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Trump attempts to defy Judge Boasberg on deportation [1]
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Date: 2025-03-18
We've reached the open defiance stage of the Trump administration's escalated war against the federal judiciary.
Trump Prepares for BENCHSLAP as Hearing ERUPTS INTO CHAOS
x YouTube Video
Partial Transcript:
In a case presided over by chief Judge Boasberg who sits on the DC Circuit Court, a trial court level in DC in a case involving Donald Trump's declaration of phony war in order to use phony War Powers in order to act like he's the commander in-chief and has the ability to use civilian aircraft to deliver Venezuelans to El Salvador to some of the most notoriously inhumane prisons that exist on Planet Earth and to Honduras. First the Department of Justice told Jeb Boasberg, who called a hearing for today [Monday] about whether they violated their order. The order of the judge by injunction to turn the planes around and not deport people pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act until he's had a time to consider whether it's constitutional or not at the hearing today. First before they went to the hearing, first step plan A was to argue to the judge they're not going to show up - judge has no jurisdiction - cancel your hearing. But that didn't work they went to plan B. Plan B was to run to the DC Circuit Court, the appellate court, and try to get the judge removed. And when that didn't work they showed up in court and lied to the judge. And now the judge has ordered the Department of Justice under Donald Trump to file by Tuesday a declaration explaining exactly what happened with those airplanes - when they took off, who was on them, who remains in the United States subject to the Alien Enemies Act Proclamation, when the Proclamation was entered, at what time and try to get that to jive with the timeline of Jeb Boasberg and his orders. Because he has a working belief that the Department of Justice and the Trump Administration have violated his injunction and he's going to get to the bottom of it. They fired back in court and said “you don't have top secret clearance, we can't tell you these things”. He says yeah then you need to make a proper record.
I'm Michael Popok I'm making a proper record. You’re right here on legal AF let's get into it. This whole thing has been moving like a fast moving locomotive for the last 48 hours. First Donald Trump did what he threatened to do, but he signed in secret apparently the Proclamation declaring that he was going to be using the Alien Enemies Act. Since 1798 this was on the books. It was passed for President Adams. But it has to follow War declaration or at least an imminent threat of invasion. He tried to use it against a criminal terrorist narco gang of drug dealers who have been in this country for like 10 years. I mean there's nothing imminent about it. I don't mind if they are deported after due process rights are properly used, but chained, shackled, put on a civilian aircraft, and dropped off in El Salvador? That’s not quite the America that I woke up in, or that I thought I did. You know there is a way to do things and this open defiance of the Trump Administration is not it. You’re not supposed to defy it.
If you don't like the results of a trial judge, you don't like what Jeb Boasberg is talking about and what he's ruling about, then take up take him up on appeal. You appeal, you don't oppose. And who's better to be presiding over this? I mean they picked the fight with the wrong legal AF and judge. I'll just put it this way - Jeb Boasberg is everybody's pick for a potential Supreme Court position should the Democrats get back into office. Chief Justice Roberts picked him to be on the on the foreign intelligence surveillance Court, the FISA court, where he served valiantly for four years. He was then chosen in 2020 serving until 2025 on a court who was who was purpose is devoted to alien terrorists and having them removed from the country. Who better to handle whether these Venezuelans from 14 years up or older are the true criminals that Donald Trump said they were? If they've been deported pursuant to some other law other than what could be an unconstitutional exercise of the Alien Enemies Act. And that's what judges do they build a record they develop facts they're the trier of fact.
In this scenario Donald Trump doesn't like that. he keeps throwing around the magic terms as if there's some sort of incantation and a genie is going to pop out of a out of some sort of vase or Magic Lantern. “Article two I'm the president”. Yeah we got that. That's how article two works. If you're the president you have article two Powers - War Powers. This is not a declaration of war and the Alien Enemies Act is not technically a war power. “I'm the commander-in-chief” - yeah we understand you're the commander-in-chief, but we're not at war so your War Powers are irrelevant. “Military aircraft may have been used”. It wasn't it was civilian aircraft that were used. So all of this stuff is what a good judge like Boasberg is going to get to the bottom of. Which is why he set a briefing schedule to get to the bottom of all this.
The reason we're in court on late on Monday is because of filings that were made earlier in the day that I covered on another hot take, where Trump filed a notice of compliance that was not in compliance. Saying that “we can't tell you why or how but well the planes took off and they're already in El Salvador. We didn't violate your injunction and because you didn't reduce it to writing until an hour after the hearing even though you on the record told us the injunction that's oral and we can reject an oral injunction”. Who says you can reject an oral injunction? No one. Once you're enjoined by a judge wearing a black robe up on a bench you're enjoined. The fact that he reduces it to writing a little bit later is of no moment. That's why the judge today during the hearing scrunched up his face and said this is a stretch. Your argument is you didn't comply with my oral argument. you got planes at least two of them that landed in Honduras and El Salvador because you were waiting for me to reduce it to writing. Oh yeah judge “there's a case from another circuit in District from 1990 you might find interesting”. You know what I find interesting that there are officials like Tom Homan who were on Fox News today who said they don't care what federal judges say. Open defiance. They’re going to continue to deporting because they they're so proud to serve with the best president they've ever served with. Who’s got the balls that no other president has. Let’s run the clip:
“…I work for the greatest president in the history of my life and we're going to make this country safe again I'm proud to be a part of this Administration. we're not stopping I don't care what the judges think I don't care what the left thinks, we're coming.”
Same day. Which is why at many times during the hearing today Jeb Boasberg said things along the lines of “I don't believe you. I think you have violated my order and I want a declaration to gives me the timeline of when planes were launched, what planes were used, where they landed, what were the results, who's left over, who was on the planes” and the rest. And they jumped up and down and said we're not going to tell you. We’re not going to tell you because it's National Security issues and we can't tell you. And he says no that's not how that works. First of all I have top secret clearance so I have that superpower as a federal judge. And they said well yeah we need full briefing on this issue. He said well you can you can make a showing and you'll need to make a showing as to why I can't see this information. And why it satisfies that level of classified documents that it can't be on the public docket. If you satisfy that and you can do it by sending me the documents to review in camera in private. Maybe if you can make out your basis maybe I'll keep it off the public docket but you can't keep it away from me as a federal judge.
This is the open defiance I was talking about. As I said at the top there were this was a three-part plan developed apparently according to reporting as I predicted by Stephen Miller the non-lawyer who developed the immigration plan the last time for Donald Trump who's now the Deputy Chief of Staff. He’s the guy that separated parents and put kids in cages and Kristy Noam the halfwit that's running our homeland security. They came up with this Grand idea but it was supported by the lawyers. So I called out the lawyers for the Trump Administration. What are you doing what are you reading that allows you to come up with this analysis to justify these actions? Here’s what they wrote to the clerk of the court for the appellate court just before stepping into the courtroom with Judge Boasberg: “The government provides urgent notice of developments below. Yesterday the government provided a notice regarding its compliance with the District Court's temporary restraining orders.” It was a notice that they didn't comply. Effectively overnight plaintiffs responded and asked the district court to compel the government to address operational details regarding flights that removed aliens identified as associated with designated foreign terrorist organizations. Okay all of the questions that issues relate to past actions not prospective compliance.
Because the issue is whether the Trump Administration violated, past tense, the Court's order and is therefore in contempt of court. That development the Trump Administration continues. The DOJ escalates the stakes –“The District Court's inappropriate exercise of jurisdiction”. See there they are again. We don't respect your jurisdiction. I'll just paraphrase what they keep saying and what they're using social media and their influencers to have a trampoline effect to echo over and over again in a muscular response. That’s why we saw this influencer, that influencer, the press secretary, people who were elected officials, influencers, on the opposite of Meidas Touch influencers repeating in order to drill it home. It is not National Security. It is not operational security. They can be compelled to answer sensitive questions about National Security and Foreign Relations. They go on to say the District Court's hasty public inquiry into the sensitive National Security matters with no contemplated protections against disclosure of operational details. Who said the judge wasn't going to take protections and prophylactic measures? Who said that underscores the urgency of immediate relief including an immediate administrative stay that would allow further briefing. “This court should also immediately reassign this case to another District Judge given the highly unusual and improper procedure, a certification of a class action involving members of a designated foreign terrorist organization in less than 18 hours with no Discovery and no briefing by the government, that have been employed by the district court.”
Let me break that down. if a federal judge issues a nationwide injunction or universal injunction MAGA jumps up and down on Q and says a one single judge can't issue an injunction against the entire nation or against the president or to turn around an aircraft carrier as Karoline Leavitt said today. If they instead certify a class of people affected by a particular order in this case the Alien Enemies Act and they enter an injunction about that class. “Oh they certified a class what are we to do?” The judge certified a class and gave the Department of Justice until today to oppose the certification and move for the dissolution of the temporary restraining order. Instead Donald Trump didn't want to do that. Donald Trump wanted to jump off sides and go attack the judge. Sound familiar? Go to the Appellate Court and try to get him removed. Sound familiar? This is right out of the playbook of Donald Trump criminal defendant. Donald Trump but now being led by the Department of Justice... so then it ended up back in the judge's courtroom that's got to be a fun place for the Department of Justice, after having attacked the judge in appellant filings to try to get him removed. Then telling the judge we're not even going to show up because you don't have jurisdiction. and the judge says denied we'll see you in court. And then the judge telling them to their face “I think you're lying to me. I think you violated my order.”
And we'll follow it here on the legal AF YouTube as soon as I get my hands on it. By midday tomorrow[Tuesday] the judge orders declarations under oath. Tell me what happened, who happened, the operational details - the planes that took off, the planes that landed, who was on them, who's left behind. Tell me whether other grounds for deportation other than other than the Alien Enemies Act was used and wrap it all up in a tight bow for me. And I don't want to hear anything about my not having classified or top secret clearance. I do and you'll still have to make it out for why he doesn't go on the public record and have to make a showing as the law requires. I'll look for that as well.
..
If they continue down this road of escalating and open defiance they're going to find themselves having fallen into the mouth of Jeff Boasberg. And he's going to then start ordering contempt, he's going to start ordering jail. And some people might think well it's toothless because the federal Marshal Service that would pick people up for jail, they work under the executive branch and the Department of Justice, Pam Bondi, will just order the marshals to stand down. Right. And as I predicted before federal judges can deputize their own law enforcement and they can reach out in DC to the DC fill-in the blank Metro Police, Capital police. National Guard if the governor will go along with it. The governor of Maryland would probably go along with it. Maybe not the governor of Virginia but there's enough democratically controlled law enforcement out there that could be deputized by the judge to enforce his rulings. Because the federal rules contemplate imprisonment for contempt and Supreme Court would probably back it. So yes we are watching right now over this deportation case the makings of all out war between the executive branch and the judicial branch. With the only referee left is going to be chief justice Roberts and the Supreme Court at the end of the day. This is rapidly moving towards that.
Today, Trump argues we are at war in order to dissolve the Restraining Order:
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