A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
One of Dozens of Failed Prosecutions
More than a year after arresting him, the Trump Justice Department moved Monday to drop the criminal case against California labor leader David Huerta arising from his June 2025 protest of an ICE raid in Los Angeles.
Huerta, who suffered a head injury during his arrest, was engaged in protest at the peak of tensions in the city over ICE raids. The next day, President Trump federalized the California National Guard and deployed it to the city.
Prosecutors had already downgraded the case against Huerta from a felony charge of conspiracy to impede an officer to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction, resistance, or opposition of a federal officer. Now the remaining charge will be dismissed.
Huerta’s case is just one of dozens of prosecutions of ICE protestors in Los Angeles to fall apart in recent months.
To try to save face in the Huerta case, prosecutors yesterday framed the dismissal as an “agreement of the parties” by which Huerta would continue to abide by the terms of his release for another 30 days, at which point the case would be dismissed.
“This is not where he’s been absolved of wrongdoing,” Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in L.A., told Politico. “He’s accepted responsibility.” (For those keeping track, Essayli is not the U.S. attorney, but is installed as the first assistant in the office as a way of avoiding Senate confirmation.)
For his part, Huerta hailed the outcome as complete vindication of him and his constitutional rights.
DHS Watch
- In an extraordinary attack on the federal judiciary, James Percival, the general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, posted a screed on X last week vilifying by name four federal judges who had ruled against DHS in high-profile cases, including Paula Xinis, who has overseen the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case in Maryland.
- A longtime immigration policy wonk who most recently served as executive director of the Office of Homeland Security Statistics has resigned from the Department of Homeland security, saying in a LinkedIn post over the weekend:
[I]t will come as no surprise that I’m thrilled to end my relationship with the current administration. Between the war on immigrants, the war on feds, and the war on facts (not to mention the crazy war in Iran and the brazen corruption), I just need a change.
Comey: 86 My Prosecution
Former FBI Director James Comey has filed his first of at least two motions to dismiss the federal indictment of him in North Carolina for posting to Instagram an image of seashells arranged on a beach to spell out “86 47,” arguing that it’s preposterous to treat his actions as a true threat to President Trump and that, even if they were construed to be a threat, they amounted to constitutionally protected political hyperbole.
The Corruption: Crypto Edition
The Trump DOJ filed a motion to dismiss the fraud case against the alleged mastermind of a $722 million crypto Ponzi scheme, Bloomberg reports.
What Is Cornyn Bargaining for Exactly?
With the critical Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general set for Thursday, new comments from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) suggest he may not be driving as hard of a bargain for his vote as initially reported.
Last week, Cornyn said he wasn’t just interested in making sure the bogus anti-weaponization fund was dead, but also nixing the tax immunity Trump received when he settled his lawsuit against the IRS. To do this, Cornyn wants the settlement documents amended because by their own terms only the parties can modify the documents. But yesterday in remarks to reporters, Cornyn’s own description of what he was after seemed more narrow than at first appeared (emphasis added):
We just need for the documents to conform to what [Blanche’s] testimony was at the hearing, where he said the weaponization fund was dead [and] he said that the immunity from future audits does not extend to people beyond the parties to the lawsuit.
That sure sounds like the parties to the lawsuit — who include Trump personally, his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, and the Trump Organization — would still receive the immunity contemplated in the settlement agreement.
Politico uses ambiguous language language on this point, reporting that the changes to the settlement agreement Cornyn wants include “restricting the scope of tax audit immunity granted to the president and his family.” It’s not clear whether that means limiting the scope of the immunity the Trumps are getting or limiting who gets immunity to only the Trump family.
Stay tuned …
Trump IRS Lawsuit Miscellany
- Attorney Fees: After the judge in Trump’s lawsuit ruled that she would consider awarding attorney fees to the amici who filed briefs in the case — to be paid by Trump, the other plaintiffs, and his lawyers as sanctions for their misconduct in the case — the amici submitted their attorney fee requests yesterday. The Democracy Forward Foundation, which represented one set of amici, is seeking $39,000. The four law firms representing 35 former judges said their fees exceeded $100,000 but they are seeking only a symbolic $1 per law firm plus modest out-of-pocket expenses of less than $5,000.
- Law School Deanship: Daniel Epstein, Trump’s lawyer in the IRS case who was sanctioned by the judge with the monetary penalties above plus a one-year ban on practicing pro hac vice in the Southern District of Florida, is the incoming interim dean of the Florida International University law school. Epstein didn’t even make the law school search committee’s list of top 20 candidates for the permanent position, but was named interim dean anyway after the search for a permanent dean failed, the Miami Herald reports.
Trump Takes Elections EO to SCOTUS
After losing at the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals last week, the Trump administration quickly went to the Supreme Court to try to revive the president’s executive order purporting to revamp mail voting ahead in time for the midterms.
Chilling Headline of the Day
WSJ: Two Wars Converge in the Caspian Sea as Ukraine Hits Iranian Supply Line to Russia
Let’s See How AI Is Going … WUT!?!
- Futurism: AI Companies Are Buying Antique Books, Ingesting Their Contents to Train Models, and Then Destroying Them at Incredible Scale
- Futurism: A Whole Bunch of People’s Claude Chats Are Publicly Accessible Online, and There’s Some Wildly Private Stuff in There
Who’s Your REAL Daddy?
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This seems like a sign or even a portent.
at least he didn’t blame Biden……yet!
The day is still young.
It’s like a new Abbott and Costello routine drops every few minutes.