The Official "Damned Trump" Thread: Phase II

[Angrboda]

After months of mystery around the disappearance of the panels, two media organizations — the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and online media Dutch News — this month published emails obtained through a U.S. Freedom of Information Act request showing that Trump’s DEI policies directly prompted the commission to take down the panels.

The White House did not respond to queries from AP about the removed panels.

U.S. removal of panels honoring Black soldiers at WWII cemetery in the Netherlands draws backlash

[Angrboda]

A federal judge has ordered that the Trump administration must allow funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to continue.

The watchdog, which supporters say protects US consumers from financial harm by powerful banks, lenders and corporations, is at risk of collapsing after Donald Trump vowed to shutter it since he returned to office this year.

The agency’s acting director, Russell Vought, said that since the Federal Reserve has been operating at a loss, it is unable to fund the CFPB.

In a 32-page decision, DC district judge Amy Berman Jackson said that this novel workaround by the Trump administration to “starve” the agency of funding was “manufactured by the defendants” and based solely on an office of legal counsel memo, which said that there were no “combined earnings” available from the Fed for the CFPB – since the agency doesn’t receive its appropriations from Congress.

Judge says Trump administration must continue funding consumer watchdog

[Angrboda]

Federal prosecutors in Nashville have insisted in the past few months that senior Justice Department officials had no involvement in their decision to file charges against Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the immigrant who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March and then brought back to the United States to face indictment.

But on Tuesday, excerpts from several emails released by a federal judge overseeing Mr. Abrego Garcia’s criminal case appeared to directly contradict those assertions, suggesting that Justice Department leaders — including Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general — played a greater role in bringing the charges than prosecutors have acknowledged so far.

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One of the emails, dated April 30, was written by Mr. Singh to Mr. McGuire and another prosecutor, Jacob Warren, as the government was building its criminal case against Mr. Abrego Garcia, who at the time was still in custody in El Salvador.

In it, Mr. Singh made clear that charging Mr. Abrego Garcia was “a top priority” for Mr. Blanche’s office. In response, Mr. McGuire wrote, “We want the high command looped in.”

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In October, Judge Crenshaw issued a preliminary ruling finding that there was a “realistic likelihood” that the administration had in fact brought the case vindictively. That decision allowed Mr. Abrego Garcia’s legal team to seek internal documents from the government.

In his initial order, the judge singled out Mr. Blanche, saying that he had made “remarkable statements” about the criminal case. On the day in June that Mr. Abrego Garcia was brought back to face indictment, Mr. Blanche went on Fox News and declared that the government had started to investigate the case only after Judge Xinis, in Maryland, had questioned the administration’s decision to deport Mr. Abrego Garcia and found that it “had no right.”

The newly released emails only pointed further at Mr. Blanche’s involvement in deciding to charge Mr. Abrego Garcia.

Justice Dept. Leaders Pushed to Charge Abrego Garcia, Emails Show