What A Day - Dems Go To Bat For Due Process

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador Wednesday to push for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who the U.S. government wrongfully deported to a Salvadoran super prison last month. While the administration continues to dig in on its allegations the Salvadoran national was a gang member, courts are also showing their willingness to challenge the White House’s claims. On Wednesday, a federal judge found probable cause to find Trump Administration officials in criminal contempt of court over sending Venezuelans to the same maximum security prison in El Salvador where Abrego Garcia is currently being held. New York Congressman Ritchie Torres talks about why it’s important for Democrats to speak up about these cases.And in headlines: California sued the Trump administration over the president’s heavy tariffs, the Department of Justice sued Maine for allowing trans girls to compete in school sports that align with their gender identity, and Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene laughed off some financial scrutiny.Show Notes:Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Thursday, April 17th. I'm Erin Ryan in for Jane Costin and this is What A Day, the show that says, do not die potatoes for Easter. I don't care what the Atlantic Magazine says is okay or how much eggs cost right now. Do not die potatoes. On today's show, California sues President Donald Trump over his tariffs, and surprise surprise, Georgia rep Marjorie Taylor Greene made some green of her own off Trump's tariff flip-flop. But first, let's talk about immigration.

On Wednesday, Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador to push for the release of Kilmar Obrego-Garcia. He's the Maryland man who the government wrongfully deported to a Salvadoran superprison last month, alleging, despite paper-thin evidence, that he's a member of the gang MS-13. Van Hollen held a press conference after meeting with El Salvador's vice president. He said the Salvadoran officials denied his request to see or speak with Abrego Garcia. He also forcefully disputed the White House's story about him. I want to emphasize that President Trump and our Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and the vice

president of the United States are lying when they say that Abrego Garcia has been charged with a crime or as part of MS-13. That is a lie. Van Hollen said he asked the Salvadoran vice president why the country was continuing to hold Abrego Garcia in a maximum security prison known as CCOT if neither the US nor El Salvador has evidence he's actually committed a crime. And his answer was that the Trump administration is paying El Salvador, the government of El Salvador, to keep him at Seacom. Paying them, paying them with what money? Taxpayer money? Hmm, seems like a little bit of a waste.

But anyway, back in the U.S., the administration continued to dig in. Not that we'd expect anything different. Here's White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt during her press briefing Wednesday. Nothing will change the fact that Abrego Garcia will never be a Maryland father. He will never live in the United States of America again. Okay, I acknowledge that that's how a lot of news articles have been describing Abrego Garcia, Caroline, but nothing will change the fact that he is a father and he was living in Maryland, hence Maryland father.

But in the courts, the administration is also facing more pushback over both the Abrego Garcia case and its hardball immigration tactics more broadly. On yesterday's show, we talked about how a federal judge in Maryland said she wanted to see some receipts from the administration, detailing the ways it's trying to, quote, facilitate Abrego Garcia's return, as the Supreme Court directed it to last week. And early Wednesday, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., said he found probable cause to find Trump administration officials in criminal contempt of court. This is over whether the administration violated another order, this one barring it

from sending alleged Venezuelan gang members to the same prison where Obrego Garcia is currently being held in El Salvador. Because undoubtedly there are more Obrego Garcias who the government has deported. We know at least one, a gay makeup artist from Venezuela who is seeking asylum in part because his sexuality made him a target of gangs. Here's the hard thing. If you're a Democrat or, to me, a person with morals and stuff, you think this is wrong and evil. You know it is. You're also aware that the immigration issue has been a third rail for liberals for the last few years. But a lot of Democrats are standing up and speaking out about cases like Abrego Garcia's and others, and saying that what is happening to him could absolutely happen to American

citizens. One of them is New York Democratic Representative Richie Torres, who has introduced a bill to require the U.S. government to act if a court orders the return of someone who has been wrongfully deported. I spoke with Congressman Torres on Wednesday afternoon. Representative Torres, welcome to what a day. On Wednesday, a federal district judge said there was probable cause to open a criminal contempt inquiry related to his order to stop some deportations to El Salvador back in March.

What's your side of the aisle in the House doing about this? Look, we're committed to fighting back. You know, I introduced legislation known as the Rescue Act, which would impose consequences on any country like El Salvador that refuses to release someone who's been wrongfully deported in violation of a federal court order. You know, for Democrats, the stakes are high. The stakes are high for the country. Of everything that Donald Trump does, nothing worse than his frontal assault, his war on due process. And it has implications far beyond non-citizens. Like the Trump administration can label anyone a non-citizen gang member, abduct them in

the dead of night, and then render them onto a foreign prison to be tortured. And so he is setting a dangerous precedent for the future of our democracy. And are you seeing common ground with your GOP colleagues on this? I suspect that there are Republicans who privately have concerns, but none of them are willing to speak out publicly

against Donald Trump. The Republican party is no longer a traditional political party. It's become a cult of personality. The MAGA movement is organized not around principle but around personality. It's all about Donald Trump. He can do no wrong. It's religiosity without religion. Well, on that note, Democrats kind of lost big to that religiosity without religion in November, especially when it came to immigration, migrants, and deportation.

And a lot's happened since then and folks in your party have been sorting out who could be deported and when, under what circumstances. Where have you landed on this? Look, I have no objection to deporting those who genuinely violate either criminal law, immigration law or both, especially if you pose a public safety risk. But you're entitled to due process. There is no contradiction between border security and due process or between a rational immigration system and due process.

And the Trump administration is attempting to create a contradiction where none exist. You know, due process is based on the recognition that the government is every bit as corruptible and fallible as human nature itself, right? The government can err, it can abuse its power, it can falsely accuse, and due process is what protects all of us from false accusations and abuses of power on the part of the government. And if we lose due process, as far as I'm concerned, we lose everything.

Let's talk about a specific case, the one over Kilmar Obrego Garcia. He's a migrant who has not been convicted or even charged with a crime, but was still sent to a prison in El Salvador. The administration says with practically zero evidence that he's a member of the Salvadoran gang MS-13 What does that tell you about how this administration is going about deporting people? Look Donald Trump claims that he has the authority to label anyone a gang member and Then deport them to a foreign prison to be tortured and then wash his hands And claim that the courts have no jurisdiction because he's deporting them to a foreign country, never mind that he's paying the foreign country to detain these people.

So he clearly has responsibility, he clearly has leverage. But we're entering dangerously uncharted territory. For me, the lesson learned from the Trump presidency is that Congress historically has passed too many laws that have ceded too much power to the executive. We should repeal the Alien Enemies Act, which has enabled Trump to deport hundreds of people without due process, without the slightest semblance of due process. We should repeal the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which has enabled Trump

to set tariff rates that have destabilized the global economy, the US Constitution envisions a system of congressional supremacy. There are three co-equal branches of government, but Congress is the first among equals. We are Article 1 branch and we should return power back where it belongs, which is in Congress. But to do that right now, you would need Republican buy-in just because of the makeup of both chambers. That seems pretty unlikely. So what can you that right now, you would need Republican Biden just because of the makeup of both chambers. That seems pretty unlikely. So what can you do right now?

Look, we have to throw the kitchen sink, whether it's mobilization on the streets, legislation in the halls of Congress, even a discharge petition, and litigation in court. Obviously, there are limits to what we can do when we're in the minority. But I'm convinced that the momentum is on our side. I mean, Donald Trump is uniquely unpopular as president. He's the only president since 1937 whose approval rating is underwater in the early months of his administration. So Democrats are well positioned to take back the House, to make Hakeem Jeffries the next

speaker and to restore some measure of checks and balances. But I have no faith that the modern Republican party is going to stand up to Trump because he's their lord and savior. I've seen this on my TikTok FYP. I'm sure you've seen this on social media. I feel like the conservative line is, well, he's playing chess and we're playing checkers. So take this with a grain of salt. But are you concerned that Democrats are playing into the administration's hands right now by highlighting the Abrego Garcia case? Well, first, fighting for due process is the right thing to do. Like I'm in favor of free

speech not because it pulls well, but because it's a matter of principle. So not everything has to be reduced to a political calculation. There are some issues that are so important that it transcends politics. Hapius corpus due process are among them. But the polling would tell a different story. I mean, Donald Trump is self-destructing in real time. You know, since his inauguration, we've seen the destruction of $11 trillion in wealth. His tariffs are deeply unpopular.

His trust on issues with the American people is declining rapidly. So the momentum is clearly on the Democratic side, largely because Donald Trump is self-destructive. He's his own worst enemy. Representative Richie Torres, thank you for being here. Thank you for the conversation and keep doing the hard work. Absolutely. Take care. That was my conversation with New York Democratic Congressman Richie Torres, who represents the Bronx. We'll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you Richie Torres, who represents the Bronx.

We'll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Let's talk numbers. Traditional in-person therapy can cost anywhere from $100 to $250 per session, which adds up fast. But with BetterHelp online therapy, you can save on average up to 50% per session. With BetterHelp, you pay a flat fee for weekly sessions, saving you big on cost and on time.

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Headlines. Trump may claim he's a great businessman, but Trump's tariffs are truly terrible for business and they're breaking the law. California is suing the Trump administration over the president's heavy tariffs on U.S. trading partners. Democratic State Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the suit at a press conference Wednesday alongside Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.

The governor emphasized that Trump's trade war has hit California, the world's fifth largest economy, especially hard. This is recklessness at another level. The geopolitical impacts are outsized. The trade impacts are outsized, not just the economic. The White House has justified the president's steep and unilateral use of tariffs on pretty much every country

by declaring a national emergency on trade. That allowed him to unlock special powers to sidestep Congress and impose his sweeping tariffs earlier this month. California's lawsuit argues everything that's happened since. The neck-breaking whiplash from Trump's constantly changing trade policy poses a bigger threat to the economy, and that the president does not have the power to do what he's doing. He needs congressional approval to levy tariffs. California's suit comes as the economy is flashing major warning signs in the wake of Trump's tariff palooza. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday it's now, quote, highly likely that Trump's trade policy will worsen inflation

and push prices up. Here he is speaking to reporters in Chicago. The level of tariff increases announced so far is significantly larger than anticipated and the same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth. Powell added that unemployment rates could rise too. Oh, and while Powell was speaking, the stock market fell again. And speaking of states that have a beef with the White House, the Department of Justice is suing the state of

Maine for allowing trans girls to compete in school sports that align with their gender identity. This is all because the state's Democratic governor Janet Mills said she would not comply with an executive order Trump signed earlier this year to quote, keep men out of women's sports. Back in February, Mills and President Trump shared a moment about this at the White House. Your population doesn't want men playing in women's sports so you

better come you better comply because otherwise you're not getting any any federal funding. Every state, good I'll see you in court I look forward to that that should be a real easy one. And enjoy your life after governor because I don't think you'll be in elected politics. You better do it or you're gonna wish you did it. You better do it. Okay, well, let's talk about it in court. Yeah, you better go to court. Yeah, I'll see you there. Great comebacks, Guy. The DOJ lawsuit alleges that Maine discriminates against women and girls, but also endangers them by refusing to ban trans athletes from school sports. And when I say trans athletes, I mean it's barely plural.

I mean two. Two out of tens of thousands of high school athletes in Maine's public school system. Two! Ugh. Attorney General Pam Bondi acknowledged this when she announced the lawsuit. I don't care if it's one, I don't care if it's two, I don't care if it's a hundred, it's going to stop and it's going to stop in every single state. Why is it that every time I see her speak, I think that she's about to call the police

on a child with a lemonade stand? The lawsuit is Trump's latest attempt to punish Mills and the state of Maine. His Department of Agriculture tried to cancel millions in grants to the University of Maine last month. Also, the Social Security Administration canceled some big state contracts. Those contracts were reinstated, and Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek said he regretted terminating them. But I'd take his apology with a grain of salt. The Washington Post reported that just a week before that, Dudek wrote an email where he called Mills a, quote, petulant child.

The Trump administration has reportedly asked the IRS to strip Harvard University of its tax-exempt status. CNN broke the story. Trump floated the idea of revoking Harvard's status in a Truth Social Post on Tuesday. He said the school should be taxed as a political entity because it refused to meet his demands to fight what he called anti-Semitism on campus.

The White House froze more than $2 billion in federal funding to Harvard over its rebuke. We're putting this together on Wednesday night. Neither the IRS nor Harvard have said anything else about this before we put it to bed, but on the upside, this is a great opportunity for people who went to Harvard to remind everybody else that they went to Harvard. And while we're on the subject of the IRS, the Trump administration plans to nix a free electronic program that lets taxpayers file directly with the agency, because under the Trump administration, we're just making everything a bigger pain in the ass.

That's according to anonymous sources that spoke with the Associated Press. in the ass. That's according to anonymous sources that spoke with the Associated Press. Direct file gives people in 25 states a free and easy way to file taxes, so long as they don't claim rental or other kinds of non-wage income. It should come as zero shock that the Trump administration wants to end the program. After all, swaths of Republican lawmakers asked him to cut the program back in December. They claimed it was government overreach, and then Doge took a minute in February. It's government overreach for the government to let you file things to the government without having to pay? What? The GOP fought such a service for decades with help from private tax prep companies like TurboTax. I mean, you don't want to

pay taxes anyway, so why pay to file if you can do it for free? If you live in one of those 25 states, you can still use the service this season. But after that, we'll have to pour one out for direct file. There's been a lot of coverage on stocks, that applies to the main and these. Before the announcement of its cares for me was, it was there anything that you knew ahead of time? Can you at least respond to the criticism that's been published? You know, I think that criticism is laughable.

President Trump has been talking about tariffs for decades. This is Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene laughing off some financial scrutiny. Over what? Greene recently disclosed she purchased anywhere from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stocks. No immediate issue there, but she bought them one day before President Trump announced he was pausing most of his global tariffs. And then she did it again that same day. Of course, the market was flailing from all the trade chaos. According to disclosures made to the House, Green also sold

between $50,000 and $100,000 in Treasury bills. To be fair, Trump did yell at his truth social followers that, quote, this is a great time to buy, you know, just hours before he paused the tariffs. Green told reporters Tuesday that she had no prior knowledge of Trump's flip flop. I have a fiduciary agreement with my portfolio manager. I don't place my buys and sells. That's something that the portfolio manager does for me. And he did a great job. Guess what he did? He bought the dip. And that's what anybody that has any financial sense does

when they know the market's going to be going down. That was obvious to everyone. Guess what he did? He bought the dip. Sounds like me defending a man who went to the grocery store and only bought three of the 10 things he was supposed to buy. Democrats in Congress are asking for an investigation into Trump's back and forth on tariffs and whether his reversals violated securities laws. Members of Congress are required to report their stock trades, so we might hear more about this soon. And that's the news. Before we go, if you're looking to support Crooked Media's mission of building a progressive media counterweight to the right, the best way to do so is by subscribing to our Friends

of the Pod community. And for a limited time, you can test drive all the cool stuff a Friends of the Pod subscription has to offer for 30 days absolutely free. When you subscribe, you'll gain access to our amazing Discord community and exclusive content like Polar Coaster with Dan Pfeiffer and Inside 2025. Your subscription helps power everything we do here at Crooked. Sign up today at crooked.com slash friends to start your 30 day free trial. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a nice review,

find something better to die than a potato and tell your friends to listen. And if you are into reading and not just about how if you cut up your dyed potatoes and put the potato in the ground, you could have more potatoes to hoard when groceries get even more expensive like me. What a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Erin Ryan, and that's what we call buying the dip. And that's what anybody that has any financial sense does. What A Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor.

Our associate producers are Raven Yamamoto and Emily Four. Our producer is Michelle Eloy. We had production help today from Shauna Lee, Johanna Case, Joseph Dutra, and Greg Walters. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our executive producer is Adrienne Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Giliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.