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Imagine if the series of events occurred abroad: the most striking prosecutor was the president's former private lawyer and did not legally confirm her role, then accuse members of the opposition of committing serious crimes against members of the opposition and then declared that it was not on the government platform, but in the social of the president's friends and big lieutenants, and in the social of social. Will the outsider draw conclusions about the strength of democracy and rule of law in that country?
Yesterday, interim U.S. attorney for Alina Habba, New Jersey, announced she was collecting Democrat Lamonica McIver, a Democrat whose district includes the city of Newark, attacked federal agents. McVer reportedly faces several criminal charges related to the incident of Delaney Hall, a privately operated immigration-definition facility in Newark. Mayor Ras Baraka argued that the prison had no proof of occupation, while city officials cited the violations. Baraka, who repeatedly visited and asked for entry, was blocked from entering.
On May 9, Baraka again visited with three members of Congress, including McPherson. He was initially invited through the gate, but was then asked to leave, and he did. After he walked outside, federal agents chased him on public property. Afterwards, a chaotic chaos occurred and Baraka was arrested. Although federal officials mocked Baraka's political stunts, it was a stunt they made themselves, and the allegations of intrusion against Baraka never seemed likely to stick to it.
Indeed, Haba gave it up yesterday and filed charges against McPher. You can watch the video and decide for yourself - McIver is one of the red blazers - but call this attack big. McVille reached out to an official when the agent and the politicians were arguing, and he faced it head-on, barely responded. (Sometimes people are sometimes accused of assaulting the police for chance contact, even if there is no reasonable layman to determine what happened is an “attack.”
Interpret it as trying to punish anything that criticizes and intimidates Democrats. Prosecutions of MPs, including those who oppose the party, are not inherently inappropriate, and fifty of politicians have violated the law - but the situation here needs to be carefully scrutinized. (McIver denies any attacks; her lawyers call the allegations "very inappropriate.")
It could have brought more questions to people if it weren't for Donald Trump's open desire to turn the Justice Department into a tool of political retribution, or his previous record of attacks on law enforcement. The president fired a career prosecutor, revoked the security permits of critics, and served as FBI director, who once threatened to "follow" Trump's critics. The Justice Department has launched an investigation into the leading democratic fundraising platform with a shaky premise. Trump has selected a U.S. lawyer for the District of Columbia, who worked so hard while serving interim that even Republican senators could not stand confirming him. Instead, Trump appointed the head of his Justice Department’s “Weaponization Task Force,” a name that was unintentionally revealed. The Justice Department has prosecuted a Wisconsin judge for obstructing immigration arrest (she pleaded not guilty), and Attorney General Pam Bondi explicitly described the charges as warnings to other judges who may violate the government.
Considering that two similar cases offer more reasons, the allegations against McPherson are regarded as political intimidation. One incident was another incident involving members of Congress of Cory Mills, Republican of Florida. In February, police in Washington, D.C. responded to a call in which a woman described as a "significant other" woman in the police report was freshly injured, and police listened to Mills' listening and encouraged her to lie about the dispute on the phone. (Ever since then, Mills and the woman say there is no violence.) U.S. attorneys in Washington, D.C. refused to accept the case.
The second is the uprising at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The Justice Department has applied to dismiss the case against the thugs, prosecutors involved in such cases, and pardoned some people sentenced to jail for suspected crimes, including injured police officers. This week, news came out that the Justice Department was approaching a $5 million settlement to Ashli Babbitt's family, a woman fatally shot by Capitol police while trying to attack the spokesperson's hall at the Capitol. These are not government actions, they are committed to defending federal law enforcement.
The May 9 incident followed the immigration-defined facility, and Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries warned the government not to punish any congressmen in attendance. "That's a red line. It's a red line, very clear." Now the government has crossed this line by charging Lamonica McIver. Like many of Trump’s actions, it’s a test of the system: how does the courts, Congress and, above all, the American people respond? If they allow Trump to succeed, he will take an important step to illegally make dissent.
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Germany arrested man's son King Peter I
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Last week, Germany arrested Peter Fitzek, 59, an anti-government figure also known as King Peter I, the Messiah, the son of humanity. Historically, attempts to arrest Messiah encountered different outcomes, so to keep the safe side, the Ministry of the Interior not only rolled up Fitzker and the three conspirators, but also closed his entire operation, known as the Kingdom of Germany. King Peter's subject denies the legitimacy of the Federal Republic of Germany, and over the past 13 years they have established anti-states with their institutions. Peter told me in 2023: "In Germany, just like in the rest of the world, we have a lot of problems. These problems cannot be solved in the old system, so we need a whole new problem."
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Stephanie Bai contributed to the newsletter.
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