FLASH: House Select Jan 6 Committee subpoenas House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep Scott Perry (R-PA), Rep Mo Brooks (R-AL), Rep Andy Biggs (R-AZ) as part of its growing investigation
Committee chairman Rep Bennie Thompson (D-MS) to GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy: “Unfortunately you declined voluntary cooperation”
Committee: Leader McCarthy was in communication with President Trump before, during, and after the attack on Jan 6
The committee has already completed approx. 1,000 interviews. Its public hearings begin in less than a month
Committee: Rep Jordan “was in communication with President Trump on January 6th and participated in meetings and discussions throughout late 2020 and early 2021 about strategies for overturning the 2020 election”
Per @cbszak - When asked if he thinks House GOP members will comply with subpoenas, House Select Jan 6 Committee chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said: "I hope they do. I hope they do"
Rep McCarthy (R-CA) tells reporters: “I have not seen the subpoena. I guess they sent it to you guys before they sent it to me. Look, my view on the committee has not changed. They're not conducting a legitimate investigation.”
Committee explains subpoena for Rep Scott Perry (R-PA): "(Rep Perry) was directly involved with efforts to corrupt the Department of Justice and install Jeffrey Clark as acting Attorney General."
Committee re: Rep Biggs: "Biggs participated in meetings to plan various aspects of Jan 6 & was involved with plans to bring protestors to Washington for the counting of Electoral College... was involved in efforts to persuade state officials that the 2020 election was stolen"
Committee: "Rep Mo Brooks spoke at the rally on January 6th, encouraging rioters to “start taking down names and kicking ass.” In addition, Mr. Brooks has publicly described conversations in which the former President urged him to work to “rescind the election of 2020”
Committee and court filings have already revealed text messages sent by Rep Jim Jordan to Mark Meadows ahead of Jan 6
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Committee and court filings have already revealed text messages sent by Rep Scott Perry to Mark Meadows ahead of Jan 6
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Committee: "While Members of Congress typically testify voluntarily before committees when asked, in recent years the House Ethics Committee has issued a number of subpoenas to Members of Congress for testimony or documents."
Rep Jamie Raskin (D-MD): "We have operated in complete good faith with respect to all of our witnesses"
NEW: In a blistering new order, federal judge Paula Xinis of Maryland says the Trump Administration is making "a willful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations" in the court case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia
Judge Paula Xinis also finds the Trump Admin has "sought refuge behind vague and unsubstantiated assertions of privilege, using them as a shield to obstruct discovery and evade compliance with this court's orders" in Kilmar Abrego Garcia case
The judge's order also throws shade on the Trump Admin's claim Abrego Garcia is out of their control ... in Salvadoran custody
Judge: "Indeed, custody can be joint, and custodial status may be controlled by the Defendants acting in concert with El Salvador"
FLASH: Judge James Boasberg issues opinion on March 15 deportations
"The government’s actions on that day demonstrate a willful disregard for its Order, sufficient for the court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt"
The opinion from chief DC federal judge James Boasberg over the defiance of his order to "turn the planes around" for further review on March 15
Judge James Boasberg (more): "The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders — especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it. To permit such officials to freely 'annul the judgments of the courts of the United States' would not just 'destroy the rights acquired under those judgments'.. it would make 'a solemn mockery' of the constitution itself"
Justice Dept asked Maryland judge to delay today's 1pm hearing in the case of mistaken deportee Kilmar Abrego Garcia
Judge Paula Xinis says "no". Parties must show at 1pm
Justice Dept submits court filing, arguing it can't meet judge's deadline for update on Kilmar Abrego Garcia by the judge's morning deadline
Filing: "Foreign affairs cannot operate on judicial timelines, in part because it involves sensitive country-specific considerations wholly inappropriate for judicial review"
Justice Dept (more) to judge:
"In light of the insufficient amount of time afforded to review the Supreme Court’s order following the dissolution of the adm. stay in this case, Defendants are not in a position where they 'can' share any information requested by the Court"
NEW: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) is raising questions right now about Ed Martin, Trump's nominee to be US Attorney in Wash. DC
Durbin shows image of Martin tweet from Jan 6, 2021
Durbin: "Martin was at the Capitol on that dark day, when he posted 'Like Mardi Gras in DC today"
Sen. Durbin (more) about Ed Martin's nomination: "When leaders of the Oath Keepers, a domestic violent extremist organization, were prosecuted for seditious conspiracy for their role in planning the January 6 attack, Mr. Martin responded, quote, 'Oath Keepers are all of us”
Sen. Durbin (more) says he wants to question Trump nominee Ed Martin about Martin's "close relationship" with a January 6 rioter and alleged "antisemitic and racist Nazi sympathizer"
The Justice Department is seeking to drop its criminal case against a Virginia man, who was accused of being the “east coast leader” of the MS-13 gang, and whose arrest was announced by Attorney General Pam Bondi in a nationally televised press conference last month
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Bondi had referred to Henrry Villatoro Santos as “one of the top members and head of the east coast” of the violent MS-13 gang during a March 27 news conference in Manassas, Virginia. Bondi had also described Villatoro Santos as being responsible for “very violent crimes, anything you can associate with MS13. He was the leader over it, all of the violent crimes.”
In a court filing Wednesday in Alexandria, Virginia, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia asked a judge “to dismiss without prejudice the criminal complaint presently pending against the defendant.” When asked for why the case was being a dropped, a spokesperson for Bondi responded with a clip of Bondi saying on March 27 that Villatoro Santos “won’t be in this country much longer”