A Dark Day
In one of his first acts of his second term, Donald Trump granted sweeping pardons to nearly all of the convicted Jan. 6 rioters and instigators and commuted the sentences of 14 of those serving the longest sentences, including on the most serious charge: seditious conspiracy.
Trump also ordered the Justice Department to end pending prosecutions of Jan. 6 defendants, an extraordinary and unprecedented interference with the department’s independence, and a foreshadowing of DOJ being run from the White House.
Among those freed were former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers honcho Stewart Rhodes. Overnight, Rhodes was seen leaving prison:
The Weaponization Begins
In one of his first acts of his second term, Donald Trump granted sweeping pardons to nearly all of the convicted Jan. 6 rioters and instigators and commuted the sentences of 14 of those serving the longest sentences, including on the most serious charge: seditious conspiracy.
Trump also ordered the Justice Department to end pending prosecutions of Jan. 6 defendants, an extraordinary and unprecedented interference with the department’s independence, and a foreshadowing of DOJ being run from the White House.
Among those freed were former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers honcho Stewart Rhodes. Overnight, Rhodes was seen leaving prison:
Quote Of The Day
“If upon reflection, you feel like now would be a good time to take a vacation and resign from your position, please ‘reply all’ to this email and put ‘I’d Like to Occupy Mars!’ in the subject line.”
–a defiant administrative law judge at the EEOC, in an email to acting Chair Andrea Lucas that copied most of the commission’s staff
The Tragedy Of Trump’s Lawlessness
Trump’s lawlessness and the very real human costs it is imposing converge most dramatically at USAID. The president is proceeding to wipe a congressionally created independent agency off the map without approval from Congress, and the consequences for American interests abroad, foreign aid recipients, and USAID employees and contractors are dire:
- All USAID workers abroad are being ordered to return home. This is on top closing USAID headquarters in DC this week and putting most U.S.-based workers on leave.
- The USAID website contains only this notice.
- Anecdote of the day: “The cuts came so fast that one dismissed employee had to be rehired to process other employees’ time sheets.”
Headline Of The Day
Foreign Strongmen Cheer as Musk Dismantles U.S. Aid Agency
NY TIMES
Keeping A Close Eye On The FBI Purge
Among the developments:
- The FBI turned over to the Trump Justice Department the names of some 5,000 employees who worked on the Jan. 6 cases, the Trump cases, and, less noticed, an investigation into the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
- On Marcy Wheeler has a insightful analysis on the two FBI lawsuits, one a class action, that were filed in DC yesterday over the purge and why filing in DC matters.
- I still can’t get over the fact that acting FBI director is only in that position because the White House made an error on its website and refused to fix it. Despite that ignominious route to the position, Brian Driscoll has not been a pushover.
- Benjamin Wittes: “A lot of people at the bureau—leadership and street agents, analysts and staff alike—are flirting with heroism right now.”
