Happening now: Sentencing for John Wilkerson, of Maryland, before Judge Christopher Cooper. Wilkerson pleaded guilty in August to one misdemeanor count of parading. #CapitolRiot@wusa9
It sounds like we're listening to the hearing through a landline phone inside a bucket of water, so... bear with me.
The DOJ is asking for Wilkerson to serve 60 days home detention as part of a 3-year term of probation, plus 60 hours community service. They point to messages about wanting to burn this "evil machine" to the ground & hoping the military would pick up where rioters left off.
Wilkerson's attorney is asking for him to serve 24 months of probation only, with no home detention. He says those post-riot messages weren't posted online by Wilkerson, and were only sent to one woman.
Wilkerson's attorney says other misdemeanor defendants who misled the FBI or downplayed their involvement in January 6 ultimately got probation.
I would love to learn more about this. John Wilkerson only attended public school until 4th grade, at which point he was homeschooled in a program "derived from their church." Also says he got his first job for pay at age 11.
I think Judge Cooper is talking now, but it's just a low rumble followed by keyboard clacking.
🚨 SENTENCE: U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper sentences John Clarence Wilkerson IV, of Maryland, to 36 months of probation, 60 hours of community service and a $2,500 fine. He'll also have to pay $500 in restitution. #CapitolRiot@wusa9@EricFlackTV
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Back in Greenbelt this morning to see if the Trump administration will agree to a 48-hour "pause" if Kilmar Abrego Garcia does in fact enter ICE custody next week.
Judge Xinis is fed up with the DOJ, which has so far failed to produce Abrego Garcia's immigration detainer as ordered. She's not going to take their word that it exists.
Xinis: "From day one you have taken the presumption of regularity and you’ve destroyed it, in my view.”
Abrego Garcia's attorney Andrew Rossman says ICE's third-country deportation policy is facially unconstitutional. It allows, he points out, immediate deportation to South Sudan -- which currently has this travel advisory from the State Department.
STARTING SOON: The Justice Department will argue the Trump administration did not violate a court order over the weekend by deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members under an invocation of the Alien Enemies Act. wusa9.com/article/news/n…
Chief Judge James Boasberg: "I've called today's hearing solely to perform fact-finding about the government's compliance with my order."
Judge Boasberg says he's not planning on issuing any rulings today.
The DOJ has appealed both his TRO over the weekend and his decision to hold this hearing today -- although the latter, at least, to no avail. DOJ also now wants Boasberg removed from the case.
This hearing has gotten a slow start as Judge Reyes presses both sides to establish some agreed facts. For one, she asks DOJ attorney if the plaintiffs are all fit to serve:
“We don’t dispute that they are all physically and mentally fit to serve under the current policy.”
Judge Reyes: "If we had President Trump here right now, and I asked, ‘Is this a transgender ban?’ What do you think he would say?”
DOJ attorney Jason Lynch: "I have no idea your honor."
Reyes: “I do. He’d say, ‘Of course it is.’ Because he calls it a transgender ban.”
Judge Reyes isn't satisfied with either side's definition of transgender. She says the plaintiffs' is too narrow and runs into the same problems as the Doe 2 v. Trump case from the 2017 transgender ban.
Government's definition she says is too broad and ill-defined.
Changing gears a bit, at 3 p.m. there's now a hearing on a lawsuit filed last night by the foreign service workers union seeking to halt the Trump administration's wholesale dismantling of USAID, which they say has generated a "global humanitarian crisis."
The hearing is getting started. On the government's side is Brett Schumate, the acting assistant attorney general heading up the DOJ's Civil Division.
Schumate says the Trump administration is "unwilling to alter their current plans."
Trump's order pardoned people *convicted* of crimes related to Jan. 6.
Defendants still awaiting trial or sentencing -- the vast majority at the jail -- have not been pardoned. Trump ordered their cases dismissed. That's not going to happen at 11 p.m. on a federal holiday.
The two people apparently released from the jail tonight, the Valentin brothers of Pennsylvania, were sentenced on Friday. Thus, pardoned and released. wusa9.com/article/news/n…
The confusion is understandable. Pardoning is something the president can do by fiat. Dismissing a federal case requires a U.S attorney to file a motion with the presiding judge, who then must grant the motion and order the defendant's release.
STARTING NOW: Rudy Giuliani is back in federal court in D.C. as a judge hears arguments about whether he should be held in contempt for allegedly resuming defamatory statements against two former Georgia election workers. wusa9.com/article/news/p…
Judge Beryl A. Howell starts off by saying she'd hoped, after sitting through the civil trial and agreeing to a consent agreement, Giuliani would "stop saying such fabricated lies. Especially publicly."
Ruby Freeman's and Shaye Moss's attorney, Michael Gottlieb, says it's "implausible" that Giuliani was talking about anyone other than his clients on his podcast.
"Mr. Giuliani knew exactly what he was doing in making these statements," Gottlieb says.