasis mine):

Addressing the criticism that the U.S. attorney’s office has received for its crackdown in recent days, Akaash M. Singh, a high-ranking official at the Justice Department, met with federal prosecutors on Monday, telling them that they should not be cowed by news articles, according to two people familiar with the matter. Mr. Singh also told prosecutors that if sitting grand jurors rejected their efforts to bring serious charges, they should simply impanel new grand juries, the people said.

You may recall that federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have also struggled to secure grand jury indictments of ICE protestors.

‘Absolutely Maddening’

In another case arising out of the Trumpian occupation of D.C., U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office moved to dismiss a firearms charge that was the product of an unlawful search — but not before U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui of Washington, D.C., savaged the government for its misconduct, HuffPost reports.

Torez Riley, a Black man on his way into a Trader Joe’s, was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm after he was searched by local law enforcement backed by federal agents.

Calling the case “absolutely maddening,” Faruqui said from the bench that there was no basis to search Riley other than the color of his skin.

“The Sixth Amendment doesn’t get thrown out the window because the government has decided to make a show of arresting people,” Faruqui said, in apparent reference to Trump’s federal operation in D.C.

As the HuffPost’s Dave Jamieson reports:

[Faruqui] said evidence from illegal searches has been suppressed in several of the cases he has overseen since Trump’s takeover. He described the mentality of the U.S. attorney’s office as “charge first, ask questions later.” And he noted that it all seemed to be for spectacle — “some big celebration” — that was “fundamentally damaging to our city.”

“Lawlessness cannot come from the government,” said Faruqui, who was himself a prosecutor for 12 years. “We’re pushing the boundaries here. We’re beyond the boundaries and something is going to have to break.”

The Riley case was among those highlighted by the NYT in a Sunday story on the weak and overcharged cases that have been charged in D.C. since Trump’s big show of force began.

Standing Up to the Dictator-in-Chief

Jonathan Bernstein assesses the current moment: “Trump’s buffoonery make[s] him very possible to defeat … but … if enough people surrender to him, he could wind up fully destroying the republic, incompetence and all. And the history of autocracy is full of those who regretted failing to stand up and fight when they still could.”

Federal Judge Threatens Kari Lake With Contempt

As a last step before a contempt trial, U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth of Washington, D.C., ordered the deposition of Kari Lake. Lamberth is seeking to enforce his order restoring programming at Voice of America, whose dismantling Lake has presided over.

Trump Wants Black University President To Grovel

The Trump Department of Education is demanding a personal apology from George Mason University President Gregory Washington for his DEI policies as part of a settlement of its trumped-up claims that the Virginia public university violated civil rights law. Washington is refusing to apologize.

Trump Purports To Fire The Fed’s Lisa Cook

In a Constitution-shaking move that could have long-term adverse consequences for the rule of law and the U.S. economy, President Trump announced he was firing Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook for cause. Cook said she would fight her purported termination.

Judge Xinis Blocks Deportation of Abrego Garcia

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has blocked for now the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, including to Uganda. Her decision came after an emergency phone hearing Monday.

The Trump DHS continued to treat the case with a casual callousness that shocks the conscience:

TPM Exclusive

The University of Michigan hospital system confirmed to TPM’s Josh Kovensky and Kate Riga that it’s discontinuing gender-affirming care for those under 19 after receiving a subpoena from the Trump administration.

Oopsie!

The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t kept text message data among top officials since early April, it told a watchdog group in response to a FOIA request. That would appear to be a violation of the Federal Records Act.

Quote of the Day

“I don’t want to be defense only. We want offense too.” –President Donald Trump, who wants to rename the Department of Defense the Department of War

Have We Already Crossed The Line Into Fascism?

Garrett Graff argues we’re already there:

The United States, just months before its 250^th birthday as the world’s leading democracy, has tipped over the edge into authoritarianism and fascism. In the end, faster than I imagined possible, it did happen here. The precise moment when and where in recent weeks America crossed that invisible line from democracy into authoritarianism can and will be debated by future historians, but it’s clear that the line itself has been crossed.

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