Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Jun 24, 2025, 7:56 AM
Stupid AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the “dumbest” people in Congress, is now calling for my Impeachment, despite the fact that the Crooked and Corrupt Democrats have already done that twice before. The reason for her “rantings” is all of the Victories that the U.S.A. has had under the Trump Administration. The Democrats aren’t used to WINNING, and she can’t stand the concept of our Country being successful again. When we examine her Test Scores, we will find out that she is NOT qualified for office but, nevertheless, far more qualified than Crockett, who is a seriously Low IQ individual, or Ilhan Omar, who does nothing but complain about our Country, yet the Failed Country that she comes from doesn’t have a Government, is drenched in Crime and Poverty, and is rated one of the WORST in the World, if it’s even rated at all. How dare “The Mouse” tells us how to run the United States of America! We’re just now coming back from that Radical Left experiment with Sleepy Joe, Kamala, and “THE AUTOPEN,” in charge. What a disaster it was! AOC should be forced to take the Cognitive Test that I just completed at Walter Reed Medical Center, as part of my Physical. As the Doctor in charge said, “President Trump ACED it,” meaning, I got every answer right. Instead of her constant complaining, Alexandria should go back home to Queens, where I was also brought up, and straighten out her filthy, disgusting, crime ridden streets, in the District she “represents,” and which she never goes to anymore. She better start worrying about her own Primary, before she thinks about beating our Great Palestinian Senator, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, whose career is definitely on very thin ice! She and her Democrat friends have just hit the Lowest Poll Numbers in Congressional History, so go ahead and try Impeaching me, again, MAKE MY DAY!
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Jun 24, 2025, 7:17 AM
Third Rate Congressman Thomas Massie, of the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky, a phenomenal State that I won all three times (by a lot!), keeps talking about how he is going to protect the Constitution, but he is actually very bad for the Constitution, and will probably vote against “THE GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,” that grants the Biggest Tax Cuts in History, secures our Southern Border from Criminal Invasion, funds the Golden Dome, our Great Military and Veterans, protects our Second Amendment, grants NO TAX ON TIPS, NO TAX ON OVERTIME, and NO TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY (for our Great Seniors!), and so much more. He is against all of the above, and many other incredible things. Why would anyone want to vote for a so-called “Congressman,” a RINO, at best, who wants to raise your Taxes by 68%, which is what will happen if, “THE GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL” doesn’t pass. He votes, “NO!” on everything, because he thinks it makes him cool, but he’s not cool, he’s a LOSER!
What’s Coming Will SHOCK the World | Scott Ritter by ŞAHİN Kamera 6/23/25
Transcript
[Scott Ritter] You say Israel was there. Let's look at the Iraqi scenario the Iraqis would not put a Scud launcher in a launch position until they received the allclear signal about uh air defense we had F-15E flying at night that um would be 5 to seven minutes away from the launch site the Iranians or the Iraqis wouldn't fire a missile if it was 3 to two minutes away because they knew what time it took to evacuate and they wouldn't bring it in if it could be detected uh this is the Iraqis um and we didn't destroy a single launcher they would fire their launcher run it to a hide site cover it with a tarp to reduce the IR signature our F-15s would come in and they couldn't find the target and hit it and so now I'm to believe that the Iranians who have been preparing for this very moment are going to not clear the airspace um you know not not say "Oh no Israeli planes are hovering they're over here." and they're going to take a valuable asset put it out there and let it be and let it be launched i can guarantee you that the vast majority of what the Israelis struck are decoys sophisticated decoys the Iraqis did the same thing um they had a a decoy unit that put out you know um realistic looking decoys if you remember um Durant the warrant officer that was captured in the Blackhawk down uh incident um he flew Blackhawk DAP missions direct action penetrator missions um and his helicopter famously strafed one of these decoys um you know they thought it was real they believed they were killing the real thing um General Schwarz believed they were killing the real thing it was a decoy we didn't kill a single Scud launcher and the Iranians have studied this war they've studied all capabilities i am here to tell you right now uh take what the Israelis are saying with a grain of salt just like take what we said during the Gulf War with a grain of salt um if they're killing any launchers it's a very small number the VA if you're hitting some there's the old saying if it looks too good to be true it's probably not true if you're an Israeli aircraft flying over um Iran and you come upon a missile launcher it's probably too good to be true now I'm not saying that they haven't successfully interdicted i've looked at some of the images that look like there might be a missile ready to be raised it gets struck then tip tip of the hat to the Israelis because that's a very hard thing to do but um this concept where you see this missile launcher just sitting there with a missile in its bed just sitting there um that's a decoy there's been some footage talking about decoy there's been some footage footage of them striking those launchers but then a lot of people are saying because there's no secondary explosion it means it's a decoy is that true is it as simple as that to tell us something it's a decoy i told this this is what I told uh the the helicopter pilots i I said "You know you guys think that's a Scud?" They said "Yeah." And I said "Let me tell you what if it was a Scud you wouldn't be here because you were you were launching your strafing mission well within the the lethal radius of of the the fuel exploding." The fact that it didn't blow up means it wasn't a Scud if you're you look at these things what you're seeing is a is a standard explosion signature from the munition dropped if you're not seeing a massive secondary explosion if you're not seeing solid rocket fuel pinwheeling away it's a decoy
um I want to talk about Israel's strategy now compared to what we saw earlier so initially when the war started um what Israel said what everyone assumes that Israel's goal is to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities then when I spoke to the spokesperson I think it was the ambassador at the time he said the and Israel said that officially as well the operations to destroy their nuclear facilities but also their ballistic missile program so the their the scope has has increased and there's been talks about a potential regime change now we know that Israel is now bombing different targets they're no longer bombing the missile launchers and missile stockpiles and nuclear facilities they bombed the IRGC security offices so they're expanding their operation their targets um the clock the destruction of Israel clock which is very symbolic I understand and they've struck that they've even struck a a a prison in Ein I think it was um what does that say about Israel's strategy today versus the strategy a few days ago are they being emboldened by successes they've had initially?
[Scott Ritter] I wouldn't say they're emboldened by the successes i think they're confronting the failures um again let's just break this thing down what made the Iranian program problematic from the perspective of the Israelis and the United States was the 60% enriched uranium combined with cascades of IR6 IR8 high uh highcapacity centerfuges because this allowed the Iranians within a very short period of time to create weapons grade uranium israel hasn't touched that so if your goal was to eliminate Iran's bomb making capability you haven't done that not only have you not done that you've created now within Iran uh people who are saying this is what we must do so Israel's actually made a much more dangerous situation for it on the nuclear side and that's a statement of fact and the Israelis know it they have made a strategic error on the ballistic missiles they've gone after production facilities but again um the Iranians know just assuming because this is what I would have done if I were count but they know what their layout looks like and they know what the world knows they know that everybody knows that Park Chin is a major missile production facility with easily recognizable um you know production halls etc um the the the key isn't that piece of you know what's on the ground that can be rebuilt just got to pour concrete move dirt and it's rebuilt the key is the design once you know how to build a hypersonic missile once you've solved that problem um you can reconstitute that in a heartbeat and the sensitive equipment that was done doing that it's hidden in the m bottom of mountains we don't even know about so Israel has failed on this regard and they have failed to interdict Iran's ballistic missile stockpiles because advanced missiles keep hitting Israel so now Israel's in the final endgame that's regime change that's their last option because the only way that they can permanently per stop Iran's nuclear program and stop Iran's ballistic missile program is to achieve a change in regimes that will agree to voluntarily give up both of these programs so what Israel is doing right now I believe is striking security facilities uh to diminish the stature of these facilities by striking RGC headquarters you show the Iranian people that the RGC is not infallible they're not invincible they can be bombed you try and suppress police stations etc and next thing you know you have an uprising this is what we did if you remember Operation Desert Fox uh the United States ran it against Iraq in December of 1998 we did a very similar strike where we came in and we hit various headquarters under the belief that then we could get a division to move towards Baghdad take over you know get generals who were commanded a division in the south to make a move and come over it didn't work when you start bombing a nation the people don't go against their government they tend to close in around their government and today the Iranian people appear to be and even the Israelis and the Americans acknowledge this more closely aligned with their with the theocracy than ever before so Israel's in its desperate final stage of if we can achieve regime change then we can solve these two problems and because they're not going to be able to achieve regime change this is why you see the Israelis picking up the phone saying "We got to bring this thing to an end okay it's over we got to stop this thing now because they're getting hit hard." Uh and it's going to be a let's see what happens to Israel when this war ends how many Israelis stay in Israel um you know because that's one of the it's problematic uh people don't want to spend their lives raise their family knowing that at any minute waves of Iranian missiles can come in and cause havoc um and so Israel's got to be really careful not to hit one of these existential tipping points which is uh demographic flow out of the country and so Israel and I believe the Israeli politicians this is why they shut the borders they're not letting anybody out and the reason why is they don't want to create panic and because if you open the borders and people start fleeing panic becomes addictive and contagious and off they go so the Israelis want to end this war they want to bring in a sense of stability then they're going to you know lift the restrictions but how can they rebuild what is necessary to rebuild can they afford to rebuild because every day that this goes by the Iranians are destroying infrastructure that's extraordinarily expensive to replace they just hit the Ashdot power generation plant and uh that's problematic for Israel um by the way if you look at the news of the bottom SC like just think about it how we've sleepwalked into this this is essentially become a regional war i know it's not a fullblown war where other countries are involved but UAE Qatar Bahraini quite have closed the airspace um Bahrain was just hit no Qatar was just hit iran and Israel are in a direct war lebanon was you know just got out of a war with Hezbollah and Israel and obviously there's still war in Gaza this has become a regional war how you know what's the risk of this escalating further and becoming a a a an over drone long-term conflict involving other potentially other nations because in our early discussion we're talking about how the likelihood that the US does you know wants to declare a win they don't want boots on the ground they don't want they don't want to be dragged into a war it's not a good look for Trump and his administration israel you said wants an end to the war because they're being hit hard iran you know they do want to you know deter Israel from future attacks by striking them hard but they also can't sustain this forever they've lost significant um commanders and and infrastructure as well and and they're worried about a potential regime change and Kmeni being assassinated china doesn't want a war russia could probably be the only country that benefits from this europe doesn't want a war um so what what do you think is the risk of this actually escalating despite most parties involved not wanting it to escalate i would just from my perspective correct to the um the the the foundational assumptions made um Iran's not afraid of regime change that's a western perception iran doesn't fear regime change and Iran's not running out of anything i don't know how to emphasize this enough in 2006 Dick Cheney and George W bush were planning an attack on Iran at that time uh it was planned for the month of March um I think there was a a holiday uh the Nah uh festival 10day holiday the Iranians shut it down and they they closed everything they're ready to fight at that time they broke Iran into 57 disustaining military districts uh because they believed a ground invasion that the US would seek regime change and so they built a design that was intended to have Iran survive regime change each one of these 57 military districts has been equipped and sustained for two years of fighting two years iranians can ride this thing out for two years and if anybody doesn't believe that just watch them israel is not doing any damage to Iran strategically none whatsoever you don't see any panic on the side of the Iranians no panic at all because they have prepared for this israel hasn't prepared for what's happening to it that's the difference so I I I think it's a it's wrong to assume that Iran Iran is somehow in a panic state worried about any they're not worried about anything they would like to get out of this and get on with their business but if if they if look at the lack of hesitation to strike American bases if Iran was scared they wouldn't be acting this decisively they're willing to go the distance how many other nations are willing to go to that same distance and there's the danger because what happens if the United States gets dragged into a conflict with Iran first of all if we operate under the misconception that the Iranians fear regime change and fear running out of assets we could get involved in a u an air campaign of limited duration uh that doesn't succeed in its objectives and at the end of the day now we've exhausted our ability regionally to to strike uh Iran continues to hit our bases pulling us back and now we have to mobilize troops i don't know what the war plan is today for Iran uh I know what the war plan was back in 1985 because I helped write the intelligence annex to it um hundreds of thousands of troops forcible entry in the ports of Chabahar Bonder Abbas airport seizure um all that thing hundreds of thousands of troops that we don't have right now so we'd have to mobilize train and then move them in and carry about forcible entry into Iran in contested air contested space this is a yearslong endeavor and do you think when this plan was briefed to Trump back after the global hawk was shot down they told Trump at that time there's no guarantee that we win this one meaning that even if we do all this and send the forces in we still may be beat because the Iranians have prepared for this so the danger here is that the United States operating off of misperceptions overcommits and the real risk here is if you remember early on when people talked about Ferdo and the fact that US conventional weapons wouldn't be able to take it out the White House let it released a piece of information with nonattribution but it was linked to the White House a White House source that uh Trump is considering the use of a tactical nuclear weapon against Ferdo do you remember seeing that piece of report um it was there from the White House they didn't because they came in with six or 12 i forget how many i think it was 12 massive or they dropped out um but the the thing is what that shows is that when the United States runs out of conventional resources uh we're not going to admit defeat and then if we escalate there's the potential of nuclear weapons being used and that changes the game tremendously um so you're 100% correct this this conflict could spin out of control and take on um you know proportions that are unimaginable at this moment the collapse of the global economy the introduction of nuclear war um which then could resonate um you know throughout the region and around the world so anybody who treats this as a game sort of a video game this is sort of cool america's dropping bombs on Iran oh look missiles in the sky guys we're talking about potential end of the world kind of stuff here uh so I think it's in everybody's interest to see this conflict come to as rapid an end as possible would you say except China and Russia china anything to distract their rival their enemy the US is beneficial for those two countries um spreading the US thin would allow Russia to keep taking Ukrainian territory and could allow China to further prepare for potentially taking taking Taiwan um do you think those two countries could you know support Iran enough so Iran continues this war for longer and potentially try to drag the US in strategically benefiting them nah first of all China doesn't think in those terms china thinks in terms of global supply chain um you know economic dominance and any businessman will tell you that the key to business success is stability businesses don't thrive in unstable environments stability is the key so the Chinese want stability the the fact of the matter is China could take Taiwan anytime they wanted to take Taiwan they could take it today there's nothing that we can do to stop them but China's not looking for a military solution they're looking for a longer term uh peaceful integration of Taiwan and so they're not Russia's going to do what it's going to do in Ukraine no matter what we do because we've already thrown the kitchen sink into the fight and unless we're willing to get directly involved with what troops by the way you know so Russia's not sitting there going "Oh if we do this we might have an advantage Ukraine." They already have the advantage Ukraine russia already has a war plan for Ukraine they're winning this war ukraine's losing look at the dysfunction in NATO look at what happened to the G7 sinsky's on the outs russia doesn't need Iran to do anything to help its position in Ukraine in fact it's a complication because what Russia really needs in Ukraine is for America to get on the side of ending this war by letting Ukraine know that there won't be a lifeline um but right now it's very difficult for Russia and the United States to have a dialogue because of what's going on in the Middle East so I believe Russia wants this plus remember Russia isn't a nation that projects military power like the United States does that's not how they operate when it comes to Iran Russia's number one objective is to secure the North South economic corridor from St petersburg to Tyrron um that's a gamecher for them bypasses the Suez Canal um shortens the the the the length of the trade routes it gives it access to uh to warm water ports um and this can't happen if there's a state of war china just opened up the new Silk Road bringing in trains out of Western China into Thrron um none of this functions uh with their when there's war instability dysfunction so I don't think Russia and China are sitting there plotting behind the scenes to keep this thing going i think both of them are desperate to see this war come to an end because that brings about the stability they need to focus on their priority which is bricks a Eurasian economic union strengthening the Chinese control of global supply lines u diversification of the Russian economy none of this happens as long as there's this conflict taking place between Israel and Iran and now states and Iran and another thing we discussed in our last interview is Hzbalahbah refrained from joining this war which was a surprise to me and I think it a surprise to you as well um they still haven't joined the war um what does that mean for Lebanon um I asked the same question to the ambassador to the Israeli ambassador i haven't been able to speak to any Lebanese politicians yet i would love to get their take when things come down um but a lot of people in Lebanon are talking about and talk become more vocal about some sort of normalization of relations between Lebanon and Israel i know it's too early for that but at least those discussions are are being being uh made in the open now um and what does that mean for Hisbala could we see Hezbollah give up their weapons again this is anecdotal and I always hate to go off of anecdotal information but as you've pointed out it's very difficult to get uh to to speak to primary sources i uh I communicate u via WhatsApp with several um families in Beirut one in particular uh and they say everything's calm right now i mean they're very nervous about this but this is a good calm meaning that the people of Lebanon enjoy not being the center of uh of the volatility um a couple days ago there were reports about Israel bombing um sites in southern Lebanon because they observed Hezbollah uh attempting to come back and uh reactivate some of their um of their evacuated missile uh sites um a statement from Hezbollah made maybe a week ago said that they are not neutral in this conflict and that they could become involved um so I think from the Israeli perspective if you can bring an end to this Israeli Iranian conflict that brings about a resolution of the Gaza problem simultaneously because there's some talk about that as well um you take away the um any justification of Hezbollah continuing to posture as a resistance movement um and then Hezbollah reverts to a political party and turns in its weapons so I I think ultimately um the goal of Lebanon is to get Hezbollah to give up its weapons to conform with United Nations Security Council resolutions and for Lebanon to become part of a um a you know a a become a regional you know neighbor in good standing but understand they're surrounded by Israel on one side Syria with the new Syrian government on the other and then Turkey and uh and what's going on so Lebanon is not going to be a center of volatility lebanon is going to be a nation where compromises are going to have to be made so they can peacefully coexist with such a diverse range of neighbors there could be a utopian outcome out of this if the war ends and Iran is weakened which I I think you you disagree with that assumption but if Iran is weakened that means their proxies will no longer target Israel there will be some sort of uneasy peace between the two countries and that could lead to you know potentially more peace in the Middle East we don't have that battle or that struggle between not only Iran and Israel but also Iran and their neighbor Saudi is that a possibility could that be a positive outcome from all this i thought we had that positive outcome a year or so ago when China brokered a repro between Saudi Arabia and Iran to achieve just that outcome to reduce pressures reduce tensions um so that that possibility was already on the table it's the United States and Israel that opted out of that you don't need to defeat Iran to get to that outcome iran at full strength was ready to move in that direction and had moved in that direction and had the United States finalized a deal with Iran on its nuclear uh program uh I think we will be seeing uh peaceful coexistence the United Emirates is ready to have good trade relations with Iran so is the rest of the Gulf many of them do have good trade relations they just take place under the shadow with uh Dows going back and forth across the uh I mean go to go to uh go to Abu Dhabi someday and go down walk along the port and take a look at the the Dows that are parked there they all come from Iran uh so um you know so we don't need to defeat Iran to achieve it could be defeating Iran um I'm not saying it's impossible anything's possible iran's not a you know a a undefeable nation but it would take a lot of resources a lot of time uh into a lot of destruction iran's not going to go gently into that good night the idea that you defeat Iran without bringing down the entire neighborhood is a is a pipe dream so I rather than seeking the defeat of Iran I think people should be talking about um you know learning to live in peace with Iran yeah i um what surprised me is your stance on the possibility of a regime change iranian regime is based on many polls is very unpopular in Iran i think about 80% of people would like to see a new government in place a democratically elected government that's not looking for the destruction of a neighboring country um why do you think that's such an an unlikely scenario and by the way I'm not for a regime change because I know that they just don't work they've historically been just a disaster time and time again so I know that even if a regime is not good and we could you know we could disagree with a lot of things that they do um they could still Libya's one of many examples they could still be better than just complete chaos that we have now in Syria Libya Iraq in September of 2003 former Iranian President Rayi traveled to the United Nations to participate in the United Nations General Debate and myself and several other um American journalists and academics were invited to a closed meeting with the president um he surprised everybody at least he surprised me by starting off with a lengthy monologue talking about what had just happened in Iran over the course of the summer of 2023 if you remember there was the tragedy of the Kurdish girl uh who had been arrested on a hijab violation gone to a police station and died under um circumstances that you know some say no police involvement other blame the police but the bottom line is uh the government was blamed and there were widespread um demonstrations um at that time it appears that foreign intelligence services who have been working with various groups inside Iran the ones you could say represent the fracture of society the Kurds in the north Azeri separatist movements the Afaz Arabs the Beluch um the the natural sha versus um revolutionary forces that still exist the Mujadin al-Kulk um you know the monarchists uh all of these forces is mobilized simultaneously um to carry out attacks to bring down the regime and what and and we were aware of it everybody saw it unfold on TV we saw the police stations burning we saw the police suppressing demonstrations the the whole thing but where AI said was fascinating because he said this was the greatest threat to the Islamic Republic since the revolution since the Iran Iraq war that what happened in the summer of 2023 almost brought Iran to its knees uh he said it was a great struggle uh but the the the revolutionary uh forces in Iran were able to come together and here's the important thing and win the trust of the people and once they won the trust of the people they were able to suppress all of this so the notion that Iran is broken or fundamentally broken you know was disproved in the summer of 2023 when the people rallied around the government when faced with the possibility of societal collapse political collapse they rallied around the government um and then if we take a look at the situation today we don't see major unraveling as this attack takes place we don't see that happening in fact we see the opposite we see anecdotal evidence to the opposite where women without head jobs again I don't trust too much what I see on the internet because it can all be fabrication but um you know we see them speaking out but what we don't see is what we saw in the summer of 2023 we don't see the Beluch moving up we don't see the Afas Arabs coming in we hear a lot of talk from the for the son of the former sha but uh it it's not doesn't resonate with any action on the ground and most intelligence services say that the regime is more secure today than they have been at any time because the people have rallied around uh Iran um and they're not willing to do to work with foreign powers to bring down Iran bring harm to the Iranian people so I I don't think regime change is in the books at this at this state of of the game yeah i think I think if it becomes an objective it would be disastrous for Iran in the region um and another point like in 2023 Israel wasn't bombing Iran so I think we have to take into consideration that Iran is being bombed by an enemy when there's an enemy bombing your country people tend to put their differences aside and rally around the the the government that's in power at the time so I think that the Iran so Israel's war on Iran could backfire if Israel is looking for a regime change that's one way of looking at it obviously time will tell but but the real risk here I am provid I shouldn't be saying this right now I think Iran is immune to regime change the real risk comes once peace breaks out and um the scope and scale of the damage done to Iran uh becomes apparent and if the regime doesn't have a plan on how to move forward um and this is where peace becomes important because the sustainment of sanctions against Iran would be devastating to Iran in a postconlict environment so I think one of the things that Iran is looking for by continuing its struggle against Israel is to get concessions on the lifting of sanctions uh and to get Russia and China and India and everybody else to agree to immediate economic engagement so that the rebuilding of Iran can can happen almost immediately but if Iran runs into a situation where it's stagnant for 3 to 5 years afterwards because of the continuation of sanctions etc then you could see the fractures reemerge um and dissatisfaction in the government come in not because of what they did in the war but how they handled the peace another country that I want to ask you about is Israel how do you think Israel will come out of this because we're seeing a lot of a lot of support for Netanyahu's party after this war so he's being you know held as a hero by some which is very you know different to what we saw after October 7th and the failures security failures that we saw back then so does this war so if you're making the argument that this war supports the regime and their popularity domestically and we're seeing the same thing happen in Israel wouldn't that highlight that both countries are benefiting from this war when it comes to politics well perception creates its own reality i've said that several times um right now Israel is operating under the perception that it's winning that it has severely degraded i mean the official pronouncement from the Israeli government is we have set the Iranian nuclear program back two to uh two to four years that's a victory that's a victory from the the the posture they claimed Iran was where they were weeks days or weeks away from having a nuclear weapon now to say because of our strike Iran is two to four years away that's a victory um to say that we have destroyed Iran's ballistic missile production infrastructure that's a victory but I don't believe any of these statements can be sustained by fact and I'm convinced that once the missiles stop flying the bombs stop dropping and the Israeli people reflect back on the price they've paid and what is the real outcome I think Netanyahu is going to be in a lot of political heat because this was an unnecessary war this is a war that didn't need to be fought and when it becomes clear about the potential of success of the American negotiations with the Iranians um especially if at the end of the day part of the conflict termination um deal is Iran gets 3.75% enrichment um then as an Israeli you have to ask why did we do this if the outcome was 3.75 en% enrichment and that was on the negotiating table um with between Iran and the United States then why did we do all this why did we suffer this pain and there you suddenly will find that Netanyahu's popularity will plummet yeah I think peace could lead to fracturing or um could could kind of lay bear to a lot of the decisions made by all parties involved in this case Israel is the one that declared the war we saw that in Lebanon as well when things eased up we saw Hezbollah lose a lot of support after the destruction that Lebanon went through um and I think we could see potentially the same thing in Iran like a lot of people in Iran would look at the regime say look you guys want a death for Israel you guys looked at leveraging those proxies to support Palestine which could be a very um you know from an ethical perspective a great cause but for our country did not do any good so we could see and you might disagree but we could see the same thing in Iran that happened in Lebanon and that could lead to you know moving away from Israel no foreign interference and movement within Iran against the regime i think you disagree with that point but it is a possibility once people see what Iran let politics is so difficult to predict anything's possible i when you say I disagree with it just because you know I the way I look at the picture right now I would put priority on different things and so I wouldn't come naturally to that outcome but I'll be the first one to say that nothing is guaranteed nothing's carved in stone and what we don't know because we are sniping at this long range all right we're not on the ground we don't have the finger on the pulse um and unless you do you don't have the real picture of what's going on the real picture might be the exact opposite of what you're saying or the real picture might actually reinforce what you're saying and and and magnify it we just don't know because we're not on the ground and we are in a time of war where truth is going through so many filters that you know it's hard to determine what the truth is what accurate is and all that stuff uh they talk about the fog of war and we are in the middle of the fog of war so I it's not that I would disagree i I actually welcome your statement because I think it's important that when we're talking to people about range of options that we we put out all possibilities um nothing should be dismissed at this point in time because we are in a very volatile fluid situation and Scott one last question by the way the New York Times just put out a few minutes ago that Trump does not look is not looking at retaliating against um Iran's attack on the base so that goes to the first point we said early on that the US will likely not want to be dragged into this and Iran likely does not want to drag the US into this as they've said time and time again so that's at least a piece of positive news here in the midst of the fog um one last question what does that mean for Gaza because it's you know it's very it's easy to debate what's happening in Iran and make an argument on why Israel needed to strike Iran and make an argument on why that was not necessary and there were there were peaceful ways of of reaching that same outcome the same thing could have had you know same debate could have been had about on on Lebanon we had about Lebanon hasba struck Israel first did Israel have the right to respond um October 7th we said the same thing about Gaza um Israel right to defend itself entering Gaza declaring war on Hamas but that was ongoing and there's nothing left in Gaza like I'm in a position now just it's just heartbreaking and it's something I'm not even able to debate with anyone on whether this war should end i've taken a stance that the war should end um could we finally see an end to the war in Gaza could Could we see that Israel's achieved its goals or at least created the perception in your eyes that they've achieved those goals they've weakened Hezbollah or destroyed a lot of their capabilities potentially leading to dis the disarmament of Hezbollah they've weakened Iran at least in some people's perception i know that's not yours um or they have weakened but maybe not to an to a certain extent not as much as others would would think um and they've weakened the Houthies to a certain extent and Syria the Assad regime is gone so could we be in a position where Israel's achieved all of its objective weakened all of its enemies and could finally start winding down all these wars well the only ones left are the ones in uh Iran and and Gaza i I I I agree with the outcome and I know how it would be spun inside Israel uh but I think we can get to that outcome without conceding that Israel's won too much first of all let's understand that Gaza is a nightmare it's just 100% nightmare um for Israel and the Palestinians and the world it's just a political um humanitarian nightmare and it's a problem that has to come to an end but Israel is loathed to concede anything on Gaza as long as Iran is over the horizon um because they see a linkage between Hamas Hezbollah Syria Yemen Iran so I think we might see Trump I get in trouble when I talk like this because then people say "Oh you're so proTrump." I'm not i think you heard me earlier not a big fan of the guy no you were very you were very critical of Trump in today's interview yeah um but you know you got to give credit where credit is due if indeed it he deserves credit there is an opportunity here for a grand bargain um where Iran can get what it wants which is the United States telling Israel never again never again do you get to do this iran gets a nuclear deal that caps at 3.75% with you know uh heavy monitoring um Yemen because you bring it into the conflict in Gaza yemen withdraws and and is no longer firing missiles or interdicting shipment and we already talked about Lebanon and the path the fact is we have a path for disengagement of Hezbollah so from Israel's perspective there's the possibility of a grand bargain that resolves all of its conflicts simultaneously and allows Israel get on the business of rebuilding and if Trump has a brain in his head and he is a businessman so and you know he has spoken in terms of grand bargains in the past many of the obstacles that would have prevented such a grand bargain have been just shattered um I mean my god a year ago if you were talking about you know anybody bombing Iranian nuclear facilities you were saying automatic global catastrophe all this kind of stuff okay so we've shadow world war yeah uh if the Iranians attacked an American base it's over america retaliates boom that's been shattered we have shattered every single one of these obstacles broken it down and we're still moving forward uh surviving and I think again Trump's tweet today was very when I first read it my knee-jerk reaction oftentimes when I read Trump's social media post is be very negative but then my wife tells me to take a deep breath and sit back and think objectively he sent a signal to everybody i don't want oil prices going up and that means that he's looking for an out he can't say it but he's saying I don't want oil prices going up i am watching you okay so what did the Iranians not do shut down straight hormones they didn't attack oil fields they simply sent six missiles to respond to six bombers and now Trump's saying the right thing we're done we're done there is the opportunity for a grand bargain to be had here whether the United States is capable of pulling it off but I will also say this Vladimir Putin who's you know I I don't know what your opinion of him is i've never met the guy i have a lot of respect for this man i respect his maturity his pragmatism his rationality and he has indicated to the United States and to Iran that he is ready and willing to be a conduit of diplomacy and so I I think that look the fact that the Iranian foreign minister went to Russia and after that they sent six missiles in means that I believe the deal is already already out there i think behind the scenes the deal is being made as we speak because that shows a level of not complicity is the wrong word but connectivity uh Russia isn't going to sit there and say oh yeah hell attack American bases bring about American retaliation the whole world will go to hell russia doesn't operate that way russia is about keeping things as calm as possible and so for them to be in a briefing with the foreign minister means that Iran gave their plans and the Russians went "All right but you need to do this and we're going to make some phone calls and we're going to call Xi and China and we're going to we're and this thing is going to come on down." Let's see what happens i don't know if the Russian Chinese Pakistani resolution was submitted to the United Nations yet um at the Security Council but let's see when it comes in an unconditional ceasefire let's see how America responds because now that Trump says "I'm not going to retaliate." That's what he needs that's the cover he needs right now and so if they submit this United States says "Yes we vote in favor of an unconditional ceasefire." Now you have a United Nations Security Council resolution backed by the P5 and Israel is going to go "We're ready." And Russia's going to go "That's your cue Iran." And Iran's going to go "We're ready." And now we got the beginning of a grand bargain so man we're way too optimistic here but um no I agree with you i think this this is the most likely outcome i'm I tend to be an optimistic person i never thought I'd be here we'd be here in the first place but I think your analysis right now is spot on i think this is what will happen i think Trump does not want a war in the Middle East i know a lot of people are criticizing him for his decision to bomb Iran which I don't think was the best decision but I also would see it from another perspective like I understand why you would want to bump those nuclear facilities um but my position is that Trump does not want to enter this war this is an opportunity for um the east and China just told Iran very publicly um the the foreign ministry told in their meeting today they told Iran we do not want you to escalate this i think Russia saying the same thing so I think yeah I agree with you i think we would see in the midst where everyone thinks that the world's coming to an end everyone's freaking out um I think we're nearing an end to the world fingers crossed and I hope we won't be we won't be speaking again at least not about let me just can I say this um please this has been fascinating because what you and I have done in real time is start with tragedy I mean as we speak missiles are flying we have no idea and then by just walking through the problem rationally we don't agree on everything but walking through this problem rationally and just bouncing ideas off each other you know the funny thing is we reached a conclusion before the ticker tape put it down across the the table so I would say that what we just did is is an amazing amazing bit of journalism um so I want to congratulate you for putting this on uh thank you i think you you did whatever audience you have i have no idea how many people are watching but um you did a great service you did a great service to them and to the world because people now can leave this program with a ray of hope but it's not misplaced hope because we walk them through the process we went through every angle and um I just want to congratulate you for putting on a program that actually contributes to uh the betterment of society through the accumulation of knowledge and information so congratulations on this thank you Scott appreciate your time and hopefully we won't be having another another live stream on on the Middle East we'll be talking about a peace deal being signed and we'll move on to Ukraine and and hopefully never Taiwan but I appreciate your time and I'm sure we'll be speaking again under different circumstances okay hey thanks a lot Mario
COL. Douglas Macgregor : Trump and His War On Iran. Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom Jun 24, 2025 COL. Douglas Macgregor : Trump and His War On Iran.
Transcript
hi everyone Judge Andrew Npalitano here for Judging Freedom today is Tuesday June 24th 2025 colonel Douglas McGregor joins us now colonel a pleasure my dear friend thank you for accommodating my schedule colonel was any bonafide military purpose served by the United States of America spending a hundred million dollars uh to drop 30,000 pound bombs on empty tunnels in the Iranian mountains uh no I don't think so i think this turned out to be a training mission with live ammunition uh but fortunately no one alive on the ground where the bombs fell and apparently nothing of consequence on the ground where the bombs fell would not American uh intel or uh the intel of its collaborators have been aware before the bombs fell that the tunnels were empty or was this a PR stunt or training mission as you characterized it in the latter well I think it's probably in the realm of PR stunt it'll take time for people to figure this out in the meantime people will say that President Trump is playing for DHS or something like that i think he was looking for something that he could do that would not precipitate the massive introduction of US military power in the war with Iran on Israel's side to be frank and I think we informed the the Iranians the Iranians did not apparently take us under fire i don't even know if they uh you know employed their radars to track us i have no idea we're not being told the whole truth but if I watched that particular news conference it struck me that this Air Force Fourstar who's now the new chairman was less than entirely comfortable with everything he was saying is it fair uh to use the descriptions that Secretary Hegsith did this was brilliant and that President Trump used it resulted in he said this as recently as this morning after the New York Times reported that people in the military were saying the tunnels were empty he still said it totally obliterated their nuclear program well when the truth is ugly only a lie could be beautiful and I think that that particular lie is very appealing and we're going to stick with it again it may be in his mind a way to get out from under the demand that his donors are making that he join the war against Iran by attacking them and and essentially rescuing Israel from its perilous state i you know that's the only thing I can come up with it's not going to work judge you know these things don't work ultimately they fail uh let's now see whether or not this ceasefire has any staying power he is keeping the United States in the war with NATO against Russia in Ukraine is he in danger of leading us into a new war in the Middle East well at the moment I think he's done his best to avoid it to be frank I think it dawned on him that he was playing with very serious fire all sorts of terrible things could could happen you have in the background of all of this of course the threat of disrupting the oil flow through the straits of Hormuz i think that's something he absolutely wants to avoid even though that won't affect us immediately as profoundly as it will affect the rest of the world it nevertheless is something to be avoided and I think he also recognized that pres the president of Iran's visit to Moscow was very important and that President Putin made it abundantly clear that he's going to support Iran i think Putin has sent a number of important signals and those signals I think probably influence Trump as well despite the fact that General Keane and others have said "Oh well that's all nonsense that we've heard all this from Putin before that's that's a bluff forget it." Uh I think President Trump began to think it through i know Jack and I've stopped listening to him the two Jacks Divine and Keane they're they're just in another world on all of this i haven't spoken to Jack Keane about this but he was ecstatic over the uh drone attacks on the four four Russian military bases um by what authority can the United States of America destroy a lawful internationally examined and approved enrichment activity in a sovereign country well it presupposes that there's a body of international law that the United States of America actually respects i don't see much evidence that there is yeah it's there but it's not respected lbj himself signed the non-prololiferation treaty for the United States but nobody respects international law yeah i I think there are some people out there who try to but you know it's like everything else when you put the name international in front of it somebody has to enforce it who's going to do that that's the problem with the United Nations it's a good idea well intended but no one is going to enforce anything i I think President Trump is also very concerned about the state of affairs in Israel no doubt he was told that the Israelis are on the verge of running out of missiles their economy is is not just in ruins it's going to collapse this man Smootrich who's one of the more fierce advocates for mass murder in Gaza and elsewhere actually spoke publicly and said "We've got maybe a week left." And now nobody in Israel will admit that nobody certainly at the top and then finally there's also the other possibility that nobody really has come to terms with right now and that that is that the potential for Israel to become extinct as a state and a society through mass immigration people are leaving and more people are likely to leave in which case you know the 9 million uh man state of 2 million Arabs and 7 million Jews will consist of 2 million Arabs and substantially fewer Jews so I think Israel is in trouble uh and the notion that somehow or another they uh they hold the high ground and hold all the cards is a little ridiculous is it true that the Israeli government is attempting to prevent people from leaving oh yes there's no doubt about that i've had people tell me that point blank who sent me notes about it from Israel itself do you think that the so-called ceasefire and I don't mean to demean it but if it's not in writing who knows what they agreed to and as far as I know there is no writing whatever President Trump announced before was requested by the Iranians or by Netanyahu crying uncle uh I think the Iranians have been advised by Putin and and Lavough to exercise restraint if possible and if the opportunity presents itself to participate in something that will slow or halt the destruction that they should do so the Iranians however were not begging for a ceasefire that's nonsense but the Israelis very definitely needed one now how long will this last how rapidly can we replenish what they've fired you know somebody said to me yes late last night the Israelis have probably fired off in terms of missiles in two weeks what will take two years to reconstitute in other words you know they've got they haven't got enough left to defend themselves and they you know you've got two missiles have to be fired in response to every one missile coming in the Iranians on the other hand as an Israeli official I think it was Gavir mentioned about a week five or six days ago we completely underestimated the Iranian missile arsenal they did and the Iranians have been very straightforward and said that you know we'll stay in this as long as it's required so I think uh you know the Israelis may have two more weeks three more weeks before they're completely run out and they needed a break what damage has Netanyahu done to himself you know it's too soon to tell but you know I think we and Netanyahu have done damage to ourselves i don't think anybody beyond the borders of the United States believe anything we say Judge uh we we have broken our word we have deliberately misled and lied to not just the Iranians but to others i don't think anybody in Moscow or Beijing or for that matter anywhere else listens i know that the Koreans and Japanese have both backed out of the most recent conference invitations i think they they view us as unstable and dangerous again you know I I think I mentioned this some time ago the rest of the world sort of looks at us as patient zero and they want to contain us they want us to stay in our room they don't want to go to war with us that's the great myth uh I think it was Jeffrey Sachs who said more than one occasion never in our history have we been more safe from attack than we are today that's true except for our soft underbelly in Mexico and the drug cartels and the millions of illegals in the country but no one external to the country wants to go to war with us and as I've heard repeatedly from my friends in Korea over and over and over again the only people that are talking about going to war in Asia are the Americans nobody else in the in Asia is interested in it nobody is interested in going to war with China and they utterly reject the notion that China is a military threat to them so you know we've reached this strange point where President Trump is doing what most presidents do he's taking you know credit for what looks like a short-term uh positive development and he might as well because presidents when they're in office are always blamed for anything that goes wrong in their watch anyway do we know the nature and extent of the damage to Israel i know the IDF and the Netanyahu government are laboring mightily to keep that from coming out but can we piece it together from what your friends have told you well I think we got to look at the satellite photography you got to talk to people that are at least on the periphery of the intelligence collection system and they paint a pretty grim picture now is every building and every house in Hifa or Tel Aviv being destroyed not yet no could it could they be absolutely and that's the problem i think the Israelis have figured out that this is a war they cannot win which is why Mr netanyahu has been so determined to drag us in we were supposed to go in and win this for Israel president Trump has betrayed his donors apparently and Mr netanyahu at least in so far as he's been unwilling to take us directly into the war now you can argue as I have that we've effectively started a war with Iran but Iran thus far since no one was killed and the targets that we attacked were irrelevant has scrupulously avoided giving us an excuse to go to war against them and I think that's what happened with the attack on the airfield and the installations in cutter where we had already evacuated everyone and they did what we did for them they let us know that it was coming now there are a lot of people who are mis misinterpreting events right now they're saying "Oh well now all the Emirates will flock into our arms they all hate Iran and so forth." There's a problem in the region that we don't get and that is that everyone in the region hates Israel that's the problem whatever goodwill there might have been it's gone now what about the elites in the Emirates or Saudi Arabia they are increasingly isolated from their populations the populations are the ones who are enraged over Gaza and they're angry that nothing has been done about it you have a similar development not as dangerous but it's serious in Turkey uh or Turkey as they want us to call it now the Turks are furious with what's happened in Gaza and the absolute failure of the Muslim world with the exception of Iran in their estimation to do anything about it we keep focusing exclusively on Iran iran is not the only issue here by any stretch of the imagination this is a regionalwide hatefest now against Israel the Israelis are say well they always hate us not on the scale that they do now what is absolutely frank what is the danger to uh President Al-Sisi in Egypt and uh the king of Jordan presiding over um populations that profoundly and overwhelmingly and massively disagree with government policy towards Israel well I think King Abdullah is very much at risk of being removed and I think he knows that and he is surrounded by uh very powerful security forces and I think that they've been very lucky thus far that nothing has happened to him because he's seen frankly as a stoogge for Israel he didn't start out that way but that's the way he's viewed at the moment cece is in a somewhat different position he has moved forces to the border with Israel people are angry that nothing has been done but as I think I mentioned earlier Cece is worried about the consequences for Israel for his own country number one the Israelis have always privately quietly threatened Israel with the use of a low yield nuclear weapon that could mean threatened you meant to say threatened Egypt yeah threatened Egypt i'm sorry right because of that Aswan dam and that that could have terrible consequences for the state the other problem is that they see us as unconditionally supportive of the Israelis so if the is if the Egyptians were to attack right now their fear is that they wouldn't simply contend with the Israelis in fact today Israel is weaker on the ground than it's ever been uh they're afraid of what US air power would do in support of Israel then they don't necessarily want to be in that fight now Egypt and Iran are close egypt and Russia are close and China stands right behind Russia in connection with both countries if something happens to unravel everything in the region and start a a regional conflict that would be the end of Israel it will start with Egypt because the Egyptians could now have a very serious impact on Israel what do you think the Kremlin is thinking about uh what Trump ordered on Saturday night i think they're shaking their heads uh trying to figure out what is what is driving President Trump and I think they've decided that President Trump is impulsive short-term in his thinking he's looking for the so-called win that he can get out of this for himself here at home uh so I think they they've pretty much given up on us somebody said that the Russians sort of view us and and this applies to the Asians as well I think certainly in Northeast Asia as as the equivalent of a largecale drug addict who has cravings mood changes acts on impulse that is completely unpredictable now some people in this country think well that's a good thing isn't it that scares all our enemies well that presupposes everybody's the enemy i don't agree with that and then secondly that also leads your potential adversary to take measures against you that you may not care for and lead them to pull a trigger when you really don't want them to uh I think the Russians want to avoid a conflict with us at all costs so they're going to continue to to council caution but at the same time they're moving decisively towards the river i think they will go across that river i think they will take KF and then move south to seize Odessa i think all of that is coming but they want to avoid a direct confrontation with us what is Beijing thinking of what Trump ordered on Saturday night uh they I don't think they're taking us seriously any longer in terms of whatever propositions that we float to them i think they're looking at us as a power in decline that is lashing out as it goes down now that may not be accurate but that's probably the way they view it and they too want to stay out of the area they would prefer to sort of avoid any direct confrontation but see what do you do in the United States people have been persuaded convinced over many decades China is going to attack Taiwan it's not they're not interested in that the people on Taiwan are not interested in it given the opportunity the people on Taiwan will eventually vote themselves back into China the Chinese know that but we keep insisting on that and the rest of Asia looks at us and says "Why would the Chinese do that if they did it would destroy them commercially and politically in Asia forever they don't want to do that." But we keep insisting on that so we have this picture of the world that is divorced from what I would call geostrategic reality and that's their concern more than anything else you know three weeks ago the secretary of defense was in Japan shaking his fist at the Chinese saying hands off Taiwan this is absurd well that his performance at that particular conference in Asia was not wellreceived frankly speaking people were horrified by him not not because of the threats but the evident uh disconnection from real reality that's what they all walked out saying you know how how did it ever get to this point these people have lost their minds and I think that's the way they look at us they think we're crazy that's not something you want anybody to think about your country particularly ours at the moment the president of the United States is on his way to Europe at a NATO conference the Secretary of State and his entourage apparently preceded him there the official spokesperson for the Department of State had a very interesting statement to make about her role her job and her love of America i thought you might be interested in watching this you're not going to like it chris cut number nine the the pride of being able to be here and do work that facilitates uh making things better for people uh and in the greatest country on earth next to Israel in the greatest country on earth next to Israel um it is uh it's an honor to be able to make a difference and to be able to speak in this regard uh with an administration that I love so much how does an official spokesperson for the government say something like that well I think the real question is uh or not questioned so much as now you know why she's got her job uh because I think effectively everybody who's serving in the administration in an appointed capacity understands that that is the prerequisite the precondition for service in the government let's be frank and I I always take people back to the Republican convention i remember I was shocked uh when I was watching the convention and suddenly I saw this giant Israeli flag on the wall and above it Israel first and this rather plump gentleman in a suit came out and said he he was there to lead cheers for Israel first and I remember remember listening he says "Israel first Israel first." And I heard and a lot of people looked at each other and said "Gee what is this?" Yeah and I think I think people now know what it means and you you've got to accept what people tell you she's telling you what she knows to be the truth that's what is governing us right now in Washington this is what a hund00 million dollars from Mrs adlesen will get you well it's I it's more than these contributions everybody first of all the Israelis understand something very well there's nothing more reliable than a man that can be bought with cold hard cash all right let's face it but that's not enough it's more than that it's access to benefits that reach into the financial firms in New York City into the market and across the country that can be provided to people who become serious acolytes like uh this this woman that you just had on yeah um I don't know if you saw it but just as he was leaving the White House this morning to get on a helicopter to get on Air Force One to fly to this NATO conference the president exploded chris cut number 15 israel as soon as we made the deal they came out and they dropped a load of bombs the likes of which I've never seen before the biggest load that we've seen i'm not happy with Israel you know when when I say "Okay now you have 12 hours you don't go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them so I'm not happy with them i'm not happy with Iran either but I'm really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning because the one rocket that didn't land that was shot perhaps by mistake that didn't land i'm not happy about that we have we basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the they're doing do you understand that as only he can say well the president is obviously the master of the universe and he's in a position to play daddy in all events control everything and impose his will remember Ukraine and Russia these are like two school kids and sometimes you just have to let them fight it out that's what he said two weeks ago yeah and there's a complete failure to understand the complexity of what's happening as far as him being angry with Israel well that's nice and I think that's the biggest load in what he had to say a load of something and I'm not talking about munitions right he doesn't really have much to say about what the Israelis do and that's a fact so I think he'll come back online very quickly when it's deemed appropriate but he's made it clear that he really doesn't want to be on a complete war footing and I think he's afraid of the things that I mentioned earlier he's very much afraid of the straights and foremost being closed and the potential for direct confrontation with the Russians but instead you get that kind of analysis which is not very persuasive and it certainly isn't sophisticated or thoughtful in the meantime he because all these funds are subject to presidential discretion continues to fund the slaughter and genocide in Gaza and the utter catastrophe and losing war in Ukraine i think these things judge are going to continue as long as we fund them in the sense that as long as we can at some point you know you end up with Nasim Talib's scenario the black swan does that happen in two weeks 6 weeks uh 6 months i don't know but we've gotten awfully close nasim Talb has recently pointed out that we are not really the reserve currency anymore gold has become officially the reserve currency because while dollars are still used in most transactions not all but most it's no longer viewed as a store of value and that has everything to do with our terrible position in terms of the sovereign debt the lack of a manufacturing base the disorder at home in the United States the absence of any national uh industrial scientific strategy that anyone can point to again we're back to this sort of confused uh picture of the United States that we're a a potentially dangerous adversary because we always have an axe in one hand and a bag of cash in the other and nobody knows which one's coming first colonel McGregor thank you very much thank you for your time thanks for letting me take you across the board from China to Ukraine to Israel to uh Iran deeply appreciated my dear friend please continue to send me your uh emails they're so uh informative and let you know somebody said something to me the last night that I think is very apppropo that we should end on and this was uh about former Dean Aerson former Secretary of State brilliant man he ran twice for the presidency against Eisenhower and of course had no chance of winning but the second time he ran he delivered what everyone concluded was really a brilliant speech in San Francisco and a woman walked up to him and grabbed him by the arm and said to him "Mr aerson any thinking American anyone with any intelligence and education will absolutely vote for you." That was brilliant and uh he looked at her and he said "Well thank you madam but I need a majority to win nicely uh nicely put somehow Donald Trump has assembled a majority not by promising war but by promising to do the opposite of what he's been doing iran Gaza Ukraine war war war well nothing has changed in Gaza people are still dying there every day uh the Israelis continue to operate wherever they care to to kill whomever they want uh they just issued new threats against Iranian officers uh against the officers and their families uh nothing has changed uh this ceasefire is as you point out is is uncertain uh it doesn't represent a solution it doesn't uh suggest that there will be any talks or discussions that could lead to a solution so we may be seeing a pause something that lasts a few days a few weeks uh maybe a couple of months but the fundamental problem is unchanged uh the people in the region no longer believe that they can coexist with Israel it's that simple yes thank you Colonel all the best my dear friend right thanks thank you great conversation with a great man uh coming up tomorrow Wednesday at 8 in the morning Ambassador Craig Murray at 11 in the morning if we can get him up Max Blumenthal at 1:00 in the afternoon Professor Glenn Diesen at 3 in the afternoon Phil Geraldi at 4 in the afternoon Colonel Karen Quowski thank you for watching judge the Paul Tano for judging freedom [Music] [Music]
Jeffrey Sachs: How Israel Will SABOTAGE Ceasefire Breaking Points Jun 24, 2025 Breaking Points Krystal and Saagar are joined by Jeff Sachs on the latest on Iran and Israel.
Transcript
joining us now is professor jeffrey sachs at columbia university an expert and uh somebody we wanted to speak with for quite a long time so sir thank you so much for joining us we really appreciate it great to be with you thank you absolutely i mean first uh let's just start off with the insanity of the last 24 hours i know you've been monitoring quote the situation as all of us have and we just want to get your reaction uh to the broader ramifications of this ceasefire at least for now between israel and iran and the role here of the united states well this has been a an absolutely wild week uh in a way it is uh bb's fulfillment of a 30-year mission to try to drag the united states into a war with iran uh this uh latest episode has been part of a long-term idea of netanyahu which is uh we're going to do what we want in gaza the west bank we're going to control everything we'll kill we'll have a genocide and anyone that objects any other country in the region well we'll overthrow that government that's been the basic strategy for 30 years for 30 years the united states has gone along with that strategy whether it is in lebanon syria uh iraq uh sudan libya and iran was always the big prize so netanyahu has been absolutely itching for a big war with iran trying to drag the us in and what we saw last week probably was the the great battle in inside between uh the deep state which is absolutely in line with mossad it's basically a mossad cia operation for 30 years and maga which says stop we're sick of this we're sick of these wars the president i don't know where he is cuz i haven't checked my uh my social media for the last 30 seconds but he's been on both sides of this uh but his base has been saying do not do this do not do this whereas netanyahu has been saying next year in thran or his his ministers have been putting that out in disgusting vulgarity so i don't know whether this is going to stop but this is a battle of a long-term strategy of netanyahu remake the middle east to give uh basically complete total impunity to israel to do every murder massacre genocide that it wants to do and some of us who think that's not making the world a better place yeah that's not helping anything and it's not making america more secure um thanks god if this ceasefire holds that's a good thing that's the bottom line yeah um professor let's pull in that thread a little bit more of the israelis uh as you mentioned this has been a multi-deade project of netanyahu specifically but it's broadly supported with the israeli public and certainly with his entire coalition including literal terrorists that are involved in his government so he's not going to give up and say "okay ceasefire and now we have peace with iran." that is certainly not going to happen so what do you expect to see based on previous historical actions from the israelis what do you expect the israelis to do next to try to play their next card to get us drawn in yet again well the israelis will make new provocations that's for sure they will make arguments that now we see the perity of iran or for whatever argument to keep drawing us in i have said for years i think decades now that the main job of the president of the united states in modern times is to keep the foot on the brake of the war machine because it's always revving if you went to the deep state in the last few days i think bombing missions against iran are just splendid let's try out those b2s let's see how the bunker busters do uh and going beyond that the regime change well that was in half the tweets of the last or social uh truth posts of the last few days uh so i think that israel will provoke and it is the job of the united states when in rare moments presidents do their job to keep the foot on the brake and this morning trump unusually uh chastised israel uh in uh in a post saying "do not drop that bomb." well actually that's his job uh it's it's pretty interesting he did it this time yesterday was different we'll see what happens tomorrow mhm so one of the things i'm curious about sir you're obviously always looked at the bigger picture and there was a lot made potentially of russia and china coming in on iran's side that didn't materialize to a major extent but there were at least some entanglements we can put this one up on the screen for example uh president former president medyv of russia at one point basically threatened you know uh basically said the americans have accomplished nothing in their strikes potentially we could transfer nukes to them he walked it back uh a little bit later saying a number of countries are ready to directly supply iran with their own nuclear warheads but then he walked it back later what do you make though of how the russians and the chinese will respond to what's transpired in the last 12 days yeah i think by the way what medve was saying in that point number three was not russia transferring nuclear arms or endorsing that but the fact that pakistan is a country closely aligned with the islamic cause obviously and with iran and absolutely able to transfer nuclear weapons north korea is another case and i think that's an important point by the way because we've been told that the be all and end all is iran's enrichment of of uranium that is not the true issue at stake here the true issue at stake is is vulnerable by its own actions to a nuclear attack on israel the answer is yes does israel create more security for itself the way that it operates my answer is no it makes israel more and more dangerous not only did we see obviously that the iron dome ain't so iron and that there were easily it was not hard to penetrate the air defenses in israel but israel seems to think that iran is the end of the story and it is not the end of the story uh there are 57 countries in the organization of islamic cooperation that are absolutely dead set against what israel is doing the vast majority of the world is dead set against it when you ask about russia and china it is their fundamental purpose not to be thrown under the bus of the united states this is the basic point they want a multi-polar world not a us dominated world and they are succeeding in that because the us does not have the means the power in my view the interest but put that aside the means or the power to make a us dominated world despite what washington has believed for more than 30 years so russia and china are careful china's very precise uh i think it is it's a cliche but it's also true that uh uh russia plays uh chess china plays go and the united states plays poker uh one hand at a time very quick not any long-term strategy just go for the hand and i think that china and russia bided their time in the first days but the point was really iran was not decap capitated and with regime change nor was it stopped in its ability to do great damage inside israel up until the very last moment which really irks the israelis that it was the the last exchange of missiles in this case was iran's and and then israel tried to violate the timeline and launch another one so it could be last and that's when trump said no stop we we already have an understanding about the chronology so we are watching step by step the emerging of a true multipolar world where other powers that don't love the united states they don't hate it by the way they just don't want to be subservient to it they have nuclear arms powerful weapons the technologies that we have so that we can't dominate and iran is a regional power it's not a pushover for israel by any means there was no one strike and it's all over one of the things that may have happened last week i don't know of course but netanyahu you know telling trump "we can do it we can do it we can do it." and they did their decapitation murders msad really is a murder machine of course and it did its decapitation strike and it did not bring down the regime and so it probably led trump and people around him to say "come on what you know the israelis have given us a bunch of bs on this it didn't change the regime it didn't end the threats." and i think that's when trump heard his base calling he heard common sense calling and he said "look this isn't going according to plan." and i think the main point is with russia and china they were cautious but they weren't letting iran fall by any means and if iran were to be facing a more cataclysmic set of events in the last few days i think the reactions also would have been different interesting to your point about perhaps the israelis were selling and perhaps they even believed that they would be able to you know create a regime collapse in short time the washington post got a hold of this leaked audio of msad agents calling israeli generals and saying "you have 12 hours or else we're going to murder you and your wife and kids by the way and if you want to avoid that fate you need to record yourself in surrendering you need to film this surrender video and send it to us which of course would have been used as propaganda by the israelis and as best as we know not one of them did that which i think you know in and of itself is an indication that they may have miscalculated the the strength of this regime especially once a country is bombed like it's very common for people to to rally around the flag but i wanted to ask you with regards to israel so uh they have bombed you know they're committing a genocide in uh in palestine in the gaza strip they bomb lebanon syria yemen iran iraq and are are a nuclear armed nation outside of the npt you know did did have a secret nuclear weapons program and you know are a rogue nation i think by any um by any characterization at this point is there going to be any consequence for them like is is there any sort of longer term consequence for the fact that they have behaved in this outrageous barbaric um fashion over years at this point and um you know really made themselves a villain in terms of the eyes of much of the world i think israel is in its worst insecurity in its history by far because it is utterly isolated in the international system uh i'm sitting just outside the un i've been attending un security council meetings un general assembly sessions you have 95% of the world population voting against israel right now you have an overwhelming call for the absolutely practical uh state of palestine being established on the borders of the 4th of june 1967 and israel learning finally after decades and decades it's just going to have to live alongside the palestinian people who have the same number population as the israeli jews and this is the most basic point of all israel has no security from all of this it has achieved nothing except a wasteland in its neighborhood and if it wants security the only security is to rejoin the family of nations and the way to do that is straightforward it's according to international law it's according to basic common sense it's according to decency it's according to endless resolutions of the un security council and the un general assembly and that is that there would be a state of palestine for the palestinian people alongside a state of israel and president trump actually can make that happen if he wants his nobel peace prize it's not by this ceasefire after this behavior of the last week it is by a palestinian state being established how does that happen one vote change in the un security council the us vetoed this last year when it came to a vote in the security council which is the part of the un system or the international system that establishes the statethood membership in the un all the united states has to do is to say we go along with all the rest of the world and tell israel wake up we're saving you we're not hurting you we are saving you from yourself however it's just crazy what israel is doing and the idea that this is any security i think they should understand that with uh apartment buildings in beva being destroyed with hifa being attacked with tel aviv being attacked with the countries outside of the region like pakistan and dprk watching if israel thinks it has any security at all from its brazeness it should think again and by the way what we saw in the mossad tape which is chilling of course to listen to yeah is that mossad became a killing machine it's very skillful at mass mur and murder i would say not mass murder in the sense that the murder of the leadership of the iranian military last week yes that's mossad's business but to have that as your centerpiece of statehood to be murder incorporated is not going to get you safety or security or any sound sleep any day uh in in your uh in your life israel needs to rethink fundamentally this bb strategy which goes back to 1996 when he first became prime minister and i think to your point they're not going to rethink it because the public is broadly supportive of the bb strategy it has to be forced upon them and the united states of america can do that if there is any will to do it it depends always it has always depended on the united states going along by the way people should get online if they haven't done it recently and look at netanyahu's speech to the us congress in 2002 telling them how wonderful the iraq war is going to be oh it's a cakewalk it's it's going to inspire the whole region this man is nuts he's a failure for 30 years he's the biggest wararmonger on the planet if trump wants a successful presidency don't sign on to this idiocy do your job mr president make peace in the region that has to be you give the state of palestine alongside a state of israel stop the genocide and go along with international law it's pretty straightforward it's there for the taking all right well sir we always appreciate your analysis and it was great talking to you thank you very much for joining us thank you pleasure to be with you thank you
Mohammad Marandi: Iran SMASHES Tel Aviv Before Ceasefire, Israel Just LOST by Danny Haiphong Jun 24, 2025 #iran #israel #trump
Prof. Mohammad Marandi joins from Iran to provide immediate reaction to the intense developments in the Israel-Iran war over last 24 hours, and explains why Iran just scored a major victory over the Israeli regime amid confusion spread by the Trump administration and its Israeli counterparts.
Transcript
a lot has happened there was the Iran what many are saying is a symbolic uh attack on the US air base in Qatar but over the last 24 hours we saw Israeli media leaking out saying that they were seeking an end to the conflict after the US air base attack by Iran we had an announcement of a ceasefire by Donald Trump we had a massive missile attack on Barashiba and Tel Aviv in many surrounding areas the scores of Israelis killed uh I believe there was 11 or 13 there's conflicting reports in one missile strike alone overnight uh and now the ceasefire appears to be in effect or please correct the record prof well you're right that the Israeli regime was seeking uh a ceasefire even before Trump uh carry out carried out his own aggression and his own act of war against Iran uh the Israeli regime began this unprovoked war with a blitz Greek attack uh in the foolish belief that they could undermine Iran defeat Iran and although they uh scored some successes in the first hour obviously when you carry out an act of aggression that's unprovoked you will have successes they murdered a lot of innocent people they murdered senior officials and their families and their neighbors uh which of course is not important for the West or the Israeli regime as we've seen in Gaza and Lebanon but they failed the Iranians regrouped they started hammering uh Israeli cities they started firing drones and missiles uh until the very end the Iranians were firing lots of drones and lots of missiles especially uh during the last 2 three hours and u before the it's not a ceasefire agreement the Iranians have said that we are halting fire and if the Israeli regime makes any move we will restart the conflict so I don't know exactly what sort of technical term uh that would um have but the Iranians have warned the Israeli regime that if it fires at Iran if it shoots at Iran they'll be hit back very hard but I think it's a failure for the regime they the the United States and the Israelis have not destroyed Iran's nuclear program iran has many scientists uh a lot of its assets are intact we'll have to see what what really happened in Thoro and uh Iran has been provided an excuse not to cooperate with the IAEA like before anymore and uh but most importantly I think this shows the vulnerability of the Israeli regime for the first time ever they were they've been hammered and hammered and hammered unrelentlessly and Netanyahu was seeking a way out the Iranians of course don't want a regional war they don't want a global economic collapse but they wanted to humiliate the regime and humiliate Netanyahu i think that's exactly what happened perhaps you can talk about the timing of this because as of now what Israel is saying uh Israel Katz the defense minister of Israel is saying that uh Israel will strike and how even Donald Trump is saying Israel don't strike but at the same time of course there really is no ceasefire when it comes to Israel that word seems anathema to their vocabulary with what we've seen in Gaza and Lebanon already but talk about the timing of this uh why now why is it that Iran and Israel or at least uh Israel and Donald Trump are uh coming to this conclusion that a ceasefire is necessary well he doesn't Iran doesn't want to unnecessarily prolong a war and have civilians killed because after all this regime is murderous and uh it just last night it was just randomly bombing places in Thran they bombed the hospital that I would guess from where I am right now is a 1-hour walk less than an hour probably just a walk an ordinary walk you you get there it's uh um it's in a it's a street that if you go it's it's actually pretty straight from here pretty straight so they bomb hospitals they they bombed in a in a town in the north of Iran a small city they slaughtered two entire families uh and brought down the building that's how the regime is so Iran doesn't want to just continue the war for the for the sake of it they humiliated the regime uh the regime wanted a ceasefire iran got what it wanted it it it humiliated Netanyahu it severely weakened him and it weakened the regime because this is the first time that you see Israeli society fall apart and that they cannot you know they cannot just bomb like they do in Gaza or even in 2006 when they lost the war against Hezbollah ordinary Israelis were doing more or less their own thing and the fighting was being carried out in Lebanon this is the first time that the war has been seriously brought to occupied Palestine throughout occupied Palestine with heavy missiles much heavier than the sort of missiles that the Israelis have been firing at Iran these are long range missiles with huge payloads so uh Iran humiliated the regime it also um has been provided an excellent excuse to change the nature of its relationship with the international atomic energy agency that will become that will be very useful in the future because the agency has shown itself to be dishonest it has been it has shown it during this period it has refused to condemn the United States or the Israeli regime for striking uh nuclear sites and for bringing about the threat of radiation leaking and and harming huge uh numbers of people they they they are indifferent the Europeans are indifferent they supported it so because of this Iran now has new leverage they can do things with their nuclear program without uh plea without having the international atomic energy agency pleased about it they will give them very limited information so so now Iran has um good reason not to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency not to provide it with the sort of information that it's seeking there's even a a discussion to leave Ben PT altogether which is very serious so this gives Iran huge leverage in future iran is not going to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to have information about its scientists or about its assets so that it can leak it to the Israelis for assassination and for air strikes or to the Americans for air strikes it's going to be a very different relationship so in the long term I think that the United States and Israeli regime is calculated on that front as well but most importantly the regime has shown itself to the world as aggressive as um barbaric as a threat to humanity by targeting uh peaceful nuclear sites and that it has failed the the myth of Israeli in invincibility uh is gone it's forever gone despite the fact that the Americans and the Europeans were right behind it and the Americans were doing the heavy lifting to block Iranian missiles and drones they failed and at the end it was the Iranians that were hitting the Israelis left and right until the very last minute of uh a fighting your reaction to what Israel is of course uh really up in arms about the establishment of the ceasefire the application of it iran fired a massive missile attack and it caused incredible amounts of damage the images are absolutely stunning but also some of the highest casualty rates uh from these strikes what kind of message was Iran sending as this supposed ceasefire i call it supposed because I don't have much faith in the Israeli side of keeping it but this supposed ceasefire what's your reaction to Iran's uh up totheminute response before it came into effect it's clear the Iranians are sending a message to the Israelis and to the West that we're in a position of strength that we can hit at will whenever we want wherever we want and that until the very last moment Iran hit them to show that it was it's the Israeli regime that's in a position of weakness and if the Israeli regime continues with this Iran will continue and it will hammer the Israeli regime day and night and remember it's a small entity iran when it by firing uh miss a few missiles here and there they affect the whole country is uh devastated the whole country is in fear the whole regime is in fear uh of Iranian missiles and again the payload is huge so when the Israeli regime bombs Tehran with uh with bombs or or with their missiles it causes damage but Tehran is huge and the and the payload of these missiles is much smaller but Israeli Tel Aviv is much smaller than Tehran and the missiles that Iran fires there are are enormous so people across the the Israel are traumatized and we see people leaving we see people begging for a ceasefire we we see politicians seeking a ceasefire and ultimately was seeking an a ceasefire we didn't seek a ceasefire it was Netanyahu for the last few days was pushing for an an end to the military conflict that shows that itself I think shows more than enough what do you say to those uh I see it on social media i see those especially even people who support uh what Iran's right to self-defense here uh that Iran didn't get anything here that uh many people I've seen react were disappointed that a ceasefire was established given that there there has been no uh uh terms set that appear favorable not only to Iran but Gaza and and the rest of the region what do you say to people who are disappointed right now that Iran is going to stop which and they claim apparently that Iran has not secured anything for themselves or uh for those that they had said they've said that they are standing with the Palestinian people in particular well I think all of this has been for the Palestinian people from day one all of Iran's sanctions all of the strikes against Iran is because of the Palestinian people who else but Iran and Yemen has done anything for the Palestinians who has even broken off ties with the Israeli regime who has stopped trade with the Israeli regime who stopped sending or transporting oil to the Israeli regime it's only Iran it's Iran standing up against the entire West and regional collaborators i think the sacrifices that Iran has made are and continues to make are enormous but Iran broke the back of Netanyahu netanyahu got nothing has the Iranian nuclear program really been destroyed of course not has Netanyahu been able to undermine the Islamic Republic of Iran of course not has the Israeli regime despite this blitzcreek attack been able to claim that it has won militarily of course not so it's a failure on all fronts but of course Iran has other calculations too if if there's if Iran can end the war with uh with success um and uh and also have countries across the global south that are very fearful of the oil and gas trade coming to an end uh if it can have them pleased with Iran if they can have them side with Iran Rick's countries they're all very concerned about the situation and they look down upon the Israeli regime they look at the Israeli regime with disgust but if there is a global economic crisis then countries calculations could possibly change so Iran has to carry out war in a way in which the other side is seen as the aggressor iran is always seen as the reasonable actor and in the long run that benefits Gaza that benefits Lebanon that benefits Yemen and that benefits Iran there was some confusion on social media uh you had uh foreign minister Abasarachi apparently saying that there was no ceasefire coming into effect that they hadn't even received any terms of it and then announcing uh not too long later that it would come into effect uh what do you make of how this was all handled politically some people are having issues with this on the Iran side i'm curious on what you believe is most important here as we come into this next phase of what I believe is is a conflict and of course a regional situation that is far from resolved yes there was some confusion and I'm not sure exactly what was meant by 4 a.m and um there was no ceasefire in the sense that there was a ceasefire agreement and that the two sides have some there's there's only a sessation of hostilities in other words there's no shooting but if the Israeli regime does anything Iran will fire back immediately and the Iranians have already said that they violated the ceasefire on three occasions so there's not an agreement where uh you know right now it's just the two sides stop shooting and uh no one can be sure about what's going to happen tomorrow and the Israeli regime has already made new threats and Iran said if you fire at us we will hit you back very hard so we have to see now what happens inside Israel because Netanyahu is definitely in trouble he did not get what he wants iran has um its scientists it has its nuclear program it has its military and it has its missile defense that was hitting the Israelis hard till the very very end so we'll have to wait and see this you know Israel is not a regime that sits quiet and behaves like a a country it's an expansionist murderous racist regime and Iran is as we speak preparing itself for potential f future conflict have no doubt that Iran is going to be very swift in uh in dealing with its deficiencies in defensive defensive deficiencies and strengthening its offensive capabilities talk about uh what some are concerned about too is uh Israel was on the as you said it was on the defensive it was running out of air defense systems we've seen this in Ukraine where Ukraine has begged for a ceasefire the US has begged for a ceasefire in apparent desire to rearm uh Ukraine so that it can continue on with the conflict do you see a similar uh dynamic uh taking place here you said Iran will be preparing but at the same time Israel was as you said in a very dire situation militarily it was not going to last very long in terms of its air defense systems do you see this as a moment for Israel to regroup and how much should we be concerned about this well yes of course they'll try to regroup but also remember in their Blitz Creek attack they did a lot of damage to Iran's air defenses and so Iran is going to have to seriously rebuild its air defenses and strengthen them much further than before and very rapidly with new technology and new capabilities so it's not just Israelis that are going to be looking to uh prepare themselves iran is going to be preparing itself the only difference is that the Israeli regime lost this round i'm not saying that Iran knocked out the regime uh but but the regime was seeking a ceasefire the regime has problems at home and Iran wants to see what sort of dynamics are at play now inside Palestine occupied Palestine uh after the failure of Netanyahu let's see what happens within Israeli society or the you know the community of Zionists that occupy Palestine there's a lot of moving pieces here uh Professor Morandi uh we are going to have to follow these developments because as you said uh Israel is in a very unstable situation and generally how Israel has been dealing with its instability and its fragility and of course it loss of legitimacy is by more war more violence of course and more genocide against the Palestinian people no I just want to remind everyone that Iranians have made huge sacrifices for Palestine and if you look over the years for four and a half decades no country has made these sacrifices i mean Yemen has made huge sacrifices but it has been it has been added to the axis of resistance for the last 10 years after the coming to power of Ansar and its allies and uh I think that today's defeat of of Netanyahu is in the long run very good news i think the divisions inside the Israeli regime will be intensified um obviously the regime is still in place and it still has the full support of the West but this was a huge huge slap in the face we would like to see uh Iran hit much harder we would like to see the Israeli regime incapable of of hitting back but uh there are many calculations and uh I think it's fair to say that uh uh Netanyahu's failure is a victory for the entire axis of resistance
Emil Bove, a senior Department of Justice (DOJ) official, suggested the department should tell courts “f*** you” and ignore their orders to carry out President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportations, according to a whistleblower complaint by a former DOJ attorney.
Filed by Erez Reuveni, a veteran DOJ attorney who was fired earlier this year, the whistleblower complaint alleges that department officials defied court orders and misled federal judges on several occasions.
Reviewed and published by the New York Times, Reuveni’s 27-page complaint was sent to lawmakers and the Justice Department inspector general Tuesday on Reuveni’s behalf by the Government Accountability Project.
Trump last month nominated Bove to serve as a life-tenured judge on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He’s currently a top official in the deputy attorney general’s office.
Bove, who defended Trump when he was convicted of criminal charges over hush money paid to a porn star, is set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday for a hearing over his nomination.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement Tuesday that Reuveni’s allegations “not only speak to Mr. Bove’s failure to fulfill his ethical obligations as a lawyer, but demonstrate that his activities are part of a broader pattern by President Trump and his allies to undermine the Justice Department’s commitment to the rule of law.”
“I implore my Senate Republican colleagues: do not turn a blind eye to the dire consequences of confirming Mr. Bove to a lifetime position as a circuit court judge,” Durbin added.
Reuveni stated that Bove and other DOJ and White House officials sought to defy federal court orders “through lack of candor, deliberate delay and disinformation” over the course of three weeks in three separate cases.
He further alleged that he witnessed instances of senior DOJ officials engaging in wrongdoing by ignoring court orders, presenting legal arguments with no basis in law and misrepresenting facts presented before courts.
One of those instances involved Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), an 18th-century wartime law, to fly hundreds of people from the U.S. to a Salvadoran prison earlier this year.
Reuveni alleged that before Trump officially invoked the AEA, Bove held a meeting with subordinates March 14 to strategize how the government should respond to a potential court order blocking removals using the AEA.
Bove “stressed to all in attendance that the planes needed to take off no matter what” and used an expletive while suggesting that the DOJ should consider ignoring court orders during the meeting, according to the complaint.
Reuveni alleged that Bove’s suggestion to defy court orders left many subordinates, including himself, “stunned.”
“To Mr. Reuveni’s knowledge, no one in DOJ leadership – in any Administration – had ever suggested the Department of Justice could blatantly ignore court orders, especially with a “f*** you,” the complaint reads.
A day later, Trump officially invoked the AEA and the Trump administration carried out the removals to El Salvador despite a court order from U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg that blocked such removals.
Legal experts told Democracy Docket at the time that the Trump administration appeared to defy Boasberg’s order, while Trump officials stated publicly that the government “ignored” the order.
Reuveni alleged that Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign “willfully misled” Judge Boasberg by stating in a court hearing that he did not know when the Trump administration would carry out the AEA flights.
“Mr. Reuveni reasonably believes Ensign’s statement to the court that he did not know whether AEA removals would take place ‘in the next 24 or 48 hours’ was false,” the complaint reads. “Ensign had been present in the previous day’s meeting when Emil Bove stated clearly that one or more planes containing individuals subject to the AEA would be taking off over the weekend no matter what.”
Ensign has represented the government in several deportation-related cases in recent months.
Last month, Boasberg found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in contempt of court for showing “a willful disregard” for his court orders. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. has paused Boasberg’s contempt proceedings.
Reuveni also alleged that DOJ officials directed him to misrepresent facts before a court while defending the government in a lawsuit filed by Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was erroneously removed from the U.S. and transferred to El Salvador in violation of a court order earlier this year. He did not do so.
After he expressed frustration over the government’s inability to answer questions from a judge in a court hearing on why Kilmar Abrego was removed, the DOJ placed Reuveni on leave and eventually fired him, ending his nearly 15-year career with the department.
The DOJ accused Reuveni of sabotaging its defense in the lawsuit by saying in court that the government made an “administrative error” in removing Abrego Garcia. However, Reuveni was repeating what other Trump administration officials had already admitted in court filings.
“Mr. Reuveni’s internal reporting and ultimately his refusal to obey this illegal order directly resulted in his suspension and termination,” the complaint reads.
Reuveni is the latest in a series of former DOJ officials who have accused department leaders of breaking norms, abusing their powers and assisting Trump in undermining the rule of law.
Trump’s Iran Fail: Endless Wars Won’t Stop US and Israel’s Decline w/ Prof. Wolff BreakThrough News Jun 24, 2025
The Trump Administration bombed Iran and then within 24 hours announced a ceasefire. Professor Richard Wolff analyzes Trump and Netanyahu's erratic actions and the bigger picture behind them.
Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.
Transcript
i would want to be a little different from some of the other commentaries on the war because everyone is of course focused on it and put it in a historical perspective which won't surprise you because you'll hear me saying what you've heard me say before on this program the United States is a declining empire and what you see week after week and now year after year are the symptoms the signs of that uh and let me give you some uh examples israel is a very small country israel is trying to do something which was feasible two centuries ago it's called settler colonialism it's when you move a group of Europeans into a non-European area you exclude the people one way or another and you basically populate that area with the arriving Europeans instead of whoever lived there before it worked two and a half centuries ago because that's what the United States is and we went to the final solution of the settler colonial project which is literally exterminating all of those people what Hitler did to Jews and gypsies and communists and socialists was not new it was the repeat of what had been done by Germans but also by lots of other Europeans all over the world the first book I ever wrote as a young man was a study of British colonialism in Kenya in which I studied what the British did from the time they arrived to the time that an uprising of the African people there known in the world as the Mao Mau revolution drove them out and you and you see that everywhere in the world the the last century and a half have been and will be in the future called the era of anti-colonialism it's the overwhelming story of the overwhelming majority of the people on this planet india which was a formal colony China which was half a colony and so on what Israel is trying to do is to go against a century and a half of historical movement in the opposite direction to undo settler colonialism to apologize for settler colonialism whether it's the mayori in New Zealand or the indigenous people in Australia or the Africans in South Africa and you could go on this is hopeless and this has nothing to do with the particulars you can't do now what you could do two centuries ago especially if the intervening period has been an era of anti-colonialism so what Israel has done not willing to give up that project and let's remember it was British colonialism that created this opportunity for Jews escaping Europe what Israel has done is hooked itself up to the biggest toughest military in the world the United States and basically made a decision to become the military outpost of the remaining empire the US Empire and this meant it was the flash point for everything against all of that and most of course immediately in the Arab countries that surround uh Israel and the larger mo Muslim world which surrounds Israel and what we have seen and what we're watching today is the slow painful but inevitable process of teaching the Israelis that this is not going to work now for a while it can for a while it may continue they have enormous commitment to military everything and they have the endless provision of the means coming from the United States that is their alliance and Israel has worked very hard to support the political forces in the United States to support that alliance for obvious reasons but it can't work that's why the conflict never stops the Palestinians have demonstrated that even under genocidal oppression they're not leaving that's incredible given what they have suffered they're not leaving and they have appealed to their Arab and Islamic brothers and sisters to support them and to become problems for Israel which those others have become not just Hamas but Hezbollah but on and on and I won't rehearse it all we all have been living through it eventually eventually they would overcome what had been their long-term pro uh good luck that the Arab countries and this is no credit to them either that the Arab countries were afraid anyone who pushed back too much against Israel would get bombed would get missileled would get overthrown and would incur the risk that the United States would help and they didn't trust each other And so every now and then one of them would make a deal with Israel to be allowed to do something that the others might not be not a pretty picture but eventually eventually the Arab countries figured all this out if I can understand it so can they and they realize we have to come up with one of us that can show the Israelis why and how we're willing to fight back and they found two the first one is this mysterious group referred to in the American media as the Houthis the Houthis is a part of the population of Yemen one of the most the poorest one of the poorest countries on earth basically a sliver of inhabitable land in an otherwise desert over there people who very frugal very hardworking able to live on next to nothing and slowly it became clear they are located where they can stop shipping in an important part of the world economy and they can shoot missiles into Israel and nobody can stop them the United States tried earlier this year a month of steady heavy bombing by the United States had no effect oh yes we killed a few people we killed we broke a few buildings couldn't stop it can't stop it now the second was Iran iran is a supporter of Hamas Hezbollah Houthis fill in the blank and why because it is too big and too powerful and too well connected for the Israelis to dare and what did the Israelis do what in a way they had to do i'm not excusing them i'm trying to understand their logic they had to show that they would do what everybody was counting on them to be smart enough not to do so they attacked Iran the Jewish part of Israel is 7 million people iran has 90 million people you don't do that you don't attack a country of 90 million with 7 million and you sure don't do it while you're busy fighting a war in Gaza which the whole world condemns you for and Iran has very close relations with Russia and very good relations with China what are you doing the act was an act of desperation the hope of Mr netanyahu obvious to those who follow was to draw the United States in and Mr trump when he listened apparently to Mr netanyahu and didn't listen to all the voices including inside the Republican party that don't said don't do that did it whereupon Mr trump discovered that what he had unleashed was a conflict between Israel and Iran that almost everyone other than the American media who are useless in this situation in a way that exceeds bias and exceeds jingoism this is straight out propagandistic nonsense everyone else in the world realizes that the supports Iran has in its own country and its border with Russia and its treaties with Russia and its support from China versus Israel is a is a slam dunk of the worst sort it's not a sustainable arrangement and so we now see the backtracking of a desperate Trump who has to try to call off what he just turned on yes he's a herkyjerky leader everyone knows that now he displays that all the time but that should not obscure us what we're seeing here is the herkyjerky behavior of someone who's trapped there is no future for this whole business until you sit down and try to find one there may be one but warfare nope that's not a solution that's not sustainable that's a losing proposition and it was before he dropped the bombs on Tehran and and and the mil and the nuclear bases all of Europe had dozens of commentators just to conclude who enjoyed pointing out that even according to the International Atomic Energy Commission the refined ur the enriched uranium and the mechanisms to further enrich it to make it if they were in those three places had been removed d from those three places so that even if your bombs got there which was an open question this kind of warfare hasn't been done before with bombs like that and the Iranians had put all of this in the middle of a of a mountain so it was unknown but the point was it wouldn't matter it wouldn't m they have the scientists they have the laboratories they have the experience and they have the uranium what are you doing in that situation showing that you can bomb everybody knows that showing that you will in this situation given Iraq sorry given Ukraine there's not much doubt about that either so this was very impulsive but that's not the important point it's the larger historical dead end that's being acted out yeah they're desperate yeah it's herky jerky what else do you expect once you understand that they're stuck in a colonial project that is an absolute noin situation for Israel and the west and the only sad last point the only sad thing is they don't want to see it they can't see it any more than they can see what they're doing in Gaza and how the whole world looks at it and you have to explain that Jewish people are in no more intrinsically violent than anybody else and they're no more blind than anybody else so you have to ask the question under what pressure would people like that and I won't even add who themselves know from their own grandparents what it's like to be on the wrong end of that kind of a situation even they you have to explain that and you answer it by saying when people are put in unbearable contradictory situations their normal ways of looking at the world of commiserating with other human beings disappear and they act like cornered animals with a level of frustration and desperation that usually ends up putting them in an even worse position he said
Michael E. Horowitz Inspector General U.S. Department of Justice office of the Inspector General 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20530
Jamieson Greer Acting Special Counsel U.S. office of Special Counsel 1730 M Street, NW, Suite 218 Washington, D.C. 20036
Honorable Chuck Grassley, Chair Honorable Richard J. Durbin, Ranking Member U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary Washington, D.C. 20510
Honorable Jim Jordan, Chair Honorable Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary Washington, D C. 20515
Re: Protected Whistleblower Disclosure of Erez Reuveni Regarding Violation of Laws, Rules & Regulations, Abuse of Authority, and Substantial and Specific Danger to Health and Safety at the Department of Justice
Dear All:
We, the Government Accountability Project and Gilbert Employment Law, P. C., represent Mr. Erez Reuveni, formerly the Acting Deputy Director for the office of Immigration Litigation (OIL) of the Department of Justice (DOJ), and a whistleblower. Mr. Reuveni presents the following disclosures to your attention for your respective offices to take appropriate oversight action.
Between March 14, 2025, and April 5, 2025, Mr. Reuveni, almost immediately after receiving notice of his promotion to serve as Acting Deputy Director of OIL, became aware of the plans of DOJ leadership to resist court orders that would impede potentially illegal efforts to deport noncitizens, and further became aware of the details to execute those plans.
On April 4, 2025, after raising concerns internally to his chain of command for nearly three weeks regarding the government's compliance with court orders and candor to the courts, Mr. Reuveni appeared before Judge Paula Xinis, United States District Court Judge in the District of Maryland, on behalf of the government in the case of Mr. Kilmar Abrego Garcia. During that appearance, Mr. Reuveni candidly and truthfully informed the court, based on the evidentiary record, that Mr. Abrego Garcia's removal from the United States was a mistake. Later that evening, Mr. Reuveni refused directions from his superiors to file a brief misrepresenting those facts to the court.As a result, Mr. Reuveni was put on administrative leave on April 5, 2025, and his employment was ultimately terminated on April 11, 2025. 1
In this letter Mr. Reuveni exercises his rights to make disclosures to Congress, the DOJ OIG, and the OSC pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 2302 and 5 U.S.C. § 1213. Mr. Reuveni's disclosures detail violations of law, rules or regulations, and the abuse of authority by DOJ and White House personnel, as well as the creation of substantial and specific health and safety threats to noncitizens. These high-level governmental personnel knowingly and willfully defied court orders, directed their subordinate attorneys to make misrepresentations to courts, and engaged in a scheme to withhold relevant information from the court to advance the Administration's priority of deporting noncitizens.
Since April 5, 2025, it has been widely reported that, according to DOJ sources, Mr. Reuveni was put on administrative leave by DOJ for allegations of failure to "follow a directive" from his superiors, failure to “zealously advocate" on behalf of the United States, and for arguing "against Homeland Security and [the] State Department” when he truthfully represented to the court that Mr. Abrego Garcia's removal was in error. ² These statements by Attorney General Pamela Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, are false and misleading. Indeed, it has since been reported that prior to the April 4 hearing, Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security and Trump appointee James Percival conceded that Mr. Abrego Garcia's removal "was an administrative error […] (Not that we should say publicly.)."³
Nevertheless, White House officials have publicly disparaged Mr. Reuveni to justify their refusal to comply with the Constitution and with court orders. 4 White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller falsely stated, "The only mistake that was made is a lawyer put an incorrect line in a legal filing,” and labeled Mr. Reuveni a “saboteur, a Democrat."5 Referring to Mr. Reuveni, President Trump stated, "Well, the lawyer that said it was a mistake was here a long time, was not appointed by us—should not have said that, should not have said that. "
What has not been reported to date are Mr. Reuveni's attempts over the course of three weeks and affecting three separate cases to secure the government's compliance with court orders, and his resistance to the internal efforts of DOJ and White House leadership to defy them through lack of candor, deliberate delay, and disinformation. Discouraging clients from engaging in illegal conduct is an important part of the role of a lawyer." Mr. Reuveni tried to do so and was thwarted, threatened, fired, and publicly disparaged for both doing his job and telling the truth to the court. Because his clients engaged in unlawful activity, abused their authority, created substantial and specific threat to health and safety, and because the pattern of this conduct continues to this day,8 Mr. Reuveni is exercising his rights under 5 U.S.C. § 2302 and 5 U.S.C. § 1213 to report wrongdoing. ⁹
Since his unlawful termination, six members of Congress have written to Attorney General Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Blanche decrying the “Hobbesian choice” DOJ leadership has created for attorneys “who may be forced to choose between their jobs and their oath of candor to the courts," and calling for Mr. Reuveni's reinstatement. 10 We thank these members for their support of Mr. Reuveni, and urge all members of Congress committed to the rule of law along with the DOJ Inspector General and the U.S. office of Special Counsel to investigate the disclosures presented in this letter.
I. Erez Reuveni: Nonpartisan Zealous Advocate with Distinguished Service at DOJ
Before his unlawful removal from federal service on April 11, 2025, Mr. Reuveni had an exemplary, nearly 15-year legal career at DOJ. Mr. Reuveni began his career at the office of Immigration Litigation (OIL), District Court Section (DCS) in 2010 as a trial attorney and was promoted multiple times under both Republican and Democratic administrations. 11
Most recently, Mr. Reuveni served as the Acting Deputy Director for the office of Immigration Litigation responsible for all of OIL's immigration litigation arising in U.S. district courts nationwide, overseeing over one hundred attorneys handling hundreds of cases. His supervisory responsibilities included oversight of the government's defense against many significant legal challenges to multiple Executive Orders signed by President Trump and defending multiple immigration policy initiatives on behalf of the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS), State (DOS), Defense (DOD), Labor (DOL) and Health and Human Services (HHS). Mr. Reuveni received notice of his promotion to that role on March 14, 2025, effective Friday, March 21, and in the following week alone oversaw and defended the government's position in at least seven cases involving motions for temporary restraining orders or preliminary injunctions seeking court orders enjoining Trump Administration policies nationwide, including multiple emergency appeals to various courts of appeal.
Prior to Mr. Reuveni's termination following his candid and truthful representations to the court in the Abrego Garcia case, Department of Justice leadership under the Trump administration had consistently lauded Mr. Reuveni's work. For example, in a March 21, 2025 email announcing Mr. Reuveni's recent promotion, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign remarked that Mr. Reuveni “is a top notched [sic] litigator who has taken on some of OIL's most challenging cases over the past nearly 15 years," including as “Assistant Director for over 7 years," and “multiple stints as counsel in the Civil Division front office," having “led and litigated complex cases protecting our immigration authorities, developed sanctuary city affirmative cases, and worked closely with our many excellent attorneys handling district court litigation."" 12
Additionally, Mr. Reuveni's most recent performance review under the prior Trump administration was stellar. Then-Deputy Director Colin Kisor wrote that “Assistant Director Erez Reuveni continues to be one of OIL-DCS's [OIL District Court Section] premier litigators and supervisors. He is an outstanding attorney, legal writer, and oral advocate. He continues to handle some of the section's most difficult and highest profile cases. 13 Mr. Kisor further noted that "Mr. Reuveni routinely received accolades for his efforts from senior personnel within DOJ and the agencies he advocates for," is an “indispensable asset to OIL-DCS, the Civil Division, DOJ, and the many client agencies he works closely with,” and “has truly earned an excellent rating for this rating period. " 14
Indeed, Mr. Reuveni has received an “ excellent rating" for every year he has worked at the Department, since 2010. On top of that, he is a recipient of nine Civil Division awards, including three during the prior Trump Administration for helping lead the COVID-19 Immigration Litigation Response Team in 2020, leading district court litigation on behalf of the Sanctuary Cities Litigation Team in 2019, and leading defense of the Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry Executive Order in 2017. 15
For years, Mr. Reuveni oversaw the defense of immigration priorities, regardless of political party. During the first Trump Administration Mr. Reuveni led the defense of the Administration's initiatives, including the Executive Orders and proclamation barring entry of certain nationalities to the United States; multiple rules barring access to asylum to migrants at the southern border, including the entry, transit, and criminal asylum bars; the Migrant Protection Protocols; and the defense of the Expedited Removal statute against constitutional challenges. Mr. Reuveni also led an affirmative suit challenging the state of California's laws alleged to interfere with federal immigration enforcement efforts. During the Biden Administration, Mr. Reuveni defended multiple immigration matters, including several rules barring access to asylum to those arriving on the southern border. 16 Earlier in his career, he defended multiple Obama-era labor and employment regulations as well as detention and removal policies and procedures. 17 Before his abrupt termination, Mr. Reuveni oversaw multiple high-profile Trump Administration immigration initiatives. 18
In short, Mr. Reuveni has been a tireless advocate on behalf of the interests of the United States for years, with a stellar record of advocating successfully on behalf of multiple Presidential administrations, both Republican and Democratic. To suggest Mr. Reuveni is anything but a zealous advocate for the United States who takes his oath to uphold the Constitution seriously is both false and outrageous.
II. March 14, 2025 : DOJ Leadership Expressed Intent to Ignore Court Orders to Effectuate Removal Flights Under the Alien Enemies Act
On Friday March 14, 2025, Mr. Reuveni received notice of his promotion to Acting Deputy Director of the office of Immigration Litigation. That same day, following news reports that the President intended to sign a presidential proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), Mr. Reuveni was summoned to a meeting by Deputy Assistant Attorney General (DAAG) of OIL, Drew Ensign. At the meeting were Principal Assistant Deputy Attorney General (PADAG) Emil Bove, Counselor to the Deputy Attorney General James McHenry, Associate Deputy Attorney General (ADAG) Paul Perkins, DAAG Ensign, Acting Director for OIL and Mr. Reuveni's direct supervisor, August Flentje, and other OIL attorneys.
At the meeting Bove indicated to those in attendance that the AEA proclamation would soon be signed and that one or more planes containing individuals subject to the AEA would be taking off over the weekend – meaning Saturday, March 15 and Sunday, March 16. Bove did not provide further details and [DELETE]. 19 Bove indicated [DELETE] 20 and stressed to all in attendance that the planes needed to take off no matter what.
Bove then made a remark concerning the possibility that a court order would enjoin those removals before they could be effectuated. Bove stated that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts "fuck you” and ignore any such court order. Mr. Reuveni perceived that others in the room looked stunned, and he observed awkward, nervous glances among people in the room. Silence overtook the room. Mr. Reuveni and others were quickly ushered out of the room. Notwithstanding Bove's directive, Mr. Reuveni left the meeting understanding that DOJ would tell DHS to follow all court orders. 21
Mr. Reuveni was stunned by Bove's statement because, to Mr. Reuveni's knowledge, no one in DOJ leadership - in any Administration – had ever suggested the Department of Justice could blatantly ignore court orders, especially with a "fuck you." Mr. Reuveni was in disbelief, because, on the contrary, the Department of Justice consistently advises its clients of their obligation to follow court orders, not to ignore them. Mr. Reuveni knew that it was absurd and unlawful to do otherwise, a proposition that Mr. Reuveni felt even more certain of after a brief conversation with his supervisor, August Flentje, shortly after the meeting.
III. Between March 14, 2025, and His Unlawful Suspension on April 5, 2025, Mr. Reuveni Refused to Obey an Illegal Order and Made Protected Whistleblower Disclosures
Mr. Reuveni's disbelief following the meeting with Bove is now a relic of a different time. Over the next three weeks, Mr. Reuveni was involved in three separate cases involving the legality of the Administration's immigration removal operations under its newly implemented priorities during which time he directly witnessed and reported:
• DOJ officials undermining the rule of law by ignoring court orders; DOJ officials presenting “legal” arguments with no basis in law;
• high-ranking DOJ and DHS officials misrepresenting facts presented before courts; and
• DOJ officials directing Mr. Reuveni to misrepresent facts in one of these cases in violation of Mr. Reuveni's legal and ethical duties as an officer of the court.22.
Mr. Reuveni's internal reporting and ultimately his refusal to obey this illegal order directly resulted in his suspension and termination.
A. J.G.G. v. Trump: Flights departed the U.S. through invocation of the Alien Enemies Act during issuance of injunction with government claiming oral injunctions are not binding
At 1:12 a.m.,23 on Saturday March 15, 2025, prior to publication of the Alien Enemies Act Proclamation, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit on behalf of five Venezuelan men facing imminent deportation under the AEA and moved for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to prevent their removal. When Mr. Reuveni woke up that morning, he reviewed the plaintiffs' motion and learned that the removals were allegedly to prisons in El Salvador, known for their torture and human rights abuses. 24 After learning from plaintiffs' counsel that at least one plaintiff was reportedly already aboard a removal flight, Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia entered an ex parte TRO prohibiting the government from removing the five named plaintiffs and set a hearing for 4:00 p. m., which the court later changed to 5:00 p. m., to hear argument on a broader TRO.
1. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ensign willfully misled the court while DHS and DOS ignored Mr. Reuveni's advice
Shortly after Judge Boasberg entered the initial TRO, Mr. Reuveni informed the District Court via email at 10:18 a.m., that its order had been received and “disseminated to the relevant executive branch agencies."25 At the 5:00 p.m. hearing later that day, DAAG Ensign represented the government in court while Mr. Reuveni listened on the public line, emailing DHS and DOS agency counsel periodically.
At this hearing, Judge Boasberg said that “the plaintiffs... expected planes to be departing within the last couple of hours,” and asked Ensign “if any of the named plaintiffs are, in fact, on any plane that has departed?" Ensign assured the court that none of the named plaintiffs would be removed during the pendency of the TRO. When Judge Boasberg asked if that meant the plaintiffs “are either not on the planes or that they will not be removed from the planes and will be brought back once the planes land in El Salvador,” Ensign asserted, “I don't know the status of the planes. If there are removal flights, the five would not be on them." When Judge Boasberg asked whether any deportations or removals were imminent, as “in the next 24 or 48 hours,” Ensign answered, “I don't know the answer to that question. "26
Mr. Reuveni reasonably believes Ensign's statement to the court that he did not know whether AEA removals would take place “in the next 24 or 48 hours" was false. Ensign had been present in the previous day's meeting when Emil Bove stated clearly that one or more planes containing individuals subject to the AEA would be taking off over the weekend no matter what.
Ensign then added, "We can certainly investigate that and report that back to you. "When Judge Boasberg asked how soon he could get that information, Ensign said that the government could "certainly include" the information in a document they were planning to file “tomorrow night." The plaintiffs' lawyer stressed the urgency of the situation, noting his “understanding from people on the ground, from different sources, that planes are going right now taking Venezuelans to El Salvador"; that two flights "may have already taken off … during this hearing”; and urged the "Court to issue a class TRO now to avoid any more harm. "27
At that point, Judge Boasberg adjourned the hearing until 6:00 p.m. to “let Mr. Ensign do some digging." The court specified, “Mr. Ensign, I will want to know, have planes, in fact is deportation of people under the proclamation pursuant to the AEA in motion now and will it be for the next 48 hours." Ensign responded, "We can do that, Your Honor."28
The adjournment began at 5:22 p.m. Mr. Reuveni was not included in Ensign's conversation with DHS, DOS, or DOJ leadership during this period.
However, prior to 5:24 p.m., DOJ attorneys, including Ensign and Mr. Reuveni, received an email from plaintiffs' attorney citing public reporting of flight information and stating that they had reason to believe that people were on planes for imminent deportation. According to public reports and various websites that track the whereabouts of airplanes in real-time, at least two planes took off from Texas after the start of the hearing: the first at 5:26 p.m. and the second at 5:45 p.m. en route to what online sources speculated was a final destination of El Salvador. 29
Yet, at 6:00 p.m., following the 38-minute adjournment, DAAG Ensign provided Judge Boasberg with no information regarding flight departures. Specifically, Ensign told the court, “I don't have many details to share,” explaining that his “clients” said that the “operational details... raised potential national security issues, particularly ones if discussed with a public line." When Ensign said that his clients “raised that we may be able to provide Your Honor additional details in an in camera hearing,” Judge Boasberg quickly arranged “to disconnect the public [phone] line” and start an in camera proceeding. But even after the court accommodated the request for an in camera proceeding, Ensign failed to provide information about the flights. He explained that “we would have to sort out what can still be provided in camera. They suggested that as a way to potentially provide some details, but I do not personally have those right now." Once it became clear that Ensign would not provide information even in camera, the court ended the in camera proceeding and reconnected the public line.
Plaintiffs' counsel told the court, "We understand that two flights went to El Salvador this afternoon," and that a third flight was "scheduled for 6:23, so only in a matter of minutes." After several minutes of legal argument, the court found that “class certification is warranted. "30
When a court issues an injunction against the federal government, the normal practice is for Justice Department lawyers to work with agency counsel in developing guidance explaining what the government must do to comply with the injunction. The relevant agencies then disseminate that guidance to their components. For example, when a court order impacts DHS immigration removal operations, in normal practice DOJ and DHS lawyers create guidance that DHS would then, once approved, disseminate to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), and other relevant components. Because Mr. Reuveni's name was on the court papers the government filed in the three cases at issue, and because of his role as Acting Deputy Director for OIL, he had a responsibility to confirm that the government was abiding by the court orders in those cases.
With this in mind, at 6:14 p.m., as the hearing continued, Mr. Reuveni, again listening on the public line, emailed attorneys with the DHS office of General Counsel, ICE office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA), and the DOS office of Legal Advisor informing them along with other DOJ attorneys that the “Judge is certifying a nationwide class as we speak. It is likely a classwide tro is imminent." At 6:44 p.m., Mr. Reuveni sent a follow-up email: "The judge is presently issuing a class-wide TRO. Can folks confirm for us if at the moment any individuals subject to the AEA are being staged for removal, or are presently in the air as part of removal (but not yet having landed and disembarked)?"
At 6:44 p.m., Mr. Reuveni texted his supervisor Mr. Flentje referencing Bove's March 14, 2025, comment that it might become necessary to tell a court "fuck you." Mr. Flentje acknowledged Bove's comment with a joke referencing the possibility that either he or Mr. Reuveni could be fired, impliedly for reporting up their chain of command concerns that a court order may have been violated.
At 6:46 p.m., Mr. Reuveni emailed DHS the substance of Judge Boasberg's oral order concerning class certification and a TRO: “The class is ‘all noncitizens in US custody subject to the AEA, a minute order with more specifics will issue. Please confirm receipt of this email and let us know ASAP on the questions below concerning removals not yet effectuated, including those involving folks in the air." At 6:48 p.m. Mr. Reuveni sent another email: "Sorry for all the emails. Last email: the judge specifically ordered us to not remove anyone in the class, and to return anyone in the air."
After additional legal argument, Judge Boasberg stated that “a TRO is appropriate for the class members," prohibiting removal of class members, with the class consisting of "all noncitizens in U.S. custody who are subject to the proclamation of March 15, 2025, and its implementation."
Judge Boasberg explained that the court was “required to act immediately” and could not "wait any longer,” particularly in light of “the plaintiffs' information, unrebutted by the government, that flights are actively departing and plan to depart," instructing Ensign:
[Y]ou shall inform your clients of this immediately, and that any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States, but those people need to be returned to the United States. However that's accomplished, whether turning around a plane or not embarking anyone on the plane or those people covered by this on the plane, I leave to you. But this is something that you need to make sure is complied with immediately. 31
At 7:04 p.m., Mr. Reuveni emailed DHS and DOS as follows:
As we await the written order, clarifying our understanding of the injunction as clarified at the end. No one subject to AEA in our custody can be removed. And anyone in the air should be returned, unless they have a title 8 final order. Please confirm receipt and let us know what if anything is happening. Thank you.
DHS and DOS attorneys did not respond.
Mr. Reuveni followed up with DHS at 7:18 p.m. requesting confirmation that no one without a final order of removal under Title 8 would be removed from the planes as they landed, including one scheduled to land at 7:20 p.m., noting that “We need to address this asap to avoid contempt." Mr. Reuveni again received no response.
At 7:26 p.m., the court issued a minute order memorializing its TRO.
At 7:27 p.m., Mr. Reuveni sent another email to DHS and DOS with a copy of the minute order.
At 7:31 p.m., Ensign emailed James Percival, Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security, and Joseph Mazzara, Acting General Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, informing them of the injunction, and two minutes later emailed DOS counsel. Both of these emails, on which Mr. Reuveni and Flentje were copied, informed the recipients of both the oral and written injunctions, informed the agency counsel that their clients were required to be requiring that DHS not deplane any planes that had departed U.S. airspace. Mr. Reuveni was not copied on any response.
At 10:13 p.m., after he and Mr. Flentje had exchanged numerous emails and he had no information about any DHS compliance, Mr. Reuveni again emailed DHS to ask about whether guidance had been disseminated with direction for DHS to turn any planes around if not yet landed or to not deplane the people on board if already landed.
Shortly thereafter, DHS responded via email that they were holding issuance of guidance pending a decision from the Attorney General.
2. Emil Bove advised the Department of Homeland Security that it may take actions that violate the court's injunction because the injunction was not yet issued in writing
For the next few hours on the night of March 15, Mr. Reuveni exchanged emails with Flentje and engaged in multiple phone calls with Ensign. He was concerned about two things: 1) that deplaning any passengers would violate the court's orders, and 2) the need to notify the court of the government's compliance with those orders, or its interpretation of the orders. Sometime around midnight, Ensign informed Mr. Reuveni that DOJ would be filing a notice with the court, signed by Bove, explaining its interpretation of the court order, including that no violation of the court order had occurred because the two planes left U.S. airspace before the court's written minute order. Ensign directed Mr. Reuveni to prepare Bove's notice of appearance. While Mr. Reuveni disagreed with the interpretation that there was no violation of a court order, the fact that Bove, a senior DOJ official, was willing to enter an appearance in the case and make this representation to the court somewhat lessened his concerns because he believed he and his staff would not be put in the untenable position of defending this argument.
That quickly changed. On Sunday, March 16, 2025, at 12:23 a.m., Ensign informed Mr. Reuveni by phone that Bove would no longer be filing either a notice of appearance or a notice to the court explaining the government's interpretation of the court's orders. Thereafter, Mr. Reuveni and Flentje exchanged several more emails. Mr. Reuveni anticipated that the government would be held in contempt of court for deplaning those on the flight and communicated his belief that a notice to the court was necessary. At 12:33 a.m., Ensign telephoned Mr. Reuveni informing him that DOJ leadership did not appear to be in a hurry to file any such notice. Mr. Reuveni responded that the government would likely face a show cause motion seeking an explanation as to why the government should not be held in contempt of court.
That same morning at 8:07 a.m., Mr. Reuveni emailed DHS and DOS asking for confirmation of their compliance with Judge Boasberg's oral and written orders, specifically asking for the status of the individuals on each of the previous day's three flights. Mr. Reuveni's email included a reminder that to comply with the injunction, no one subject to AEA removal should have been deplaned and anyone who had been deplaned needed to be returned to the United States. Mr. Reuveni also asked whether conversations on these issues were happening at a higher level of leadership between and among DOJ, DHS, and DOS. Mr. Reuveni received no response.
Given the absence of any email or notice from the agencies or DOJ leadership at that point, Mr. Reuveni's concerns from the prior night that DHS had been directed to violate the court orders began to escalate. Early in the morning of Sunday March 16, President Bukele of El Salvador posted a comment on social media stating “Oopsie … Too late,” in reference to Judge Boasberg's order, and Secretary of State Rubio re-posted the comment soon after. 32 Soon after Bukele's initial comment, Bukele posted a video of men being escorted from planes into the Terrorism Confinement Center ("CECOT”) prison. 33
As the day continued, Mr. Reuveni's emails asking for confirmation of the status of the removal flights remained unanswered. Mr. Reuveni reported his concerns to August Flentje that based on public reporting, social media posts of the Secretary of State and the President of El Salvador, and the failure of DHS to answer any of Mr. Reuveni's questions concerning the three flights that had taken off the previous day, it appeared the government had violated the court's order and removed individuals to El Salvador.
Eventually, agency counsel for DHS informed Mr. Reuveni by telephone that DOJ leadership had advised DHS to deplane the flights in El Salvador and directed Mr. Reuveni to consult DOJ leadership if he had any questions. Through the course of the events on March 16, it became clear to Mr. Reuveni that DHS and DOS were receiving contrary directions from someone else to take actions in violation of court orders. By 2:00 p.m., the identity of that individual became clear. In an email from Acting Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Yaakov Roth to Ensign, Flentje, and Mr. Reuveni, Roth explained that Bove had advised DHS that under the court order it was permissible to deplane individuals on the flights that departed U.S. airspace before the minute order had issued on the docket.
That afternoon, the Department of Justice filed a Notice indicating that defendants "were promptly notified of the court's temporary restraining order issued in the morning and the 7:26 PM EDT minute order that temporarily enjoined any removals pursuant to the Presidential Proclamation." The Notice also asserted that “some gang members subject to removal under the Proclamation had already been removed from United States territory under the Proclamation before the issuance of this court's second [written] order." 34
By day's end, multiple media reports and postings from senior government officials in both the United States and El Salvador on social media confirmed that all individuals on two of the three planes that had taken off March 15 had been detained in the CECOT prison in El Salvador. 35
The next hearing in the case occurred on Monday, March 17, 2025. At some point prior to the March 17 hearing, Ensign informed Mr. Reuveni that Ensign would not be handling the hearing given concerns that the court would likely interrogate Ensign concerning the March 15 events.
3. Government refused to comply with court's reporting order
On March 17, the court held a hearing to determine whether the government complied with its orders. The court issued a minute order demanding the government state “whether, and in what form, it would provide answers to the court's questions regarding the particulars of the flights.36 The order further stated that if “the Government takes the position that it will not provide that information to the court under any circumstances, it must support such position, including with classified authorities if necessary."37 Following this order, Flentje and Ensign told Mr. Reuveni that leadership at DOJ were reporting “down the chain” that the government was not going to answer the court's questions about anything that happened before 7:26 p.m. on March 15, and so not to provide information about when the flights took off.38
B. D.V.D. v. DHS: Mr. Reuveni advised that injunction against third country removals without torture screenings applied nationwide, but government removed people in violation of the injunction nonetheless
The second case in which Mr. Reuveni exercised his right to make protected disclosures unfolded over the weekend of March 28-30, 2025: D.V.D. v. U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, 25-cv-10676 (D. Mass.). This case involved allegations that DHS had begun to remove individuals with final orders of removal to third countries without first ascertaining whether such individuals would be safe in those countries or potentially tortured, as required by the Convention Against Torture (CAT).
On the afternoon of Friday March 28, 2025, around 2:30 p.m., Judge Brian Murphy, United States District Court Judge in the District of Massachusetts, issued a nationwide TRO. The order enjoined the government from removing the three named plaintiffs and “any individual subject to a final order of removal from the United States to a third country, i.e., a country other than the country designated for removal in immigration proceedings” without providing the individual and their counsel "with written notice of the third country to where they may be removed" and "a meaningful opportunity for that individual to submit an application for CAT protection to the immigration court, and if any such application is filed, UNTIL that individual receives a final agency decision on any such application. "39
1. Friday March 28: Senior Leadership took the position that the injunction did not have nationwide applicability despite DOJ-OIL's instruction
DOJ leadership determined to seek an immediate appeal and stay of the order. The argument for the emergency stay in the appellate brief was that the TRO, which by its terms applied nationwide, was impermissible under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and, in any event, had to be limited to the named plaintiffs. Curiously, James McHenry, Counselor to the Deputy Attorney General, directed through Ensign that afternoon that it was necessary to include a peculiar footnote with no context stating, “the operational effects of [the] order is [sic] ambiguous."
Over the course of the afternoon and evening of Friday, March 28, it became apparent why McHenry had insisted on including this odd footnote. First, Mr. Reuveni learned that DHS was directed by someone within the administration unknown to Mr. Reuveni not to issue guidance to its officers concerning the fact of and terms of the injunction. This was despite the fact that DHS agency counsel had drafted guidance concerning the injunction that noted the nationwide applicability of the TRO, which Mr. Reuveni and others at OIL had agreed was appropriate. Mr. Reuveni sent multiple emails to DHS counsel requesting updates regarding when the guidance would be disseminated. Multiple line attorneys at DHS alerted Mr. Reuveni that the guidance was never distributed. Ensign eventually told Mr. Reuveni that the office of the Deputy Attorney General (ODAG) had directed a hold on dissemination of the guidance as they were reviewing it, an unusual, but not unheard-of level of review.
On March 28, at 11:28 p.m., Mr. Reuveni sent an email to DHS counsel noting his understanding that guidance had not yet been issued, as OIL had advised, and asking for confirmation whether anyone subject to the injunction was being staged for removal. Mr. Reuveni noted that the government's brief argued in requesting an emergency stay that the court order applied broadly, beyond named plaintiffs. In response, at 12:34 a.m., Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security James Percival responded for DHS that "My take on these emails is that DOJ leadership and DOJ litigators don't agree on the strategy. Please keep DHS out of it." Mr. Reuveni responded at 12:36 a.m., "what is the position," to which Percival responded at 12:38 a.m., "Ask your leadership."
With this clear disconnect, it was evident to Mr. Reuveni that DHS had received direction contrary to the guidance OIL had provided concerning the scope of the injunction. Mr. Reuveni had attempted to contact Ensign and Flentje multiple times by phone between 10:40 p.m. and 12:04 a.m., and Roth via email, but no one answered. 40
2. Night of March 28-Morning of March 29: White House directed Mr. Reuveni to file brief asking for emergency stay with assurances of understanding of nationwide applicability
Mr. Reuveni, unable to contact his chain of command, made the decision that the brief requesting an emergency stay could not be filed given the lack of consensus that the injunction applied nationwide, and notified DHS of the same at 12:42 a.m., on Saturday, March 29.
At 12:50 a.m., Mr. Reuveni received frantic emails from multiple senior DOJ and DHS officials, ultimately including McHenry, Perkins, Counselor to the Attorney General Henry Whitaker, and Percival, asking him to call them.
Mr. Reuveni first called ADAG Perkins, and he and McHenry were on the line. They asked Mr. Reuveni why the brief had not been filed. Mr. Reuveni explained that, per his email, there seemed to be a fundamental disconnect between the brief, which acknowledged nationwide applicability of the injunction as the basis for seeking an emergency stay, and DHS's understanding that the injunction only applied to three named plaintiffs. On the call, Mr. Reuveni perceived McHenry to be acting strangely, answering questions evasively and suggesting additional odd language to add to the brief. Neither Perkins nor McHenry confirmed whether ICE had even received the text of the injunction. The call ended when McHenry said that he and Perkins needed to go make a call and would be back in touch.
Around 1:18 a.m., Whitaker and Percival emailed Mr. Reuveni asking him to call them. Mr. Reuveni called Whitaker, who immediately patched in Percival. Similar to McHenry and Perkins, Whitaker and Percival asked Mr. Reuveni why the brief had not been filed. They stated that the White House wanted the brief filed by midnight. Mr. Reuveni stated that DHS seemed to be saying that DOJ leadership was giving them guidance contrary to that provided by OIL. He explained that the brief acknowledged the injunction applied nationwide, but DHS's position was that it only applied to the three named plaintiffs.
Mr. Reuveni explained to Whitaker and Percival that if the brief were filed acknowledging nationwide applicability of the injunction, that would be the official position of the United States. If there were also removal flights planned for that weekend, they would have to be consistent with this injunction or risk contempt of court. If removals inconsistent with the injunction were effectuated nonetheless, the government would have to withdraw or modify its brief and notify the court. Mr. Reuveni also shared his understanding that no guidance had been disseminated to DHS regarding the position in the brief. Mr. Reuveni asked Whitaker and Percival if they agreed that the injunction required nationwide applicability. Percival hurriedly responded, “Yeah, sure,” and Whitaker said, "Yeah, buddy."
Still concerned but relying on the assurances from Whitaker and Percival that they agreed the injunction applied to more than the three named plaintiffs, Mr. Reuveni directed his staff to file the brief. Later that day Mr. Reuveni learned with certainty that DHS had never disseminated the injunction or guidance about its applicability within the agency.
3. Saturday March 29: Gag order instructed Mr. Reuveni to stop asking about injunction compliance guidance
On the morning of March 29, Mr. Reuveni learned that individuals were again being staged in Texas by DHS, possibly for removal. Against that backdrop, Mr. Reuveni heard from DHS that DHS was again working on disseminating guidance to ICE. Relieved, Mr. Reuveni briefly turned to other matters.
However, by early afternoon it again became clear no guidance would be forthcoming; Mr. Reuveni heard from agency counsel that no guidance had been disseminated and instead was stuck somewhere within DHS. This meant no field officer at ICE involved in deportations had yet been told how to conduct their operations consistent with the injunction and how to ensure that persons removed to third countries were given notice of their right to alert the government to claims of torture in those countries. Mr. Reuveni called DHS agency counsel around 3:20 p.m. and confirmed directly that no guidance had been issued. He immediately sent an email to DHS agency counsel, in addition to Percival and Acting General Counsel for DHS, Mazzara, again requesting an update on the status of guidance.
Separately, Mr. Reuveni contacted Ensign by phone, who informed him that the head of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations had been given “verbal” notice of the injunction, but again, no written guidance had been disseminated to the agency. Sometime after this call, during the mid-to-late afternoon, Ensign informed Mr. Reuveni by phone that it would be advisable to stop sending emails with many recipients, including Percival, concerning the injunction compliance guidance. 41
4. Sunday March 30: Mr. Reuveni reported a possible violation of injunction
On the morning of Sunday, March 30, despite Ensign's instruction to stop email correspondence on the matter, Mr. Reuveni again emailed DHS to ask if any guidance on the injunction had been disseminated. Mr. Reuveni continued to press on the matter pursuant to his job responsibilities to ensure quick dissemination of guidance instructing injunction compliance, his ethical duties, and his role as an officer of the court.
Thereafter, Mr. Reuveni spoke twice with Ensign on the phone between approximately 11:00 a.m., and noon, during which time Ensign told Mr. Reuveni that “leadership” had concluded and directed that no injunction compliance guidance would be issued. Ensign also again told Mr. Reuveni that he should no longer contact DHS asking about guidance.42 Mr. Reuveni informed Ensign that plaintiffs' counsel had notified OIL attorneys that their class member clients were being or had been prepared for removal, and without further information this appeared to be a violation of the injunction. Ensign made comments to the effect that he agreed with Mr. Reuveni, acknowledged the decisions were not ideal and would make it harder to win cases, and stated that he was not a decision maker in these circumstances.
5. Monday March 31: Evidence demonstrated government violated injunction
Finally on Monday, March 31, the Secretary of State issued a press release announcing a "successful counter-terrorism operation with our allies in El Salvador” through which “the United States military transferred a group of 17 violent criminals from the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 organizations, including murderers and rapists."43
Upon seeing this press release, Mr. Reuveni immediately contacted counsel for DOS and DHS, including Mazzara, to inquire about the operation referred to in the release. Mazzara refused to discuss these events with Mr. Reuveni or others at OIL, stating this was a DOD matter, directing Mr. Reuveni to the Acting General Counsel of the DOD, and instructing Mr. Reuveni not to ask DHS again about the matter.
Mr. Reuveni then contacted DOD and learned through conversation with Charles Young, the Acting General Counsel for the Department of Defense, that on March 29, those 17 individuals had departed Texas on a flight to Guantanamo after the court issued its injunction in D.V. . Then on March 30 they were transferred to El Salvador. Young informed Mr. Reuveni that he was not aware of the injunction and appeared upset that DHS had not communicated the existence of the injunction to DOD. The plain language of the injunction stated that it applied to not only DHS but also anyone with whom they were "acting in concert."44
These removals occurred notwithstanding the district court's TRO and absent any explanation from any agency or other party bound by the D.V.D. injunction as to how DHS had implemented processes that comported with the injunction. It appeared to Mr. Reuveni that there was no plausible way these removals did not violate the court order.
Mr. Reuveni reported this development to Ensign and Flentje by phone and email.45 Mr. Reuveni further informed Ensign that DOD's Young had explicitly referenced Mazzara of DHS as a point of contact in the removal flight operations, which was inconsistent with Mazzara's representation to Mr. Reuveni that he had no knowledge of the removal operations.
Indeed, over email on Monday March 31, 2025, at around 5:00 p.m., Mr. Reuveni asked Mazzara how DHS could take the position that it had nothing to do with the removal operation when the individuals removed were in DHS-ICE custody in Texas before being transferred to Guantanamo, and remained in DHS-ICE custody while detained at Guantanamo. Mazzara did not respond. During this same time DOS attorneys expressed dismay to Mr. Reuveni at the removal operation, as it clearly appeared to violate the D.V.D. injunction. As with DOD, DOS was bound by the injunction as the plain language of the order stated that it applied to all with whom DHS operated in “concert,” and Secretary Rubio's social media post suggested DOS had violated that injunction through its participation in the removals.
On April 1, Mr. Reuveni was again told to stop asking questions. Mr. Reuveni received a phone call from Acting AAG Roth, in which Roth relayed that Bove was very unhappy that Mr. Reuveni had contacted counsel at various agencies to ascertain whether DOJ had violated a court order. Roth conveyed that Mr. Reuveni should stop emailing agency counsel on the matter, to instead communicate by phone only, where possible.46 Mr. Reuveni understood this instruction to be based on leadership's aim to avoid generating written material subject to disclosure through FOIA. Roth also informed Mr. Reuveni that he should not expect any answers from the agencies concerning whether the removal operation discussed in the Secretary of State's press release was in violation of the court order. Mr. Reuveni reported this conversation to Flentje and Ensign sometime that afternoon, with Ensign reaffirming that the DOJ position on responding to plaintiffs' inquiries concerning injunction compliance was, “let's not respond."
The evidence demonstrates that senior DOJ leadership withheld information from DOJ-OIL, interfered with DOJ-OIL's efforts to ensure agency clients were informed about the requirements of the injunction, and provided contrary instruction to DHS and DOD, which resulted in removals in violation of a court order. This also appears to explain why McHenry insisted on the inclusion of the footnote in the brief that “the operational effects of [the] order is [sic] ambiguous": though the injunction plainly had nationwide applicability, which leadership acknowledged, operators at high levels of political leadership apparently planned and implemented operations that violated a court order. In retrospect, McHenry's insistence on the footnote appears to be an attempt to suggest ambiguity where there was none. The evident goal was to provide cover for leadership's knowing violation of the nationwide injunction.
C. Kilmar Abrego Garcia: Wrongful removal with unsubstantiated gang allegations; Government made legally erroneous claim that withholding of removal can be revoked without due process
The third illegal order arose in connection with Abrego Garcia v. Noem, 25-cv-951 (D. Md.). On March 15, 2025, as part of the Alien Enemies Act operation described above, DHS removed a Maryland resident, Mr. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, to the CECOT prison in El Salvador without lawful basis. On March 24, 2025, Mr. Abrego Garcia's attorneys filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland alleging this removal was in violation of an October 10, 2019, Immigration Judge order prohibiting his removal to El Salvador.
1. Mr. Reuveni took on Abrego Garcia case where government's record showed Mr. Abrego Garcia was erroneously removed
Mr. Reuveni learned of this complaint on the date of filing, and in his new role as Acting Deputy Director took the case on personally so that more junior attorneys would not have to work on such a high-profile and sensitive matter.
It has been the prior practice going back years in situations where DHS removed someone in error to seek to resolve cases without further litigation by correcting the error. Indeed, it was Mr. Reuveni's understanding that the Solicitor General of the United States had informed the Supreme Court that the policy of the United States is to return wrongfully removed migrants as a matter of course if the Supreme Court or a U.S. court of appeals has ruled that the migrant has the legal right to remain in the country.47
Therefore, despite the high-profile nature of the case, Mr. Reuveni initially believed the case could be resolved through a straightforward return of Mr. Abrego Garcia to the United States. Accordingly, beginning on March 24 when the case was filed, through the date of the hearing on April 4, Mr. Reuveni and other agency counsel from DHS and DOS continuously discussed the possibility of requesting Mr. Abrego Garcia's return to U.S. custody. During this time, they also discussed the possibility that pending his return, DOS could ask the government of El Salvador for assurances of Mr. Abrego Garcia's safety at CECOT.
2. On March 31, 2025, Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security James Percival asked whether the government could allege that Mr. Abrego Garcia was a "leader of MS-13” without evidence to support the allegation
By at least March 27, 2025, in communications including DHS, DOS, and DOJ counsel, questions were raised regarding the existence of evidence that Mr. Abrego Garcia was a gang member and why he was included on the removal flight to CECOT. DHS could not provide direct evidence of Mr. Abrego Garcia's alleged MS-13 gang affiliation.
Then, on Monday March 31, 2025, the day the government's brief was due, Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security James Percival asked whether the brief could make a number of factual allegations including that Mr. Abrego Garcia was an MS-13 “leader." Mr. Reuveni noted that any such factual allegations would need to be supported by evidence such as a declarant on behalf of DHS.
Approximately two hours after the exchange between Percival and Mr. Reuveni, DHS provided a declaration. The declarant was Robert Cerna, acting field office director (AFOD) for Enforcement and Removal Operations at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Through Cerna's declaration DHS conceded that because Mr. Abrego Garcia had obtained “withholding of removal" protection, DHS had no legal authority to remove him to his home country of El Salvador.
Nevertheless, Mr. Abrego Garcia was, according to Cerna, placed on a plane to El Salvador. Cerna stated that “ICE was aware of this grant of withholding of removal at the time [sic] Abrego Garcia's removal from the United States” and that “[r]eference was made to this status on internal forms,” but yet “[t]hrough administrative error, Abrego Garcia was removed from the United States to El Salvador. . . This was an oversight." Cerna also could not personally confirm and declined to attest to Mr. Abrego Garcia's gang membership, let alone his status as an MS-13 "leader." Instead, Cerna's declaration stated that Mr. Abrego Garcia was removed on March 15 based on his "purported membership in MS-13." (Emphasis added). Cerna's declaration was included as an exhibit to the brief submitted to the court on March 31 along with decisions from immigration adjudicators referencing MS-13 gang allegations but lacking in direct supporting evidence of those allegations.
3. Mr. Reuveni raised concerns about sufficiency of the evidence and urged remedial actions to address Mr. Abrego Garcia's erroneous removal
After the brief was filed, because DHS had still not presented direct evidence justifying Mr. Abrego Garcia's removal, Mr. Reuveni repeatedly and consistently requested updates on efforts to secure Mr. Abrego Garcia's return to the U.S. and assurances of his safety in CECOT. Mr. Reuveni was surprised that lawyers for both DHS and DOS informed Mr. Reuveni that they would only consider any action to attempt to remedy the illegal removal of Mr. Abrego Garcia if DOJ leadership approved it.
DOJ leadership never did. Instead, on several occasions on April 2 and 3 through both phone calls and email, Mr. Reuveni was directed by McHenry, through Roth and Ensign, to cease making requests of DHS and DOS, to stop asking for facts supporting any possible defense of the case, that no "asks” of El Salvador of any sort should be made, and to rest on threshold jurisdictional arguments at the hearing. 48
Mr. Reuveni raised concerns in multiple emails to both DHS and DOS about the sufficiency of the evidence to support Mr. Abrego Garcia's alleged gang affiliation and the lack of action to correct his erroneous removal. Mr. Reuveni also raised those concerns in multiple emails and phone calls to his DOJ leadership, including Roth and Ensign, on several occasions on April 1-4.
4. After Mr. Reuveni repeated in court, per the record, the government's concession that Mr. Abrego Garcia was erroneously removed, Ensign asked Mr. Reuveni for the first time why he did not argue that Mr. Abrego Garcia was a terrorist
At oral argument on Friday, April 4 before Judge Paula Xinis in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, and in the brief he signed that was submitted to the court, which was reviewed by DOJ and DHS and agency leadership including Ensign and Mazzara, Mr. Reuveni made the threshold jurisdictional arguments and informed the court as conceded by the ICE declarant that the removal of Mr. Abrego Garcia was in error. 49
A few minutes after the hearing, Mr. Reuveni went from the courtroom to the U.S. Attorney's office space in the court building. The press had been present at the hearing, and by the time he was leaving the courtroom, Mr. Reuveni had already received multiple text messages sharing news headlines about his statements to the court. Mr. Reuveni also received an email from Ensign directing Mr. Reuveni to call him, which Mr. Reuveni did. On that call, Ensign asked Mr. Reuveni - for the first time – why Mr. Reuveni had not argued that Mr. Abrego Garcia was a terrorist and that therefore his withholding of removal order was invalid. Mr. Reuveni told Ensign words to the effect of, “I understand you've seen the headlines, but read the transcript, I did not say the things the headlines say that I said."
Ensign asked Mr. Reuveni why he did not argue that Mr. Abrego Garcia was a member of a terrorist organization or that being a member of such organization meant Mr. Abrego Garcia's protection from removal to El Salvador was nullified. Mr. Reuveni told Ensign he did not make those arguments because: 1) those were not arguments in the government's briefs, which Ensign had reviewed; 2) there was no evidence in the record to support the arguments; and 3) the laws governing withholding of removal do not support a theory that declaring someone a member of a terrorist organization retroactively nullifies a grant of withholding relief. Ensign had little reaction but called again a few minutes later asking similar questions and informing Mr. Reuveni that these inquiries were prompted by the White House. Mr. Reuveni again repeated the same concerns he had on the first call.
Indeed, in order to revoke a grant of withholding of removal, binding federal regulations require the government to move to reopen removal proceedings in the United States and make an affirmative showing that the withholding grant is no longer warranted.[/size]50 Further, the only evidence submitted by DHS at the time of the filing of the government's brief and by the date of oral arguments, [size=110]the Cerna declaration, did not support a terrorist designation, given Cerna's equivocation on Mr. Abrego Garcia's alleged gang membership and the absence of any other supporting evidence.
5. Mr. Reuveni refused to sign an appeal brief with arguments unsupported by evidence or law and was put on administrative leave in retaliation for his protected activity and refusal to obey an illegal order
That same afternoon of Friday April 4, Roth circulated an outline of an appeal brief to multiple attorneys, including Mr. Reuveni. Mr. Reuveni understood that his name would appear on this brief. Mr. Reuveni responded to that email, including Roth and others, with the same points he had told Ensign in their phone call. Additionally, he noted that because the government had not argued that Mr. Abrego Garcia was a member of a terrorist organization to the court in the brief DOJ and agency leadership cleared for filing, it could not do so on appeal for the first time.
That evening, Mr. Reuveni received an email with a draft brief that made the same legal arguments to which Mr. Reuveni had consistently objected. Mr. Reuveni responded saying that the draft brief still contained the arguments discussed earlier that were not supported by law or the record.
Then later that night, the appeal brief was again circulated. This time, the same arguments Mr. Reuveni had objected to were moved to a different section of the brief. Mr. Reuveni emailed Flentje and said that he could not sign the brief given the unsupported arguments. Early the morning of Saturday, April 5, Flentje emailed Mr. Reuveni and asked him to call him. [b][size=110]Mr. Reuveni and Flentje had a phone call around 1:20 a.m., in which Mr. Reuveni again repeated the same objections he had made previously. Flentje told Mr. Reuveni that he should sign the brief, and that he had signed up for the responsibility to do so when he accepted the Deputy position. Mr. Reuveni responded, “I didn't sign up to lie." Ultimately, someone else signed that brief, making arguments contrary to law, which was filed at 1:41 a.m., on April 5.
Less than seven hours later, Mr. Reuveni was placed on administrative leave for alleged "failure to follow a directive from your superiors; failure to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States; and engaging in conduct prejudicial to your client." The letter signed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche placing Mr. Reuveni on administrative leave was leaked to the press and reported that same day. 51 The news report included a statement from Attorney General [i][u]Pam Bondi, that, “At my direction, every Department of Justice attorney is required to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States... Any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences."52 On April 11, Mr. Reuveni was terminated without notice. [/u][/i]
IV. Unlawful Retaliation
In the weeks following the notable March 14 meeting during which Bove stated DOJ might have to tell a federal court "fuck you” to implement the administration's removal priorities, Mr. Reuveni witnessed and internally reported to his DOJ leadership multiple incidents that led him to reasonably believe the government was in violation of court orders. Mr. Reuveni also expressed, to personnel who were in contact with and who were relaying directives from the White House, his unwillingness to obey an order he reasonably believed to be unlawful, namely to file a brief with misrepresentations to the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Mr. Reuveni's management interfered with his ability to perform his duties in accordance with his obligations of professional responsibility to his clients and to the court.
Then, on April 4, 2025, Mr. Reuveni made truthful representations to Judge Paula Xinis about the government's own record in the case of Mr. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, abiding by his obligations under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Rules of Professional Conduct. The next day, Mr. Reuveni refused a directive from DOJ leadership to file an emergency appeal brief in Mr. Abrego Garcia's case that Mr. Reuveni reasonably believed asserted arguments that were contrary to law, frivolous, and untrue.
In reprisal for his whistleblowing and refusal to obey illegal orders, Mr. Reuveni was placed on administrative leave on April 5, 2025, and removed from federal service on April 11, 2025, both violations of 5 U.S.C. § 2302. The Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA), among other protections, prohibits federal agencies from taking retaliatory personnel actions against employees who raise whistleblower concerns internally and who refuse to obey illegal orders. There is no question here, particularly based on this administration's own statements, that these actions taken against Mr. Reuveni were meant to silence Mr. Reuveni and other DOJ attorneys who resist unlawful actions.
Instead, Mr. Reuveni will continue to tell the truth in defense of the rule of law. Mr. Reuveni both exercises his rights to make protected whistleblower disclosures and seeks a remedy for DOJ's due process violation in terminating him without notice, and for DOJ's unlawful retaliation against him under the WPA with the Merit Systems Protection Board.
V. Conclusion
Mr. Reuveni refuses to stay silent despite the retaliation he has already faced and the serious risk of additional retaliation for his choice to continue to exercise his rights by disclosing to Congress, the DOJ Inspector General, and the office of Special Counsel information about senior DOJ and White House leadership's intent and action to defy the rule of law. The consequences of DOJ's actions Mr. Reuveni reports have grave impacts not only for the safety of individuals removed from the country in violation of court orders, but also for the constitutional rights and protections of all persons – citizen and noncitizen alike – who are potential victims of flagrant, deliberate disregard of due process and the rule of law by the agency charged with upholding it.
Mr. Reuveni does not make these disclosures lightly. In his disclosures he has carefully exercised his rights under the Whistleblower Protection Act to report serious illegality and abuses of power, consistent with and in compliance with the Rules of Professional Conduct. Mr. Reuveni remains committed to the rule of law and to his oath as an attorney and as a nonpartisan civil servant that he swore when he joined the Department of Justice in 2010 and that he has carried out across administrations:
I, Erez Reuveni, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God. 53
We ask that members of Congress, the DOJ Inspector General, and the leadership of the office of Special Counsel remain similarly committed to their oaths of office and discharge their duties of oversight and accountability without fear or favor.
Respectfully Submitted,
Dana L. Gold Government Accountability Project 1612 K Street, NW, Suite 808 Washington, D. C. 20006 (202) 926-3306
Kevin L. Оwen Gilbert Employment Law, P. C. 8403 Colesville Rd., Suite 1000 Silver Spring, MD 20910 (301) 608-0880
Attorneys for Erez Reuveni
Andrea Meza Government Accountability Project 1612 K Street, NW, Suite 808 Washington, D. C. 20006 (202) 926-3311
*****************
EXHIBIT A
From: Ensign, Drew C (CIV) To: CIV-OIL-GLA-ALL Subject: New Acting Deputy Director -Erez Reuveni Date: Friday, March 21, 2025 12:41:33 PM
Hi all,
I am pleased to announce that the Civil Division has selected Erez Reuveni to serve as the Acting Deputy Director covering district court litigation and litigation teams at OIL-GLA. As you know, Erez is a top notched litigator who has taken on some of OIL's most challenging cases over the past nearly 15 years. Before that time, he served as a law clerk for Judge Jon O. Newman on the Second Circuit and in private practice. While at OIL, Erez has led a team as Assistant Director for over 7 years, served multiple stints as counsel in the Civil Division front office and Associate's office, led and litigated complex cases protecting our immigration authorities, developed sanctuary city affirmative cases, and worked closely with our many excellent attorneys handling district court litigation. I have particularly benefitted from his most recent stint in the front office as I started my service as Deputy Assistant Attorney General.
I want to thank those who submitted interest for the Acting positions -we had outstanding choices which helps go to show the excellent caliber of our team here at OIL.
SPECIAL COMMENDATION Presented to EREZ REUVENI COVID -19 Immigration Litigation Response Team FOR OUTSTANDING SERVICE in the CIVIL DIVISION of the U. S. DEPARTMENT of JUSTICE December 2020
***
EXHIBIT C
DEPARTMENT of JUSTICE
Civil Division Perseverance Award Presented to Erez Reuveni Sanctuary Cities Team Joseph H. Hunt November 21, 2019
***
EXHIBIT D
SPECIAL COMMENDATION Presented to Erez Reuveni Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry Executive Order Litigation Team FOR OUTSTANDING SERVICE in the CIVIL DIVISION of the US DEPARTMENT of JUSTICE.
December 7, 2017
_______________
1 Through counsel Gilbert Employment Law and Government Accountability Project, Mr. Reuveni has filed an appeal alleging that his no -notice termination violated the Civil Service Reform Act and the Whistleblower Protection Act with the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).
² Glenn Thrush, “Justice Dept. Accuses Top Immigration Lawyer of Failing to Follow Orders," New York Times, April 5, 2025, https://www. nytimes.com/2025/04/05/us/politics/justice-dept-immigration-lawyer-leave. html; Evan Perez, "Justice Department Fires Immigration Lawyer Who Argued Case of Mistakenly Deported Man,” CNN, April 15, 2025, https://www. cnn.com/2025/04/15/politics/doj-fires-immigration-lawyer-who-argued-abrego-garcia-casesource-says; Constitutional Accountability Center, “Bondi's Firing of DOJ Lawyer for Lack of ‘Zealous Advocacy' in Deportation Case Raises Concerns," May 1, 2025, https://www. theusconstitution. org/news/bondis-firing-of -dojlawyer-for-lack-of -zealous -advocacy-in-deportation-case-raises-concerns/.
3 Hamed Aleaziz and Alan Feuer, “How Trump officials Debated Handling of the Abrego Garcia Case: 'Keep Him Where He Is'," New York Times, May 21, 2025, https://www. nytimes.com/2025/05/21/us/politics/trump-abregogarcia-el -salvador-deportation. html.
4Alan Feuer and Glenn Thrush, “Judges in Deportation Cases Face Evasion and Delay from Trump Administration,” New York Times, June 3, 2025, https://www. nytimes.com/2025/06/03/us/politics/judges-trump-deportationsimmigration. html; Perez, “Justice Department Fires”; Fox News, “Stephen Miller Doubles Down on Deportation of Alleged Gang Member: 'Not Mistakenly Sent' | Fox News Video,” April 14, 2025, https://www. foxnews.com/video/6371474279112; Dareh Gregorian, Katherine Doyle and Lawrence Hurley, "El Salvador's president says he won't return mistakenly deported man to the U. S.," NBC News, April 14, 2025, https://www. nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/president-el-salvador-wont-return-deported-man-kilmarabrego-garcia-rcna201136.
5 Perez, "Justice Department Fires"; Fox News, "Stephen Miller Doubles Down," 2:46; Gregorian, Doyle and Hurley, "El Salvador's president says."
6 Fritz Farrow, “Trump Says 'I Could' Get Abrego Garcia Back from El Salvador," ABC News, April 29, 2025, https://abcnews. go.com/Politics/trump-abrego-garcia-back-el-salvador/story?id=121298276.
7 D. C. R. Prof 'l Conduct § 3.3; see also, In re Public Defender Service, 831 A. 2d 890, 901 (D. C. 2003) ("... discouraging clients from illegal conduct is a regular occurrence in an attorney's practice. ‘[A]bout half of the practice of a decent lawyer is telling would-be clients that they are damned fools and should stop. ' McCandless v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., 697 F. 2d 198, 201-02 (7th Cir. 1983) (attributed to Elihu Root)."); see also, id., ( noting that when a “client misguidedly contemplates or proposes” illegal action, the “lawyer is then obliged, in the interests of justice and the client's own long -term best interests, to urge the client, as forcefully and emphatically as necessary, to abandon illegal conduct or plans.").
8 Feuer and Thrush, “Judges in Deportation Cases Face Evasion and Delay From Trump Administration,” (noting pattern of "obfuscations and delays" to courts in the context of legal challenges to deportation plans so significant that multiple judges in the cases referenced herein have considered or initiated criminal contempt proceedings against the Trump administration). See also J. G. G. v. Trump, 1 :25-cv-00766, (D. D. C. Apr 16, 2025) ECF No. 81, Memorandum and Opinion at p. 1, https://www. courtlistener.com/docket/69741724/81/jgg-v-trump/ (“the court ultimately determines that the Government's actions on that day demonstrate a willful disregard for its Order, sufficient for the Court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt."); J. G. G, (D. D. C. June 04, 2025) ECF No. 148, Memorandum Opinion at p. 3, https://www. courtlistener.com/docket/69741724/jgg-v-trump/?page=2#entry-148 ("This Court, at a swiftly convened hearing on March 15, ordered the Government not to relinquish custody of the men, but that mandate was ignored. Such defiance is currently the subject of the Court's contempt inquiry."); D. V. D. v. U. S. Department of Homeland Security, 1 :25-cv-10676, (D. Mass. May 21, 2025) ECF No. 119, Order on Remedy for Violation of Preliminary Injunction at p. 1, https://www. courtlistener.com/docket/69775896/dvd-v-us-department-of -homelandsecurity/# entry-119 ( “[t]he Court found that Defendants violated the Court's Preliminary Injunction."); D. V. D., (D. Mass. May 26, 2025) ECF No. 135, Order on Motion for Reconsideration at p. 7, https://www. courtlistener.com/docket/69775896/135/dvd-v-us-department-of -homeland-security/ ("The court reserved ruling on whether such a violation warranted a finding of contempt."); Abrego Garcia v. Noem, 8 :25 -cv-00951, (D. Md. Apr 16, 2025) ECF No. 86 at p. 69, https://www. courtlistener.com/docket/69777799/86/1/abregogarcia-v-noem/ (“ I'm not going to issue a show cause today for contempt findings, but I do find it well within my authority to proceed with expedited discovery specifically to determine whether you are abiding by the court order, my court orders, whether you intend to abide by the court orders."), (“ the Court ultimately determines that the Government's actions on that day demonstrate a willful disregard for its Order, sufficient for the Court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt."); J. G. G, (D. D. C. June 04, 2025) ECF No. 148, Memorandum Opinion at p. 3, https://www. courtlistener.com/docket/69741724/jgg-v-trump/?page=2#entry-148 ("This Court, at a swiftly convened hearing on March 15, ordered the Government not to relinquish custody of the men, but that mandate was ignored. Such defiance is currently the subject of the Court's contempt inquiry."); D. V. D., (D. Mass. May 21, 2025) ECF No. 119, Order on Remedy for Violation of Preliminary Injunction at p. 1, courtlistener.com/docket/69775896/dvd-v-us-department-of -homeland-security/#entry-119 (“[t]he Court found that Defendants violated the Court's Preliminary Injunction."); D. V. D., (D. Mass. May 26, 2025) ECF No. 135, Order on Motion for Reconsideration at p. 7, courtlistener.com/docket/69775896/135/dvd-v-us-department-of -homelandsecurity/ ("The court reserved ruling on whether such a violation warranted a finding of contempt."); Abrego Garcia, (D. Md. Apr 16, 2025) ECF No. 86 at p. 69, courtlistener.com/docket/69777799/86/1/abrego-garcia-vnoem/ (“I'm not going to issue a show cause today for contempt findings, but I do find it well within my authority to proceed with expedited discovery specifically to determine whether you are abiding by the court order, my court orders, whether you intend to abide by the court orders.").
9 As an attorney subject to rules of professional conduct, Mr. Reuveni has consulted extensively with ethics counsel, Kathleen Clark and Richard Zitrin, regarding the exercise of his whistleblower rights. Mr. Reuveni's disclosures contained herein are permitted under the DC Bar Rules of Professional Conduct 1. 6 and California Rules of Professional Conduct 8. 5.
10 Rep. Daniel Goldman et al., Letter to Attorney General Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Blanche, April 16, 2025, https://goldman. house. gov/sites/evo-subsites/goldman. house. gov/files/evo-media-document/4. 16. 25_letterfrom-rep -goldman%2C-et-al. %2C -to-ag-bondi-%26-dag-blanche.pdf. 11 Mr. Reuveni was promoted to Senior Litigation Counsel in 2015, to Assistant Director of OIL-DCS in 2017, and has twice served as Acting Deputy Director for OIL, responsible for all of OIL's immigration litigation in U. S. district courts nationwide. From December 2023 to October 2024, Mr. Reuveni first served as counsel and then senior counsel to Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Chris Tenorio. Mr. Reuveni first served as Acting Deputy Director of OIL, District Court Section from November to December 2024. OIL was then restructured, and the District Court Section was merged with the OIL Appellate Section into OIL, General Litigation and Appeals. After this merger, Mr. Reuveni was counsel to Acting Assistant Attorney General Yaakov Roth, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate, and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign for approximately two months until Mr. Reuveni was again promoted and began a role as Acting Deputy Director of OIL, General Litigation and Appeals beginning March 21, 2025.
12 Exhibit A.
13 On file with Government Accountability Project.
14 On file with Government Accountability Project.
15 Exhibits B-D.
16 Initiatives Mr. Reuveni defended under the Biden administration included: Secure the Border and Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rules, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center v. DHS, 24-cv-1702 (D. D. C. 2024); M. A. v. Mayorkas, 23-cv-1843 (D. D. C. 2023), as well as ICE's immigration enforcement priorities, Texas v. United States, 21-cv-16 (S. D. Tex. 2022), the Asylum officer Rule, Arizona v. Garland, 22-cv-1130 (W. D. La. 2024); Texas v. Mayorkas, 22-cv-94 (N. D. Tex. 2024), the Central American Minors program, Texas v. Trump, 22-cv-780 (N. D. Tex. 2025), the CHNV parole program, Texas v. DHS, 23-cv-7 (S. D. Tex. 2024), the termination of the Migrant Protection Protocols, Texas v. Biden, 21-cv-67 (N. D. Tex. 2025), and the Keeping Families Together initiative, Texas v. DHS, 24-cv-306 (E. D. Tex. 2024), among many others.
17 Under the Obama Administration, Mr. Reuveni defended, for example: Washington All. of Tech. Workers v. DHS, 650 F. App'x 13 (D. C. Cir. 2016); G. H. Daniels III & Assocs., Inc. v. Perez, 626 F. App'x 205 (10thCir. 2015); Bayou Lawn & Landscape Servs. v. Sec'y, U. S. Dept of Labor, 621 F. App'x 620, 621 (11th Cir. 2015); Save Jobs USA v. DHS, 210 F. Supp. 3d 1 (D. D. C. 2016), detention and removal policies and expedited removal procedures, Castro v. DHS, 835 F. 3d 422 (3d Cir. 2016), cert denied 137 S. Ct. 1581 (2017), refugee settlement procedures, Bilbro v. Haley, 229 F. Supp. 3d 397 (D. S. C. 2017). Mr. Reuveni also secured an appellate win in a Ninth Circuit case rejecting an entitlement to counsel for minors in removal proceedings in a nation-wide class action. JEF Mv. Holder, 837 F. 3d 1026 (9th Cir. 2016).
18 These initiatives have included: President Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act the weekend of March 15, J. G. G. v. Trump, 25-cv-766 (D. D. C. 2025); the DHS's policies concerning removal of noncitizens to third countries, D. V. D. v. U. S. Dept. of Homeland Security, 25-cv-10676 (D. Mass. 2025); DHS's revocation of legal status programs for hundreds of thousands of migrants from countries like Ukraine, Venezuela, and Haiti, National TPS Alliance v. Noem, 25-cv-01766 (N. D. Cal. 2025); Doe v. Noem, 25-cv-10495 (D. Mass. 2025); the expansion of expedited removal deportation procedures to the entire United Staes, Make the Road New Yorkv. Huffman, 25-cv-190 (D. D. C. 2025); Trump's declaration of an “invasion" at the southern border and Proclamation directing DHS to halt all asylum processing for individuals subject to the Proclamation, Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services v. Noem, 25-cv-306 (D. D. C. 2025); lawsuits challenging the so -called “sanctuary policies” of Illinois and New York, among others, United States v. Illinois, 25-cv-1285 (N. D. III. 2025), United States v. New York, 25-cv-205 (N. D. N. Y. 2025); and most recently a lawsuit challenging the wrongful removal of an Salvadoran national to his home country despite that order not being legally executable. Abrego Garcia v. Noem, 25-cv-951 (D. Md. 2025).
19 This clause is redacted because it is not clear that an exception to the lawyer's duty of confidentiality applies here.
20 This clause is redacted because it is not clear that an exception to the lawyer's duty of confidentiality applies here.
21 Mr. Reuveni left the meeting with this impression because [DELETE] This clause is redacted because it is not clear that an exception to the lawyer's duty of confidentiality applies here.
22 These incidents involved senior political leadership at DOJ and DHS including but not limited to: Counselor to the DAG McHenry, ADAG Perkins, Counselor to the Attorney General Henry Whitaker, Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security James Percival, and Acting General Counsel of DHS Joe Mazzara. McHenry, Perkins, Whitaker, Percival, and Mazzara were frequently listed together in communications, including in communications from the White House, and as explained further below, appeared to hold decision making power between DOJ and DHS.
23 All times listed are in Eastern Time.
24 President Bukele of El Salvador instituted a state of emergency in 2022 in response to gang violence that resulted in high numbers of detentions and deaths in custody. Associated Press, “At least 261 people have died in El Salvador's prisons under anti-gang crackdown, rights group says," Associated Press, July 10, 2024, https://apnews.com/article/bukele-el-sa ... f6faade61f. Reports of formerly detained persons, families of detained persons, and autopsy reports indicate conditions of torture. “Executive Summary: One Year Under State of Exception: A Permanent Measure of Repression and Human Rights Violations,” Cristosal, 2023, https://cristosal. org/EN/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/English-Executive-Summary-One-Year.pdf. See also U. S. State Dep't, 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: El Salvador, https://www. state. gov/reports/2023-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/el-salvador/.
25 J. G. G., (D. D. C. Apr 16, 2025) ECF No. 81, Memorandum & Opinion at p. 5, https://www. courtlistener.com/docket/69741724/81/jgg-v-trump/.
26 J. G. G., (D. D. C. Mar 16, 2025) ECF No. 20, Transcript at pp. 4-5, 11, https://www. courtlistener.com/docket/69741724/20/jgg-v-trump/.
27 Id at pp. 11-13.
28 Id at pp. 13-14.
29 Josh Gerstein, Senior Legal Affairs Reporter, POLITICO, (@joshgerstein. bsky. social), “Looks like one El Salvador-bound flight took of f during a break in the hearing," Bluesky, March 15, 2025, https://bsky. app/profile/joshgerstein. bsky. social/post/31kh4yqxaek2d. and FlightAware, “Flight GXA6145 History, March 15, 2025," https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight ... /KHRL/MHPR (indicating that the plane took of f at 4:45 p. m. CT). Also see later confirmation of flight departures, Michael Kunzelman and Regina Garcia Cano, “A Timeline of the Legal Wrangling and Deportation Flights After Trump Involved the Alien Enemies Act,” AP News, March 21, 2025, https://apnews.com/article/trump-deportation-courtsaclu -venezuelan-gang-timeline-43e1deafd66fc1ed4e934ad108ead529; Reuters, "Flight Data Shows Timeline of Venezuelan Deportation Operation," Reuters, March 17, 2025, https://www. reuters.com/world/americas/flight-datashows-timeline -venezuelan-deportation-operation-2025-03-17/.
30 J. G. G., (D. D. C. Mar 16, 2025) ECF No. 20, Transcript at pp. 15-18, 23, https://www. courtlistener.com/docket/69741724/jgg-v-trump/#entry-20.
31 Id. at pp. 42-43. While there is no time stamp for Judge Boasberg's statements on the transcript, Mr. Reuveni's records indicate this statement occurred at approximately 6:47 p. m.
33 According to human rights groups like Cristosal, prison officials at CECOT have reportedly beaten, tortured, and denied prisoners access to food, water, clothing, and healthcare, allegedly causing at least 368 deaths. William Brangham, Ian Couzens, Shrai Popat, “The Conditions Inside the Infamous El Salvador Prison where Deported Migrants are Held," PBS, April 8, 2025, https://www. pbs. org/newshour/show/the-conditions-inside-the-infamous-elsalvador-prison-where-deported-migrants-are -held. CECOT is described as “a judicial black hole" : the prison exists under a state of exception suspending constitutional rights and prisoners are detained incommunicado. Brangham, "Conditions Inside." (" We have documented systematic physical beatings, torture, intentional denial of access to food, water, clothing, health care. And the combination of both the physical abuse and the denial of basic needs has led to the death of at least 368 people, according to our investigations... The CECOT prison has become sort of the public face of President Bukele's security strategy, which is understood as a state of exception... families and lawyers do not have access to the prisoners. They're entirely cut of f... They're in a judicial black hole."") The 15,000 prisoners are meant to be held “permanent[ly]," and information from CECOT is tightly controlled by the Salvadoran government. Thomas Graham, “ he El Salvador Mega -Prison at the Dark Heart of Trump Immigration Crackdown,” The Guardian, April 30, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/ ... ison-trump (“ [CECOT] is meant for permanent exile, permanent punishment '... This tight control on information coming out of Cecot allows authorities to shape its image.")
34 J. G. G, (D. D. C. Mar 16, 2025) ECF No. 19, Notice to the Court at p. 1, courtlistener.com/docket/69741724/19/jggv-trump/.
35 Reports later indicated that 8 individuals who were on one of the three flights were returned to the United States. Laura Romero, “Venezuelans Deported Last Week Included 8 Women Who Were Returned to US, Court Filings Say," ABC News, March 24, 2025, https://abcnews. go.com/US/venezuelans-deported-week-included-8-womenreturned-us/story ?id= 120111090.
36 J. G. G., (D. D. C Mar 17, 2025), Minute Order, https://www. courtlistener.com/docket/69741724/jgg-vtrump/# minute-entry -424393366.
37 Id.
38 At the March 17, 2025, hearing, the government did provide some responsive information. The attorney for the government stated, "no planes took of f from the United States after the written order came through [...] the two planes that the plaintiffs cite in their filing, the timing of whether it was during the verbal order or the written order does not have any material bearing based on the time lines that they have given,” and agreed with the judge's summary that the third flight carried detained persons, “removable on grounds other than the proclamation and is, therefore, irrelevant." J. G. G., (D. D. C. Mar 17, 2025) ECF No. 25, Transcript at pp. 6-7, https://www. courtlistener.com/docket/69741724/25/jgg-v-trump/.
39 D. V. D., (D. Mass. Mar 28, 2025) ECF No. 34, Temporary Restraining Order at p. 2, https://www. courtlistener.com/docket/69775896/34/dvd-v-us-department-of -homeland-security/.
40 Ensign was teleworking from Arizona as he of ten did and later told Mr. Reuveni that he missed the calls because his phone was silenced.
41 The Department of Justice's implementation of restrictions on communications may be in violation of 5 U.S.C. 2302(b)(13).
42 The Department of Justice's implementation of restrictions on communications may be in violation of 5 U.S.C. 2302(b)(13).
43 U. S. Department of State, “More Foreign Gang Terrorists Deported Out of America,” March 31, 2025, https://www. state. gov/more-foreign-gang-terrorists-deported-out-of-america/.
44 D. V. D., (D. Mass. Mar 28, 2025) ECF No. 34, Temporary Restraining Order at p. 1, https://www. courtlistener.com/docket/69775896/34/dvd-v-us-department-of -homeland-security/.
45 Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_), “BREAKING: 17 illegal aliens with serious criminal histories were removed to El Salvador last night after being held at Guantanamo Bay, WH officials tell Fox News," X, March 31, 2025, 9:47 AM, https://x.com/BillMelugin_/status/1906719922522357963.
46 The Department of Justice's implementation of restrictions on communications may be in violation of 5 U.S.C. 2302 (b)( 13).
47 See Letter from Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben to Clerk of the Supreme Court re: Jean Marc Nken v. Holder, S. Ct. No. 08-681 (April 24, 2012) (“upon request with respect to a specific alien who was removed before prevailing in the courts; the government will investigate and facilitate the alien's return”); U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Facilitating the Return to the United States of Certain Lawfully Removed Aliens (Feb. 24, 2012) 1 (Appendix B) (if an alien "was removed while his or her PFR was pending" and later "prevails before the U. S. Supreme Court or a U. S. court of appeals," ICE “will facilitate the alien's return to the United States”); Lopez-Sorto v. Garland, 103 F. 4th 242, 249-53 (4th Cir. 2024) (discussing ICE policy to facilitate returns).
48 The Department of Justice's implementation of restrictions on communications may be in violation of 5 U.S.C. 2302(b)(13).
49 The government's brief raised three jurisdictional arguments, conceding the merits, arguing that: ( 1) the court lacked habeas jurisdiction because Mr. Abrego Garcia was in Salvadoran custody, (2) Plaintiffs' claims lacked redressability for Article III standing purposes, and (3) a provision of the INA, 8 U.S.C. § 1252(g), stripped the court of jurisdiction to hear Plaintiffs' claims. 50 8 C. F. R. § 1208. 24(f).
Blow to Netanyahu as Iran claims victory amidst ceasefire announcement by Trump Jun 24, 2025 The ceasefire between Iran and Israel has come into effect after Donald Trump have public rebuking to Benjamin Netanyahu. Rifat Jawaid looks at the losses and gains of both the sides to see who won this 12-day military conflict between Israel and Iran.
Transcript
so it appears that Donald Trump's public rebuking of bloodthirsty terrorist Benjamin Netanyahu has forced Israel to do the unthinkable which is to respect the ceasefire deal for a change as things stand Israeli terrorists have not made any transgressions this was after Trump used expletives to express his disapproval to Israel's disdain for peace do you believe that Iran is still committed to peace yeah I do they violated but Israel violated it too are you questioning if Israel as soon as we made the deal they came out and they dropped a load of bombs the likes of which I've never seen before the biggest load that we've seen i'm not happy with Israel you know when when I say "Okay now you have 12 hours you don't go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them so I'm not happy with them i'm not happy with Iran either but I'm really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning because the one rocket that didn't land that was shot perhaps by mistake that didn't land i'm not happy about that you know what we have we basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the they're doing do you understand that he followed it up with a post on his personal social media platform Truth Social he wrote and I quote "Israel is not going to attack Iran all planes will turn around and head home while doing a friendly plane wave to Iran nobody will be hurt the ceasefire is in effect thank you for your attention to this matter." End quote in another post he wrote and I quote "Israel do not drop those bombs if you do it is a major violation bring your pilots home now." End quote war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court Benjamin Netanyahu issued a video message in Hebrew to claim victory i will explore in a bit if there is any truth in his claim but let's first look at what Iranian supreme leader Abdullah Ali Kami had to say on the ceasefire he had earlier tweeted and I quote "Those who know the Iranian people and their history know that the Iranian nation isn't a nation that surrenders." End quote now let's examine the claims made by both these sides and see who has the bragging right in the end when Netanyahu launched his reckless military attack on Iran in violation of international law on the 13th of June he had two explicit and two not so obvious objectives his two explicit objectives were to completely destroy Iran's nuclear program by bombing its nuclear facilities and killing its scientists associated with the program and have a regime change in the Islamic Republic 12 days later there is unanimity that Iran's nuclear program is intact and if anything Netanyahu's reckless action has only made the Iranians resolve to acquire nuclear weapons even stronger the Ayatollah would find it hard to reject the argument in favor of a nuclear bomb as a deterrent in the future remember when I told you first that the US bombers had failed to damage Iranian nuclear facilities particularly the Ford one some raised questions on my assessment you can watch that video here now the entire might of the US media is unanimous in agreeing with my conclusion listen to Republican Congressman Michael McColl the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee even he agrees that the US attack may have delayed the Iranian program just by a few months that's it no significant damage no evil permanent damage and definitely not obliteration as claimed by Trump this is what we say quote "The US military strikes on three of Iran's nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy the core components of the country's nuclear program and likely only set it back by months according to the intelligence assessment it was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency the Pentagon's intelligence arm." Now worth noting Caroline Levit the White House uh spokesperson pushed back against this report said it was uh wrong i I'm interested to know your reaction uh to this considering that President Trump has repeatedly said that the program was quote completely obliterated well it's it's unfortunate that intelligence gets leaked so quickly uh in this administration i understand the president's frustration having said that uh it did cause significant damage and I think that's important in terms of a a time to negotiate a peaceful resolution uh however u and I've been briefed on this plan in the past um it it was never to completely destroy these three facilities but rather cause significant damage but it would it was always known to be a temporary setback where they could then rebuild the centrifuges i think right now the key is to keep applying the pressure the leverage so why do you think the president is saying what he's saying in public if that's the case well because it did cause significant damage and he had 12,000 pounds completely obliterated being dropped it's all a matter of semantics i think the president you know thinking it caught it completely obliterated look it it caused significant damage uh it it was a temporary setback is broadcast on CNN echoing the same we have major breaking news into CNN three sources tell CNN that according to an early US intelligence assessment the US military strikes on three of Iran's nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy the core components of the country's nuclear program and likely only set it back a few months that's right as for Israel's second explicit objective from this aggression Netanyahu had talked about a regime change in Iran even Trump had agreed and shared his intention on social media we all know that the ayatah continues to have a firm grip over the current government netanyahu's other two objectives were to cause massive unrest across Iran and destroy Iran's ballistic missile program this descendant of so-called sha of Iran was given a makeover and Western media outlets were roped in to run his interview non-stop the poor guy really began to hope to return to Iran as a ruler once again it seems his weight has just become endless the reality is that Iranians are ever so united in their hatred for the settler colony despite BBC Persia's attempts to push Netanyahu's agenda in fact Israel's indiscriminate bombing has forced even the Iranian government's diehard detractors to rally behind the Supreme Leader so clearly Netanyahu failed spectacularly in both his stated objectives as for the Iranian ballistic missile program Netanyahu is likely to experience nightmares in the foreseeable future in contrast Iran had only one objective which is to stand up to a bully in the region and take him head on of course Thran had its own shortcomings and limitations with no air defense system no air force and a severely compromised intelligence network Iran had to rely on its long-d distanceance ballistic and hypersonic missiles thran had to judiciously use its stockpile in a way that it could inflict significant damage on Israel without losing much of its arsenal to Israel's much publicized interceptor missiles going by the widespread damages caused in Israel is safe to say that Iran has achieved more than what it originally expected from its missile attacks it hit the Israeli pride by destroying the Mossad headquarters severely damaged the Tel Aviv stock exchange building made Hifa power plant defunct along with Hifa port Hifa refinery Ashot port Ashot power plant and its refinery as Israeli losses began to skyrocket the rogue regime of Netanyahu enforced a ruthless censorship on media people's ability to report objectively on the damages caused by Iranian missiles worse Israelis who are otherwise never tired of calling the stolen land of Palestinians as the promised land were quick to return to their original countries since Bengurian airport was shut they chose to flee through land and sea roots listen to pro Trump broadcaster Theo Van and lawmaker Thomas Massie discussing how first Raza and now this Iran misadventure have become a massive PR disaster for this settler colony i think it's Israel's it's one of the worst PR campaigns I've ever seen in my life if they're even I have doesn't make any sense to me it's like I I just don't It gives their government this extremely evil look to me you know and I think to a lot of people you know well rough numbers there are two million people in Gaza and 50,000 have been killed that's 2 and a half% like they've killed one in 40 people in Gaza if you if you did that in the United States if you did two and a half percent of of 350 million it'd be almost 10 million people dead yeah in the United States you everybody in Gaza is at this point related to somebody who's been killed like at least the first cousin you had killed and then if you say how many have been maimed it's probably three or four times that so everybody in Gaza knows people who've been killed and maimed and we're supporting it right that's the al the also the part that makes it really tough sometimes to just be a person it's like we our tax money is going towards this but I just hope that people in some of these other countries know that you know it's not regular everyday people who would want to do these things you know that it's like governments making these choices and it's uh corporate interests that make these choices i will leave you with this clip of Canada based lawyer journalist and podcast host Dimmitri Lascaris he broadly agrees with what I have said many days ago in one of my videos but at the same time I think it's very clear that Israel is in serious trouble uh Iran has demonstrated that it can penetrate the Ara defenses of Israel not just the Israel but the Americans the British the Jordanians they're all trying to protect Israel from the Iranian missiles they're failing miserably there are credible reports that Israel is running low on air defense missiles so I think it's in real trouble and I think that this is an attempt uh by the Trump administration to bring this to an end before Israel gets completely devastated i don't want to suggest that Iran isn't taking serious hits it is no doubt about it but I think in a war of attrition Israel is going to be the loser that's it for me thank you very much for your support of this platform and our journalism on buy me a coffee.com and Patreon if you do think that our journalism is worth supporting then you too should consider becoming part of it details are there in the description of this video and I'm very very thankful for the outpouring of the love that you have shown on YouTube in response to my videos in the meantime if you haven't subscribed to my channel please do so because that's one of the many ways you can support independent journalism god bless you all
