'We are arresting the Mayor': Released tapes link Trump's lawyer to charges
The court released bodycam footage that Rep. LaMonica McIver says proves that she was maliciously prosecuted.
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In newly released bodycam videos, a federal agent can be heard announcing the decision to arrest Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) “per the order of the Deputy Attorney General.”
The footage, described but not previously seen, links Donald Trump’s former lawyer Todd Blanche to the decision to target elected officials performing oversight on the Delaney Hall private immigration detention facility in New Jersey.
Two Democratic officials faced federal charges after visiting Delaney Hall on May 9: Baraka and Rep. LaMonica McIver. Only McIver’s case remains pending, and she hopes to use the footage to prove that she was selectively and vindictively prosecuted. In August, McIver submitted hours of bodycam footage that she obtained during discovery to the court, which released the videos on Monday evening.
In a new video for the
’s Legal AF, Michael and I break down what some of that footage shows and the significance of the recordings. (Watch our conversation in full by clicking on the video at the top of this story.)In another clip, McIver threatens to file an assault complaint against one of the agents. Prosecutors accuse the congresswoman of assaulting law enforcement during a melee outside the immigration facility.
Though the case against McIver remains pending, prosecutors had to drop a trespassing charge against Baraka earlier this year in an embarrassment for Trump’s former lawyer Alina Habba, who is now serving as the District of New Jersey’s top prosecutor. A federal judge found that Habba has been serving in that position unlawfully for months because she is not Senate-confirmed and has not been approved by the judges of her district.
McIver hopes the videos can help dismiss the case against her on two separate grounds: vindictive prosecution and legislative immunity, as the tapes show her visiting the facility in connection with her oversight duties.
Pam Bondi’s victory lap on the Comey indictment
In a separate video for Legal AF, I explain why Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi’s boast about obtaining an indictment against former FBI director James Comey is ludicrous.
As noted in the video, grand juries rejecting charges have been called rarer than lightning strikes, and Comey’s grand jury incinerated what would have been the heart of the case. In addition, grand jury transcripts reveal that Trump’s former lawyer Lindsey Halligan, installed as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, barely obtained an indictment at all.
Grand jurors voted for two of the three charges by a slim majority (14 out of 23) on a probable cause standard, a fact that bodes poorly for the government’s burden to prove the charges unanimously beyond a reasonable doubt.
Halligan, a former insurance lawyer who has never prosecuted a criminal case, argued the case before the grand jury on her own, and the transcripts reveal the judge’s frustration with her rookie errors.
Watch the full video below.
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