Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-06-03 Wednesday

Episode Date: June 3, 2026

Headlines for June 03, 2026; “Fraud on the Court”: Even as DOJ Drops $1.8B Settlement Fund, Judge Reopens Case over Collusion; MAGA Loyalist Bill Pulte Tapped to Be New U.S. Spy Chief, Led Efforts to Target Trump Critics; “Appalling Misconduct”: Chicago Federal Prosecutors Under Fire; “Broadview 6” Charges Dropped; The Government Tried to Villainize Us: Broadview 6 Defendants Speak Out After Charges Dropped

This is Democracy Now. The reasons for the fund, I think, were, we remain as important as they were before, but we are not moving forward with the fund. Not moving forward ever. Correct. After facing bipartisan outcry, the Trump administration has dropped plans to create a $1.8 billion slush fund to compensate January 6 rioters as part of a settlement of Trump's unprecedented lawsuit against his own IRS. But acting Attorney General Todd Blanche,

Trump's former personal lawyer, says the deal is still in effect to forever block the IRS from investigating Trump, his family, and their businesses. Thirty-five former judges have asked the court to probe the Trump settlement. We'll speak to one of them and to former Attorney General of New Jersey. then calls are growing for the U.S. attorney in Chicago to resign over his mishandling of the prosecution of the Broadview 6th immigrant rights protesters outside the Broadview Ice Jail in Chicago. Charges were dismissed after the case collapsed in court due to widespread prosecutorial misconduct. We'll speak with the lawyer for one of those. arrested. We have the indictment dismissed in our case. We are seeking the full accountability

from the Department of Justice for this failed political prosecution. We want the American public to see what our Department of Justice has been doing in secret behind the closed grand jury room doors. We'll also speak to two of the Broadview six. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. Iran's Revolutionary Guard fired a barrage of missiles and drones at Kuwait and Bahrain, striking a terminal at Kuwait's international airport, killing one person and wounding at least 60 others. The attacks came after the U.S. carried out strikes on Iran's Keshem Island. In an interview with the New York Post, President Trump said the Strait of Hormuz, quote, could be closed through Labor Day. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress Tuesday that Washington will not lift sanctions on Iran in exchange for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and insisted any sanctions relief is contingent on Iran surrendering its enriched uranium.

Iran's chief negotiator also warned if Israel's assault on Lebanon continues. Iran will not only walk away from negotiations with Washington, but will move into direct military confrontation with. Israel. It comes as the Treasury Department announced a new round of sanctions, targeting four Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges. Israel killed at least eight people in southern Lebanon, Tuesday, including two children and their father. The strikes hit multiple villages entire. Israeli bombs hit buildings next to Jabalemal Hospital, killing four, wounding 127, including hospital staff. This is the Lebanese mother, whose newborn son was in an incubator in the hospital. My son is here in an incubator.

He was born 13 days ago, and he's been here in the incubator for nine days. I came here, breastfed him, and went to Bourge El Shmali. My husband and I heard about the strike and rushed here. The whole hospital was damaged. I ran straight here to see my son. And thank God, I found him okay. In Gaza, Israeli forces killed at least four Palestinians in separate strikes across the besieged strip Tuesday. An air strike on a vehicle east of Darrell Balakil, one person wounding four others.

This is an eyewitness. This person is a civilian. He has nothing to do with anyone. He went out to fill up some gas. When I ran in the direction of the car to see if there was anyone injured so we could rescue them, I personally picked up pieces of his skull, pieces of his. pieces of his head and pieces of his flesh from the ground. A message to the world.

If you stay silent like this, we will not remain. Since last October's U.S. brokered so-called ceasefire, Israel's killed some 930 Palestinians in Gaza. President Trump has named Maga loyalist Bill Pulte as acting Director of National Intelligence replacing Tulsi Gabbard, who announced a resignation in May. Pulte has no known background in intelligence. He'd been serving as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, where he used his position to join Trump's campaign of retribution against his political enemies by making criminal referrals over claims of mortgage fraud.

Among those targeted were California Senator Adam Schiff, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Federal Reserve officials Jerome Powell and Lisa Cook. The Pentagon's hired a convicted January 6th rioter to a counterterrorism role in its special operations and low-intensity conflict office, which manages highly classified military operations. 24-year-old Elias Irizari has no background or career experience in counterterrorism. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge of entering and remaining in the capital. during the January 6th insurrection when he was just 19 years old. He was among more than 1,500 rioters who received pardons or saw their sentences commuted on Trump's first day back in office. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was previously President Trump's personal lawyer,

announced Tuesday he's killing the $1.8 billion slush fund for Trump's allies, telling a House Appropriations Committee, quote, we're not moving forward with the fund, period, unquote. Blanche clarified that only the fund was being scrapped. The rest of the settlement between Trump and the IRS over the leaking of his tax returns remains in force. The settlement includes a sweeping addendum that permanently bars the IRS from investigating Trump, his family, and their businesses. This is Democratic Congress member, Rose DeLauri. We have had a ton of backlash on this $1.8 billion slush fund. However, so we'll not move on that, but as part of the settlement, which you've said,

which is this immunity for the president and his family and his business, et cetera, that stands. In Portugal, hundreds of far-right activists gathered last Saturday for the the annual remigration summit, advocating for the mass deportation of immigrants. Former U.S. Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino and white nationalist leader Jared Taylor were VIP guests alongside elected officials from Germany's far-right anti-immigrant AFD party in Spain's Vox. In an interview ahead of the event, Bovino cited Nazi Germany's lead general Erwin Rommel as an inspirational figure. At the summit, Bovina said, quote, if there is inspiration gained from the U.S. Border

Patrol model and method, then fantastic, unquote. Bavina was fired after immigration agents under his command killed 37-year-old VA nurse Alex Preti in Minneapolis. New Jersey's Attorney General Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the private prison company Geo Group operating the ICE jail known as Delaney Hall. The law. lawsuit alleges Geo Group violated state law by blocking inspectors from the facilities, medical units, sleeping quarters, and bathing areas during a visit last Friday. New Jersey's governor, Mikey Sherrill, said in a statement, quote, if the Geo Group with a $1 billion government contract has nothing to hide and the conditions

inside Delaney Hall are as safe and as sanitary as this private corporation and the Trump administration claim, then there is no legitimate reason why my health inspectors are being kept from full access throughout the building, unquote. The city of Newark already filed a lawsuit in April against the GEO group. At a news conference on Monday, Newark Mayor, on Tuesday, Newark Mayor Ross Baraka said they will expand that litigation to call for Delaney Hall's closure. Mayor Baraka also announced he's lifting the nightly curfew around Delaney Hall. It comes as hundreds of immigrants detained at the ICE jail.

are continuing their hunger and labor strike. The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, Alabama can use a new congressional map, which removes one of two House districts represented by a black Democratic congressmember. The ruling means Alabama's midterm elections will feature six Republican-leaning districts and only one Democratic-leaning one. In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, quote, Now the court is squarely faced with a record of the turmoil it's caused and the harm it's wrought. Yet just as Alabama doubled down on racial discrimination, the court today doubles down on chaos, she said.

The Alabama case follows the Supreme Court's recent decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, which prompted several southern states to redraw their congressional maps to favor the Republican Party. Veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelly was fired by CBS News Tuesday. One day after he publicly confronted the show's new management at a staff meeting meant to introduce newly appointed executive producer Nick Bilton, who is a tech journalist installed by CBS's editor-in-chief Barry Weiss. At the meeting, Pelley said about Weiss, quote, She's murdering 60 Minutes.

She does not love this place. she was brought in to kill it, and she's been doing exactly that, unquote. Pellie, who spent 37 years at CBS News, wrote in a statement after his firing, quote, The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold deal are gone, and so I must leave as well, unquote. This follows Stephen Colbert's ouster from CBS, who President Trump had repeatedly called to be fired. CBS's parent company, Paramount Skydance, is currently attempting to acquire CNN's parent company, Warner Brothers Discovery, which also owns HBO, which requires Trump's FCC for approval.

Paramount is owned by Trump allies, the billionaire Larry Ellison, and his son, David Ellison. And millions of voters across six states headed to the polls Tuesday for primary elections ahead of Key House Senate and Governor races in November. In California, 61 candidates were on the ballot in a crowded race to replace outgoing Governor Gavin Newsom. Under California's so-called jungle primary system, the two top vote getters, regardless of party events to the general election. With just over half the ballots counted, MAGA supporting Republican Steve Hilton is leading the field. Behind him is California Attorney General Javier Becerra, a Democrat who served as Health and Human Services. Secretary under President Biden. Currently in third place Democrat Tom Steyer, the billionaire hedge fund

manager turned environmental philanthropist who supports a billionaire's tax and is advocated for single payer health care. In Los Angeles, incumbent mayor Karen Bass will advance to a runoff election in November as she seeks a second four-year term. With about a third of ballots yet to be counted, reality TV star Spencer Pratt is in second place with 29 percent. of the vote. L.A. City Councilwoman Nithiaraman is in third with 21 percent. In New Mexico, former Interior Secretary Deb Holland, has won the Democratic-Uritorial nomination. She's a member of the Laguna Pueblo could become New Mexico's first woman indigenous governor. In Iowa, state representative Josh Turrick has won the Democratic nomination in the race to

succeed retiring U.S. Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican. Turek is a former Paralympic gold medalist who had the endorsement of establishment Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. He defeated progressive Democrat Zach Walls. Meanwhile, Iowa Republicans have selected former Zach Lane as their party's gubernatorial candidate. Lane narrowly defeated President Trump's pick in the race, the far-right Congress member Randy Feinstra, who Trump described as MAGA all the way. And in New Jersey, Dr. Adam Hamawi beat a crowded field to win Democratic Party's nomination to represent the 12 congressional district.

Hamawi had the endorsement of progressives, including Senator Bernie Sanders and Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Hamawi is a former U.S. Army surgeon who in 2024 volunteered with other doctors in the Gaza Strip, where he treated some of the most horrific injuries caused by Israel's assault on Palestine. Illinois Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth endorsed Dr. Hamouye, saying he, helped save her life after her helicopter was shot down in Iraq. Hamawi spoke at a victory party Tuesday night.

We have proved once and for all that there is no such thing as progressive except for Palestine. I will fight for health care, not bombs, to abolish ice and to unring this economy once and for all. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. In a rare reversal for the Trump administration, the acting attorney general Todd Blanche told lawmakers Tuesday the Department of Justice would not be moving forward with the $1.8 billion so-called anti-weaponization fund, even after the temporary pause mandated by the court.

Blanche had announced the fund just weeks ago as part of a settlement deal with President Trump and his family over their private lawsuit with the IRS over the leaking of Trump's tax returns years ago. The fund has been widely criticized as a slush fund to provide payouts to January 6th insurrectionists and other Trump allies, even drawing rebuke from some Senate Republicans and dividing the caucus. This is Todd Blanche, formerly President Trump's personal attorney, responding to questioning from New York Congress member Grace Meng on Tuesday. We are not moving forward with the fund, period. The reasons for the fund is something that President Trump talked about for a long time, which is the fact that there were a lot of people in this country who had their government weaponized against them. The reasons for the fund, I think, remain as important as they were before. We are not moving forward with the fund.

Not moving forward ever. Correct. You and Associate Attorney General Woodward signed earlier documents regarding the settlement and this fund. Would both of you now sign and release documents reversing the DOJ's position on the fund? I'm not, we're not moving forward with the fund. I'm not sure what that means to sign documents reversing. There's nothing to reverse. We're not moving forward with the fund.

But the story isn't over. On Friday, District Court Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami ordered the case reopened after 35 former federal judges filed a motion saying the settlement may have been a fraud on the court and a product of collusion. The president's attorneys have until June 12th to respond. We're joined now by one of those 35 judges, retired federal judge, Nancy Gertner. She served on the bench for 17 years in Massachusetts before retiring in 2011. She joins us from Boston. And we're joined by former New Jersey Attorney General, Matt Plotkin, who is serving as co-counsel for the former judges in his four years as state attorney general under Governor Phil Murphy from 2022 to January of this year. He led her joined at least 43 lawsuits against the Trump administration and brought several high. profile investigations into Republicans, Democrats, and state police. He's joining us today from Minneapolis. We welcome you both to Democracy Now. Judge Gertner, let's go to you first.

Explain why you're talking about this as possibly a fraud on the court. And even if Trump drops it, as the Attorney General has said, you're calling for this case to be reopened, investigated. What happened in this case was essentially Trump was suing himself. There was no question that Trump was on both sides of the V brought this case essentially as a fig leaf to justify paying the money. There is a fund that is called the settlement fund where individuals who sue the IRS, the case is settled, or if the case goes to judgment, they can collect against that fund. And so the Trump administration believed that the way in which to sort of perfect this fund to get this money was to file a lawsuit and that would sort of dignify what they were doing. It would

legitimize what they were doing. The problem was that the lawsuit, we claim, the evidence suggests, was a sham, that the lawsuit was one part of the administration suing the other. There was no effort to defend it in any meaningful way. In fact, as the judge found, there was a document from the IRS which made it clear what their defenses were in like cases, defenses that they were just not raising in this case because they were just rolling over. After the case was filed, the judge had a sense that there might be a problem with it, might be collusion, collusion, meaning they're, essentially the same person was on both sides of the V. She closed the case. She closed the case. case when they sought to dismiss.

And then we moved, I'm represented by Matt Plattkin, which a fabulous lawyer, we moved to reopen the case on the grounds that there's information that the judge didn't know about, namely that this was collusive. The judge has opened the briefing on this issue, and in addition, she is inquiring about sanctions for lawyers that made misrepresentations in the case. So I and 34 others believe that this is a just administration of justice issue. You can't manipulate the courts to broom clean an illegitimate settlement. Now, that settlement, Trump's saying, or his former personal attorney, the now attorney general, Todd Blanche is saying, that they're not going to give it to these insurrectionists and others

in their so-called anti-weaponization fund, others called a slush fund. But does Trump still get the money? He's saying, or at least my sense of what Todd Blanche was saying, is that, in fact, the fund will not be created for these purposes. When I say the fund was created, they can't claim on the Treasury, make a claim against the Treasury for this amount of money. It sounds like they're not going forward with that, but whether or not, whatever their intentions are, there are at least two cases that are challenging

the fund, including the one that we filed in, which is Judge Williams case in Florida. And where she did declare that this was a collusive case and that the settlement was illegitimate, they would have no rights to set up this fund. So whatever Todd Blanche is saying, the fact of the matter is that the courts could, this fund by determining that it was the product of collusion. I might add again that the judge has indicated that there's an, that she's going to inquire about sanctions against the lawyers who may have misrepresented what this case was about to her. Okay. Now we want to go to what they say has not been taken away. The House Appropriations Committee top Democrat,

Congress member Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut had a tense exchange with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche Tuesday. If I could just follow up on what you're doing on this, is that you've taken one piece and you said, okay, we have had a ton of backlash on this $1.8 billion slush fund. however so we'll we'll not move on that but as part of the settlement which you've said which is this immunity

for the president and his family and his business etc that stands thank you for it's not immunity ma'am it's it's a promise it's immunity it's not it's not a mean it's not immunity it's not immunity what it says is like

like anytime the IRS settles with an individual taxpayer or or of the company as part of the settlement. It's standard. It's typical for to get rid of past ongoing audits. It's not a forward-looking document. It's nothing that gives any sort of immunity in the future to the president or his family or his organizations. And so by you saying that, it's just it's not true. By you saying what you've said, it is not true. So thank you and I yield back. So I want to put this question to former New Jersey, Attorney General Matt Plotkin. co-counsel for the 35 former judges like Judge Gertner, who challenged the IRS settlement that created the so-called anti-weaponization fund.

If you can explain what DeLauro was getting at and what Todd Blanche was denying? Well, first of all, let me say how much of an honor it is to represent Judge Gertner and the 34 other judges in this matter. And what the acting attorney general was saying is just simply not true. You have to take a step back and remember how we got here. The president filed this sham lawsuit. They then purported to settle it in a collusive matter. They wrapped the whole thing up. They announced this fund that that night, the General Counsel of the United States Treasury

quits the next morning. After the settlement had already been announced, they announced another settlement that does much more than what the acting attorney general was saying. It actually gives the president and his family broad release from any government enforcement action prior to the date of the settlement. It's broader than just the IRS. So when he says it's typical, there is nothing typical about any of this. And as the Congresswoman was noting, the acting attorney general claims he can walk away from the fund.

And it's not even clear what he means by that because if this was a real settlement, one party can't just walk away from it. But put that aside for a moment, there still remains the second piece of this about broad releases for the president, an enormously valuable benefit to him and his family that is absolutely inappropriate to give to them. It is illegal. It is illegal for the president to ask for any IRS audit to be opened or closed. That is a federal crime. So the fact that the acting attorney general is standing up there saying this is typical

and frankly misrepresenting what the settlement does is extraordinary. And how significant is it? because he bristles every time a senator or congressman says you're the former personal defense attorney for Trump. How significant is this, the current acting attorney general, Todd Blanche? Look, I think it's, when you're the attorney general, and I served as attorney general of a state for nine and a half million people, anytime you have an actual or an appearance of a conflict, you want to be extraordinarily careful to make sure that the public doesn't think the process by which you're approaching a particular case is, painted. So there are many times where you step aside simply because there's an appearance. And I think at a minimum, there's an appearance issue here. But look, the acting attorney general

here has done extraordinarily unprecedented things by settling. He just a week ago was defending this and signing documents in support of the settlement, which had no legal basis. Now he's just saying, oh, sorry, we're going to walk away from that because he got backlash from Republicans on the Hill. Nothing about this is typical. Nothing about this is grounded in law. And that's why the motion that these judges filed before Judge Williams in Florida is so critical so that there could potentially be some accountability. And Matt Placken, you're also representing 93 House Democrats and two federal prosecutors challenging the fund. Can you walk us through the different legal challenges and where they

stand now? Yeah, I think it's notable. And I'm extremely proud to represent individuals who have served in all three branches of our federal government. And I think, and by the way, you're seeing bipartisan. partisan opposition to this. So you've seen the judges file before Judge Williams, alleging that this entire proceeding, starting from the filing of the lawsuit through the settlement of it, was a sham and an illegitimate, collusive lawsuit that used the court to access the United States Treasury to pay money that simply the president cannot spend. You've separately seen a number of challenges from individuals and organizations, like the two brave and courageous heroes,

the prosecutors who worked on the January 6th cases, whose reputations have been unfairly maligned and targeted by this administration, including by this fund, which purports to apologize to, quote unquote, victims of weaponization. We know that the weaponization language has been used specifically for January 6th prosecutors and investigators, dating back to the first day in office where the president pardoned more than 1,500 insurrectionists, people who contributed to the the death of a police officer, Officer Brian Siknik, who's from New Jersey. So you've seen a number of cases. And in a case in Virginia, the judge there separately stopped the government from taking

any action to establish the fund. So I think it's important to note that while Todd Blanche gets up and says things, all the federal government has actually said to date is that they are going to abide by the restraining order that has been put in place in the Virginia case. So this is an administration who does not have a lot of credibility of following through with its statements. So we are going to be monitoring it very closely. And as you noted, we're proud to represent many individuals here. In your brief, House Democrats argued the lawsuit and settlement is blatantly unlawful and raises the specter of corruption unparalleled in American history.

Could what has taken place here, whether or not they take it off the table, lead to criminal charges? right up to Trump. Well, look, I'll leave any enforcement actions to those in power to make their decisions. But I will say, as Judge Gertner noted, the court here is very clearly looking at whether misconduct occurred. And there are rules about how attorneys conduct themselves. And when we filed the motion before the court, the fact that you had 35 former federal judges telling a fellow colleague or former colleague.

that there may have been a fraud perpetrated on the court and that this lawsuit was intended to unlawfully access the United States Treasury, not some small pot of cash. The United States Treasury, the biggest pot of cash in the world, I think that's an extraordinary statement. I also want to ask you as the former New Jersey Attorney General, President Trump's name the Maga Loyalist, Bill Pulte, is acting Director of National Intelligence replacing Tulsi Gabbard, who announced her resignation recently. Pulte has no known background intelligence.

He's been serving and apparently will continue to as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, where he used his position to join Trump's campaign of retribution against his political enemies, making criminal referrals over claims of mortgage fraud among those targeted. California Center Adam Schiff, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Federal Reserve officials, Jerome Powell and Lisa Cook. So who is Pulte from the same state as? as you, Matt Placken, and I'm wondering if you can give us a little background, right, is a major developer, I didn't say intelligence official,

a housing developer in New Jersey, right around Bedminster, the golf course, and all over New Jersey, Pulte, Homes, etc. Can you tell us anything about him from your perspective as another person from New Jersey who was the Attorney General? Well, I've never met Mr. Pulte, but I certainly know his, his work, and I have to say, this is yet another deeply alarming appointment, as you noted, no background in law enforcement, no background in intelligence, never served in Congress, not somebody who has any of the requisite experience for this incredibly important office.

And apparently he's going to continue doing a whole bunch of other jobs, jobs, which, by the way, he has used, as you noted, to weaponize his position against public servants, including my very good friend, Attorney General Tish James, who they tried baselessly, to prosecute because she did her job in New York. So this is somebody who should concern everyone who has been bipartisan backlash against this appointment already. It's only a day old. And I predict that somebody who's going to face some real challenge through the confirmation

proceedings. And finally, I wanted to put this question to Judge Nancy Gertner, the retired federal judge. We're talking to you at a time of mass deportations, heightened abuses by federal ICE and immigration agents. You've written about this and described many federal immigration enforcement tactics as, quote, plainly illegal. Your final comments today, and given where we are today, what are the legal options to hold ICE accountable? There are numbers of cases across the country in which ICE tactics have been targeted in varying degrees of success. You know,

the challenges to the essentially stopping people who are speaking Spanish or look Hispanic in California. There have been challenges to the detention facilities. There have been challenges to the deportation of individuals without holding bond hearings. The Supreme Court is going to get some of these challenges, but what is significant to your listeners is that the Supreme Court can't get them all. And the lower courts have been, the district courts have been extraordinary in standing up to these abuses. The problem is that for we, the law really did not match the, didn't match how, what was going on, what's going on with respect to the Trump ICE agents. In other words, when I was on the bench, they were very limited, the course, causes.

of action against ICE agents, limited ways in which the federal courts could affect them. And that was because ICE was a different agency, because ICE was not affecting mass deportations. ICE was not ignoring judges' orders. What we're seeing now is an effort for the courts to catch up to those abuses. And they are, legislation is going to be needed to make this even more clear so that people can, so that essentially people can sue for damages against

ICE agents, but we're seeing actions across the country in the district courts which ICE sometimes follows and sometimes doesn't. It's an extraordinary situation, and I didn't confront this when I was on the bench because I wasn't

dealing with an administration whose goal was to deport people who have asylum claims, who may even be green card holders, efforts to denaturalize people. I wasn't facing that and the law has to catch up. I want to thank you so much for being with us. Retired federal judge Nancy Gertner, one of 35

former federal judges who filed a motion to reopen the Trump, the IRS case, a professor at Harvard Law School. And former New Jersey State Attorney General Matt Platkin, serving as co-counsel to the former judges in this case. Coming up, calls are growing for the U.S. attorney in Chicago to resign over his mishandling of the prosecution of the so-called Broadview Six, immigration rights protesters who took part in a protest outside the Broadview Ice Jail in Chicago. Charges were dismissed after the case collapsed in court due to widespread prosecutorial misconduct. We'll speak with the two of the Broadview Six, but first with the lawyer representing another. Stay with us.

I was dreaming in my dream in, well, like an aspect, bright and fair. In my sleeping, it was broken, but my dream in it lingered near in the farm of shining valley, People have been my senses I'm newly opened I awaken into the cry that the people have the power

to redeem the work of fools upon the meek the grace is shower its decree People have the power by Patty Smith joined by Michael Stipe.

This is Democracy Now Democracy Now.org, I'm Amy Goodman. I've read hundreds, if not thousands of grand jury transcripts. I've never seen the types of prosecutorial behavior before a grand jury that is saw in those transcripts. Those are the words of a federal judge in Illinois, April Perry, who presided over a closely watched case involving six immigrant rights protesters, indicted on federal conspiracy charges for protesting outside the Broadview Ice Jail in Chicago last year. The defendants became known as the Broadview Six, though most didn't know each other before. During a recent court hearing, the U.S. Attorney's Office admitted federal prosecutors committed

misconduct during the grand jury proceedings, and in a stunning move, the U.S. Attorney's Office dismissed the charges against the four who had been indicted. On Tuesday, Democratic Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth called for the resignation of the interim U.S. attorney in Chicago, Andrew Boutros, saying his office was, quote, riddled with chaos, deep internal dysfunction, and alleged misconduct, unquote. Also Tuesday, Boutros acknowledged he took the highly unusual step of personally addressing the grand jury before they voted. on the indictments in the Broadview case. He did this after a previous grand jury declined to indict any of the activists. Separately, Judge Perry has suggested assistant U.S. attorney Sherry Mecklenburg committed prosecutorial misconduct in the case and that the U.S. Attorney's Office made an effort

to cover it up. The case of the Broadview Six is raising new questions about how the Department of Justice is using the grand jury system in political prosecutions. Later in the show, we'll be joined by two of the Broadview Six to talk about how these charges and convictions affected their lives. But first, we go to Chris Parenti, an attorney for Brian Straw, another of the six activists. Chris, thanks so much for joining us, and especially for a. non-lawyer audience around the world. If you can explain exactly who the Broadview Six are,

what happened, how they were charged, no, not on the scene, and take it from there. Sure, Amy, and thank you for having me on. I appreciate the chance to share this story. First, the Broadview Six are exactly six people that we want in our community. They're people who stood up for those that nobody else at the time was standing up for, people that were being abused by our federal government. And they went out there to peacefully protest the abuses that are now well documented that ICE was doing to our neighbors. And so they're people that, you know, I point my children to us, these are the people I want you to grow up as not the DHS agents that are, you know, roving our streets.

And for standing up for their neighbors, what did they get? They got targeted by the Trump Department of Justice in yet another. political indictment. And the reason, Amy, that this case is so important, especially now, is because what it shows is how this DOJ has completely corrupted the grand jury process. And that is so important right now, because after all of these political indictments, and the Broadview Six was one of them, the Comey case is one, Don Lemon case, the Southern Poverty Law case, all of these political indictments. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is out there repeating the same refrain. hey, it's not the DOJ that's returning these indictments or these arrest warrants. It's the grand jury.

Don't look at us. That is such a disingenuous statement when what these federal prosecutors are doing behind closed doors in secret is completely corrupting the grand jury process. So your listeners need to know that in the grand jury, there's no defense attorney and there's no judge. It is a sacred place that is built on the trust of the federal prosecutors who work for the DOJ that go in there. You have to believe that they're going to do the right thing. And what we saw here in this Broadview Six case is not only did they not do the right thing, they did everything wrong, unethical, and against the rules, right? This prosecutor in our case goes in there the first time, presents this case and completely vouches for it, which again, what vouching is would be if I went into that grand jury and said, hey, guys, it's me, Chris Parenti,

you know me from other cases, I wouldn't bring you a bad case. This is a great case. You can't do that, right? The federal prosecutor is supposed to objectively present the case, and then the grand jury is supposed to decide, is there enough here to go forward? So when you start personally vouching for cases like that, that's completely inappropriate. And even with that inappropriate behavior, the grand jury, to their credit, said, no, this is ridiculous. We are not indicting this case.

That should have been the end of it, but not with this relentless DOJ where they have these political indictments that they were under pressure to get through. So they go back. this prosecutor comes back the following week to the same grand jury represents the same case again. And this time, again, to the grand jurors credit, they start saying this is, they start speaking out and say, we don't want any part of this. The federal prosecutor then throws these grand jurors out of the grand jury room, right? I mean, you want to talk about how do you get an indictment through, hey, you don't like this case, get out of the room, you don't get to vote. I mean, completely inappropriate. I was a federal prosecutor for 14 years.

I couldn't even imagine this stuff happening when I was in those grand jury. rooms. That's not the end of it. They don't present at that time either. They come back a third week before the same grand jury with the same indictment. The only difference this time is, now we just learned for the first time, the U.S. attorney himself comes down and appears before this same grand jury, the morning that this indictment is going to be presented for the third time. And he says, hey, I'm the U.S. attorney. Is there anybody in this room who has a problem with immigration cases? raise your hand, we have a special procedure for you. I mean, when I hear that, first of all, what is this special procedure?

Are they going to take them out back and shoot them? I mean, it is bizarre conduct. It is someone who's been a former federal prosecutor. I can't think of a single time where a U.S. attorney would go and directly address a grand jury. So to do it for the first time ever on the day that the Broadview Six indictment was being presented for the third time in front of a grand jury who has already rejected it at least once and it looks like twice, And to say, raise your hand if you have an issue with immigration cases, what kind of message do you think that the U.S. attorney was sending to those grand jurors? So we're someone from the Trump administration is going to walk into your room and say, raise your hand. If you have a problem with immigration cases, I certainly wouldn't have raised my hand.

And I would have voted for whatever they wanted, especially when it was been presented to me for the third time. So what this case has shown to me, it is absolutely frightening is, one, the relentlessness of this DOJ that when they decide that they want to get a political indictment through, they will do whatever it takes, acting in an unethical way to get it done and breaking all of the rules. And two, when Todd Blanche is out there saying, hey, it's not the DOJ that's doing this, it's the grand jury, that is so disingenuous because now that we got into those secret rooms and the American people will hopefully at the end of this week get to see those transcripts for themselves, it is horrifying conduct that is taking place. And once you know that that's what these DOJ attorneys are doing, Mr. Blanche can no longer say, it's not us, it's the grand jury, because his prosecutors are bulldozing these people

in acting in an unethical manner, which completely undermines both the Broadview Six indictment, which is why they dismissed it and all these other political indictments. There is so much to get to here. As you said, the first time, the same grand jury said, no, no indictments against this group. Were then grand jurors dismissed? Was that the point of asking you of an issue with these immigrant cases? No. So it's worse than that. I mean, So when they say no, that's at the end of the presentation. So, you know, the prosecutor had to go upstairs and tell the U.S. attorney and I think D.C., hey, a grand jury voted no, which almost never happens, right? Because historically, DOJ only brought righteous indictments or cases that they actually had good evidence for.

When they start getting into this world of going after, you know, public figures and political indictments, grand jurors, to their credit, are saying, no, this isn't a real case. We're not going to do this. So they waited a full week because, you know, the grand jury meets once a week every Thursday in this case. they waited until the next Thursday, they go back in and represent the case, which again is unusual. And during that presentation, grand jurors spoke up and criticized the case. And instead of dealing with that and engaging and maybe thoughtful debate, the prosecutor threw them out of the grand jury room, which again is unheard of and still couldn't get an indictment. And so it goes to the following Thursday, that third week.

And that's the time when the U.S. attorney just told us he appeared before that grand jury in the morning to kind of lecture. them on their duties because, God forbid, they say no to the U.S. government on a nonsense indictment, and says, if you have a problem with immigration cases, raise your hand, which, again, we're still trying to digest that whole thing, and hopefully the court will do what is necessary here. And in a minute, we're going to talk with two of the activists. They weren't arrested even during the protests. And if you can explain Chris Parenti, you're the attorney for Brian Straw, who also

happens to be an attorney, one of the six activists. What actually happened did they contend that day? I mean, all that happened, and again, we would have won this case at trial. That's the funny thing about this whole thing. We kind of have saved the government time and resources, although not embarrassment, obviously. But all these people did was stand, they were doing what's called a Jericho walk, moving, walking back and forth in front of the Broadview facility. And this ICE agent drove his car into them, right? This is a lot of. This is an ice agent who had lights and sirens on his car, never activated it, just never waited for the Broadview police who were there and who were separating the crowd for every other car

that went through without incident. This ice agent, with a mentality that I think we've seen of other ice agents in this case, or in these times, just starts driving through the crowd. So then they say, well, if you're standing in front of the car as it's moving towards you, you're impeding that, which is, again, completely ridiculous, which is why the grand jury said know multiple times, but the DOJ wouldn't drop the case. Okay. So now tell us what the judge understood. This is a key point.

Were there missing pages, highly redacted pages? What was she told? This is the worst part of the entire thing, in my opinion, right? This is where the cover-up is worse than the crime. As bad as the misconduct in the grand jury was, for seven months, the U.S. Attorney's Office here in Chicago, completely covered this up and deceived the court, right? So we were fighting for disclosure of these transcripts for months. They opposed it, obviously, knowing how bad it was. Eventually, they agreed to turn over the transcripts just to the court, which is called in-camera,

so it's just the judge sees it, no defense attorney see it, the public doesn't see it. So they produce these transcripts to the court, and they make redactions, right, which, again, is unheard of. If you redact things that are going to be in the public docket, like social security numbers or birth dates, things that are going to a judge that she's going to a judge that she's going to read in her chambers don't need to be redacted. But these prosecutors sat in their office at the U.S. Attorney's Office the night before turning these transcripts over to the judge and literally blacked out all of the misconduct that occurred in the grand jury. And then when they couldn't do that, they removed whole pages, sections of the transcript, turned it into the judge and never told her

about the missing pages. So she reads it and says, okay, there's not a lot to see here. But we had a sense that there was still something wrong just based on the way the government was acting. So we continued to push that they'd turn over the unredacted versions to the court. And the judge said, Mr. Parenti, I read 99% of these transcripts. I don't know what you think could be in there. There's only 20 lines here. And I said, Judge, the U.S. government could do a lot of damage in just two lines. And she agreed.

So the government was then ordered to produce the unredacted transcripts. And then for the first time, the court realized, oh, my God, not only did they redact all this bad stuff, but they withheld entire pages that had all the other bad stuff, including the prosecutor throwing. out grand jurors that dissented with the case. So again, the cover-up by the U.S. Attorney's Office is even worse than the appalling misconduct that occurred in the grand jury. Because, again, as a former federal prosecutor, your job is not to win any case. It's to do the right thing. And I've never seen a case like this where from the jump, they did the wrong thing at every single turn. So Christopher Brentie, before we go, while the case has been thrown out,

you're calling for, or is the judge reopening it? Could there be criminal charges brought? You also have, of course, two U.S. senators calling for Andrew Boutros to resign. Can they also be fired? I mean, lots of things can happen. First, on the Andrew Boutros point, to me, the most offensive thing that Mr. Boutros has done is immediately after this entire thing blows up and the judge realizes, is what happens here. He came to court to his credit and he dismissed the entire thing.

But then he went back to his office and sent an all office email to all the prosecutors, including the six new ones that he just swore in that morning, calling the three prosecutors who handled this case courageous, which to me was offensive because these are the men that stood in that courtroom for six months and deceived the court and deceived defense counsel. And now their boss is calling them courageous. Again, without any investigation of what they knew and when they knew it, to me that is offensive and that is not the act. actions of a leader that I want in that office. Also, we are filing what's called a Hyde Amendment motion.

So when the federal government, when this is rare, thankfully, commits misconduct like they did in this case, you can actually get your attorney's fees back, which have been extensive for all six of these individuals. So we have filed that, and people should, you know, pull that filing, which we filed yesterday, because it lays out a timeline of just how bad this misconduct was in the deception that the U.S. Attorney's Office engaged in in a public courtroom over the course of six months. months. Christopher Parenti, we thank you for being with us, attorney for one of the members of the Broadview Six, also an attorney, Brian Straw. Coming up, we'll speak with two other members of the

Broadview Six and what's happened to their lives with these indictments. Stay with us. It is way steady and true. As soon as it's done, I'm going to say, my dear, so it's my... Dear Someone by Lila Downs performing in our Democracy Now studio. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. on Thursday night, I will be speaking at the IFC here in New York at West 4th and 6th Avenue after the screening of Steel the Story Please, the new documentary about democracy now, as well as my life as a journalist, and the 30 years of independent media way beyond those 30 years as well. I also want to say I'll be there with Carl Deal, who is the director of the film, and the moderator will be the playwright, the actor, the co-host of the podcast. Don't listen to us.

Catherine Grody, who's in one-woman show right now, the podcast with Mandy Patankan, her partner, and Gideon Grotie Patenton. So that's June 4th at 630, the film, and then the Q&A. This is Democracy Now. As we continue to look at the Broadview Six case, we're joined by two of the activists indicted. Kat Abu Ghazala, who recently ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. And Michael Rabbit, Democratic Committee person in Chicago's 45th Ward. They were arrested and indicted for protesting last year outside the Broadview

ICE jail during Trump's so-called. Operation Midway Blitz crackdown when hundreds of mass federal immigration agents flooded the streets of Chicago. The charges against them were dropped last month. So, Kat, the charges were dropped against you. What did that mean? What did these charges mean? Explain what you were doing that day. And the fact, Kat Abu Ghazala, you weren't arrested that day. This came weeks later and you were running for Congress. Yeah, I mean, it's impossible to talk about these charges without also talking about the conditions at the place we were protesting. The Broadview Processing Center where ICE headquarters its operations in Chicago, which essentially functions as a concentration camp. People are denied basic human rights.

They are denied translators, so they are forced to sign their own self-deportations while also being denied water, food, access to hygienic facilities, pregnant women sleep on concrete. people are stuck sleeping standing up because they're packed in so tightly, which is why I and many others had been regularly protesting at Broadview, and ICE had escalated its actions week after week. That day, we were hit by a car. I drove a car into a crowd. We weren't arrested that day, but I still shot us with pepper bullets, rubber bullets. They deployed tear gas and flashbangs, but I didn't find out that I had been indicted until a month after this happened. These charges are simply for exercising our First Amendment rights. The government tried to villainize me and five other people for protesting.

The very thing that makes America great, allegedly, and yet they tried to paint us as the villains. And we were actually the victims of a crime by a nice agent. I mean, we are watching the video right now. the car drives into you all. And you didn't know each other, is that right? The so-called Broadview sex? You didn't know all of each other. Most of us did not know each other until we met in the courtroom and we were indicted on conspiracy. We're watching the car drive into you and the ice agents are tear gassing you all at the same time. Michael Rabbit, you are a 45th War Democratic Committee person in Chicago. Talk about how you heard about the charges against you.

and what it did to your life? So my wife and I were on vacation celebrating our 30-year wedding anniversary in Portugal in mid to late October. And as Kat mentioned, we weren't arrested that day. So I was rather shocked when I woke up in the morning and looked at my phone and there was a message from the FBI saying

that I had been indicted and needed to turn myself. in the next day or else there would be a warrant for my arrest. I was quite shocked by that message. I actually thought it was a scam. I honestly didn't think it was real. I actually, you know, looked up the name of the FBI agent and the U.S. attorney, assistant U.S. attorney, and found that it was real. And it was quite shocking. And we just have 30 seconds, but let me ask you, were you afraid that you would get arrested coming into the country or that you wouldn't be allowed back into the U.S.? Yes. So I actually was warned by a congressperson that I may be detained upon arriving at O'Hare.

So we actually had to make some arrangements in case that happened, which needless to say, made the flight home a little stressful. We're going to continue this discussion post-show and post-online at DemocracyNow.org. We're talking to Kat Abu Ghazala and Michael Rabbit. Two of the Broadview Six, though they might not have known each other before, charges have been dropped against them. I will continue to cover this story. That does it for a show. I'll be at IFC on Thursday night at 6.30 in New York, then to Tampa to celebrate WM&F on Friday night,

and then to Miami on Saturday and Sunday at the O Cinema. You can check our website at DemocracyNow.org. I'm Amy Goodman.