Blatantly unlawfulā: Judge blocks DOJ subpoenas aimed at Tim Walz
Judge Patrick Schiltz said the grand jury subpoenas were āno doubtā aimed at punishing Walz for refusing to aid immigration crackdown.
A federal judge has thrown out Justice Department grand jury subpoenas aimed at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his allies, calling them an abusive and retaliatory process to punish Walz based on his refusal to assist President Donald Trumpās immigration crackdown.
In a blistering ruling, U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz said there was āno doubtā that the subpoenas were issued to damage Walz ā part of what he said was a pattern of Trump administration efforts to use criminal process to punish the presidentās adversaries.
Judge Patrick Schiltz said the grand jury subpoenas were āno doubtā aimed at punishing Walz for refusing to aid immigration crackdown.
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If Democrats take control of either chamber of Congress in the 2026 midterms, they gain subpoena power over Trump and can conduct investigations into his graft and corruption.
Now is a good time to look into helping the Democratic candidates in your district or state. Volunteers are especially needed to do one-to-one outreach to voters.
Voters are more likely to listen to their neighbors than to ads on TV or social media. Personal interaction is the only practical way to bypass broligarch domination of the communications industry. Pounding the pavement in your neighborhood will yield far more votes than pounding your keyboard.
Trump ally to begin serving four-month sentence for contempt of Congress
Maya Yang and Alice Herman at The Guardian:
Steve Bannon turned himself in to prison on Monday after the supreme court rejected his last-minute appeal to avoid prison time for defying multiple subpoenas surrounding the Houseās January 6 insurrection investigation.
He live-streamed his drive to FCI Danbury, the minimum-security prison in Connecticut where he will serve his four-month sentence, on his War Room podcast and show on Rumble.
āI have no regrets and Iām proud of what I did,ā Bannon, a longtime ally ofĀ Donald Trump, told a gaggle of press and supporters before turning himself into prison. āThe J6 committee was completely illegitimate.ā
At the press conference, Bannon, who was joined by the far-right Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, appeared gleeful. He taunted the media outlets in attendance, urged supporters to take up the āfightā and gloated about the supreme courtās ruling that presidents have āabsoluteā immunity for official acts.
Federal prosecutors say BannonĀ believedĀ that he was āabove the lawā when he refused a deposition with the January 6 House select committee, in addition to refusing to turn over documents on his efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election results.
War Room host Stephen Bannon turns himself into FCI Danbury in Connecticut to serve his 4-month prison sentence for defying multiple subpoenas surrounding the Houseās January 6 insurrection investigation.
As for his War Room show that airs on Real Americaās Voice and streamed on Rumble, rotating guest hosts such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Monica Crowley, and Mike Davis will fill in until Bannon returns from prison.
See Also:
MMFA: Where Steve Bannon leaves us
Time: War Room host Steve Bannon prepares for prison
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Justice Dept. subpoenas Ariz., Mich., Wis. officials for Trump communications
Special counsel Jack Smith has sent grand-jury subpoenas to local officials in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin ā three states that were central to former president Donald Trumpās failed plan to stay in power following the 2020 election ā seeking any and all communications with Trump, his campaign and a long list of aides and allies.
The requests for records arrived in Dane County, Wis.; Maricopa County, Ariz.; and Wayne County, Mich., late last week, and in Milwaukee on Monday, officials said. They are among the first known subpoenas issued since Smith was named last month by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee the Jan. 6 Capitol attack case as well as the criminal probe of Trumpās possible mishandling of classified documents at his Florida home.
The subpoenas, at least three of which are dated Nov. 22, indicates that the Justice Department is extending its examination of the circumstances leading up to the Capitol attack to include local election officials and their potential interactions with the former president and his representatives. The virtually identical requests to Arizona and Wisconsin name Trump individually, in addition to employees, agents and attorneys for his campaign. Details of the Michigan subpoena, confirmed by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, were not immediately available.
āIām happy to participate in this process,ā said George Christenson, the Milwaukee clerk, who confirmed the subpoena in a telephone interview Tuesday and provided a copy to The Washington Post.
The subpoena asks for communication with Trump and his campaign, including several key allies.
Christenson said he is not aware of any communications with his office that have not already been made public. But he speculated that federal investigators are hunting for new details about the Trump campaignās efforts to convene illegitimate electors in key battleground states that Joe Biden narrowly won.
Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell confirmed receiving a similar subpoena.
āI am not aware of any significant communications that have not already been made public,ā said McDonell, whose county encompasses Madison, the state capital.
Fields Moseley, a spokesman for Maricopa County, said, āWe have received a subpoena and will comply.ā
Officials in Wayne County ā home of Detroit ā did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.
The Justice Departmentās Mar-a-Lago criminal investigation began this spring, after months of disagreement between Trump and the National Archives and Records Administration over boxes of documents that followed Trump from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida residence and private club.
Court papers say more than 300 documents marked classified were eventually recovered from Trumpās home, more than 100 of them taken during an Aug. 8 FBI search of the property. Some contained extremely sensitive government secrets.
The longer-running Jan. 6 case, meanwhile, has moved beyond the pool of people who directly took part in the bloody riot at the U.S. Capitol. For months, prosecutors have been scrutinizing the fundraising, organizing, and apocalyptic rhetoric that preceded that violent assault on the seat of government. The inquiry has also looked at failed efforts to authorize alternate slates of electors so Trump could be named the winner of the 2020 election.
Previous subpoenas, in Arizona and other battleground states targeted by Trump, have been issued to key Republican players seen as allies in his pressure campaign to reverse the results of the 2020 election. Maricopa County, the sprawling Arizona jurisdiction that is home to Phoenix and more than half the stateās voters, was among several localities on the receiving end of that pressure.
The Arizona subpoena was addressed to Maricopa Countyās elections department, while the Wisconsin versions were addressed to the Milwaukee and Dane clerks. All seek communications from June 1, 2020, through Jan. 20, 2021.
The requested communications include those with Trumpās campaign manager, Bill Stepien, and other advisers, such as Boris Epshteyn. Attorneys identified include Trump campaign lawyers, such as Justin Clark and Matthew Morgan, as well as those serving in other capacities, such as John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Cleta Mitchell.
Those three subpoenas, while issued by Smith, were also signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Burke.
Trump and key allies sought to avert his narrow loss in six battleground states through a lengthy pressure campaign. In Maricopa County, the pressure focused heavily on urging the GOP-controlled governing board to not certify the results.
Then-Supervisor Steve Chucri, a Republican, has said he met with Giuliani at the state Capitol in mid-to-late November 2020. In December, Giuliani tried to reach Republican supervisors Bill Gates, Jack Sellers and Clint Hickman by phone. Days later, Trump himself twice tried to speak to Hickman, then chair of the governing board.
The calls came on Dec. 31, 2020, as Hickman was at dinner with his wife and friends and again on Jan. 3, 2021, the same day The Post broke news of Trumpās conversation with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Trump had urged the Georgia election director to āfindā enough votes to reverse his loss there.
Hickman, who had been told by Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward to expect outreach by Trump, let both calls go to voice mail. āHello, sir. This is the White House operator I was calling to let you know that the Presidentās available to take your call if youāre free,ā one voice mail said. āIf you could please give us a call back, sir, thatād be great. You have a good evening.ā
After the county board ultimately certified the election results, making them formal, Trump and his allies sought to discredit them by favoring what would become a months-long inspection of ballots and voting equipment ordered by the GOP-led state Senate. That haphazard review in 2021 affirmed Trumpās loss.
Some of the figures named in the subpoena were either involved in, or encouraged, that review.
