Ex-AUSA Now Under Criminal Investigation
The Trump DOJ has fired the federal prosecutor who sought to bring civil rights charges against an ICE agent for the January shooting of a man through the closed door of his home during Operation Metro Surge.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Evans of Minneapolis was fired — and is now himself reportedly under criminal investigation — after ProPublica published emails he sent to lawyers for the victims apologizing that his efforts to bring more serious civil rights charges against ICE agent Christian Castro were being blocked by Main Justice.
“This is being directed by the Main Justice and the US Attorney,” Evans wrote in the email. “I objected in the strongest possible terms and fought it as hard as I could. It wasn’t enough.”
Evans concluded his email: “It has been an honor and a privilege to try to get justice for your clients.”
News of Evans’ firing came the same day that Castro was indicted on lesser charges of making false statements for allegedly lying to investigators about the shooting. Castro is facing separate state charges in Minnesota, but state prosecutors failed in their efforts to have Castro extradited from Texas after he was arrested there.
In addition to being fired, Evans is now under federal criminal investigation, according to various reports. CBS News says it’s for alleged leaks; the AP says it’s for alleged obstruction of a grand jury probe; the WaPo says it’s for alleged obstruction of justice.
Even the lesser charges are a big reversal for the Trump DOJ, which originally charged Castro’s victims over the incident. But the case came apart as new evidence, including video, emerged that undercut Castro’s account. Within a month, the case was dropped.
Castro, the first federal agent to face federal charges over Operation Metro Surge, turned himself in to federal authorities in Texas on Thursday. Oddly, the Trump DOJ says a decision on the civil rights charges against Castro has still not been made.
Trump DOJ Promotes Aakash Singh
Aasash Singh, who has been the main point of contact between Main Justice and U.S. attorneys around the country and a key figure in some of the Trump II retributive prosecutions, has been promoted to principal associate deputy attorney general, Bloomberg reports:
Attorney General Todd Blanche, in one of his first major personnel changes since being sworn in last month, is now handing Singh a more sprawling portfolio. Past PADAGs, including Trump’s initial pick in this administration, Emil Bove, have wielded significant law enforcement power behind the scenes by applying tough tactics — at times making unpopular decisions affecting the career workforce.
Living in the Worst Timeline
TPM’s Layla A. Jones: How a Baseless, Right-Wing Social Media Panic Led to Dramatic Changes at the Census Bureau
Trump USPS Ballot Scheme Back at SCOTUS
With North Carolina starting to mail out ballots today, the Trump administration raced back to the Supreme Court on Thursday asking it to stay a lower court ruling which blocked its latest effort to use the Postal Service to spearhead a massive federal intervention in the running of the midterm elections.
Two Big Redistricting Wins for Democrats
Missouri: The state Supreme Court has thrown out the new GOP-drawn map used in last month’s primary that eliminated one of the state’s two Democratic congressional districts and restored the old map — setting up the strange prospect of the general election being contested by candidates who were nominated by districts that no longer exist. The court ruled that the new map must be approved by voters before it can go into effect, so the new map will also be a referendum item on the November ballot.
Maryland: The state Supreme Court cleared the way for a proposed amendment to the state constitution to appear on the November ballot that would make it easier for Democrats to gerrymander congressional districts in their favor in time for the 2028 election.
Nigel Farage Targeted in Sting Operation
In the United Kingdom, two of Nigel Farage’s top aides have stepped down after Channel 4 aired a video of an undercover sting operation targeting Farage. In the videos, in which Farage and the two aides appears, journalists posing as a rich American donor and his UK-based son schemed on how to get around UK election law on foreign donations to contribute £500,000 to Farage’s Reform UK party.
Germany Election Watch
A last bit of analysis of German domestic politics ahead of Sunday’s election in which the far-right AfD party is poised to win a historic victory in one state:
Politico: How Germany’s Firewall Against the Far Right Collapsed
NYT: Something Alarming Is About to Happen in Germany
Thread of the Day
How Bad Was the Open AI Breakout?
A clearer, though still imperfect, picture is slowly emerging of the seriousness of the hack of Hugging Face by Open AI agents who broke out of their sandbox. For your long weekend reads, let me suggest:
At the NYT, Kevin Roose has the tl;dr: Why the Hugging Face Hack Should Make You Worry More About A.I.
Ajeya Cotra, one of the outside investigators allowed in by Open AI to assess some (but not all) of what happened, recounts her takeaways from the investigation: “[T]his incident feels like it’s more than 50% of the way to full-blown AI takeover …”
In the The Rise and Fall of Agent Civilizations, Dwarkesh Patel draws particular attention to what happened after the Hugging Face hack: The Open AI agents seem to have hacked Open AI itself, but that later incident hasn’t been subject to outside investigation.
Sad to See the Summer Go
Enjoy the long weekend. See you back here Tuesday.
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Possibly Bonnie Raitt's best album!
AUSA Matthew Evans should be given a medal of honor.