update - Bondi fires DoJ ethics head, effective immediately
- Thread starter mandrill
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A former Justice Department lawyer accused the Trump administration of “thumbing its nose at the courts,” saying his former colleagues were being forced to choose between the president’s agenda and their ethical obligations as attorneys.
In an interview with The New York Times, the lawyer, Erez Reuveni, who filed a detailed whistle-blower claim to the Senate last month, shared his growing sense of alarm as he defended the administration’s aggressive deportation agenda. He said he was willing to testify to Congress or in court about what he described as an intentional effort by the administration to ignore judges and the due process rights of hundreds of migrants.
Mr. Reuveni, speaking publicly for the first time about his experiences, was fired in April after he appeared in court to defend the administration’s mistaken deportation of a man in Maryland, accused of refusing a superior’s directive.
He pointed to the planes of immigrants rapidly flown to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador on March 15, warning that it offered a distressing example of the administration’s disregard for facts and the law. The flights that took off that day also included the Maryland man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who was initially detained at the prison, known as CECOT.
“If they can do this sort of thing to Abrego Garcia, to 238 people that nobody knows, and send them to CECOT forever with no due process, they can do that to anyone,” said Mr. Reuveni. “It should be deeply, deeply worrisome to anyone who cares about their safety and their liberty, that the government can, without showing evidence to anyone of anything, spirit you away on a plane to wherever, forever.”
He filed his complaint shortly before Emil Bove III, a senior department official, appeared before lawmakers over his nomination to become a federal appeals court judge. Although the administration’s approach has been broadly clear, Mr. Bove and his boss have denied the thrust of Mr. Reuveni’s account. But text messages, phone records and emails viewed by The Times appear to bolster the whistle-blower’s version of events, offering a behind-the-scenes recounting of private meetings and conversations that show Justice Department leaders pressing to take audacious legal risks.
Image
A guard watched an inmate at the prison known as CECOT in El Salvador.Credit...Fred Ramos for The New York Times
“The Department of Justice is thumbing its nose at the courts, and putting Justice Department attorneys in an impossible position where they have to choose between loyalty to the agenda of the president and their duty to the court,” Mr. Reuveni added.
Attorney General Pam Bondi denied his account on social media on Thursday. “This disgruntled employee is not a whistle-blower — he’s a leaker asserting false claims seeking five minutes of fame, conveniently timed just before a confirmation hearing and a committee vote,” she wrote.
Ms. Bondi insisted no one at the department was ever asked to defy a court order. “As Mr. Bove testified and as the department has made clear, there was no court order to defy, as we successfully argued” to a federal appeals court, she added.
In his whistle-blower complaint, Mr. Reuveni chronicled the lengths the administration appeared willing to go, describing a particularly shocking moment that crystallized its approach. As the officials prepared to invoke a rarely used wartime law to send immigrants to the Salvadoran prison, the complaint said, Mr. Bove told subordinates at a meeting on March 14 that the Justice Department may end up ignoring court orders, using an expletive to underscore his point.
Since those disclosures, Democrats have argued Mr. Bove is unfit to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, a lifetime appointment one rung below the Supreme Court. Republicans have tried to blunt Mr. Reuveni’s claims by characterizing him as a politically motivated saboteur.
In addition to the confirmation process for Mr. Bove, two federal judges have weighed contempt proceedings into the administration’s handling of the cases cited by Mr. Reuveni.
“I can’t control what they do, but if they wanted to hear from me, I would answer,” Mr. Reuveni said.
The No. 2 official at the Justice Department, Todd Blanche, has denied Mr. Reuveni’s account, asserting he was at the same meeting and never heard Mr. Bove suggest the department disregard court orders.
“The claims about Department of Justice leadership are utterly false,” Mr. Blanche has said.
Mr. Reuveni disputed Mr. Blanche’s account. The deputy attorney general, he said, briefly entered the conference room during the March 14 meeting, but only to speak privately with Mr. Bove. Mr. Blanche then left and did not participate in the meeting, Mr. Reuveni said.
Only after the one-on-one discussion between Mr. Bove and Mr. Blanche did Mr. Bove use an expletive to suggest the Justice Department might choose to ignore court orders, Mr. Reuveni said.
In his written answers to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Bove did not claim that Mr. Blanche was there, but rather said that Mr. Blanche said that he was there.
At his confirmation hearing, Mr. Bove denied the thrust of Mr. Reuveni’s allegations.
“I have never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order,” Mr. Bove told lawmakers, though when pressed on particulars he said he could not recall specific language that was used.
“I didn’t hear him deny anything unequivocally under oath,” Mr. Reuveni told The Times.
Mr. Reuveni said he came forward for reasons larger than Mr. Bove’s judicial nomination, concerned by what he described as a degradation of the principles of honesty to the courts that have long guided the Justice Department. He noted that he has never been a member of a political party, and spent the first Trump administration zealously defending its immigration policies in court.
But what the administration has sought to do in recent months was far different, he said, a deliberate strategy of deceiving and disregarding federal judges.
To buttress his account, Mr. Reuveni has turned over to Congress text messages, phone records and emails with his colleagues at the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, as they wrestled with the legal battle over Mr. Trump’s use of the wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act.
The top Democrat on the committee, Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, said the documents “show that the Department of Justice misled a federal court and disregarded a court order.”
“Mr. Bove spearheaded this effort,” he added, “which demanded attorneys violate their ethical duty of candor to the court.”
Andrea Meza, one of Mr. Reuveni’s lawyers at the Government Accountability Project, added that the records demonstrated “why it is clearly in the public’s interest for the full truth to come out.”
In his complaint and in the interview with The Times, Mr. Reuveni said another Justice Department lawyer, Drew Ensign, misled a federal judge on March 15, when the administration sent several planes of migrants to El Salvador. Mr. Ensign, appearing at a hastily convened hearing, informed the judge that he did not know whether such removals were imminent.
The written communications, viewed by The Times and shared with Congress, appear to corroborate Mr. Reuveni’s account. A colleague listening to the hearing texted Mr. Reuveni an expletive, followed by: “That was just not true.” The same colleague added: “He knows there are plans for AEA removals within the next 24 hours.”
Mr. Reuveni replied, “Yes he does.”
The career lawyers trying to navigate the issue often engaged in gallows humor about their situation.
“Guess it’s find out time” on how the courts would respond to the administration, Mr. Reuveni texted a colleague that evening. “Yup, it was good working with you,” the colleague replied ruefully.
Later that evening, Mr. Reuveni sent another text, which referred to Mr. Bove’s expletive from the previous day.
“Guess we are going to say fuck you to the court,” Mr. Reuveni texted. “Super.”
His colleague responded, “Well, Pamela Jo Bondi is,” then added, “not you.”
A few days later, as Mr. Reuveni became more dismayed at the administration’s confrontational posture, he texted a colleague in frustration: “At this point, why don’t we just submit an emoji of a middle finger as our filing.”
The messages supplied by Mr. Reuveni paint a startling picture of an administration determined to send the men to a foreign prison without judicial review first, a decision that itself exposed major fissures within the ranks of government officials.
On multiple occasions, records he gave to Congress show, State Department officials offered to begin negotiations with the Salvadoran government to get Mr. Abrego Garcia back to the United States.
Officials at the Department of Homeland Security, however, adamantly resisted, seeking instead to argue that the man was a dangerous gang member who could not be returned. Career lawyers at the Justice Department struggled to carry out ambiguous instructions from their superiors in apparent contradiction of judicial orders.
Those tensions escalated in late March and early April, as judges demanded information that Mr. Reuveni and other lawyers did not have.
“Neither D.H.S. nor D.O.J. leadership is willing to answer any of these questions right now,” Mr. Reuveni wrote in an email on April 1. “I am getting nowhere with anyone. Leadership appears committed on not answering anything until ordered to do so.”
Devlin Barrett covers the Justice Department and the F.B.I. for The Times.
In an interview with The New York Times, the lawyer, Erez Reuveni, who filed a detailed whistle-blower claim to the Senate last month, shared his growing sense of alarm as he defended the administration’s aggressive deportation agenda. He said he was willing to testify to Congress or in court about what he described as an intentional effort by the administration to ignore judges and the due process rights of hundreds of migrants.
Mr. Reuveni, speaking publicly for the first time about his experiences, was fired in April after he appeared in court to defend the administration’s mistaken deportation of a man in Maryland, accused of refusing a superior’s directive.
He pointed to the planes of immigrants rapidly flown to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador on March 15, warning that it offered a distressing example of the administration’s disregard for facts and the law. The flights that took off that day also included the Maryland man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who was initially detained at the prison, known as CECOT.
“If they can do this sort of thing to Abrego Garcia, to 238 people that nobody knows, and send them to CECOT forever with no due process, they can do that to anyone,” said Mr. Reuveni. “It should be deeply, deeply worrisome to anyone who cares about their safety and their liberty, that the government can, without showing evidence to anyone of anything, spirit you away on a plane to wherever, forever.”
He filed his complaint shortly before Emil Bove III, a senior department official, appeared before lawmakers over his nomination to become a federal appeals court judge. Although the administration’s approach has been broadly clear, Mr. Bove and his boss have denied the thrust of Mr. Reuveni’s account. But text messages, phone records and emails viewed by The Times appear to bolster the whistle-blower’s version of events, offering a behind-the-scenes recounting of private meetings and conversations that show Justice Department leaders pressing to take audacious legal risks.
Image
A guard watched an inmate at the prison known as CECOT in El Salvador.Credit...Fred Ramos for The New York Times
“The Department of Justice is thumbing its nose at the courts, and putting Justice Department attorneys in an impossible position where they have to choose between loyalty to the agenda of the president and their duty to the court,” Mr. Reuveni added.
Attorney General Pam Bondi denied his account on social media on Thursday. “This disgruntled employee is not a whistle-blower — he’s a leaker asserting false claims seeking five minutes of fame, conveniently timed just before a confirmation hearing and a committee vote,” she wrote.
Ms. Bondi insisted no one at the department was ever asked to defy a court order. “As Mr. Bove testified and as the department has made clear, there was no court order to defy, as we successfully argued” to a federal appeals court, she added.
In his whistle-blower complaint, Mr. Reuveni chronicled the lengths the administration appeared willing to go, describing a particularly shocking moment that crystallized its approach. As the officials prepared to invoke a rarely used wartime law to send immigrants to the Salvadoran prison, the complaint said, Mr. Bove told subordinates at a meeting on March 14 that the Justice Department may end up ignoring court orders, using an expletive to underscore his point.
Since those disclosures, Democrats have argued Mr. Bove is unfit to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, a lifetime appointment one rung below the Supreme Court. Republicans have tried to blunt Mr. Reuveni’s claims by characterizing him as a politically motivated saboteur.
In addition to the confirmation process for Mr. Bove, two federal judges have weighed contempt proceedings into the administration’s handling of the cases cited by Mr. Reuveni.
“I can’t control what they do, but if they wanted to hear from me, I would answer,” Mr. Reuveni said.
The No. 2 official at the Justice Department, Todd Blanche, has denied Mr. Reuveni’s account, asserting he was at the same meeting and never heard Mr. Bove suggest the department disregard court orders.
“The claims about Department of Justice leadership are utterly false,” Mr. Blanche has said.
Mr. Reuveni disputed Mr. Blanche’s account. The deputy attorney general, he said, briefly entered the conference room during the March 14 meeting, but only to speak privately with Mr. Bove. Mr. Blanche then left and did not participate in the meeting, Mr. Reuveni said.
Only after the one-on-one discussion between Mr. Bove and Mr. Blanche did Mr. Bove use an expletive to suggest the Justice Department might choose to ignore court orders, Mr. Reuveni said.
In his written answers to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Bove did not claim that Mr. Blanche was there, but rather said that Mr. Blanche said that he was there.
At his confirmation hearing, Mr. Bove denied the thrust of Mr. Reuveni’s allegations.
“I have never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order,” Mr. Bove told lawmakers, though when pressed on particulars he said he could not recall specific language that was used.
“I didn’t hear him deny anything unequivocally under oath,” Mr. Reuveni told The Times.
Mr. Reuveni said he came forward for reasons larger than Mr. Bove’s judicial nomination, concerned by what he described as a degradation of the principles of honesty to the courts that have long guided the Justice Department. He noted that he has never been a member of a political party, and spent the first Trump administration zealously defending its immigration policies in court.
But what the administration has sought to do in recent months was far different, he said, a deliberate strategy of deceiving and disregarding federal judges.
To buttress his account, Mr. Reuveni has turned over to Congress text messages, phone records and emails with his colleagues at the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, as they wrestled with the legal battle over Mr. Trump’s use of the wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act.
The top Democrat on the committee, Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, said the documents “show that the Department of Justice misled a federal court and disregarded a court order.”
“Mr. Bove spearheaded this effort,” he added, “which demanded attorneys violate their ethical duty of candor to the court.”
Andrea Meza, one of Mr. Reuveni’s lawyers at the Government Accountability Project, added that the records demonstrated “why it is clearly in the public’s interest for the full truth to come out.”
In his complaint and in the interview with The Times, Mr. Reuveni said another Justice Department lawyer, Drew Ensign, misled a federal judge on March 15, when the administration sent several planes of migrants to El Salvador. Mr. Ensign, appearing at a hastily convened hearing, informed the judge that he did not know whether such removals were imminent.
The written communications, viewed by The Times and shared with Congress, appear to corroborate Mr. Reuveni’s account. A colleague listening to the hearing texted Mr. Reuveni an expletive, followed by: “That was just not true.” The same colleague added: “He knows there are plans for AEA removals within the next 24 hours.”
Mr. Reuveni replied, “Yes he does.”
The career lawyers trying to navigate the issue often engaged in gallows humor about their situation.
“Guess it’s find out time” on how the courts would respond to the administration, Mr. Reuveni texted a colleague that evening. “Yup, it was good working with you,” the colleague replied ruefully.
Later that evening, Mr. Reuveni sent another text, which referred to Mr. Bove’s expletive from the previous day.
“Guess we are going to say fuck you to the court,” Mr. Reuveni texted. “Super.”
His colleague responded, “Well, Pamela Jo Bondi is,” then added, “not you.”
A few days later, as Mr. Reuveni became more dismayed at the administration’s confrontational posture, he texted a colleague in frustration: “At this point, why don’t we just submit an emoji of a middle finger as our filing.”
The messages supplied by Mr. Reuveni paint a startling picture of an administration determined to send the men to a foreign prison without judicial review first, a decision that itself exposed major fissures within the ranks of government officials.
On multiple occasions, records he gave to Congress show, State Department officials offered to begin negotiations with the Salvadoran government to get Mr. Abrego Garcia back to the United States.
Officials at the Department of Homeland Security, however, adamantly resisted, seeking instead to argue that the man was a dangerous gang member who could not be returned. Career lawyers at the Justice Department struggled to carry out ambiguous instructions from their superiors in apparent contradiction of judicial orders.
Those tensions escalated in late March and early April, as judges demanded information that Mr. Reuveni and other lawyers did not have.
“Neither D.H.S. nor D.O.J. leadership is willing to answer any of these questions right now,” Mr. Reuveni wrote in an email on April 1. “I am getting nowhere with anyone. Leadership appears committed on not answering anything until ordered to do so.”
Devlin Barrett covers the Justice Department and the F.B.I. for The Times.
On Saturday morning, the editorial board of the New York Times published a selection of highly critical comments and writings from judges who have been put in the position of having to deal with the more than 400 lawsuits involving Donald Trump.
As the editors noted, "Dozens of judges appointed by both Democratic and Republican presidents have ruled against the administration. And they have often used tough, blunt language."
According to the editors, federal judges have gone where Republican lawmakers, conservative pundits and corporate leaders have refused to tread, calling out the Trump administration for, among other outrages, "vengeful attempts to destroy law firms, forestalled some of his budget cuts and kept him from deporting additional immigrants."
According to Adam Bonica of Stanford University, "Judges from across the ideological spectrum are ruling against administration policies at remarkable rates,” and the selection pulled together from 48 judges by the Times appears to bear that out.
Case in point, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia pointed out, "This is a terrible, terrible affidavit. If this were before me in a criminal case and you were asking to get a warrant issued on this, I’d throw you out of my chambers.”
“In an egregious case of cherry-picking, defendants selectively quote only a fragment of the court’s response here to mischaracterize its position," accused Judge James E. Boasberg, District of Columbia District when it came to deportations of immigrants.
President George W. Bush appointee, Judge Patrick J. Schiltz of the District of Minnesota, opined, "The court cannot imagine how the public interest might be served by permitting federal officials to flaunt the very laws that they have sworn to enforce.”
In the matter of dealing with refugees, Judge Jamal N. Whitehead of the Western District of Washington offered, "The government’s interpretation is, to put it mildly, ‘interpretive jiggery-pokery’ of the highest order. ... It requires not just reading between the lines, but hallucinating new text that simply is not there.”
Trump appointee, Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher, District of Maryland, explained, "Defendants have provided no evidence, or even any specific allegations, as to how Cristian, or any other class member, poses a threat to public safety. ... This is a court of evidence.”
Ruling on the Trump administration's battle with New York over congestion pricing, Trump appointee Lewis J. Liman bluntly stated, "That argument is nonsensical.”
Another Trump appointee, Mary S. McElroy, District of Rhode Island, tersely wrote, “In short, the government asks the court ‘to overlook the simplest, most logical explanation’ for what happened. The court declines.”
You can read more scathing remarks here.
NYT compiles stunning list of judges bashing Trump administration's lawyers
As the editors noted, "Dozens of judges appointed by both Democratic and Republican presidents have ruled against the administration. And they have often used tough, blunt language."
According to the editors, federal judges have gone where Republican lawmakers, conservative pundits and corporate leaders have refused to tread, calling out the Trump administration for, among other outrages, "vengeful attempts to destroy law firms, forestalled some of his budget cuts and kept him from deporting additional immigrants."
According to Adam Bonica of Stanford University, "Judges from across the ideological spectrum are ruling against administration policies at remarkable rates,” and the selection pulled together from 48 judges by the Times appears to bear that out.
Case in point, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia pointed out, "This is a terrible, terrible affidavit. If this were before me in a criminal case and you were asking to get a warrant issued on this, I’d throw you out of my chambers.”
“In an egregious case of cherry-picking, defendants selectively quote only a fragment of the court’s response here to mischaracterize its position," accused Judge James E. Boasberg, District of Columbia District when it came to deportations of immigrants.
President George W. Bush appointee, Judge Patrick J. Schiltz of the District of Minnesota, opined, "The court cannot imagine how the public interest might be served by permitting federal officials to flaunt the very laws that they have sworn to enforce.”
In the matter of dealing with refugees, Judge Jamal N. Whitehead of the Western District of Washington offered, "The government’s interpretation is, to put it mildly, ‘interpretive jiggery-pokery’ of the highest order. ... It requires not just reading between the lines, but hallucinating new text that simply is not there.”
Trump appointee, Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher, District of Maryland, explained, "Defendants have provided no evidence, or even any specific allegations, as to how Cristian, or any other class member, poses a threat to public safety. ... This is a court of evidence.”
Ruling on the Trump administration's battle with New York over congestion pricing, Trump appointee Lewis J. Liman bluntly stated, "That argument is nonsensical.”
Another Trump appointee, Mary S. McElroy, District of Rhode Island, tersely wrote, “In short, the government asks the court ‘to overlook the simplest, most logical explanation’ for what happened. The court declines.”
You can read more scathing remarks here.
NYT compiles stunning list of judges bashing Trump administration's lawyers
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — Federal immigration authorities said Friday they arrested about 200 immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally in raids a day earlier on two California cannabis farm sites. Protesters engaged in a tense standoff with authorities during an operation at one of the farms.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that authorities executed criminal search warrants in Carpinteria and Camarillo, California, on Thursday. They arrested immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally, and there were also at least 10 immigrant children on site, the statement said.
This undated photo provided by his family shows Jaime Alanis inside Ventura County Medical Center, after he was injured during an immigration raid on Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Camarillo, Calif. (Family photo via AP)© The Associated Press
Four U.S. citizens were arrested for “assaulting or resisting officers,” the department said. Authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of one person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents. One worker who called family to say he was hiding from authorities was on life support after falling and suffering significant injuries.
During the raid, crowds of people gathered outside Glass House Farms in Camarillo to seek information about their relatives and protest immigration enforcement. Authorities clad in military-style helmets and uniforms faced off with the demonstrators. Acrid green and white billowing smoke then forced community members to retreat.
Juan Duran cries outside of Glass House Farms, where a relative was injured during a previous day immigration raid, on Friday, July 11, 2025, in Camarillo, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)© The Associated Press
Glass House, a licensed California cannabis grower, said in a statement that immigration agents had valid warrants. The company said workers were detained, and it is helping provide them with legal representation. The farm also grows tomatoes and cucumbers.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” the statement said.
It is legal to grow and sell cannabis in California with proper licensing.
The state's Department of Cannabis Control said they “observed no minors on the premises” during a site visit to the farm in May 2025. After receiving another complaint, the department opened an active investigation, according to a department spokesperson.
Worker gravely injured
At least 12 people were injured during the raid and protest, said Andrew Dowd, a spokesperson for the Ventura County Fire Department. Eight were taken to St. John’s Regional Medical Center and the Ventura County Medical Center, and four were treated at the scene and released. Dowd said he did not have information on the extent of the injuries of those hospitalized.
Sergio Madrigal works on a farm field Friday, July 11, 2025, in Camarillo, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)© The Associated Press
On Friday, about two dozen people waited outside the farm to retrieve the cars of loved ones and speak to managers. Relatives of Jaime Alanis, who has picked tomatoes at the farm for 10 years, said he called his wife in Mexico during the raid to tell her immigration agents had arrived and that he was hiding with others inside the farm.
An exterior of Glass House Farms is shown, a day after an immigration raid on the facility, on Friday, July 11, 2025, in Camarillo, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)© The Associated Press
“The next thing we heard was that he was in the hospital with broken hands, ribs and a broken neck,” Juan Duran, Alanis’ brother-in-law, said in Spanish.
It was not immediately clear how Alanis was injured. A doctor at Ventura County Medical Center told the family that those who brought Alanis to the hospital said he had fallen from the roof of a building.
Rebecca Torres stands in front of a military vehicle approaching a federal immigration agents raid in the agriculture area of Camarillo, Calif., Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)© The Associated Press
Alanis had a broken neck, fractured skull and a rupture in an artery that pumps blood to the brain, said his niece Yesenia, who didn’t want to share her last name for fear of reprisal. He is on life support, she said.
“They told us he won’t make it and to say goodbye,” Yesenia said, crying.
The hospital did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Confrontation with authorities
Relatives and advocates headed to the farm about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles to try to find out what was going on, and began protesting outside.
Federal authorities formed a line blocking the road leading through farm fields to the company's greenhouses. Protesters were seen shouting at agents wearing camouflage gear, helmets and gas masks. The billowing smoke drove protesters to retreat. It wasn’t clear why authorities threw the canisters or if they released chemicals such as tear gas.
Ventura County fire authorities responding to a 911 call of people having trouble breathing said three people were taken to nearby hospitals.
At the farm, agents arrested workers and removed them by bus. Others, including U.S. citizens, were detained at the site for hours while agents investigated.
The incident came as federal immigration agents have ramped up arrests in Southern California at car washes, farms and Home Depot parking lots, stoking widespread fear among immigrant communities.
Federal investigations
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Friday that the investigation into immigration and potential child labor violations at the farm is ongoing. No further details of the allegations were provided.
The agency said hundreds of demonstrators attempted to disrupt the operations, leading to the arrest of four Americans.
“We will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who assaults or doxes federal law enforcement,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection were both part of the operation, the statement said.
President Donald Trump said he has ordered DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and White House border czar Tom Homan to direct ICE agents to use “whatever means is necessary” going forward when dealing with violent protesters.
“I am giving Total Authorization for ICE to protect itself, just like they protect the Public,” Trump said in a social media posting Friday evening.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson in a statement blamed “violent leftists” and Democrats for the Camarillo incident and other assaults on ICE agents in recent weeks.
Family members search for answers
The mother of an American worker said her son was held at the worksite for 11 hours and told her agents took workers’ cellphones to prevent them from calling family or filming and forced them to erase cellphone video of agents at the site.
The woman said her son told her agents marked the men’s hands with ink to distinguish their immigration status. She spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because she feared reprisals from the government.
United Farm Workers said in statement that some U.S. citizens are not yet accounted for.
Maria Servin, 68, said her son has worked at the farm for 18 years and was helping to build a greenhouse. She said she spoke to her son, who is undocumented, after hearing of the raid and offered to pick him up.
“He said not to come because they were surrounded and there was even a helicopter. That was the last time I spoke to him,” Servin, a U.S. citizen, said in Spanish.
She said she went to the farm anyway but federal agents were shooting tear gas and rubber bullets and she decided it was not safe to stay. She and her daughter returned to the farm Friday and were told her son had been arrested Thursday. They still don’t know where he is being held.
“I regret 1,000 times that I didn’t help him get his documents,” Servin said.
_____
Authorities say about 200 immigrants were arrested in raids on 2 Southern California farms
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that authorities executed criminal search warrants in Carpinteria and Camarillo, California, on Thursday. They arrested immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally, and there were also at least 10 immigrant children on site, the statement said.
This undated photo provided by his family shows Jaime Alanis inside Ventura County Medical Center, after he was injured during an immigration raid on Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Camarillo, Calif. (Family photo via AP)© The Associated Press
Four U.S. citizens were arrested for “assaulting or resisting officers,” the department said. Authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of one person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents. One worker who called family to say he was hiding from authorities was on life support after falling and suffering significant injuries.
During the raid, crowds of people gathered outside Glass House Farms in Camarillo to seek information about their relatives and protest immigration enforcement. Authorities clad in military-style helmets and uniforms faced off with the demonstrators. Acrid green and white billowing smoke then forced community members to retreat.
Juan Duran cries outside of Glass House Farms, where a relative was injured during a previous day immigration raid, on Friday, July 11, 2025, in Camarillo, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)© The Associated Press
Glass House, a licensed California cannabis grower, said in a statement that immigration agents had valid warrants. The company said workers were detained, and it is helping provide them with legal representation. The farm also grows tomatoes and cucumbers.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” the statement said.
It is legal to grow and sell cannabis in California with proper licensing.
The state's Department of Cannabis Control said they “observed no minors on the premises” during a site visit to the farm in May 2025. After receiving another complaint, the department opened an active investigation, according to a department spokesperson.
Worker gravely injured
At least 12 people were injured during the raid and protest, said Andrew Dowd, a spokesperson for the Ventura County Fire Department. Eight were taken to St. John’s Regional Medical Center and the Ventura County Medical Center, and four were treated at the scene and released. Dowd said he did not have information on the extent of the injuries of those hospitalized.
Sergio Madrigal works on a farm field Friday, July 11, 2025, in Camarillo, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)© The Associated Press
On Friday, about two dozen people waited outside the farm to retrieve the cars of loved ones and speak to managers. Relatives of Jaime Alanis, who has picked tomatoes at the farm for 10 years, said he called his wife in Mexico during the raid to tell her immigration agents had arrived and that he was hiding with others inside the farm.
An exterior of Glass House Farms is shown, a day after an immigration raid on the facility, on Friday, July 11, 2025, in Camarillo, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)© The Associated Press
“The next thing we heard was that he was in the hospital with broken hands, ribs and a broken neck,” Juan Duran, Alanis’ brother-in-law, said in Spanish.
It was not immediately clear how Alanis was injured. A doctor at Ventura County Medical Center told the family that those who brought Alanis to the hospital said he had fallen from the roof of a building.
Rebecca Torres stands in front of a military vehicle approaching a federal immigration agents raid in the agriculture area of Camarillo, Calif., Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)© The Associated Press
Alanis had a broken neck, fractured skull and a rupture in an artery that pumps blood to the brain, said his niece Yesenia, who didn’t want to share her last name for fear of reprisal. He is on life support, she said.
“They told us he won’t make it and to say goodbye,” Yesenia said, crying.
The hospital did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Confrontation with authorities
Relatives and advocates headed to the farm about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles to try to find out what was going on, and began protesting outside.
Federal authorities formed a line blocking the road leading through farm fields to the company's greenhouses. Protesters were seen shouting at agents wearing camouflage gear, helmets and gas masks. The billowing smoke drove protesters to retreat. It wasn’t clear why authorities threw the canisters or if they released chemicals such as tear gas.
Ventura County fire authorities responding to a 911 call of people having trouble breathing said three people were taken to nearby hospitals.
At the farm, agents arrested workers and removed them by bus. Others, including U.S. citizens, were detained at the site for hours while agents investigated.
The incident came as federal immigration agents have ramped up arrests in Southern California at car washes, farms and Home Depot parking lots, stoking widespread fear among immigrant communities.
Federal investigations
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Friday that the investigation into immigration and potential child labor violations at the farm is ongoing. No further details of the allegations were provided.
The agency said hundreds of demonstrators attempted to disrupt the operations, leading to the arrest of four Americans.
“We will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who assaults or doxes federal law enforcement,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection were both part of the operation, the statement said.
President Donald Trump said he has ordered DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and White House border czar Tom Homan to direct ICE agents to use “whatever means is necessary” going forward when dealing with violent protesters.
“I am giving Total Authorization for ICE to protect itself, just like they protect the Public,” Trump said in a social media posting Friday evening.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson in a statement blamed “violent leftists” and Democrats for the Camarillo incident and other assaults on ICE agents in recent weeks.
Family members search for answers
The mother of an American worker said her son was held at the worksite for 11 hours and told her agents took workers’ cellphones to prevent them from calling family or filming and forced them to erase cellphone video of agents at the site.
The woman said her son told her agents marked the men’s hands with ink to distinguish their immigration status. She spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because she feared reprisals from the government.
United Farm Workers said in statement that some U.S. citizens are not yet accounted for.
Maria Servin, 68, said her son has worked at the farm for 18 years and was helping to build a greenhouse. She said she spoke to her son, who is undocumented, after hearing of the raid and offered to pick him up.
“He said not to come because they were surrounded and there was even a helicopter. That was the last time I spoke to him,” Servin, a U.S. citizen, said in Spanish.
She said she went to the farm anyway but federal agents were shooting tear gas and rubber bullets and she decided it was not safe to stay. She and her daughter returned to the farm Friday and were told her son had been arrested Thursday. They still don’t know where he is being held.
“I regret 1,000 times that I didn’t help him get his documents,” Servin said.
_____
Authorities say about 200 immigrants were arrested in raids on 2 Southern California farms
The Justice Department's lawyer "put his foot in his mouth the minute he started and never seemed to get it out" in a recent hearing, according to a former prosecutor.
Ex-federal prosecutor Joyce Vance highlighted a high-profile case in which, as the Washington Post put it, "a federal judge in Maryland sharply rebuked a Justice Department attorney" after "an immigration official could not answer basic questions about the Trump administration’s plans to deport Kilmar Abrego García if he is released pending trial on federal human-smuggling charges against him in Tennessee."
In the Maryland hearing this week, "Judge Paula Xinis heard testimony from a witness she had directed the government to present, and it turned out that the testimony failed to answer some of the very basic questions she has about the case," according to Vance. She said they were questions such as, "What do you plan to do with Mr. Abrego Garcia if he’s released, and in what country, other than El Salvador, where the government is currently prohibited from sending him, might you dump him?"
Vance went on to ridicule the DOJ's position in the case.
"The government is taking a ridiculous posture, saying that unless and until he’s released from criminal custody in the Tennessee case, they aren’t making any plans at all—they just have some vague ideas about the possibilities," she wrote. "Given that this is the same government we now know from the Erez Reuveni whistleblower case doesn’t feel compelled to comply with courts that rule against Donald Trump’s desired course of action, it’s easy to understand why the Judge was skeptical of the government, telling their lawyers she could no longer presume they were acting in good faith at one point. The presumption of regularity entitles the government to an assumption by the court that its actions are valid and in accordance with the law, placing a burden on any party challenging it to prove otherwise."
Vance highlighted Xinis' comment to the DOJ lawyer: “You have taken the presumption of regularity and you’ve destroyed it in my view."
"The government acted like everything was business as usual and this was just an ordinary case. But this Judge understands that it is not. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers made such a modest request, functional due process, just a couple of days’ notice before their client is dropped in a hellhole like South Sudan," she wrote. "The government’s lawyer put his foot in his mouth the minute he started and never seemed to get it out. For starters, the Judge had asked yesterday for basic paperwork, the detainer that ICE was using to hold Abrego Garcia. But it took them until midway through the hearing to provide it to her. That’s an inexcusable failure on the government’s part that fairly shouts disrespect to the court."
The analyst continued:
"The government told Judge Xinis they can either deport Abrego Garcia to a third country of their choice or reopen withholding proceedings... But the government wouldn’t commit to either option or even hint at its thinking."
She added, "The Judge was righteously indignant that the government wouldn’t say what it wants to do, maintaining the fiction that some randomly assigned desk officer will decide what happens on the fly if Abrego Garcia is returned to their custody, just like they would in any normal case. It’s ridiculous. The government is saying 'f--- you' to the courts over and over again, and the courts seem to be getting the message."
Read the full essay on Substack here.
DOJ lawyer 'put his foot in his mouth' in front of 'righteously indignant' judge
Ex-federal prosecutor Joyce Vance highlighted a high-profile case in which, as the Washington Post put it, "a federal judge in Maryland sharply rebuked a Justice Department attorney" after "an immigration official could not answer basic questions about the Trump administration’s plans to deport Kilmar Abrego García if he is released pending trial on federal human-smuggling charges against him in Tennessee."
In the Maryland hearing this week, "Judge Paula Xinis heard testimony from a witness she had directed the government to present, and it turned out that the testimony failed to answer some of the very basic questions she has about the case," according to Vance. She said they were questions such as, "What do you plan to do with Mr. Abrego Garcia if he’s released, and in what country, other than El Salvador, where the government is currently prohibited from sending him, might you dump him?"
Vance went on to ridicule the DOJ's position in the case.
"The government is taking a ridiculous posture, saying that unless and until he’s released from criminal custody in the Tennessee case, they aren’t making any plans at all—they just have some vague ideas about the possibilities," she wrote. "Given that this is the same government we now know from the Erez Reuveni whistleblower case doesn’t feel compelled to comply with courts that rule against Donald Trump’s desired course of action, it’s easy to understand why the Judge was skeptical of the government, telling their lawyers she could no longer presume they were acting in good faith at one point. The presumption of regularity entitles the government to an assumption by the court that its actions are valid and in accordance with the law, placing a burden on any party challenging it to prove otherwise."
Vance highlighted Xinis' comment to the DOJ lawyer: “You have taken the presumption of regularity and you’ve destroyed it in my view."
"The government acted like everything was business as usual and this was just an ordinary case. But this Judge understands that it is not. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers made such a modest request, functional due process, just a couple of days’ notice before their client is dropped in a hellhole like South Sudan," she wrote. "The government’s lawyer put his foot in his mouth the minute he started and never seemed to get it out. For starters, the Judge had asked yesterday for basic paperwork, the detainer that ICE was using to hold Abrego Garcia. But it took them until midway through the hearing to provide it to her. That’s an inexcusable failure on the government’s part that fairly shouts disrespect to the court."
The analyst continued:
"The government told Judge Xinis they can either deport Abrego Garcia to a third country of their choice or reopen withholding proceedings... But the government wouldn’t commit to either option or even hint at its thinking."
She added, "The Judge was righteously indignant that the government wouldn’t say what it wants to do, maintaining the fiction that some randomly assigned desk officer will decide what happens on the fly if Abrego Garcia is returned to their custody, just like they would in any normal case. It’s ridiculous. The government is saying 'f--- you' to the courts over and over again, and the courts seem to be getting the message."
Read the full essay on Substack here.
DOJ lawyer 'put his foot in his mouth' in front of 'righteously indignant' judge
Justice Dept. fires more prosecutors, support staff involved in Trump prosecutions, AP sources say
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has fired additional lawyers and support staff who worked on special counsel Jack Smith's prosecutions of President Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The overall number of terminations was not immediately clear but they cut across both the classified documents and election interference prosecutions brought by Smith, and included a handful of prosecutors who were detailed to the probes as well as Justice Department support staff and other non-lawyer personnel who aided them, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel moves that have not been publicly announced.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, left, listens as President Donald Trump, right, speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)© The Associated Press
The firings are part of a broader wave of terminations that have roiled the department for months and that have targeted staff who worked on cases involving Trump and his supporters. In January, the Justice Department said that it had fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on prosecutions of Trump, and last month fired at least three prosecutors involved in U.S. Capitol riot criminal cases.
Days ago, Patty Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Washington, whose prosecutors handled the cases against the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol, said in a social media post that she had been handed a letter signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi informing her that she had been fired.
Smith's team in 2023 brought separate indictments accusing Trump of hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida as well as conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Neither case reached trial. The Supreme Court significantly narrowed the election interference case in a ruling that said former presidents enjoyed broad immunity from prosecution for their official acts, and a Trump-appointed judge dismissed the classified documents case by holding that Smith's appointment as special counsel was illegal.
Smith ultimately withdrew both cases in November 2024 after Trump's victory, citing a Justice Department legal opinion that protects sitting presidents from federal prosecution.
Eric Tucker And Alanna Durkin Richer, The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has fired additional lawyers and support staff who worked on special counsel Jack Smith's prosecutions of President Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The overall number of terminations was not immediately clear but they cut across both the classified documents and election interference prosecutions brought by Smith, and included a handful of prosecutors who were detailed to the probes as well as Justice Department support staff and other non-lawyer personnel who aided them, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel moves that have not been publicly announced.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, left, listens as President Donald Trump, right, speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)© The Associated Press
The firings are part of a broader wave of terminations that have roiled the department for months and that have targeted staff who worked on cases involving Trump and his supporters. In January, the Justice Department said that it had fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on prosecutions of Trump, and last month fired at least three prosecutors involved in U.S. Capitol riot criminal cases.
Days ago, Patty Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Washington, whose prosecutors handled the cases against the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol, said in a social media post that she had been handed a letter signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi informing her that she had been fired.
Smith's team in 2023 brought separate indictments accusing Trump of hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida as well as conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Neither case reached trial. The Supreme Court significantly narrowed the election interference case in a ruling that said former presidents enjoyed broad immunity from prosecution for their official acts, and a Trump-appointed judge dismissed the classified documents case by holding that Smith's appointment as special counsel was illegal.
Smith ultimately withdrew both cases in November 2024 after Trump's victory, citing a Justice Department legal opinion that protects sitting presidents from federal prosecution.
Eric Tucker And Alanna Durkin Richer, The Associated Press
Farmworker dies after falling from greenhouse roof during chaotic ICE raid
A farmworker who fell from a greenhouse roof during a chaotic ICE raid at a California cannabis facility this week died Saturday of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die in one of the Trump administration’s anti-immigration operations.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, confirmed his death after posting on GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family's only provider, and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico. The United Food Workers said Alanis worked at the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorize American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said recently on social platform X.
The UFW reported Alanis’ death prematurely late Friday, but the Ventura County Medical Center later issued a statement authorized by the family saying he was still on life support.
People embrace outside of Glass House Farms, a day after an immigration raid on the facility (AP)
The Department of Homeland Security said it executed criminal search warrants Thursday at Glass House Farms facilities in Camarillo and Carpinteria.
Garcia called family to say he was hiding and possibly was fleeing agents before he fell about 30 feet (9 meters) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested some 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, DHS said in a statement.
Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP or ICE custody,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30 feet. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
Four U.S. citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers,” according to DHS, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
Jaime Alanis inside Ventura County Medical Center (AP)
During the raid, crowds of people gathered outside the facility in Camarillo to seek information about their relatives and protest immigration enforcement. Authorities clad in military-style helmets and uniforms faced off with the demonstrators, and people ultimately retreated amid acrid green and white billowing smoke.
Glass House, a licensed California cannabis grower, said in a statement that immigration agents had valid warrants. The company said workers were detained, and it is helping provide them with legal representation. The farm also grows tomatoes and cucumbers.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it said.
The business is owned by Graham Farrar, a generous donor to California Democrats, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, a vocal critic of Republican President Donald Trump.
The Independent has always had a global perspective. Built on a firm foundation of superb international reporting and analysis, The Independent now enjoys a reach that was inconceivable when it was launched as an upstart player in the British news industry. For the first time since the end of the Second World War, and across the world, pluralism, reason, a progressive and humanitarian agenda, and internationalism – Independent values – are under threat. Yet we, The Independent, continue to grow.
A farmworker who fell from a greenhouse roof during a chaotic ICE raid at a California cannabis facility this week died Saturday of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die in one of the Trump administration’s anti-immigration operations.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, confirmed his death after posting on GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family's only provider, and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico. The United Food Workers said Alanis worked at the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorize American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said recently on social platform X.
The UFW reported Alanis’ death prematurely late Friday, but the Ventura County Medical Center later issued a statement authorized by the family saying he was still on life support.
People embrace outside of Glass House Farms, a day after an immigration raid on the facility (AP)
The Department of Homeland Security said it executed criminal search warrants Thursday at Glass House Farms facilities in Camarillo and Carpinteria.
Garcia called family to say he was hiding and possibly was fleeing agents before he fell about 30 feet (9 meters) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested some 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, DHS said in a statement.
Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP or ICE custody,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30 feet. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
Four U.S. citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers,” according to DHS, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
Jaime Alanis inside Ventura County Medical Center (AP)
During the raid, crowds of people gathered outside the facility in Camarillo to seek information about their relatives and protest immigration enforcement. Authorities clad in military-style helmets and uniforms faced off with the demonstrators, and people ultimately retreated amid acrid green and white billowing smoke.
Glass House, a licensed California cannabis grower, said in a statement that immigration agents had valid warrants. The company said workers were detained, and it is helping provide them with legal representation. The farm also grows tomatoes and cucumbers.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it said.
The business is owned by Graham Farrar, a generous donor to California Democrats, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, a vocal critic of Republican President Donald Trump.
The Independent has always had a global perspective. Built on a firm foundation of superb international reporting and analysis, The Independent now enjoys a reach that was inconceivable when it was launched as an upstart player in the British news industry. For the first time since the end of the Second World War, and across the world, pluralism, reason, a progressive and humanitarian agenda, and internationalism – Independent values – are under threat. Yet we, The Independent, continue to grow.
The federal government on Saturday dismissed charges against a Utah plastic surgeon accused of throwing away COVID-19 vaccines, giving children saline shots instead of the vaccine and selling faked vaccination cards.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on the social media platform X that charges against Dr. Michael Kirk Moore, of Midvale, Utah, were dismissed at her direction.
Moore and other defendants faced up to 35 years in prison after being charged with conspiracy to defraud the government; conspiracy to convert, sell, convey and dispose of government property; and aiding and abetting in those efforts. The charges were brought when Joe Biden was president.
“Dr. Moore gave his patients a choice when the federal government refused to do so,” Bondi wrote. “He did not deserve the years in prison he was facing. It ends today.”
Felice John Viti, acting U.S. attorney for Utah, filed the motion Saturday, saying “such dismissal is in the interests of justice.”
The trial began Monday in Salt Lake City with jury selection. It was expected to last 15 days.
Messages sent to the U.S. Department of Justice, Viti’s office in Salt Lake City and to Moore were not immediately returned Saturday to The Associated Press.
A federal grand jury on Jan. 11, 2023, returned an indictment against Moore, his Plastic Surgery Institute of Utah Inc., others associated with the clinic and a neighbor of Moore's. The indictment alleged more than $28,000 of government-provided COVID-19 vaccine doses were destroyed.
They were also accused of providing fraudulently completed vaccination record cards for over 1,900 doses of the vaccine in exchange for either a cash or a donation to a specified charitable organization.
The government also alleged some children were given saline shots, at their parents’ request, so the minors believed they were getting the vaccine.
Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., a leading anti-vaccine activist before becoming the nation’s top health official, posted his support for Moore in April, saying on X that Moore "deserves a medal for his courage and his commitment to healing!”
During his confirmation hearings in January, Kennedy repeatedly refused to acknowledge scientific consensus that childhood vaccines don’t cause autism and that COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives.
In a follow-up X post on Saturday, Bondi said Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene brought the case to her attention.
Charges dropped against Utah doctor accused of throwing away $28,000 in COVID vaccine doses
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on the social media platform X that charges against Dr. Michael Kirk Moore, of Midvale, Utah, were dismissed at her direction.
Moore and other defendants faced up to 35 years in prison after being charged with conspiracy to defraud the government; conspiracy to convert, sell, convey and dispose of government property; and aiding and abetting in those efforts. The charges were brought when Joe Biden was president.
“Dr. Moore gave his patients a choice when the federal government refused to do so,” Bondi wrote. “He did not deserve the years in prison he was facing. It ends today.”
Felice John Viti, acting U.S. attorney for Utah, filed the motion Saturday, saying “such dismissal is in the interests of justice.”
The trial began Monday in Salt Lake City with jury selection. It was expected to last 15 days.
Messages sent to the U.S. Department of Justice, Viti’s office in Salt Lake City and to Moore were not immediately returned Saturday to The Associated Press.
A federal grand jury on Jan. 11, 2023, returned an indictment against Moore, his Plastic Surgery Institute of Utah Inc., others associated with the clinic and a neighbor of Moore's. The indictment alleged more than $28,000 of government-provided COVID-19 vaccine doses were destroyed.
They were also accused of providing fraudulently completed vaccination record cards for over 1,900 doses of the vaccine in exchange for either a cash or a donation to a specified charitable organization.
The government also alleged some children were given saline shots, at their parents’ request, so the minors believed they were getting the vaccine.
Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., a leading anti-vaccine activist before becoming the nation’s top health official, posted his support for Moore in April, saying on X that Moore "deserves a medal for his courage and his commitment to healing!”
During his confirmation hearings in January, Kennedy repeatedly refused to acknowledge scientific consensus that childhood vaccines don’t cause autism and that COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives.
In a follow-up X post on Saturday, Bondi said Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene brought the case to her attention.
Charges dropped against Utah doctor accused of throwing away $28,000 in COVID vaccine doses
So, fraud is ok.
Hopefully some of the parents sue him civil court style.
