A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.

Pick Your Poison: Sanctions or Criminal Contempt

In a flurry of new filings overnight, attorneys for the Broadview Six continued to press their advantage in seeking a full accounting for the Trump DOJ’s misconduct and subsequent alleged cover-up in the now-dismissed case against ICE protesters.

Among the new requests, the Broadview Six are now asking U.S. District Judge April Perry to:

Appoint a Special Counsel: In seeking the appointment of a outside special counsel to investigate and, if warranted, prosecute DOJ officials in Chicago and D.C., including U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros, they argue that the Justice Department is scapegoating the line prosecutor who appeared before the grand jury in the case:

Indeed, these steps must be taken in large part because of what appears to be a determined effort to blame a single prosecutor when the misconduct now known – particularly in this case – runs much deeper and indeed to the highest levels of the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office and likely to the Department of Justice in Washington D.C.

If the investigation yields evidence of criminal contempt, they want the court to empower the special counsel to prosecute those officials involved.

Conduct a Hearing on Prosecutorial Misconduct: In conjunction with the request for a special counsel, the Broadview Six also wanted an evidentiary hearing on sanctions for “both the misconduct that is already manifest, and additional misconduct which we anticipate is yet uncovered.” As they continue to pound the lectern that more misconduct is likely to be found upon further investigation, they ask for additional discovery to inform any hearing on sanctions or criminal contempt of court:

We ask that the Court direct the government immediately to conduct a search for any emails, text messages, phone calls, memos, notes, or other records of communications between anyone in the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office and anyone – including [DOJ official Aakash] Singh – from DOJ or DHS related to this case.

Note the particular focus on Main Justice.

Allow Limited Discovery to Recoup Attorneys Fees: In another new filing, the Broadview Six attorneys revealed that the Trump DOJ “will not contest” that the defendants are entitled to recover their attorneys fees and costs. How much they are entitled to recover remains in dispute. In pursuit of recovering attorney fees, the Broadview Six previously asked the court to allow additional limited discovery “to demonstrate the bad faith, vexatious, and/or frivolous nature of this misguided prosecution.”

Trump DOJ Goes After ICE Protesters in Minnesota

A sweeping new indictment of 15 ICE protesters in Minnesota is another test case of the Trump DOJ’s penchant for slapping conspiracy charges on alleged “antifa” dissidents — though the facts of this case are complicated and will take some time to unpack and distill.

It led to this bit of absurdism from Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen during a press conference announcing the charges:

You mentioned coordinated attacks. Elaborate?Rosen: "I don't believe I used the word attacks but if I did, I stand by it."

— Wedge LIVE!™ (@wedge.live) 2026-06-16T20:38:04.341Z

The indictment of protestors comes even as the Trump administration continues to refuse to investigate or prosecute federal agents who killed U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti — or cooperate in the state investigations in their deaths.

Court Declines to Discipline DOJ Attorney

After appointing a special counsel to look into it, the federal court in Rhode Island has declined to discipline a DOJ attorney who failed to disclose to a judge that an ICE detainee she ordered released had an outstanding international arrest warrant.

The Trump Department of Homeland Security seized on the release of the detainee to attack the judge publicly, and the lawyer apologized for not being more forthcoming with the court, saying ICE has instructed him not to divulge the existence of the warrant.

In a letter to DOJ attorney Kevin Bolan, Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. admonished:

Given your knowledge and the importance of the information you knowingly withheld from the Court, the Special Counsel found sufficient evidence that your conduct violated the duty of candor owed to the Court. And the Court agrees. In particular, your knowing decision not to disclose this critical fact was, under the circumstances, the equivalent of making an affirmative false statement to the Court about Mr. Gómez’s criminal history, in violation of Rule 3.3(a)(1).

Nevertheless, the special counsel and the court found “countervailing factors” that made formal disciplinary proceedings unnecessary:

While your error was serious, countervailing factors are also present. The Special Counsel’s investigation found, and the Court agrees, that there is no reason to conclude that you were part of a scheme to deceive the Court, or that you acted in bad faith or for personal gain. On your own initiative, you publicly accepted responsibility and apologized to Judge DuBose and this Court. Outside of this incident, you have participated responsibly in many cases here. Your lapse of judgment reflected a failure to prioritize your duty to the Court over the instructions of your client, but you did not act for any deceitful or illicit reason.

The April DHS news release — titled “Activist Biden Judge Releases Violent Criminal Illegal Alien Wanted for Murder” — remains online.

Secret Service Big Mad at Kash Patel

FBI Director Kash Patel jumped the gun again in racing to post news of a criminal investigation to social media while arrests were still being made.

It prompted an unusual public backlash from the deputy director of the Secret Service, which led the investigation into an alleged plot to attack the UFC event Sunday at the White House on President Trump’s birthday.

“I’ll tell you a phrase I learned early in my career in the New York field office and that’s `’Don’t choke on your own smoke,’” the Secret Service’s Matthew C. Quinn said at a press conference, without naming Patel. “I’ll tell you the Secret Service led that investigation from the beginning. I’ll tell you that case is ongoing. In order to maintain the integrity of the investigation and the security plan, we chose not to leak it.”

At least five people from four states — California, Missouri, Nebraska and Ohio — have been charged in the alleged plot involving drones and rifles, which was uncovered when a concerned mother called the police, though it remains unclear whether they had the means to carry out the attack.

In related news: The Trump DOJ seized on the alleged plot in its appeal of the court order shutting down construction of Trump’s vanity ballroom, dubiously arguing that it shows the need for a secure location (to hold UFC fights and related circus events?).

Patel Has a Slush Fund for FBI Loyalists?

In a new letter, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) claims FBI Director Kash Patel “may” have unlawfully paid more than $1 million in bonuses to agents on his Director’s Advisory Team and on his security detail.

Trump Holds DNI Nom Hostage to Election Interference Bill

In another sign of the gathering storm of a Big Lie redux for the midterm elections, President Trump this morning scotched a plan to quickly confirm Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence in order to pressure Congress into passing his election interference bill, the SAVE America Act, as part of extending FISA’s Section 702 surveillance authority.

Under Trump’s new plan, his loyalist Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, would step in as acting DNI in the meantime — an ironic move because fast-tracking Clayton was a way of sidelining Pulte, whose selection as acting DNI had derailed the FISA reauthorization in the Senate.

In his social media post announcing the move, Trump said he was cancelling today’s Senate Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Clayton’s nomination, but committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-AR) said the hearing would proceed.

Midterms Results: Georgia Edition

• GA-Sen: Trump-endorsed Rep. Mike Collins won the GOP runoff to challenge Sen. Jon Ossoff (D), giving Democrats the general election opponent they wanted.
• GA-Gov: Trump-endorsed Georgia Lt. Governor Burt Jones lost the GOP runoff to billionaire Rick Jackson, despite having led in the first round of the primary.

U.S. Boat Strike Leaves 2 Survivors

A U.S. attack on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific on Tuesday killed one man and left two survivors adrift on the high seas, bringing the death toll in the lawless Trump administration campaign to at least 208. In what has become a largely meaningless refrain, the U.S. military said it “immediately notified U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivors.”

Trump Faked Out Most Media on Iran War Deal Yet Again

It’s now basically confirmed that the U.S. and Iran agreed to disagree and that President Trump turned around and peddled that publicly as an agreement to end the war.

The terms of a draft of the memorandum of understanding between the two countries, which isn’t yet signed, is both generally favorable to Iran and leaves much unresolved for later negotiations (which may or may not happen).

After touting it over the weekend — and being inexplicably taken at face value by most major news outlets — Trump gave the whole thing an absurdist twist this morning in Europe at the G7 summit:

Trump on his Iran deal: "It's a very strong deal. Nobody knows what it is, but it's very strong."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-06-17T11:27:02.898Z

That’s not just Trump free-associating in front of the cameras. That’s the official administration line, per this rich CNN headline: “US officials downplay text of the Iran agreement, saying it doesn’t account for back-channel commitments.”

Meanwhile, each night since the MOU was conceptually agreed to, Iran has launched drones against shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. has shot them down, NBC News reports. `

Messi Doing Messi Things … at Nearly 39

Vintage Lionel Messi last night against Algeria, where his three goals for defending champ Argentina tied him for most in a career in World Cup play:

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