Karl asked the senator what Abrego Garcia shared during their meeting.
“He told me about the trauma he had been experiencing, both in terms of the abduction and the fact that he was originally sent to CECOT, which is this notorious prison,” Van Hollen said. “He specifically mentioned his 5-year-old boy who has autism, because that boy had been in the car with him when U.S. agents had stopped them and handcuffed him and then taken him away.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., on Sunday accused President Donald Trump of sending the U.S. into a constitutional crisis, saying members of the Trump administration “are very much flouting the courts as we speak.”
Asked directly on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” whether the U.S. is currently in a constitutional crisis, Van Hollen said, “Yes, we are.”
Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing — But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!
Van Hollen has been extremely vocal in advocating for his release, promising Monday to travel to El Salvador to “check on” his condition and “discuss his release” after Bukele rebuffed attempts to set up a meeting during his visit to Washington.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote in a 46-page decision that the government‘s actions on March 15 „demonstrate a willful disregard“ for his order barring the government from transferring certain migrants into Salvadoran custody under the wartime Alien Enemies Act.
Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen from Maryland wrote to El Salvadoran diplomats to “urgently request” meeting with the country’s president, Nayib Bukele, to discuss the potential return of a former Maryland resident, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to the Central American nation by the Trump administration.
“I do need evidence in this regard because to date what the record shows is nothing has been done,” US District Judge Paula Xinis said in a tense hearing Tuesday afternoon in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Xinis said she was unsatisfied with the sworn statements she’s been getting each day from Trump administration officials detailing what the government has been doing to carry out her directive.
She wants discovery, she told a Justice Department attorney, “to determine whether you are abiding by the court order. My court orders.”
(April 10, 2025)
Sudan has told the United Nations’ top court that the United Arab Emirates is breaching the genocide convention by arming and funding the rebel paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces
A State Department official said in a two-page court filing that the man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who had been living in Maryland before he was deported, was “alive and secure” in a terrorism confinement center in El Salvador.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele is an ally of President Donald Trump and has agreed to accept deportees from the United States.
Bukele is set to meet with Trump in Washington on Monday.
The Trump administration has said that Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador on March 15 because of an “administrative error.”
Srulik Einhorn allegedly echoed Qatari talking points to reporters and leaked classified information to Bild, Israel‘s deputy AG said. He also failed to disclose business ties to Qatar when working for government ministries, raising suspicions that there may have been a breach of trust
Defence minister‘s threats to annex Gaza distract from legislative coup d‘état at home
Document published by justice minister, hours after government voted to oust Shin Bet chief, calls Gali Baharav-Miara ‘long arm of the opposition,’ says she runs a tyrannical authority
srael‘s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said earlier Friday that the prime minister was not allowed to appoint a new internal security agency chief after the government decided to sack Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.
„According to the decision of the Supreme Court, it is prohibited to take any action that harms the position of the head of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar,“ she said in a message to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu published by a spokesperson. „It is prohibited to appoint a new head of Shin Bet, and interviews for the position should not be held.“
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweets, “There will be no civil war!” hours after Israel’s most revered jurist, former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak, expressed his fear that the country is heading in that direction due to the government’s recent efforts to fire the head of the Shin Bet security agency and the attorney general.
“The State of Israel is a country of law and according to the law, the Israeli government decides who will be the head of the Shin Bet,” Netanyahu tweets, before adding, “Shabbat Shalom.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir responds to the High Court’s temporary injunction against the dismissal of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar with a post on X reading: “Judicial overhaul now!”
Ben Gvir was reinstated to his post earlier this week when his Otzma Yehudit party returned to the government following Israel’s resumed offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The order will remain in place until the court can hear the petitions that have been filed against his dismissal.
It says it will hear the petitions no later than April 8.
The government voted overnight to remove Bar from his position by April 10 at the latest.
Alawieh, a Rhode Island transplant doctor and assistant professor at Brown University, was detained on Thursday in Boston after visiting family in Lebanon, her cousin claimed in a lawsuit challenging Alawieh‘s detention.
Sorokin ordered on Friday that Alawieh be kept in the U.S. and brought to a court hearing on Monday. He wrote Monday morning that „Dr. Alawieh is now in Lebanon.“
(…)
On Sunday, Sorokin ordered the government to explain before the now-canceled Monday hearing why Alawieh was removed. Lawyers for her family claimed the government „willfully“ disobeyed his order by sending Alawieh outside the U.S.
(March 15, 2025)
Earlier Saturday, the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which gives the president tremendous authority to target and remove undocumented immigrants, to speed up the deportations of migrants. The law is designed to be invoked if the US is at war with another country, or a foreign nation has invaded the US or threatened to do so.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
(January 31, 2025)
Specifically, Amash took issue with Patel‘s admission to senators that he opposes a potential requirement to obtain a warrant to engage in surveillance under the controversial Section 702 program of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is used to gather intelligence on foreign adversaries, saying it “is just not comported with the requirement to protect American citizenry.”
„Kash Patel’s position that a warrant should not be required to search the communications of Americans under FISA 702 is disqualifying,“ said Amash. „The Constitution of the United States is the law. It requires a warrant. Anyone who willfully ignores the Constitution should not head the FBI.“
And in another message meant to assuage senators, Patel said he didn’t find it feasible to require a warrant for intelligence agencies to surveil U.S. citizens suspected to be involved in national security matters, referring to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
„Having a warrant requirement to go through that information in real time is just not comported with the requirement to protect American citizens,“ Patel said. „It’s almost impossible to make that function and serve the national, no-fail mission.“
„Get a warrant“ had become a rallying cry of right-wing conservatives worried about the privacy of U.S. citizens, and almost derailed the reauthorization of the surveillance program entirely.
(January 29, 2025)
Prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi opened investigations against Giorgia Meloni for allegedly aiding and abetting Almasri. This occurred following a lawsuit issued by Italian lawyer Luigi Li Gotti. Li Gotti stated he filed the lawsuit out of dignity. He claims that repatriation would allow Almasri to return to Libya and continue committing crimes for which he is accused.
Other ministers are currently under investigation. The prosecutor’s office in Rome sent notices to the Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio, Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi, and Undersecretary of State Alfredo Mantovano.
(January 1, 2025)
There was no immediate comment from the Justice Ministry.
Al-Masri’s arrest had posed a dilema for Italy, because it has close ties to the internationally recognized government in Tripoli as well as energy interests in the country.
In the weeks since Donald Trump returned to office, Democrats and legal scholars have warned that he’s provoking a constitutional crisis by trying to expand his power and ignore laws that stand in his way.
On Wednesday, the White House had a new response to that. It’s not the president who is causing the problem, said press secretary Karoline Leavitt, it’s the judges who are blocking some of his agenda by saying it’s illegal.
(February 10, 2025)
In the last 21 days, more than a dozen lawsuits have been filed alleging that the administration’s actions violate the rule of law and are contrary to the Constitution or laws of the United States. The list grows longer every day.
These actions have forced affected parties to seek relief in the courts, which stand as a bulwark against these violations. We support our courts who are treating these cases with the urgency they require. Americans know there is a right way and a wrong way to proceed. What is being done is not the right way to pursue the change that is sought in our system of government.
These actions do not make America stronger. They make us weaker.
(February 10, 2025)
Tracking the Trump administration’s failure to follow the judiciary’s orders.
(February 10, 2025)
There is no universally accepted definition of a constitutional crisis, but legal scholars agree about some of its characteristics. It is generally the product of presidential defiance of laws and judicial rulings. It is not binary: It is a slope, not a switch. It can be cumulative, and once one starts, it can get much worse.
The ICC condemns the issuance by the US of an Executive Order seeking to impose sanctions on its officials and harm its independent and impartial judicial work. The Court stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world, in all Situations before it. We call on our 125 States Parties, civil society and all nations of the world to stand united for justice and fundamental human rights.
“At an historic moment when we are witnessing a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and the global rule of law coming under threat from multiple fronts, institutions like the Court are needed more than ever to advance human rights protections, prevent future atrocities and secure justice for victims. (…)
“Governments around the world and regional organizations must do everything in their power to mitigate and block the effect of President Trump’s sanctions. Through collective and concerted actions, ICC member states can protect the Court and its staff. Urgent action is needed, like never before.”
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday authorized economic and travel sanctions targeting people who work on International Criminal Court investigations of U.S. citizens or U.S. allies such as Israel, repeating action he took during his first term.
Before his departure, the president released a three-minute recorded video message saying he was cooperating only to prevent bloodshed between the secret service and law enforcement.
[Sound bite: President Yoon Suk Yeol (Korean-English)]
“I have agreed to appear before the CIO, despite the investigation being illegal, to prevent bloodshed.
The embattled president had been holed up in his fortified residence for weeks surrounded by his Presidential Security Service team, evading arrest as he faces several probes and an impeachment trial.
The Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which is working with police and the defense ministry to investigate Yoon, first attempted to detain him earlier this month, but it failed after an hours-long showdown in which soldiers and members of the presidential security detail blocked some 80 police and investigators from approaching the presidential compound.
Südkoreas Ermittlungsbehörden haben am Mittwoch Präsident Yoon Suk Yeol verhaftet.
Er steht im Zusammenhang mit der Ausrufung des Kriegsrechts am 3. Dezember im Verdacht des Hochverrats.
The acting president’s remarks come after a second warrant was issued last Tuesday, allowing the president to be detained for questioning about the martial law incident for up to 48 hours.
The letters were sent by the CIO two weeks after it obtained warrants to search the presidential residence in Yongsan District, central Seoul, and take Yoon into custody over his short-lived imposition of martial law on Dec. 3.
A CIO-led attempt to execute the warrant on Jan. 3 failed in the face of resistance from a combined force of 200 PSS and military personnel who blocked investigators and police from gaining access to the presidential residence.
Nach dem Verfassungsgerichtsgesetz soll im Falle der Abwesenheit des Angeklagten ein neuer Termin festgelegt werden. Sollte er auch den neuen Termin versäumen, kann die Verhandlung ohne ihn laufen.
(January 8, 2025)
Eighteen People Power Party (PPP) lawmakers who broke through police barricades to vote in favor of repealing martial law have since been labeled traitors. So too have the 12 alleged lawmakers who supported President Yoon‘s impeachment. Recently, acting President Choi Sang-mok faced similar accusations after appointing two Constitutional Court justices. But this raises a critical question: Who is betraying whom?
Without the actions of those 18 lawmakers, the PPP would remain tarnished by its complicity in shielding martial law. Without Choi’s decision, the impeachment trial could have descended into a legal quagmire, leaving the nation paralyzed.
The Ministry of National Defense reportedly conveyed to the Presidential Security Service (PSS) on Jan. 3 that deploying the 55th Guard Corps to block the arrest was inappropriate. On Thursday, the PSS reportedly responded that it „understood“ the ministry’s position.
A ministry official said soldiers from the 55th Guard Corps would not be deployed again to obstruct similar attempts to execute the president’s arrest warrant. However, the ministry clarified that it was not considering withdrawing the battalion from its assignment under the PSS.