You gotta be kidding me

'UNIMAGINABLE CRUELTY': Judge Gary Brown, a Trump appointeee from NY, thrashes DHS' treatment of a man who came to the US at 9 as an abuse/neglect victim, has no criminal record and became a college grad. "The laws of decency condemn such villainy." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

This conversation is now live! Tune in: youtube.com/live/KLFhAk6...

Personal news update: I'm delighted to announce that as of today, I am an actual Bluesky employee! I'll be working to welcome indie media and local govt to Bsky—and supporting those already here. I'll always want to hear your thoughts on how we can make Bsky the sort of social media we all want!

In 30 minutes, @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org will talk to @alanrozenshtein.com about the Pentagon's designation of the AI company Anthropic as a supply chain risk. Watch the discussion live on Lawfare's YouTube channel: youtube.com/live/KLFhAk6...

to be honest about sagging trust in news you'd have to talk about corporatism, corporate power, and the ad engagement model's corrosive impact on truth. You'd also have to be honest about right wing propaganda. Being honest about any of this is a financial risk, so they just ignore all of it.

IT’S OUR TIME. EVERYBODY CELEBRATE THE WEDDING THIS MOMENT CREATED www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPCJ...

Choosing to believe that this joke made its way into a production of The Mikado thanks to the influence of the #WITAOD movement www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

Just saw a production of The Mikado in which there was a joke about Pooh-Bah being the administrator of DOGE. Immediately thought of @annabower.bsky.social

LIVE NOW: @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org, @atabatabai.bsky.social, Troy Edwards, and @sranderson.bsky.social are discussing the U.S. strikes on Iran, the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's response, and what may happen. Watch their conversation: open.substack.com/live-stream/...

With alt text. I’ve…never seen a court talk like this before?

In 1 hour, join @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org, @sranderson.bsky.social, @annabower.bsky.social, @rparloff.bsky.social, @mollyroberts.bsky.social, @ericcolumbus.bsky.social, and Troy Edwards for this week's The Trials of the Trump Administration! Tune in here: youtube.com/live/6frEWm4...

DEVELOPING: Superseding indictment returned in Don Lemon Minnesota church protest case. Local press says more defendants added and arrested. Awaiting more details. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/27... Report: www.kare11.com/article/news...

@annabower.bsky.social is doing one of the most important jobs in American journalism right now: showing up to federal courts and telling us exactly what is being said and done in there in our names as it happens 🫡

The email also says that prosecutors are on track to present the indictment to the grand jury by Wednesday. Singh replies on Sunday, May 18: "Let's keep close hold until we get clearance." Patton: Clearance means approval, right? McGuire: Not sure what he meant by "clearance"...still not sure

This guy (a Pentagon official) has tweeted about Anthropic no less than 7 times over the past 2 hours.

Ummmmmmm

I think this was enough to break threading on bluesky. We didn't even need @gregdoucette.bsky.social to rile up a bunch of goobs.

Here are some pics I got of Kilmar Abrego Garcia walking out of the courthouse today. He’s a free man — at least for now.

Anna kills it. All donations to @lawfaremedia.org are fully tax-deductible. If you don't already, follow @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org the founder & editor-in-chief. He's a bit of a troublemaker, check his feed for some fun.

What a gift such a clearly unconstitutional executive order would be! Though divorced from legal and factual reality, it would enable the courts to invalidate this power grab well in advance of the election, and confirm the clear limits to fed'l interference in elections. wapo.st/3N5cpEn

The Conference of Catholic Bishops is... not playing around in this brief. www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...

im trying to keep my subscriptions to a minimum and as an alternative i make donations to independent journalists when i really appreciate the stuff theyre posting online for free. doesnt have to be much, but IMO anna's constant power skeeting at federal court is very worthy of a donation

Thanks for following! If you value our live court reporting, please consider supporting @lawfaremedia.org. Our coverage is: ✅ Nonprofit ✅ Never paywalled ✅ Original reporting from journalists who are actually in the room ✅ Excessively detailed (you’re welcome) givebutter.com/journalism/a...

Patton turns to an email chain McGuire is on with Warren (Task Force Vulcan team member) and Singh. Warren gives Singh updates, tells him about grand jury testimony and says they are working to finalize an indictment that they will get to Singh in the next few days. Suggests call to discuss draft.

At 4:30 pm ET today, @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org will sit down with @annabower.bsky.social to discuss what occurred at today's evidentiary hearing in the criminal case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Watch the livestream here:

Patton: Mr. McGuire, you understand generally that clearance means approval, right? McGuire: Yeah, but that's why I'm saying I still don't understand why he used that phrase. McGuire contends that he wasn't seeking "approval"...which is why he wasn't sure what Singh meant by that.

As expected, no ruling from the bench. The judge wants post-hearing briefs. And we're done! Thanks for following. Lawfare is a non-profit newsroom. Our content isn't paywalled, but we need your support to do what we do! If you can, please consider donating: givebutter.com/journalism/a...

Woodward returns to the subject of the draft charging documents McGuire sent Aakash Singh at main justice. You never received any feedback on those documents? McGuire: No, no redlining, etc. Nothing. Never spoke to Blanche or Bove about the charges. I wanted to feel good about it on my own.

Patton: Did you share Schrader's declination memo with anyone? McGuire: I told Aakash Singh in a phone call that Schrader disagreed with the charging decision and that he might resign if we moved forward with charges.

There's an outage happening which manifests as me seeing push notifications from people (asking for help) but then unable to see the posts in the app. For other people, this shows up as disappearing posts and likes and so on. We're working on it!

Patton: And Mr. Schrader did put his thoughts in writing, and he asked you to pass his thoughts along to relevant parties in DC, right? And he did that because he knew that DC was involved in the charging decision in this case? McGuire: I don't know why he asked that, I really don't....

Patton: You end by telling people not to put their thoughts in writing? Isn't it true you didn't want people putting in writing we shouldn't be charging this case? McGuire: No, if someone emailed this to me, it would've been fine. But I thought it would be better to discuss as a group.

Patton: And in this email you say that you heard DAG and PDAG want the case charged sooner rather than later. Where did you hear that? McGuire: I had heard that but I honestly don't remember where. I wanted to be transparent with team that I heard that but did not receive specific direction

Patton proceeds with line of cross examination: You were acting US attorney at the time? You had other cases? Mr Abrego was in El Salvador? But this was your highest priority? McGuire: Yes, at this point events were 2+ years old, I wanted to have answer for the public about what we would do...

And we're back. Judge Crenshaw is on the bench. Before McGuire's cross examination begins, however, he announces that he thinks some of the redacted materials in the emails need not be redacted. At the bench, shows counsel which parts should be unredacted.

The evidentiary hearing in Kilmar Abrego Garcia's criminal case is about to resume. Follow along! 👇⬇️👇

Spotted in the hallway during the break: Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his legal team eating take-out sandwiches from Jimmy John's. Jealous! I'm stuck with Grandma's Vanilla Creme Cookies from the vending machine.

I'll be back soon, going to find a vending machine snack during this break! bsky.app/profile/anna...

There are some technical difficulties so the court is taking a 30 minute break. Thanks to everyone for following along! If you appreciate our detailed analysis and live coverage of court hearings, I hope you'll consider supporting our non-profit newsroom! givebutter.com/journalism/a...

Patton: After you speak of speaking indictment to Singh, he says he appreciates you pushing on this and says it's a "top priority for us." He then asks for draft complaint. So he's working with you on details of charging? McGuire: Way I saw that was he wanted to see what the facts are

Apologies for the delay....The audio and video feed went out in the media room, and I had to run down to the courtroom, where electronics are prohibited. The feed is still down at the moment but we're on a break. I'm told they're working on getting the feed back up. McGuire is still on the stand.

Saoud departs. Next up on the witness stand is Robert McGuire, the former acting US Attorney. (McGuire is now first assistant in the Middle District of Tennessee. Braden Boucek is U.S. Attorney).

Stanley Woodward is up to conduct direct examination. It's rapid fire. Did anyone direct you to seek indictment of Abrego? Blanche? Anyone at White House? Etc. McGuire: No, no, no.

The United States calls its first witness: Rana Saoud, Special Agent in Charge at Homeland Security Investigations Nashville office from July of 2023 until her recent retirement in November of 2025. Saoud is sworn in at the witness stand. She's wearing a grey suit jacket and blue top.

Here we go. "All rise" as Judge Crenshaw enters the room and takes his seat behind the bench. Lawyers make their appearances. For DOJ, Stanley Woodward is here, joined by members of "Task Force Vulcan." For Abrego, Sean Hecker is here with his colleagues.

A federal judge, Waverly Crenshaw, determined that Kilmar Abrego Garcia raised evidence of vindictiveness. Now, the burden shifts to the government to prove that its criminal prosecution of Abrego on human smuggling charges was not motivated by vindictiveness. Here's the witness list:

HAPPENING NOW: Good morning from the federal courthouse in Nashville, Tennessee. A federal judge is set to preside over an evidentiary hearing on whether the United States government is vindictively prosecuting Kilmar Abrego Garcia. I'm here for @lawfaremedia.org. Follow along ⬇️⬇️⬇️

When she’s right, she’s right