This week, a public interest group filed an ethics complaint against Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, citing the recent dismissal of a criminal indictment against Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. The ethics complaint is the latest example of the left’s self-perpetuating lawfare machine. Liberal courts and groups first prime allegations against conservatives, which are then eagerly picked up by media and advocacy groups. It is no accident that this hit job on Blanche called upon the New York courts and bar to deliver the coup de grâce.
The New York bar and courts have long been willing allies on lawfare, including abusive charges against President Donald Trump and bar charges against his allies. This case, however, is particularly illustrative of how this system feeds on itself.
At base, the complaint focused on a dubious decision by District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr., who dismissed the indictment against Abrego Garcia. The Clinton appointee found in his 32-page order that the prosecution was vindictive. However, Judge Crenshaw spent relatively little time actually addressing the evidence against Abrego Garcia, who was allegedly an associate of the vicious MS-13 gang in years of human trafficking.
Vindictive prosecution claims are notoriously difficult to prove. (I know because I have tried it as a criminal defense attorney). Under cases such as United States v. Goodwin (1982), you must show that the charges “could not be justified as a proper exercise of prosecutorial discretion.”
In both cases of selective and vindictive prosecutions, the Supreme Court has recognized that, as the court explained in 1962, “the conscious exercise of some selectivity in enforcement is not in itself a federal constitutional violation.”
Moreover, in United States v. Armstrong, a case involving alleged selective prosecution, Chief Justice Rehnquist stressed that there is a ‘’presumption of regularity” in criminal cases.
There was ample reason for Abrego Garcia to have been charged entirely separate from any retaliatory or vindictive purpose. According to his indictment, Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13 and allegedly conspired with six others to “transport and move aliens” illegally into and throughout the country starting in 2016. This included alleged smuggling into the country of known “MS-13 members and associates.”
The government accused him of over 100 such trips in specially outfitted vehicles as well as transporting firearms and narcotics. One witness testified that he had to warn Abrego Garcia against abusing some of the female aliens because it was “bad for business.” (Garcia was also previously charged with spousal abuse).
Judge Crenshaw, however, focused on the decision-making after Abrego Garcia was brought back from a deportation to El Salvador. I was one of those who wrote that he had to be returned in light of prior court orders. However, there were obvious reasons why, after he was returned, prosecutors decided to proceed with charges for his alleged criminal conduct in the United States.
Crenshaw’s decision simply works too hard to find a basis for dismissing the indictment and will now be appealed. In my view, it is likely to be reversed. However, in the interim, the same voices are being heard for the disbarment or punishment of Blanche in New York where a Trump association is treated as far more incriminating than an MS-13 association.
It is fair to note that the Trump Administration has undermined its own position in denouncing lawfare by pursuing past critics, including dubious prosecutions over seashell threats against James Comey. However, that does not have bearing on the merits of the claim against Blanche or the dismissal of the Abrego Garcia indictment.
The rage in New York has certainly not ebbed. There are ample rage addicts to applaud such claims inside the Bar. However, there are indicators that lawfare no longer holds the same cachet it once did.
Take Rep. Dan Goldman, who is fast becoming the Marie Antoinette of New York politics. Goldman was elected a few years ago on his pledge to investigate all things Trump and is still running on a “let-them-eat-impeachments” platform. In the meantime, his opponent, Mamdani-endorsed housing advocate Brad Lander, is running on bread-and-butter issues. Lander is reportedly 20 points ahead in the polls.
There is still hope that the New York courts and bar will restore a degree of apolitical, objective integrity to their ranks. The odds are still much greater that Blanche will stay in the bar than that Abrego Garcia will stay in the country. However, it is telling to see which of the two is being cheered on by the left.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
Leftists are just warming up. Commissar Comey has instructed federal employees to lay low until the present administration ends, when leftists will have the times of their lives prosecuting anyone or anything that does not embrace their multifaceted and inclusive ideas about “our democracy.”
My thinking is once you start this kind of abuse of the law by judges and lawyers, it is impossible to reverse. The legal abuse of Trump is answered by a bit of vengeance on his part. We know what will follow. Outrage and over reach are hard to reverse and feed on themselves. Two opposing factions have screwed the pooch.
And just how did this good guy abuse the young girls that he was transporting? Oh well, it wasn’t your daughter so what’s the big deal? This question is directed toward the bleeding heart judge and all his open border compatriots. Oh well, to get it done what’s a few rapes if you get what you want to accomplish. Oh but can’t you see they’re on the side of the little guy?
Swatting Incident At Justice Barrett’s Home Is Another ‘Hit’ From Schumer’s ‘Whirlwind’
The dangerous ‘swatting’ attack is the most recent in a surge in leftist-led political violence in the Trump era.
Conservative members of the nation’s highest court continue to reap the bitter harvest of political violence that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sowed more than six years ago.
Democrats are scum.
Swatting is dangerous because police are poorly trained.
Isn’t this world nothing but scum? Question is what will survive. Nothing. It’ll be reseeded.
Democrat are scum. That sums up the whole Democratic party and every member of the party.
Having followed American lawfare from abroad since Trump I, it seems to me that the Democrats started it during Trump I with the alleged Russian collusion and then intensified it under Biden, and now the Republicans are trying to outdo what the Democrats had started. And, by golly, they are outdoing the Democrats! Articles like this one strike me like “Seeing the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”
Jonathan, forgive me for placing this information on your blog and right in here on this occasion. The following statements of Fact are terrifying:
Launchers and Missiles: Intelligence estimates indicate Iran retains roughly 50% of its missile launchers and upwards of 70% to 75% of its prewar missile stockpiles
Underground Facilities: A vast network of hardened “missile cities” and deep tunnels allowed Iran to conceal a significant portion of its arsenal. By late spring, Iranian crews had regained access to nearly 90% of their underground storage and launch sites
Drones: Approximately 50% of Iran’s one-way attack drone capabilities survived the conflict, and intelligence reports confirm Tehran has already restarted its drone production lines.
These findings highlight a significant disparity between battlefield assessments and political claims regarding the total decimation of Iran’s military capabilities
The only thing “terrifying” here is that your “battlefield assessments” (read lie by omission) ignore five critical elements of a country’s military.
Iran’s navy: At the bottom of the ocean.
Iran’s air force: Vaporized.
Iran’s radar defense system: Long gone.
Iran’s military research and production facilities: Now rubble.
Two layers of Iran’s tyrannical leadership: Now six feet underground.
That’s funny, you moron. You disproved nothing. Nazzing!
Anonymous, intelligence from where? You must have a direct pipeline to the offices of the Pentagon. Perhaps the intelligence you speak of is written in the Russian language. You did say just a few days ago that you needed to work on your Russian speaking skills and now we know just how you have employed your efforts. How do you say propaganda in Russian?
Listen, you idiot, I’m on your side. Prove I’m wrong.
Nuclear Capability: US intelligence assessments indicate that Iran’s broader ballistic missile program is capable of carrying a nuclear payload
Roughly 90% of Iran’s underground storage and launch facilities are assessed to be partially or fully operational, showing high resilience to previous bombing campaigns.
According to U.S. intelligence reports Iran has regained operational control over 30 out of 33 missile sites along the strategic Strait. Tehran retains approximately 70% of its mobile launch platforms and missile stockpile from before the recent conflict.
Secret new assessments suggest that Iran’s military infrastructure remains substantially intact, allowing the country to actively threaten American naval forces and international commercial shipping in the vital energy transit corridor.
If wok had half a brain, they would celebrate this news with a “Rope-A-Dope” and “I told ya.”
As dumb and as uninformed as wok is, I confess: Iranians may be much smarter than we gave them credit for. I do believe, along with General Jack Keane and other experts, that Iran is using these cease fire negotiation scams to rebuild and reposition itself, quietly and behind the scenes, to prepare for a counter attack as fierce and as surprising as the Battle Of The Bulge. Their nazi role models fooled us back then to the point of widespread terror.
ANON roots for IRAN!!!!
“Secret new assessments . . .”
Since you dubbed them “secret,” I don’t suppose you can provide the sources.
Isn’t that convenient.
But if they are super secret, how’d you get your hands on them?
Guess, you fool. Gosh, r u guys dumb or what.
Wow. Anonymous has access to SECRET new assessments of Iran’s military infrastructure. Everybody, everybody!!
Listen up. Anonymous knows SECRETS directly required from American intelligence agencies!
Somehow Anonymous thinks that you believe that she has access to American top secret information. One thing for sure. The dementia is not top secret.
Yea. You got it. It was secret, u horse’s rear-end. That secret information was discovered. DUH!
U no what’s terrifying? These guys reveal the same intelligence as those leading our country. Oblivious.
Some things are self evident. What’s shocking is García himself didn’t voluntarily leave but has remained and spent millions of dollars to maintain a position that even he must know is wrong. He entered illegally. It would have been cheaper to have given him 100 thousand dollars to relocate.
Abrego García isn’t a good candidate for citizenship. Can we agree? Don’t waste another penny, please.
If Americans have only the right “PEACEABLY TO ASSEMBLE,” why are we seeing criminal and violent riots on television in New Jersey?
Because Mikie Sherrill, the governorette of New Jersey, has no resolve (i.e. testes) to enforce the law and is engaging in rebellion and insurrection against federal and fundamental law and the federal government.
Mikie Sherrill is lying and cheating as was her wont at the Naval Academy; she was so cutesy in her little khaki uniform the brass couldn’t bring themselves to expel her, and they were bolstered in their opinion by the Naval DEI policy and general affirmative action guidelines.
Lawyers Shun Trump’s DOJ
Lawyers exited the government at a faster rate than turnover in the overall work force. All told, the federal government employed about 37,000 civilian lawyers at the end of March, 17 percent fewer than it did at the end of 2024.
The Justice Department, which employs more than a quarter of all government lawyers, saw the largest decline in raw numbers. But other agencies — including the Department of Education, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development — lost an even greater share of attorneys.
It is difficult to assess the scope of the impact the legal departures have had on government functions. In some ways, it has meant fewer internal obstacles for a president who saw career lawyers as an impediment to much of his first-term agenda.
But the deficit of lawyers has also meant that there are fewer of them available to defend the administration’s policies in court, and to enforce laws across the government.
The Justice Department, which saw its attorney ranks shrink by a fifth, has relaxed its hiring requirements for some positions.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/31/us/politics/trump-administration-exodus-of-lawyers.html?smid=nytcore-
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This article emphasizes that lawyers are leery of getting involved with this administration; especially it’s DOJ. They fear Trump’s aversion to rules and procedures could reflect on them. See article below for more on that.
Trump’s DOJ Relaxing Standards
The Justice Department has waived a policy requiring newly hired federal prosecutors to possess at least one year of experience practicing law, as US attorneys’ offices struggle to find qualified replacements following mass departures.
Many offices have previously adopted their own rules mandating at least three years of legal practice, rather than the nationwide baseline threshold of one year. But the reduced standards this month were implemented in federal districts such as Minnesota and Southern Florida that have experienced significant attrition to put new prosecutors to work straight out of law school.
The policy shift comes as federal prosecuting offices across the US have faced challenges meeting court deadlines in immigration proceedings and as judges have increasingly criticized the quality of DOJ attorneys’ legal work.
In January, former DOJ chief of staff Chad Mizelle asked lawyers who support President Donald Trump to message him directly on social media if they’re interested in becoming AUSAs.
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https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/doj-to-allow-hiring-of-us-prosecutors-straight-out-of-law-school
Please cite the Constitution, with emphasis on Article 1, Section 8, for any legal basis or power to tax for or regulate the Departments of Education, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Welfare, Labor, Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, Agriculture, SBA, Transportation, Social Security, Medicare, etc. ad infinitum, ad nauseam.
Turley: I am embarrassed for the depths to which you will go since you went on the MAGA payroll. First of all, mentioning the president who nominated a judge, implying that if the Presdient was a Democrat, this means that the judge is not impartial–an accusation of partisan motivation might be a discipliary offense in and of itself–but it is part and parcel of MAGA propaganda. Secondly, using the MAGA phrase–“lawfare”, which implies abuse of the legal system. If any party is abusing the legal system, it is Trump and the syncophants in the DOJ. WHO on Trump’s hit list HASN’T been investigated and/or charged? We have Comey, James, Schiff, and Trump keeps demanding that Obama be arrested. Now, they’re going after E. Jean Carroll. How many non-MAGA media has Trump gone after? How about grabbing ballots and voter rolls, to try to turn the lie that Trump was cheated in 2020 into the truth? The endless lawfare launched against Abrego Garcia is obviously vindictive and politically-motivated. Saying that he has been “accused” of something is a far cry from proving that he actually engaged in any wrongoing, especially considering the low quality polticially-motivated attorneys working for Trump’s personal law firm–the DOJ. Here’s what “Wikipedia” says about Abrego Garcia:
“… a Salvadoran man living in the United States, was illegally[9] deported on March 15, 2025, by the U.S. government under the Trump administration, which called it “an administrative error”.[10] His case became the most prominent[11] of the hundreds of migrants the U.S. sent to be jailed without trial at the Salvadoran Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT)[12] under the countries’ agreement[13] where the U.S. would pay the Salvadoran government to imprison U.S. deportees there.[14] The administration defended the deportation and accused Abrego Garcia of being a member of MS-13—a US-designated terrorist organization—based on a county police report mentioned during a 2019 immigration court bail proceeding. Abrego Garcia has denied the allegation.[15]
Abrego Garcia grew up in El Salvador, and around 2011, at age 16, he illegally immigrated to the United States to escape gang threats. In 2019, an immigration judge granted him withholding of removal status due to the danger he would face from gang violence if he returned to El Salvador. This status allowed him to live and work legally in the U.S. At the time of his deportation in 2025, he lived in Maryland with his wife and children, who are all American citizens; he was complying with annual US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) check-ins;[16] and he had never been charged with or convicted of a crime in either country. Despite this, he was imprisoned without trial in CECOT.[13][17][18]
After Abrego Garcia was deported, his wife filed suit in Maryland asking that the U.S. government return him to the U.S. The district court judge ordered the government to “facilitate and effectuate” his return. The government appealed, and on April 10, 2025, the Supreme Court stated unanimously[c] that the government must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S.[21] The administration interpreted “facilitate” to mean it was not obligated to seek his release, and it was up to El Salvador whether to release him.[22]
On June 6, 2025, the federal government returned Abrego Garcia to the U.S., and the Department of Justice announced that he had been criminally indicted in Tennessee for “unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain” and conspiracy to do so.[23][24] A federal judge ruled that he would temporarily remain in prison in Tennessee to protect him from deportation,[25] but after further orders from Maryland and Tennessee courts prohibited his immediate deportation,[26] he was released on bail in August and returned to Maryland. ICE officials detained him a few days later,[27] saying they intended to deport him to a third country.[28] He was released again on December 11 upon a federal judge’s order,[29][30] and the judge dismissed the criminal case against him in May 2026.[31]”
Turley decries “rage” in this country, but stirs it up by repeating MAGA doxology, endless attacks on “the Left” and Democrats and any judge who doesn’t rule in favor of Trump. How ironic.
Trump Rules
MAGA
USA USA USA
Deport ALL ILLEGAL Immigrants
WINNING!
I read the column earlier and did not recall Turley mentioning who appointed Judge Copper. I make it a habit to check who nominated the judge before reading the column. Turley seldom if ever mentions it. I am seldom surprised. The majority of judges supporting lawfare are Obama nominees. Many are Biden nominees; some are Clinton’s. I recall one Bush nominee that rendered a decision against the Trump policy. Bottom line is lawfare is rampant throughout the judicial branch. The Dems have done to that branch what the have done to the rest of our foundational institutions.
Dear Anon. from the Darkside, Paid Extremist Charlatan… again, stealing resources from Prof. Turley’s forum, instead of sponsoring your own digital site to post your little TDS tear-jerker BS stories, like this one about the poor lad ‘..escaping gang threats…’ btw.. you forgot to mention How Abrega Garcia was caught red-handed smuggling illegal aliens across State lines, as documented by the LEOs who stopped his little caravan on more than one occasion … but you were no doubt too tired from your zoom meetings with your handlers going over your latest dump on Prof. Turley’s forum to bother digging out such source information..
Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their dispositions to put moral chains upon their own appetites. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere. The less of it there is within, the more of it there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters
― Edmund Burke, A Letter to a Member of the National Assembly
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
– John Adams
“REMIGRATION”
Remigration is a European term defined as the act of a person or group returning to their original country or place of origin, often after a period of living abroad.
I may have the timing off, but I recall the Feds tried to deport Garcia a number of times, only to have a judge say, “Nope, bring him back to the US.” Since he was back in the US, the Feds prosecuted him for a series of crimes. Well, if the judge allowed the deportation, the Feds would not have to prosecute him…he would be out of the US. This judge says it was revenge/reprisal to prosecute because another judge would not allow deportation. Heads I win, tails you lose.
What you have said is nothing more than MAGA fantasy and propaganda.
Garcia has not been prosecuted by the Feds for a series of crimes as you say. Until this recent indictment he had never been prosecuted anywhere for any crimes.
Garcia was never deported by order of any judge.
In fact the exact opposite is true. His original deportation order was an administrative ICE order that did not involve any judges. ICE can issue a deportation order on their own authority.
Garcia appealed the order and in 2019 an immigration judge granted Abrego Garcia a “withholding of removal” order. The judge concluded that he faced severe danger and was highly likely to face persecution or torture by violent street gangs in El Salvador. This legal ruling allowed him to live and work in Maryland under regular Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) supervision. So the only decision rendered by a judge was to allow him to stay. No judge has ever ordered his removal.
When he was deported in 2025, DOJ subsequently admitted in a court filing that this deportation was an “administrative error” that violated the standing 2019 judicial order that legally barred the U.S. government from removing him to El Salvador. This was the reason that SCOTUS unanimously ordered his return to the US.
The current indictment of human smuggling was concocted after he was returned, based on a traffic stop that resulted in nothing more than a warning.
MS-13
Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s illegal entry and illegal status have been corruptly established and perpetuated by an anti-American, pro-illegal alien invader judicial branch.
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AI Overview
Kilmar Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. illegally.He entered the country on foot by wading across the Rio Grande river and crossing the border line. Legal Status: Illegally. He crossed without a visa, passport, or any legal inspection by customs officials. Physical Method: He crossed on foot. He traveled through Mexico to the border city of Reynosa, crossed the river into McAllen, Texas, and walked into the United States.
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AI Overview
Yes, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia (Jennifer Vasquez Sura) filed for civil protective orders and restraining orders against him. The filings, which date back to August 2020 and May 2021, alleged verbal and physical abuse.
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AI Overview
Yes, the Tennessee Highway Patrol pulled over Kilmar Abrego Garcia in December 2022 and released him without detention or arrest after consulting with federal authorities. While state troopers noted nine passengers traveling with no luggage and suspected human trafficking, federal agencies ultimately instructed them not to detain him, and he was sent on his way with an expired license warning.The 2022 Traffic StopThe Stop: State troopers pulled Abrego Garcia over for speeding on Interstate 40 in Tennessee.The Suspicions: Officers found eight passengers inside a vehicle registered to a convicted human smuggler. Nobody in the vehicle carried luggage, and all listed Abrego Garcia’s home address.The Police Response: Body camera footage shows troopers explicitly discussing their suspicions. They contacted federal immigration officials, but those agencies [of the Biden administration] instructed the local police not to detain him. He was released with only a warning.
“8647 by James Comey”
James Comey promoted the assassination, and nothing else, of President Trump to the general public in a vast left-wing conspiracy, understanding that at the time of the incident there was no menu item shortage to be 86ed, no bar patron to be 86ed and thrown out, no customers of “Chumley’s” to be “evacuated or 86ed out the back door,” there were no impeachment proceedings to 86 President Trump, and there was no election in which President Trump might have been opposed, voted against, and 86ed; the sole and only possible method for Comey to have 86ed President Trump was through assassination.
The above comment was written by that rabid Trumper who always sounds absurdly indignant; whipping himself into a frenzy.
Was that an unassailable rebuttal?
May I use your coinage in the future?
Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia!
The entire New York legal system, ]judges, lawyers, bar association, legal education] is beginning to resemble that of a low-end Third World quasi-country. Property and rights of the person appear not to be safe there.
Give me your tired, your dirty , your hungry and poor and we will show you you how to use them to fleece your fellow citizens.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Statue of Liberty faces Europe, specifically France, its home and point of origin.
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AI Overview
The Statue of Liberty faces east-southeast, generally directing its gaze toward Europe (and specifically toward France, the country that gifted the monument) rather than Africa [or any other country or region with no ties or familial relationship to America and Americans].
“There is still hope that the New York courts and bar will restore a degree of apolitical, objective integrity to their ranks. ” This is one of those things that has a nonzero probability of happening but is still almost zero.
“The Lawfare Machine: A Dubious Opinion on Abrego Garcia Leads to a Bar Complaint Against Todd Blanche”
– Professor Turley
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It wasn’t a dubious opinion.
It was a partial, biased, and judicially corrupt crime of high office worthy of impeachment and conviction, and it must end.
Congressmen and senators who do not vote for impeachment and conviction are equally worthy of impeachment and conviction.
Those dissenting congressmen and senators and their political benefactors are direct and mortal enemies of the Constitution and America who must be neutralized.
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“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
– Declaration of Independence, 1776
STFU dips…t
“Ruh-Roh!” I think I hit a nerve!
Deporting illegal, criminal aliens is not an abuse or usurpation, thus not deserving of a call to “throw off government (Trump admin). Now Biden’s admin, they are so deserving as they persecuted those who did not agree with them. I think the election of 2024 served that purpose.
So true.
It is the “NOT deporting ALL illegal aliens” that constitutes abuse or usurpation, and it is much more; it is the complete unconstitutionality and insanity of the United States of America in every aspect and facet.
Start with Zero Madmani, who is irrefutably a direct and mortal enemy of the American thesis of freedom and self-reliance, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, actual Americans, and America, and then move westward in a giant sweeping motion until the slate is clean again—until the United States is placed squarely back on the Constitution and is American again.
He had a legal order to remain in the country. He has not been “illegal” in any way.
So it is legal to illegally enter the United States of America?
Good to know, Mr. Darrow.
Next you’ll inform us that secession is prohibited because secession is not prohibited, right, Justice Chase?