Originally published at: The Trump DOJ’s Defense Of The Abrego Garcia Prosecution Only Works If You Squint Real Hard
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE–The Trump DOJ has spent the last several months constructing a narrowly focused narrative that then-acting U.S. Attorney Robert McGuire of Nashville was the sole decider in seeking a human smuggling indictment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia last May while he was still confined in El Salvador, a victim of a wrongful deportation in violation…
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Did he have the tattoo on his hand?
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For the Trump DOJ, the most uncomfortable fact to intrude on its narrative in today’s testimony in front of U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. of Nashville was that Associate Deputy Attorney General Aakash Singh already knew more about the criminal investigation of Abrego Garcia than McGuire did when they first discussed the case.
"Was anyone else reminded of me when they read that passage?"
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“I wasn’t going to charge something I didn’t believe in,” an obvious lie.
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“McGuire testified that he would have refused to prosecute if the facts didn’t support it. “I wasn’t going to charge something I didn’t believe in,” he said. But that sidesteps the larger point that HSI raced to reopen the investigation”
It would be nice to know more about the trafficking allegation. At this point, I will not believe something just because the assistant director is trying to smear the suspect. I think that if the case were solid, we all would know the facts about that allegation by now and that everybody would be supporting the agency.
Alfred Adler said:
Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.”
From the link below:
“When considering whom to trust, one compares words and deeds. When Adler speaks of “movement,” he is referencing action like the old saying, “Action speaks louder than words.” He goes beyond that to say that “only” movement – action – can be trusted. He discounts words altogether.”
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I guess Europeans would react to Supreme Leader banners on government buildings more vigorously. Certainly older Germans and Albanians would be revolted. And what does it say about the collapse of ministerial function?
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This paragraph stands out:
After learning of the traffic stop, Saoud first called the Tennessee Highway Patrol and then McGuire directly because of the high-profile nature of the case, Saoud testified. Then, she said, she called her direct supervisor, at HSI headquarters in DC, and told him she was looking into it “given the notoriety of the individual involved.” She cast it as a bureaucratic heads up. “We’re not swayed by public attention or political considerations in deciding whether to investigate,” she said.
So this agent started an investigation because someone showed her a newspaper article, and then took it up the chain of command “because of the high-profile nature of the case” and because of the “notoriety of the individual involved.” And she expects us, and more importantly this Judge, to believe she was “not swayed by public attention or political considerations in deciding whether to investigate.”
Riiiiight….
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Photo, please.
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I’ll say one thing once anyone in this administration goes down the rabbit hole, there is no backing out even when it would be in their best interest.
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Clarification. Important to note the difference between human ‘trafficking’ and human ‘smuggling’. Trafficking is involuntary, the person trafficked is the victim of kidnapping. In human 'smuggling, the person smuggled wants to be illegally transported into the country. David uses the term trafficking at one point in the post; it should be smuggling. No one is alleging trafficking.
ETA: It says something, not necessarily something decisive, about the vindictiveness of the charge and a reason it was not charged in 2022. He was a driver, the kind of person DOJ would charge to get them to flip on higher-ups in the smuggling operation, if they had evidence, which they didn’t. The owner of the vehicle, the presumed organizer of the smuggling activity, is already incarcerated (not sure what for, but possibly human smuggling).
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Have watched/read summaries from three individuals who were in court: David, Anna Bower and Adam Klasfeld.
What they all described follows the DOJ pattern of presenting lower-level witnesses who have no knowledge of and cannot testify to whatever machinations were going on elsewhere and at higher levels within the DOJ and DHS.
No one focused on the third person on the government’s witness list, an HSI agent in Baltimore who was involved in the Homeland Security investigation that was closed on April 1 and reopened on April 17. He was not called. Presumably, whatever he had to say about activities and conversations within and between DHS and DOJ would not have been helpful to the government’s cause, and it’s puzzling why he would be on the witness list in the first place. I’m curious to know what Judge Crenshaw can/is permitted to infer from the fact he wasn’t called.
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The more hierarchic the society, the more simplified the messaging. The difference inside and outside the American information bubble is already noticeable. When you have a government of the oligarchs, by the oligarchs and for the oligarchs, its is completely possible for one man to own both CBS and CNN without the slightest government agency pushback. Pretty soon American news will be little more than elevator musak.
PS: Ellison also owns 98% of the Hawaiian island Lanai, the place he has called home since 2020.
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I’m not sure it’s an obvious lie. This dates way back in jurisprudence in authoritarian regimes:
Show me the man and I will show you the crime. (Also translated as “Give me the man and I will give you the case against him.”)
Is attributed to Lavrenti Beria, head of Stalin’s NKVD.
Show me six lines written by the best man in the world and I will find enough therein to hang him.
Is attributed to Cardinal Richelieu (Foreign Secretary under Louis XIII).
But this is the definition of vindictive prosecution: they didn’t begin investigating Abrego Garcia intensively until he became a thorn in their side. It doesn’t matter that the charge may have foundation: it’s like comedy–timing is everything.
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Their own testimony demonstrates the vindictive nature of the prosecution. Still, if I were Abrego Garcia I’d be looking for a new place to make home. This attention from the authorities isn’t going to go away, and I’d hate to live my life under the Federal Government’s constant scrutiny.
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I believe Costa Rica has offered to take him and his family in.
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When TMF croaks, most of Mr. Abrego Garcia’s problems will disappear overnight.
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Well, that goes for the big “traditional” news outlets. Folks will have to search out the smaller indies, like TPM. Which, why would you do when you get all you need from TikTok or (if you’re old) Facebook?
Or in my case, NPR…
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Ellison also will control Tiktok.
Its more about controlling territory in the media space, which please the Great Leader bigly.
- TNT
- CBS
- CNN
- MTV
- TCM
- Showtime
- Adult Swim
- DC Studios
- Paramount+
- Nickelodeon
- HBO/HBO Max
- Comedy Central
- Cartoon Network
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We will need to implement a Teddy Roosevelt style busting of the media trusts. Take it all away from that fascist puke and tax him for his wealth, to boot. Oh, yes, give Lanai back to the state of Hawaii.
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Maybe, but I have my doubts about that. While the Nuremburg defense (but I was just following orders) is universally applied after the fact, before the fact there are always some true believers (Bovino or Homan are good examples at the upper level, while Jonathon Ross and Alexander Pretti’s murderers are good examples at the operational level in our current miasma). If those true believers are left in place they’ll continue to watch Abrego Garcia. It’s how they operate.
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