TPM’s David Kurtz has been covering, in person, a hearing in Nashville in which the Trump administration sought to prove it did not pursue a vindictive prosecution against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man it erroneously imprisoned in El Salvador last year. Immediately upon leaving the courtroom, David sat down with me to record a Substack Live on what happened. Watch that here:
You’ll recall that Abrego Garcia’s lawyers in 2025 fought his removal from the country and won, a decision the Supreme Court affirmed. The Trump administration returned him to the U.S. last summer — but only after he was indicted on new, criminal charges. His lawyers argued that those new charges were a vindictive prosecution, meant to punish him for successfully fighting his rendition to CECOT, and that the judge should throw out the case. Vindictive prosecution is usually a challenging claim to prove in court, but U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw found Abrego Garcia’s argument credible, and ordered the Trump administration to prove the prosecution was not vindictive. That’s what today’s hearing was for.
2025 saw many prosecutions that were clearly intended as retribution against people who the Trump administration understood to be its enemies, but this is the first time a vindictive prosecution claim has reached the point of, potentially, getting a case dismissed. That broader context is a big part of why we’re covering it today.
Watch the video above to get David’s read out on what happened during today’s hearing.
