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Kyle Cheney Profile picture
Kyle Cheney
@kyledcheney
Senior legal affairs reporter for @POLITICO with a focus on democracy, law and the balance of power in government. Tips: kcheney@politico.com NY ➡️ BOS ➡️ DC
145 subscribers
Oct 29 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
NEW: Two federal prosecutors who characterized the Jan. 6 attack as a "mob of rioters" were placed on leave this morning.

Confirming @kfaulders
@alex_mallin

politico.com/news/2025/10/2…Image The sentencing memo by Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White noted that Taylor Taranto, pardoned by Trump but facing sentencing for other crimes, spread "conspiracy theories" about the attack. It also noted that Taranto stalked Barack Obama's neighborhood after Trump posted (and Taranto reposted) his address on Truth Social. politico.com/news/2025/10/2…Image
Oct 6 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: Judge Immergut has called a 10PM (ET) hearing on Trump's effort to circumvent her National Guard order by calling up California troops. NEW: Judge Immergut could quickly halt Trump's deployment of CA guard troops to Portland, a workaround that tested her warning that Trump's initial callup was illegal and based on false claims about the unrest facing ICE.

w/ @joshgerstein @jonesblakej

politico.com/news/2025/10/0…
Oct 4 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
BREAKING: A federal judge has granted a restraining order blocking President Trump's call-up of the National Guard in Portland.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image Judge IMMERGUT, a Trump appointee to the bench, ruled that Trump's call-up was based on false claims about unrest in Portland and that Trump's own statements were "simply untethered to the facts." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
Sep 27 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Trump now going after the rank-and-file FBI agents who responded to help restore order to an overrun Capitol on Jan. 6 — falsely accusing them based on inaccurate/misleading reports yesterday of being agitators in the crowd. Image The reporting Trump claims supports this allegation … simply doesn’t.
Sep 24 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Over the weekend, we wrote about how dozens of judges have found ICE's new detention policy — seeking to lock up millions of people facing deportation without a chance for bond — is illegal.

Last night, four more judges added to the growing list: politico.com/news/2025/09/2… One detainend man has lived in the US for 32 years with no criminal record. Judge Sherriff ordered his release yesterday: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
Sep 20 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Trump criticizes Pam Bondi for not charging his adversaries quickly enough, in a Truth Social post that looks a lot like a DM. truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTru…Image Trump reposted the message makes explicit he's referring to Lindsey Halligan, his onetime personal lawyer who now works in the WH. truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTru…Image
Sep 20 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
NEW: In a break from decades of history, the Trump administration has started detaining virtually everyone facing deportation — even if they’ve lived in the U.S. for decades.

Dozens of judges, with increasing alarm, have ruled the policy shift illegal.

politico.com/news/2025/09/2… At issue is an interpretation of immigration law that requires detention for “applicants for admission” — long interpreted to mean people who are trying to come into the U.S.

Those already in the U.S. have been allowed to seek bond from an immigration judge.

But on July 8, ICE reinterpreted these laws to say that the millions of people inside U.S. borders are still “applicants for admission” and must be detained.

politico.com/news/2025/09/2…
Sep 18 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Magistrate judge Faruqui, who has been on a tear over DOJ's flimsy prosecutions in recent weeks, was floored by the Trump administration's decision to level a federal marijuana possession charge against a recently arrested defendant. But that's not all... storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image He says DOJ held the man in detention for *three days* on this misdemeanor charge even though prosecutors later agreed he shouldn't be detained at all. And that's still not all... storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
Sep 16 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
GRASSLEY asks if Jeffrey Epstein was a U.S. government or foreig government asset. Patel says he can only speak for the FBI and that Epstein was not a source for the bureau. PATEL uses his opening statement tosay Alex Acosta's handling of the original Epstein case was the "original sin" of the saga, saying the nonprosecution agreement he struck after initial plea deal locked down many records under court order.
Sep 10 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
LAWSUIT INCOMING: FBI leaders fired by Director Kash Patel — including Brian Driscoll and Steve Jensen — have filed some kind of action against the Patel and the bureau. Details TK Image UPDATE: In the lawsuit, three senior FBI officials fired by Kash Patel say Patel informed them that he was instructed to "fire anyone" who worked on any investigation related to Trump. And said his own job depended on carrying out the firings. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
Aug 31 • 14 tweets • 6 min read
BREAKING: A federal judge has *blocked* the Trump administration from abruptly deporting 600 unaccompanied Guatemalan children — perhaps within a matter of hours — granting an emergency restraining order after advocates called the plan illegal + dangerous. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image NEW: Judge Sooknanan acted quickly to block as many as 600 Guatemalan children from being deported by the Trump administration without due process. A judge in Illinois took a similar step for 4 children whose lawyers sued Saturday.

w/ @joshgerstein
politico.com/news/2025/08/3…Image
Aug 25 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
HAPPENING NOW: Judge Xinis is leaning toward issuing another restraining order to block Kilmar Abrego Garcia's immediate deportation to Uganda at least through this week — she wants an evidentiary hearing on Friday. XINIS says law may require Abrego's deportation to his country of choice, given that Costa Rica has indicated a willingness to accept him, give him refugee status and vow not to re-deport him to El Salvador.

Uganda, where administration plans to send him, has made no promises.
Aug 15 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
AND WE'RE UNDERWAY: Judge Reyes has taken the bench to consider DC's emergency bid to block Trump's takeover of the city's police department. REYES notes the attack on DOGE employee Ed Coristine and the prior claim by Trump + allies that crime in DC has been significantly down this year before deciding there was a national emergency.

But she says she will assume, for today, that the emergency claim is legit.
Aug 11 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
HAPPENING NOW: President Trump's deployment of the military into L.A. is on trial before Judge Breyer, who will decide whether the effort violates the Posse Comitatus Act.

First witness: Army Deputy Chief of Staff William Harrington. Lawer for Newsom now underscoring that leaders of the federalized National Guard troops were generally trained to be aware of Posse Comitatus Act and the strict limits it puts on their domestic law enforcement activity.
Aug 11 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
BREAKING: Judge Engelmeyer has *denied* the Trump administration’s bid to unseal Jeffrey Epstein grand jury material. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image ENGELMEYER says the Trump administration’s claim that they wanted to release the Epstein grand jury records to shed new light on the case is “demonstrably false.” storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
Aug 5 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
NEW: Donald Trump may be off the hook for his alleged crimes, but his allies are still facing charges in five states — including a case against fake electors that goes before Nevada's Supreme Court tomorrow

A look at the zombie cases and what comes next. politico.com/news/2025/08/0…Image In Arizona, where Trump allies like Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman still face prosecution, AG Kris Mayes is fighting to salvage her grand jury indictment or else go back to the drawing board.

An appeals court is likely to rule in late summer
politico.com/news/2025/08/0…Image
Jul 24 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
NEWS: Trump has withdrawn Alina Habba's nomination to be US attorney in New Jersey, part of a multistep maneuver intended to keep her in the position as acting US attorney beyond an initial Friday deadline. Here's how it works:

1) Habba resigns as interim US attorney, ahead of a Friday deadline
2) Trump withdraws Habba's nomination to take the job permanently
3) AG Bondi appoints Habba First Assistant US attorney
4) Habba automatically becomes acting US attoreny bc of the vacancy.
Jul 10 • 8 tweets • 5 min read
NEW: A batch of newly revealed text messages and emails from fired DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni show in real time how DOJ officials handled court orders related to the Alien Enemies Act, Kilmar Abrego Garcia and more.

They lend contemporaneous support to Reuveni's claim that Emil Bove suggested telling a court "fuck you." politico.com/news/2025/07/1…Image There's a lot to unpack in the texts and emails between Reuveni and his colleagues. They joke morbidly about beign fired, and are grateful Boasberg was on vacation when the AEA crisis erupted. politico.com/news/2025/07/1…Image
Jul 7 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
HAPPENING NOW: Judge Xinis is pressing DOJ on why they claimed on May 27 they had no power to bring Abrego Garcia back to the US evne though they had secretly secured a grand jury indictment against him 6 days earlier. DOJ attorney now contradicts the government's sworn testimony from Tennessee criminal case, saying Abrego Garcia criminal probe began before April 28. Xinis presses her on this and she says she can't explain the contradiction.
Jun 16 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: A federal judge in Massachusetts (the Reagan-appointed William Young) has declared the Trump administration's cuts to NIH grants — ostensibly over Trump's EOs on gender ideology and DEI — are "illegal" and "void." He's ordering many grants restored. YOUNG: "I am hesitant to draw this conclusion, but I have an unflinching obligation to draw it – that this represents racial discrimination. And discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community. That’s what this is. I would be blind not to call it out. My duty is to call it out."
Jun 13 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
BREAKING: Judge Breyer orders Trump to return control of the National Guard back to California, saying the call-up was illegal. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image Breyer stays his order until noon tomorrow, which should be enough time for Trump to seek emergency appeal at 9th Circuit and perhaps Supreme Court. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image