A federal judge said Wednesday that he has found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in contempt for failing to return two planes deporting migrants to El Salvador last month.
In the 48-page opinion, Judge Boasberg said the court had ultimately determined that the Trump administration’s actions on the March 15 deportation flights, which took place after he issued a bench ruling ordering their immediate return to U.S. soil, demonstrate a “willful disregard” for the court that is sufficient for the government to be found in criminal contempt.”
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the Justice Department in a filing Wednesday to answer additional questions by April 23 if they want to “purge” the contempt.
That would involve identifying the individuals responsible for what he described as “contumacious conduct,” and by “determining whose ‘specific act or omission’ caused the noncompliance,” Boasberg said.
The Justice Department could then request that the contempt be prosecuted by an attorney for the government and, should they decline to prosecute the matter, could “appoint another attorney to prosecute the contempt.”
“The Court does not reach such conclusion lightly or hastily; indeed, it has given Defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions,” the judge continued. “None of their responses has been satisfactory…”
“As this Opinion will detail, the Court ultimately determines that 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,” Boasberg said Wednesday.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
A heckler at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) town hall on Tuesday was tased by police as supporters of the congresswoman cheered.
At least three people were removed from the town hall after interrupting the event, including a man who had to be tased by police after he became violent.
Marjorie Taylor Greene -Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, via Wikimedia Commons
In footage of the incident, posted by severalreporters, multiple police officers could be seen struggling to restrain the man while escorting him out of the venue.
Watch:
We’re off to an insanely tense start at the @RepMTG town hall in Cobb County. Three people have been removed and one of them was tased after scuffling with police.
After the man became violent and lashed out against the officers, shouting, “Get the fuck off me!” two officers could be seen deploying their tasers against him as Greene’s audience cheered and applauded.
“Don’t move! Stop!” an officer could be heard shouting at the man as he continued to resist arrest.
Greene then declared, “This is a peaceful town hall. Now, this is a peaceful town hall, ladies and gentlemen. This should not have to happen. This is a town hall.”
“Like I said before, this isn’t a political rally or a protest. I held a town hall tonight. You know who was out of line? The protesters,” Greene told reporters after the event. “There was a place designated outside for the protesters because we support their First Amendment right. So you know who was out of line? The protesters. The police did a great job, I am very thankful.”
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene says she is happy with how police handled protesters at tonight’s town hall. Acworth PD tells @CBSNews three people were arrested. pic.twitter.com/kHoKYTdwr1
Two other protesters were also removed from the town hall by police, including a man who could be seen resisting officers and asking, “Are you really doing this?” After the man continued to resist, officers could be seen pushing the man to the floor and handcuffing him.
Early on, a young woman went off on Greene as the congresswoman spoke about immigration. In particular, Greene said that “illegal alien criminals, cartels, and terrorists” are living at the U.S. southern border with Mexico and are “all inside the interior of the United States.”
Immediately after delivering the line, the protestor stood up and said “How about the KKK?”
“All inside the interior of the United States,” Greene repeated, as an officer approached the woman in the audience.
“The protest is outside,” Greene said. “Thank you very much. Protest is outside.”
“You butch-bodied bigot!” the woman yelled as she was being escorted out. Many in the crowd stood and applauded after the woman left the room.
David B. Gleason from Chicago, IL, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
A top advisor to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was escorted out of the Pentagon on Tuesday and placed on administrative leave, according to a Defense Department official.
Dan Caldwell had been placed on leave for an “unauthorized disclosure” of information amid an investigation into Pentagon leaks an official confirmed to Fox News Digital that Reuters’ initial reporting is accurate but declined to comment on an ongoing investigation.
Last month the Defense Department announced a probe into “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information” and said it planned to use polygraphs to determine the source of leaks.
“The use of polygraphs in the execution of this investigation will be in accordance with applicable law and policy,” DOD Chief of Staff Joe Kasper wrote in a memo. “This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense.”
He wrote that “information identifying a party responsible for an unauthorized disclosure” would be referred for criminal prosecution.”
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
A man linked to arson attacks at the Tesla Albuquerque Showroom and the Republican Party of New Mexico (RPNM) headquarters is facing 40 years behind bars after being indicted this week.
On February 9, two Tesla vehicles were damaged in an arson attack at the Tesla Albuquerque Showroom. The building was also damaged that day with graffiti reading “Telsa Nazi Inc.,” as well as swastika symbols spray-painted in red and black paint on the showroom’s exterior walls.
Nearly two months later on March 30, Albuquerque’s RPNM office was damaged in an arson attack which damaged the entrance. At both scenes, investigators located matching glass containers of improvised flammable mixtures with distinctive green lids.
Wagner was linked to the fires through surveillance footage, along with video of a white Hyundai Accent and matching scene evidence, federal investigators said.
Agents from the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) raided Wagner’s house in Albuquerque on April 12.
There, investigators reported finding assembled fire-starting devices, ingredients matching the flammable mixtures found at the scene, a jar with a similar green lid, black and red spray paint, and a stencil bearing the phrase “ICE=KKK,” which matched the graffiti sprayed at the RPNM headquarters.
Wagner now faces two counts of malicious damage or destruction of property by fire, and will stay in custody while he awaits his detention hearing on April 16. If convicted, Wagner faces between five and twenty years behind bars for each count.
“All of these cases are a serious threat to public safety, therefore there will be no negotiating. We are seeking 20 years in prison,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi, who had previously labeled vandalism of Tesla dealerships to be “domestic terrorism.”
“Let this be the final lesson to those taking part in this ongoing wave of political violence,” Bondi said. “We will arrest you, we will prosecute you, and we will not negotiate. Crimes have consequences.
“Hurling firebombs is not political protest,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche added. “It is a dangerous felony that we will prosecute to the maximum extent.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told President Donald Trump to “look in the mirror” when “he talks about rapists and criminals” during a rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Monday.
Protesting the trading of stocks by sitting members of Congress, Ocasio-Cortez said, “We saw it just happen with Trump’s corrupt and disastrous and rushed tariff scheme. We saw Marjorie Taylor Greene buy that dip. I got one question for her, how much did you make? How much did you make off of people’s despair?”
She continued, “No more! We can’t accept it. I hope we see now that it was all about manipulating the market so that he could quietly enrich his friends who bought the dip before reversing it all in the morning.”
The congresswoman went on, “This is a matter of fact. Donald Trump is a criminal who was found guilty of 34 felony counts of fraud! Liable for sexual abuse! Or course he’s lying and abusing and manipulating the stock market too! When he talks about rapists and criminals, he should look in the mirror!”
Ocasio-Cortez concluded, “But back to stocks, to be clear, I don’t care what party you are, Democrat or Republican. It doesn’t matter how powerful one is or the position that one holds, members of Congress holding and trading individual stock is wrong. It is corrosive, it is destructive, and it needs to be banned.”
Watch:
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has been rumored as a potential 2028 primary opponent to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer but has yet to make any announcement.
However, A government accountability nonprofit is calling on the House to launch a probe into whether Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., misappropriated her taxpayer-funded member allowance.
Americans for Public Trust, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, sent a letter to the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) on Tuesday, questioning “several troubling expenses” from AOC’s disbursements, which they claim are “in contravention of federal law and the standards of the House of Representatives.”
Each member of Congess receives a Member Representational Allowance (“MRA”), a budget for official duties that “may not be used for personal or campaign purposes,” according to the Congressional Research Service. However, the “Squad” member is being accused of using these funds for “campaign purposes.”
AOC reportedly made a payment of $3,700 to a “Juan D Gonzalez” and another for $850 to “Bombazo Dance Co Inc.,” with both expenditures described as being used for “training.”
100% wrong. None of this is taxpayer money, this is an FEC filing. Be loud and wrong about something else. Try again next time
FBI agents arrested a Georgia man after making numerous death threats against Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard.
Aliakbar Mohammad Amin, of Lilburn, Ga., was charged on Friday with “transmitting interstate threats to injure” Gabbard and her family, according to the DOJ press release.
“Threatening to harm public officials is a criminal act that cannot be excused as political discourse,” acting U.S. Attorney Richard Moultrie, Jr. said in a statement. “Our Office, in coordination with our law enforcement partners, will vigorously prosecute individuals who commit these acts of violence.”
Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Prosecutors allege Amin sent text messages between March 29 and April 1 that contained threats against Gabbard and her husband, including, “You and your family are going to die soon,” and “I will personally do the job if necessary.”
“The home you two own . . . is a legitimate target and will be hit at a time and place of our choosing,” Amin wrote in another text, according to the DOJ.
Other texts allegedly included, “Prepare to die, you, Tulsi, and everyone you hold dear. America will burn,” and “Death to America means death to America literally, Tulsi is living on borrowed time.”
Federal agents later found a firearm at Amin’s house while executing a search warrant, the DOJ said.
“The FBI sees all threatening communications as a serious federal offense. We will employ every investigative tool and resource available to identify those responsible and ensure they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Paul Brown, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office, said in a statement.
“Let this arrest serve as a clear warning: if you engage in this kind of criminal behavior, you will be caught and you will go to prison,” Brown added.
Gabbard thanked the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and local law enforcement on Friday after the FBI announced the arrest.
“Thank you @FBI, @USMarshalsHQ, and local law enforcement for your service and dedication in apprehending this radicalized, dangerous criminal who repeatedly threatened the lives of me, my family, and @realDonaldTrump. Thank you for your tireless work every day keeping the American people safe,” she wrote in a post on X.
Thank you @FBI, @USMarshalsHQ, and local law enforcement for your service and dedication in apprehending this radicalized, dangerous criminal who repeatedly threatened the lives of me, my family, and @realDonaldTrump. Thank you for your tireless work every day keeping the… https://t.co/BGAZni9BAN
Threats against political officials have been on the rise, during the 2024 campaign cycle Donald Trump survived multiple assassination attempts.
A recent study by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) has revealed a concerning trend: a significant portion of left-leaning Americans believe that political violence, including assassination, is justifiable against figures such as President Donald Trump and the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk. The study surveyed over 1,200 U.S. adults and found that 38% of respondents felt that assassinating Trump would be at least “somewhat justified,” with this figure rising to 55% among those identifying as left-leaning. Similarly, 31% of overall participants, and 48% of left-leaning individuals, expressed some level of justification for assassinating Musk.
This data suggests a troubling normalization of violent political rhetoric within certain segments of the population. The NCRI report highlights that this shift has been particularly pronounced following the December 2024 assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, allegedly by Luigi Mangione. Mangione’s actions have been glamorized in various online communities, leading to a proliferation of memes and discussions that endorse political violence.
A 17-year-old Wisconsin teen accused of killing his mother and stepfather had also plotted to assassinate President Donald Trump to start a “political revolution,” according to court documents.
Nikita Casap, 17, had images and messages on his phone that referenced a “self-described manifesto regarding assassinating the president, making bombs, and terrorist attacks,” FOX6 Milwaukee reported, citing a search warrant filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Images of a three-page document titled “Accelerate the Collapse” called for the assassination of Trump, according to the report.
‼️17 year-old Nikita Casap charged in parents murder, plotted to assassinate President Trump.
Authorities say he was also affiliated with a RACIST satanic neo-Nazi group.
Nikita Casap, only 17YO, was charged with the 1st degree murder of his parents and hiding their corpses. He lived with their dead bodies for at leat 12 days. They were decomposed beyond recognition.
— Jennifer Coffindaffer (@CoffindafferFBI) April 14, 2025
Trump was specifically referenced in an excerpt from the document, which said “getting rid of the president and perhaps the vice president” is “guaranteed to bring in some chaos. … Point being this manifesto is specifically for the attack that targets Trump.”
Casap was charged earlier this month in the shooting deaths of his mother, Tatiana Casap, and his stepfather, Donald Mayer. The couple were found severely decomposed in their home on Feb 28 – more than two weeks after prosecutors allege Casap killed them.
During an interview with one of Casap’s classmates, authorities learned that Casap told the female classmate he had been in contact with a man from Russia, who they claim knew about the teen’s scheme to take passports, a car and the family dog and flee to Ukraine, according to the report.
A recent study by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) has revealed a concerning trend: a significant portion of left-leaning Americans believe that political violence, including assassination, is justifiable against figures such as President Donald Trump and the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk. The study surveyed over 1,200 U.S. adults and found that 38% of respondents felt that assassinating Trump would be at least “somewhat justified,” with this figure rising to 55% among those identifying as left-leaning. Similarly, 31% of overall participants, and 48% of left-leaning individuals, expressed some level of justification for assassinating Musk.
This data suggests a troubling normalization of violent political rhetoric within certain segments of the population. The NCRI report highlights that this shift has been particularly pronounced following the December 2024 assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, allegedly by Luigi Mangione. Mangione’s actions have been glamorized in various online communities, leading to a proliferation of memes and discussions that endorse political violence.
A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from revoking the legal status and work permits of the more than 530,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who flew into the United States during former President Joe Biden’s time in office.
The migrants came to the U.S. under Biden’s controversial CHNV mass humanitarian parole program.
In her order, Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, wrote that each migrant needs to have an individualized, case-by-case review.
“The Termination of Parole Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, 90 Fed. Reg. 13611 (Mar. 25, 2025), is hereby STAYED pending further court order insofar as it revokes, without case-by-case review, the previously granted parole and work authorization issued to noncitizens paroled into the UnitedStates pursuant to parole programs for noncitizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (the “CHNV parole programs”) prior to the noncitizen’s originally stated parole end date,” she wrote.
Biden created the CHNV program in 2023 via his executive parole authority. The program was launched in 2022 and initially first applied to Venezuelans before it was expanded to additional countries.
The Biden administration argued that CHNV would help reduce illegal crossings at the southern border and allow better vetting of people entering the country amid an influx of migrants.
The program was temporarily paused due to widespread fraud.
Officials with the Department of Homeland Security and the Trump administration told Fox News that Talwani essentially ruled that Trump can’t use his own executive authority, the same authority Biden used, to revoke the parole that Biden granted.
“It is pure lawless tyranny,” a Trump administration official told Fox News.
In March, the roughly 532,000 migrants under the CHNV program were told to leave the U.S.
By Casa Presidencial El Salvador - https://www.flickr.com/photos/fotospresidencia_sv/54351745159/, CC0,
El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele told President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Monday that he has no plans to return a Maryland man wrongfully deported to a prison in his country.
Bukele’s Oval Office meeting with President Trump was the first since the Supreme Court ruled last week that the U.S. must “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
However, both Trump and Bukele suggested they don’t have the power to return the Maryland man and Salvadoran national to the U.S.
“How could I return him to the United States? I smuggle him to the United States? Of course I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous,” Bukele said, going on to refer to Abrego Garcia as a terrorist.
“I don’t have the power to return him to the United States. I’m not releasing — I mean, we’re not very fond of releasing terrorists into our country,” he added, saying El Salvador is no longer the murder capital of the world.
Before Bukele spoke, Trump and a number of his aides suggested the decision would rest with El Salvador.
“That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That’s not up to us,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
Duncan Lock, Dflock, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the Supreme Court ruled, referencing a lower court decision.
“The District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs. For its part, the Government should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps,” the order reads.
White House aide Stephen Miller said seeking Abrego Garcia’s return would equate to kidnapping him.
“A district court judge tried to tell the administration that they had to kidnap a citizen of El Salvador and fly him back here. That issue was raised at the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court said the district court order was unlawful and its main components reversed, 9-0, unanimously stating clearly that neither the secretary of state nor the President could be compelled by anybody to forcibly retrieve a citizen of El Salvador from El Salvador, who again, is a member of MS-13,” Miller said during the meeting.
In a column published late Friday, a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board claimed it would be “desirable” to subject Donald Trump to a third impeachment.
According to longtime columnist Holman W. Jenkins Jr., Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff threats almost makes it appear he wants to be impeached, with Jenkins writing, “A future Trump impeachment seemed all but guaranteed by last Wednesday morning. It seems only slightly less likely now. It may even be desirable to restore America’s standing with creditors and trade partners.”
As he sees it, the president’s last great achievement was being re-elected in 2024, and the damage he has been creating since then belies his promise of a “golden age,” so an impeachment is “already ion the cards.”
“No consensus or even significant coalition exists for trying to force into existence a new American ‘golden age’ with tariffs, which anyway is like asking a chicken to give birth to a lioness. He invented this mission out of his own confused intuition,” he accused.
Noting that conservative historian Niall Ferguson labeled Trump’s trade policy going “full retard,” he contributed, “I go with ‘neurotic’ for the word’s wider applicability to any leader who, lacking a clear bead on his times, fabricates a gratuitously ambitious mission to meet his misguided sense of importance.”
“Nobody in Mr. Trump’s orbit actually shares his belief in the magical efficacy of tariffs because it makes sense only in a world that doesn’t exist, where other countries don’t retaliate,” he pointed out before concluding, “The founders never anticipated today’s instantly responsive trillion-dollar financial markets. And yet these markets neatly adumbrate the founders’ scheme of checks and balances, also known as feedback. Mr. Trump, still sane enough to appreciate what’s good for Mr. Trump, listened this week to their feedback.”
President Donald Trump vowed on Sunday that nobody was getting “off the hook” for unfair trade balances and tariff barriers, which other countries have used against the U.S.
The Trump administration announced Friday that it was exempting imported smartphones, laptops and other electronics from reciprocal tariffs, but the president wanted to clear a few things up.
“There was no Tariff ‘exception’ announced on Friday,” Trump said in a post on X on Sunday. “These products are subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket.’ The Fake News knows this, but refuses to report it. We are taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN in the upcoming National Security Tariff Investigations.
Customs and Border Protection issued new guidance on reciprocal tariff negotiations late Friday, noting the exemption of those goods from Trump’s April 2 executive order that declared a national emergency due to non-reciprocal trade practices and structural imbalances in the global trading system. Subsequent executive orders ramped up tariffs on China to 125%.
The updated guidance, which cites a presidential memorandum issued Friday, excluded the products from Trump’s 125% China tariff and his baseline 10% global tariff on some countries. They apply to goods that left a warehouse as of April 5.
Products included in the exemption are things like hard drives, computer processors, solar cells, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, flat-panel TV displays and memory chips.
But in light of the easing of tariffs on electronics, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday the exemption would be temporary.
“They’re exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, but they’re included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two,” Lutnick told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
Lutnick’s comments Sunday made clear that more changes were on the horizon.
