Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee criticized Blanche and the DOJ directly in his ruling, saying that the criminal charges against Abrego Garcia had been brought with "vindictive taint" that rendered them unlawful. Quoting former Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, Crenshaw wrote the following: "Then-Attorney General Robert H. Jackson warned his fellow prosecutors long ago of the danger of picking the person first and the crime second. 'Therein is the most dangerous power of the prosecutor: that he will pick people that he thinks he should get, rather than pick cases that need to be prosecuted.' That is the situation here."
Johnson briefly floated changes to House rules last year to make it harder for discharge petitions to succeed. He said at the time the tactic was "too common," with Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) saying he would "like to see a higher threshold for a lot of these motions."
Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings is getting a refund of $1 million from a committee supporting Matt Mahan for governor of California. It's not clear whether Hastings asked for the refund five days after making the May 15 donation given that Mahan has an almost-zero shot of making it through the primary or if it was returned by the committee voluntarily. [California Post]
Hong called to abolish police departments in a plethora of social media posts and public statements, with one X post from 2021 declaring, Police exist to uphold white supremacy. Hong, a 37-year-old Wisconsin state representative and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, is running against fellow Democrats Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, and state Sen. Kelda Roys. CNN's review highlighted multiple posts from 2020 and 2021 in which Hong explicitly advocated for dismantling police departments.
In February, Trump announced on Truth Social that he was directing the DOD to begin the process of identifying and releasing government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life. This decision, the president said, was based on the tremendous interest shown by the public. The first batch of files was released in early May.
My trip was great except I could not get Fox News there, so, that was the only disappointing part, Landry told Fox and Friends's Charlie Hurt. But other than that, it was a great trip. Really met a lot of different people, spoke to people on the street, visited with people in their homes. Found a lot of commonality between the Inuit and Greenland people and the Cajun culture down in Louisiana.
No one opened the door when Adam Hamawy rang the bell of a Trenton row house while campaigning for Congress in the city's historic Mill Hill district. Instead, a young man opened a third-floor window and poked his head out. "Have you voted yet? Or are you going to vote soon?" Hamawy shouted up into the May afternoon sunshine. The man replied with a no. "The election is on June 2. And I'm running so that we are funding healthcare, not bombs. We all want healthcare, right?" asked Hamawy, a surgeon by trade. The man agreed. "So will you vote for me?" Hamawy asked. The man said he would look at the pamphlet stuck in his front door.
