Congress
Trump calls for impeachment of judge who tried to halt deportations
President Donald Trump on Tuesday called for the impeachment of the federal judge who ordered a two-week halt to his efforts to remove Venezuelan migrants using extraordinary war powers that haven’t been invoked for decades.
Trump’s call to remove U.S. District Judge James Boasberg — the chief judge of the federal district court in Washington, D.C. — is the first time since taking office for his second term that he’s asked Congress to seek a judge’s removal, joining increasingly pointed calls by his top donor and adviser Elon Musk and a segment of his MAGA base.
Trump also suggested that “many” of the judges who have ruled against him in other cases should be impeached as well. It’s a significant incursion on the judiciary that comes as Trump has asserted unprecedented unilateral power over federal spending — despite Congress’ constitutional power of the purse — and sweeping authority to remove executive branch officials that previous presidents believed were protected by law.
Although the call represents a significant escalation, any impeachment effort is all but certain to be doomed in Congress, where narrow Republican majorities would lack the votes to remove a judge along party lines. Congress has been loath to entertain impeachment efforts for judges based purely on rulings they disagree with and has typically invoked the extraordinary procedures in cases of clear corruption or misconduct.
Trump, in a post on Truth Social Tuesday morning, called Boasberg a “troublemaker and agitator.” The president also boasted of his sweeping electoral win, underscoring the mandate he believes he was given by the American people to govern. (Judges are given lifetime appointments to insulate them from political pressure and shifts in public opinion.)
“FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY,” Trump wrote. “I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do.”
For Trump, the attack on Boasberg is also an attempt to settle a score with a significant figure in his long-running criminal cases. Boasberg, as the chief judge, presided over key aspects of the grand jury proceedings that led to Trump’s criminal charges in Washington, D.C. for his attempt to subvert the 2020 election. Among Boasberg’s decisions: Requiring former Vice President Mike Pence to testify to the grand jury over Trump’s objection, and ruling that hundreds of emails from Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) should be disclosed to investigators.
Boasberg also presided over some of the grand jury proceedings related to Trump’s criminal case for hoarding classified documents at his Florida estate.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has warned of the pernicious threat of politically motivated calls for the impeachment of judges over disagreements on rulings.
“Public officials … regrettably have engaged in recent attempts to intimidate judges — for example, suggesting political bias in the judge’s adverse rulings without a credible basis for such allegations,” Roberts wrote in a New Year’s Eve message last year. “Attempts to intimidate judges for their rulings in cases are inappropriate and should be vigorously opposed. Public officials certainly have a right to criticize the work of the judiciary, but they should be mindful that intemperance in their statements when it comes to judges may prompt dangerous reactions by others.”
Prior to Trump’s social media post, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing Tuesday that she had “not heard the president talking about impeachment.” But Trump allies, including conservative lawyer Mike Davis, had been floating a possible impeachment of Boasberg throughout the day on cable and conservative news networks.
The White House has, however, brushed off the idea that Trump’s expanding assertions of power over his coequal branches is causing a constitutional crisis, arguing that it is the courts who are overstepping their legal authority. Republicans in Congress, meanwhile, have largely been content to allow Trump to override their prerogatives.
In court on Monday, Boasberg peppered the administration with questions about whether it had deliberately ignored his order to turn around planes carrying the deportees — an argument the Justice Department responded to by arguing that his verbal order did not count, only his written order.
The Justice Department has also asked a federal appeals court to have Boasberg removed from the case, but the appeals court has not yet acted on their demand. The administration is due to respond to Boasberg’s request for information about the flights by noon Tuesday.
Todd Blanche took a major step toward confirmation as attorney general Tuesday after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 on party lines to advance his nomination, likely setting up a final vote within days.
His nomination, at risk of being withdrawn just last week, now appears to be on a glide path toward approval. Blanche has been serving as acting attorney general since April, but President Donald Trump has been intent on installing his former personal lawyer permanently.
Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said ahead of the vote that Cornyn and Tillis’ concerns about the fund “and the IRS settlement were shared by many, including this senator.” He added that the changes Blanche made “put this issue to bed once and for all.”
Democrats lambasted the deal Cornyn and Tillis struck, saying it would not meaningfully bind Trump from eventually resurrecting the payout fund and using his to enrich his political allies, including participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
“To state the obvious, Mr. Blanche’s statement on the slush fund and the IRS immunity agreement are not signed by the parties to the settlement agreement and are therefore unenforceable,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the panel. “The parties could still sue to enforce the agreement and the cop-beaters fund can easily be revived with a new order from the Department of Justice 15 minutes after Mr. Blanche is confirmed as attorney general.”
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said he “loves the state of Texas” but said the deal Cornyn agreed to is “all hat and no cattle.”
Booker, who is a vegan, asked, “Where’s the beef?”
Outside of the committee, there are a few GOP senators who could pose a hurdle in confirming Blanche, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Sen. John Curtis of Utah and Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
Murkowski called the written elimination of the payout fund a “pretty good step” Monday, while the others said they continue to evaluate Blanche’s nomination.
All four have yet to commit to voting for Blanche, and as long as all Democrats are unified in voting against him, he can only lose two Republican votes given the absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has not voted since June due to health reasons.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he wants to get Blanche confirmed before senators leave as soon as the end of this week for an extended recess.
A lawyer for Rep. Max Miller took responsibility Tuesday for inadvertently releasing sensitive photos of the Ohio Republican’s daughter in a trove of material Miller published Sunday in a bid to defend himself against domestic abuse claims.
The attorney, Aaron Minc, took responsibility for the photo being released and called it “completely unintentional and a mistake” after a lawyer for Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno, accused Miller of disseminating the daughter’s name and one image that “could be considered Child Sexual Abuse Material.”
“I am solely responsible for what happened,” Minc said in a statement. “I was the only person responsible for assembling, creating, reviewing, adding, deleting, redacting, or making any changes to the information and files that were in this folder.”
Minc apologized to Miller, Moreno and their families but also decried Moreno for creating “a media spectacle regarding this unfortunate mistake … as a means to try to gain leverage in court and distract from the underlying evidence that exonerates Mr. Miller from the false allegations he is accused of.”
Miller posted the documents online Sunday after delivering a livestreamed defense against the claims leveled by his former wife, Emily Moreno. He has declined all allegations of wrongdoing, which include pouring hot water on his ex-wife, holding a gun to her head and breaking his daughter’s collarbone.
Moreno’s lawyer Subodh Chandra claimed that the documents left the daughter’s name unredacted and contained “private images,” including one where “the daughter’s genitals appear to be visible,” according to a letter to Minc obtained by Blue Light News. Chandra noted that the photo was later removed.
“The post with the link to the folder — published under your name — garnered over 204,000 views from the time it was posted until this afternoon,” Chandra wrote.
The letter from Chandra asks Minc, “Whose idea was it to share this intimate image of the child?” among other questions, giving a Wednesday close-of-business deadline.
The letter marks the latest escalation in the legal battle between Miller and Moreno, who is the daughter of Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno. After Miller delivered his livestreamed defense Sunday, the GOP senator denounced his former son-in-law, saying he should not serve in the House and needs to seek professional help.
Miller is running for reelection in a competitive Cleveland-area seat. He has until Wednesday to withdraw from the ballot and allow for a crash primary to replace him.
Senate Republicans are facing a put up or shut up moment to move ahead with a party-line bill this week.
Those who want to advance a budget blueprint now will use Tuesday’s GOP closed-door lunch as a last-ditch effort to rally their colleagues behind what’s guaranteed to be a politically heavy lift. But prospects are waning with each passing hour, as lawmakers face a slew of other priorities, including plotting the path for a stopgap funding patch.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday it’s possible members stay through the weekend or return next week to knock out lingering tasks, delaying the start of a five-week recess.
“It looks to me at least like there’s a good possibility that it’ll take us more than Thursday or Friday to get through the things we have to get through,” he told reporters.
Budget Republicans are meeting separately Tuesday morning to talk about advancing a framework in the Senate, but Chair Ron Johnson declined to say Monday whether he would release a budget resolution this week — a necessary step for the chamber to make any movement forward.
Johnson said he’s “working with leadership,” who he acknowledges has been prioritizing government funding.
Meanwhile, Sen. John Kennedy told reporters Monday he didn’t expect any budget resolutions on the floor this week because “I don’t think my leadership wants to do it.”
“As I’ve said before, you got to have the votes to get on it,” Thune said Monday, while stopping short of nixing the possibility of a vote this week.
Thune also may need to deal with GOP hard-liners demanding votes on the SAVE America Act as frustration percolates over whether the budget measure’s election provisions comply with Senate rules for the reconciliation process.
Sen. Roger Marshall joined Sen. Mike Lee Monday in saying the chamber shouldn’t depart without passing the elections bill, and Marshall said he’d be willing to object to adjourning the chamber over it.
What else we’re watching:
— BLANCHE HAS MORE REPUBLICANS TO CONVINCE: Todd Blanche’s prospects for confirmation as attorney general were much improved Monday — but he’s not in the clear yet. The acting attorney general secured votes from the previously reluctant Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis over the weekend, all but certainly giving him the votes he needs to advance out of Judiciary Tuesday morning. But he still needs to get through the full Senate, where he can only lose two Republican votes given likely unified opposition from Senate Democrats and Sen. Mitch McConnell’s absence.
— GOP SENATORS BREAK SILENCE ON MILLER: Multiple Senate Republicans are calling for Rep. Max Miller to step down from office amid domestic abuse allegations. The outcry comes after Sen. Bernie Moreno — father of Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno — said in a statement Sunday Miller should not serve in the House. Miller has denied the allegations. The surge of support from Moreno’s colleagues marks the first significant crack in a wall of GOP silence regarding the claims. Miller has until Wednesday to withdraw from the ballot and allow a crash primary to select a replacement.
Jordain Carney, Chris Marquette, Riley Rogerson and Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.
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