The Dictatorship
DOJ paid more than $1 million settlement to anti-abortion protester — after a federal judge tossed his suit
The Trump Justice Department paid a $1.1 million settlement to an anti-abortion protester, even after a George W. Bush-appointed judge dismissed the protester’s lawsuit against the government with prejudice, according to a former DOJ prosecutor and the protester’s lawyer.
Two former federal government officials who spoke to MS NOW characterized the settlement paid to Mark Houck, a longtime anti-abortion activist, as the latest example of the Trump DOJ making concessions to previously prosecuted abortion opponents under the guise of protecting their religious freedom.
Houck is a 52-year-old Pennsylvania resident and the founder of The King’s Men, described as a donation-based, anti-pornography and anti-abortion Catholic meeting group for men. He unsuccessfully ran as a Republican in 2024 to represent Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional district.
Following Houck’s September 2022 arrest for allegedly shoving a 72-year-old clinic escort at a Philadelphia Planned Parenthood — he was later acquitted of those charges at trial — his case became a rallying cry for the GOP and abortion rights opponents, who alleged he was targeted by overzealous prosecutors in Biden’s DOJ for his religious beliefs.
Houck’s case is discussed in a more-than-800-page report the DOJ released on Tuesday that purports to expose “the Biden administration’s weaponization” of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a 1994 law that prohibits obstructing access to reproductive health clinics. The report frames Houck’s case as an example of the Biden DOJ using “aggressive tactics” against an abortion opponent, and says some supervisors did not think the FACE Act was a proper charge for the circumstances. MS NOW first reported on the existence of the DOJ report last week, after reviewing a draft copy.
The report says the government “recently reached a settlement agreement with Houck,” but does not provide further details or specify the amount. The report also does not mention that a federal judge dismissed Houck’s lawsuit against the government and that it was pending appeal at the time of the settlement.
Houck’s lawyer, Edward Greim, told CBS News the DOJ agreed to the $1.1 million settlement in February, prior to the Houcks’ move to withdraw their appeal. Houck declined an interview request from MS NOW and Greim, his lawyer, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Abortion opponents celebrated news of the settlement, while two former federal officials characterized it to MS NOW as yet another example of the Trump administration kowtowing to abortion opponents who the Biden administration prosecuted under the FACE Act. The Trump administration has alleged the FACE Act has historically been weaponized against abortion opponents and has pledged to roll back those prosecutions — even as prosecutors employ a lesser-used provision of the law to try to prosecute former BLN journalist Don Lemon and protesters for entering a church in Minneapolis.
A former DOJ prosecutor with knowledge of Houck’s case told MS NOW they see the settlement as “rewarding a MAGA supporter,” and a former federal law enforcement official called it “concerning” given that Houck’s prior lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, a national legal organization that supports abortion rights, said in a statement provided to MS NOW that Houck’s settlement “should embarrass every person who touched it,” adding that it “represents an abuse of the rule of law.”
In response to questions, a Justice Department spokesperson referred MS NOW to a statement from Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stating Trump’s DOJ “will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice.”
“No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs,” Blanche added. “The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”
Houck was indicted in September 2022 on charges of violating the FACE Act for allegedly assaulting a volunteer escort at a Planned Parenthood in October 2021. According to the government’s indictment, Houck twice shoved the escort to the ground, including while the escort was accompanying two patients leaving the clinic.
Houck’s attorneys denied the government’s account, alleging the incident occurred outside an anti-abortion pregnancy resource center across the street from a Planned Parenthood, and arguing that the DOJ was engaging in “viewpoint discrimination” by seeking to prosecute Houck for his anti-abortion beliefs. They also argued that the escort — not Houck — was the aggressor, and that Houck only shoved the escort after the escort “approached and verbally confronted” Houck and his 12-year-old son.
Houck was acquitted of the charges at a five-day jury trial in January 2023. Less than a year later, Houck filed a civil lawsuit alleging “a faulty and malicious investigation” and excessive force against the federal government and Pennsylvania state and local police officers, involved in his September 2022 arrest, when armed federal and state police arrested him at his home while his wife and 7 children were present.
Houck and his wife alleged in the lawsuit that the stress of the arrest led to three miscarriages for the couple and, ultimately, an infertility diagnosis, along with emotional distress for their children.
A former federal law enforcement official told MS NOW that Houck’s arrest “was appropriate and done in accordance with FBI procedures.”
Last March, Judge Paul Diamond of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ordered Houck’s suit dismissed with prejudice — meaning it cannot be refiled — alleging he had failed to state a plausible claim.
Diamond wrote in his 20-page order that Houck’s complaint “generates considerably more heat than light,” adding that his “indignation is not a substitute for plausibility, however.”
Houck subsequently filed a notice of appeal, before moving to withdraw it in February, records show.
The ex-DOJ prosecutor, who handled multiple FACE Act cases, told MS NOW they believe the account of Houck’s case included in the newly-released “weaponization” report “was not representative of the government, it was representative of the defense.” The source added that the prosecutors involved in Houck’s case were not consulted as the report was prepared, and that at least 1 of the 3 prosecutors received an order from Blanche earlier this year to hand over records related to the case. The former DOJ prosecutor said that request seemed “out of the ordinary, because the civil case had been dismissed.”
“I couldn’t believe this was still being batted around,” they added.
The source also said Sanjay Patel — who prosecuted many FACE Act cases against people later pardoned by President Donald Trump — was told as he was being escorted from the building last month to be placed on administrative leave that he was the reason Houck received the settlement.
Patel was one of four prosecutors fired on Monday in preparation of the release of the “weaponization report,” MS NOW reported. He has not responded to repeated requests for comment from MS NOW.
The ex-DOJ prosecutor told MS NOW they disagree with the allegations included in the “weaponization” report that Houck, and other abortion opponents, were targeted due to their beliefs. The prosecutor added that they are Catholic, and that their own beliefs “never factored into my prosecutorial activities.”
“In any case that I’ve handled,” the source said, “I evaluate the facts of the case based on the law.”
Carol Leonnig contributed to this reporting
Julianne McShane is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW who also covers the politics of abortion and reproductive rights. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at jmcshane.19 or follow her on X or Bluesky.
The Dictatorship
Trump says US will blockade Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and charge ships for safe passage
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. launched strikes on Iran early Tuesday morning, hours after President Donald Trump said Washington is “reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump separately suggested the United States will charge other ships for safe passage, upending hundreds of years of American policy supporting freedom of navigation across the globe.
Iran responded with attacks targeting Bahrain, Jordan and two tankers associated with the United Arab Emirates traveling through the strait, killing one mariner and wounding eight others. The Emirates threatened to retaliate against Iran, potentially drawing the nation home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai back into fighting with Tehran.
The attacks come as Iran and the U.S. both vie for control of the strait through which a fifth of all traded crude oil and natural gas once passed in peacetime. The price of benchmark Brent crude oil rose to a one-month high of over $84 in trading early Tuesday, still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the war but threatening to make costs everywhere higher.
Trump insists strait will be open
The U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck areas around Abu Musa, Bandar Abbas, Bushehr, Chahbahar, Jask and Konarak, targeting Iranian “coastal defense systems, missile and drone sites and maritime capabilities.” Iran acknowledged strikes around those areas, but provided no immediate casualty or damage assessments.
“These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the U.S. military said.
Moments after the military announced the new strikes, Trump called it “another major attack.”
“We’re hitting them very hard. And it’ll continue, and we’ll see what happens,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “We’re knocking out all of their offensive capability and we’re controlling the straits. We’re putting the blockade back.”
Trump also provided new details on his administration doing an about-face and suggesting it will charge tolls for ships going through the strait, after previously suggesting that it wouldn’t.
“We’re protecting a very rich portion of the world,” he said. “We’re spending money. And so, what we’ve done is, we are going to be reimbursed for protection.”
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It’s a change in U.S. policy that, until now, said the strait should remain open to all without tolls — as it was before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. Any attempt by the U.S. or Iran to charge fees would violate global norms on freedom of navigation and raise tensions, likely causing further economic disruption far beyond the region.
The U.S. Navy has fought for freedom of navigation on the seas since the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812.
Attacks resume across the Mideast
The United Arab Emirates’ Defense Ministry said early Tuesday that Iran attacked two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, killing one mariner and wounding eight others.
The Emirati Defense Ministry said Iran launched two cruise missiles at the tankers Mombasa and Al Bahiyah.
The attacks set both tankers ablaze, though the fires were extinguished.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed the attack on the tankers, saying the vessels “ignored repeated warnings.”
“They chose to pass through a minefield and were subsequently targeted and disabled,” the Guard said.
Bahrain also came under renewed attack early Tuesday morning as Iran retaliated over the latest round of U.S. airstrikes. Bahrain sounded its missile alert sirens twice, urging the public to seek shelter. There was no word on any damage or casualties from the attack.
The Emirati Defense Ministry said the attack on the tankers killed one Indian national and wounded six Indians and two Ukrainians.
“The UAE reserves its full right to respond to this escalation and to take all necessary measures to protect its territory, its citizens and residents,” the Defense Ministry added.
The Emirates used similar language before launching attacks against Iran during the war. Fighter jets could be heard overheard Tuesday morning in Dubai.
The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the U.S. Consulate in Dubai alerted Americans early Tuesday that consular appointments had been canceled through Wednesday “due to the regional security situation.”
Jordan’s military said it intercepted four missiles from Iran, according to a statement carried by the kingdom’s state-run Petra news agency. Jordan hosts U.S. forces and has come under attack by Tehran in recent days.
Trump says Iran failed a test
Earlier Monday, Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that the agreement reached last month was “built to test” Iran, adding that “when you’re dealing with sleazebags (agreements) don’t mean much.”
“They didn’t honor the test,” the president said.
Iran asserts it has the right to manage traffic through the strait and potentially charge fees in accordance with the interim peace deal. The U.S. has disputed that.
The American military and the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization have tried to establish a route through the strait along the coast of Oman that would be outside of Iranian control. Iran has attacked ships using that route, saying the U.S. is violating the interim peace deal. The U.S. has attacked Iran in response, drawing Iranian attacks on U.S.-allied Arab states.
Exchanges of fire in recent days had already cast further doubt on the interim peace deal. Washington had lifted a blockade it imposed in mid-April as part of that deal, which also called for the strait to be fully reopened.
“We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE,” Trump said on social media. “All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait.”
The president said the U.S. would be “reimbursed” by 20% of the value of cargo to help cover “any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security.”
The U.S. military said it will resume its blockade of Iranian ports at midnight local Wednesday in Dubai.
___
Boak, Weissert and Toropin reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Mae Anderson in New York, Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Stella Martany in Irbil, Iraq, contributed to this report.
Writer E. Jean Carroll finally has the $5 million — plus interest — that a jury ordered President Donald Trump to pay her in damages in one of her two cases against him, after Trump fought the payout for years.
Court records posted Tuesday show a transfer of $5,625,005.48 to Carroll’s legal team took place the day before.
Carroll received the money more than three years after a jury found that the president was liable for sexually abusing her in a Manhattan department store in 1996, and then for defaming her on social media. Trump has repeatedly appealed the judgment to no avail — including petitioning the Supreme Court multiple times — and last week launched a last-ditch attempt to block her from getting the money.
Last Tuesday, his legal team filed a briefrequesting that the disbursement of the damages be halted, pointing to his pending request for the Supreme Court to reconsider its refusal to hear his appeal.
A federal judge nevertheless ordered Wednesday that Carroll be paid, prompting a swift appeal from Trump and a motion for an emergency administrative stay on the disbursement of the funds.
That request was denied.
“Three years ago, a unanimous nine-person jury found President Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming E. Jean Carroll. Today, we are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment the jury awarded her as a result of that verdict,” said Carroll’s lead attorney, Roberta Kaplan.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
Lisa Rubin is MS NOW’s senior legal reporter and a former litigator.
To the extent that the United States and Iran had a ceasefire deal in place to end the deadly, destabilizing war, that agreement has unraveled. Donald Trump has declared the ceasefire “over”; both countries have renewed their military strikes; and the American president is positioning the U.S. as a mercenary forcewith plans to charge tolls to pay for guarding the Strait of Hormuz.
As for the deal the Trump administration negotiated with Iran, formally known as a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, conservative host Hugh Hewitt asked the president whether the framework was “built to fall apart.” The Republican responded with an answer he hadn’t shared previously.
“It was built to test. It was a test,” Trump replied. “We didn’t know. It didn’t, look, memorandum of understanding, when you’re dealing with sleazebags, don’t mean much. And they don’t mean much when you’re dealing with honorable people, too, because it’s memorandum of understanding. It doesn’t mean much.”
The president went on to say that Iran “didn’t honor the test,” before suggesting that he had predicted from the outset that officials in Tehran would cause the agreement to collapse through noncompliance. “I said, ‘Watch, I guarantee. Watch.’ And they never, they never followed it.”
The apparent point of the on-air comments wasn’t merely to blame Iran for the unravelling deal, it was also to convey the suggestion that Trump knew all along Iran would cause the framework to collapse.
The trouble is, very recent history proves otherwise.
It was exactly one month ago when the president published a statement to his social media platform, announcing, “The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete. Congratulations to all!” About an hour later, seemingly eager to pat himself on the back, he added“This Great Deal will bring Peace and Security to the whole Region. Many presidents have tried to make Peace with Iran, and all have failed before me. The Leaders of the Region have, for the first time, found a President who can help them achieve real Peace.”
In the days that followed, not only did Trump continue to celebrate his alleged triumph, but the White House invested an enormous amount of time and effort in touting the deal, all while Vice President JD Vance went on a media tour, doing his best to defend the policy on the merits.
There was nothing about this being a “test.” Not a word was uttered about the idea that the deal “doesn’t mean much.”
If the president expects his post hoc rationalization of this failure to persuade anyone, he’s probably going to be disappointed.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
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