JUST IN: Unsealed filing in Trump Florida case says there were two rounds of classified documents discovered at Mar-a-Lago *after* the FBI search. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Judge HOWELL also found last year that prosecutors provided sufficient evidence that Trump sought to hide classified documents from prosceutors. It was part of her ruling granting crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
This entire opinion from Judge Howell assessing the evidence prosecutors presented on Trump's "willful retention" of classified docs and efforts to obstruct the probe is extraordinary.
She described Nauta as "dissembling" in his FBI interview as well.
For example, Howell can't fathom how Trump missed the four classified docs in his own bedroom that his lawyer found in December 2022. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
NEW: Attorney found four classified documents in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago bedroom in December 2022 — four months after the FBI search, newly unsealed court documents shows.
MORE: A witness connected to Trump’s Save America PAC scanned and stored documents from the box containing those materials on a laptop provided by the PAC, per Howell’s opinion. politico.com/news/2024/05/2…
NOTABLE: Howell’s opinion was actually unsealed because Trump’s lawyers appended it to their claim of prosecutorial misconduct — citing this footnote in which Howell quotes a procedural text. politico.com/news/2024/05/2…
JUST IN: Chief Judge Boasberg has *denied* Walt Nauta’s request to transfer some grand jury materials from DC to Florida, says Nauta failed to make specific case.
HAPPENING NOW: Rahmullah Lakanwal makes his initial appearance in DC Superior Court, from a hospital bed, on charges for last week's National Guard shooting.
He's being apprised, through an interpreter, of the murder charge against him as well as charges of possessing of a firearm during commission of a violent offense, assault w intent to kill while armed.
Prosecutors are asking the judge to keep Lakanwal detained during pretrial proceedings. Lakanwal, who does appear to be in pain, says he can't open his eyes. His attorney is advising him not to speak.
The cases have surged as ICE reclassified millions who have resided in the United States for years as “arriving aliens” or “applicants for admission” — making them subject to mandatory detention typically meant for those who just crossed the border. politico.com/news/2025/11/2…
NEWS: The criminal cases against James Comey and Letitia James are gone. A federal judge ruled that the appointment of Lindsey Halligan as the lead prosecutor was illegal.
DOJ could try again, but there are other headwinds.
JUST IN: A federal judge says one of the Venezuelan men — illegally deported to El Salvador in March before he was swapped back to Venezuela in a prisoner exchange — is now missing, possibly a victim of the violence he was seeking asylum from.
Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Trump appointee in MD, says the administration flagrantly and repeatedly defied her orders to provide regular updates about the man’s return. But she stops short of finding contempt bc it was Rubio, who isn’t named in the lawsuit, who was responsible for communicating w El Salvador
BREAKING: Prosecutors in the Comey case just told the judge that they’re under orders from the Deputy Attorney Generals’s office not to disclose whether career prosecutors wrote a memo recommending *against* indicting Comey prior to Halligan going to the grand jury.
AUSA Tyler Lemons told Judge Nachmanoff that he hasn’t gotten permission to disclose what could be considered “privileged” or “work product” material. He did say he asked to review and possible declination memo and has seen “drafts.”
NEW: The prosecution of James Comey is hanging by a thread, besieged on all sides by challenges to the legitimacy of the prosecutor, the grand jury process and the motives for bringing the case in the first place.
w/ @joshgerstein
BREAKING: A panel of federal judges has enjoined Texas from using its redrawn congressional maps , ordering the state to use its 2021 boundaries. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
NEWS: A panel of Texas judges, led by a Trump appointee, concluded that Texas' mega-redistricting push was likely an illegal racial gerrymander and must be blocked from taking effect.
@andrewjfhoward @joshgerstein The court also sharply rejected the notion that its ruling would disrupt the midterms. The filing deadline hasn't passed, the judges say, and if anyone is to blame, it's the state for operating on a rushed timeline. politico.com/news/2025/11/1…