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DOJ Is Still Withholding Evidence DHS Entrapped LaMonica McIver
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WaPo has an update on Trump’s efforts to gin up some excuse to deport Ilhan Omar, revealing that Trump already investigated the things they’re pursuing now, but found insufficient evidence to charge it. (It also names Alessandra Serano as the person doing this dirty work.)And as part of DOJ’s efforts to steal votes again, Bill Essayli is promising prosecutions unless CA affirmatively disenfranchises people who might but are not proven to be undocumented.
Meanwhile, LaMonica McIver submitted a motion asking Judge Jamel Semper to compel DHS to finally turn over all the evidence they deliberately tried to set up some cause to prosecute Democrats on May 9, 2025.
Last November — after McIver had completed briefing her motion to dismiss for vindictive prosecution — DOJ turned over communications showing that their prior searches had been inadequate, communications that showed racist and political bias and a plan to arrest members of Congress before they arrived at Delaney Hall.
At 11:26 a.m. on May 9 – more than an hour before the members or the mayor arrived at Delaney Hall, high-ranking DHS Officials discussed which “section of 18USC we would have to use to arrest someone,” and how they could assure “the element(s) of the crime can be established” in order “to determine what can be charged.” [emphasis original]
It likewise showed DHS planned the confrontation that led to the tussle for which McIver was charged (while seemingly referring to one of them — almost certainly McIver — as a state legislator).
At 2:37 p.m., someone associated with DHS falsely reported to high ranking DHS officials that “2 Congressmen, 1 state legislator, and the Newark Mayor just trespassed beyond the gate at Delaney [Hall] (after two vehicles were let in to enter), and there was a shouting match, and SRT [ICE’s Special Response Team] stopped them and pushed them back. I think we need to proactively hit back. HSI exploring prosecuting them (which I think they should).” See Cortes Decl., Ex. 8 at 11 (emphasis added). Yet agents did not go through the gate to arrest the mayor until six minutes later, at 2:43 p.m. [emphasis original]
But there are at least three issues outstanding:
- At least one DHS goon told another to shift their conversation about arresting people to his personal device. But DHS has not inquired about the use of personal devices from anyone.
- The devices of three key participants in the May 9 events were deleted, for which spoilage DHS has given no explanation.
- In January and February, McIver and DOJ were still fighting about search terms for communications, specifically whether to search on Democrat and other political search terms. That is, DOJ continues to refuse to search for evidence that DHS targeted the Mayor and Members of Congress because they were Democrats, even though one of the participants referred to Rob Menendez by attacking his family generally.
DOJ is claiming that doing a search on whether this was politicized would yield privileged communications, and therefore they won’t do the search.
[T]he government rejected 18 search terms that are narrowly tailored to identify three particular categories of responsive evidence:
- DHS’s efforts to plan for and impair the Members’ oversight visit (Indict*, 18USC, Protest*, NPD, Charge*, Prosecut*19);
- Communications discussing, expressing, or commenting on political views – either those views of prosecution team members or discussing Congresswoman McIver’s (Democrat*, Dem*, Lib*, Left*, Radical, Antifa); and
- Communications about the press releases that DHS prepared and published on and after May 9 that falsely described the Members’ visitto Delaney Hall (Trespass, Bus, Antifa, Storm*, Force*, “broke in”, and (“press release” and (tricia or DHS or Delaney or hall or dhall))).20
These search terms could “hit” on documents relevant to the defense; indeed, they go to the core issues of state of mind, bias, and DHS’s disregard of the law. Thus, the government’s refusal to deploy such search terms is inappropriate: when “a request for relevant and specific information is received by a prosecutor, he must respond to that request as long as there is some substantial basis for claiming materiality.” United States v. Boffa, 513 F. Supp. 444, 499 (D. Del. 1980); see also, David, 2026 WL 1880216, at *3.
More troubling is the government’s purported justification for the refusal to use some search terms. According to the AUSAs, they will not run these search terms because, in their view, those terms would yield documents that include privileged material and others that contain policy and political viewpoints. Those purported justifications are completely inappropriate.
19 Although not included in the terms proposed by Congresswoman McIver on January 26, the government should also search “Prosecut*” for the reasons discussed below.
20 The DHS Officials and ICE Officers at Delaney Hall knew that the Members did not “storm[] the gate” or “trespass[],” despite the press releases indicating otherwise. There also is evidence that DHS Officials present at Delaney Hall were instrumental in drafting and publishing the language anyway. See, e.g., Cortes Decl., Ex. 8 at 1-7 (the senior DHS Official, whose phone was deleted, corrected the language of the false press release that originally stated the Members “broke into the detention facility” but approved the portion of the press release indicating they had “stormed the gate”); Id., Ex. 12 at 1 (senior DHS Officials revising false press release).
On October 9, McIver asked the Third Circuit for an en banc review of her Speech and Debate challenge to this prosecution.
But she also seems to be getting this thing dismissed because DHS and DOJ are conducting a cover-up of a deliberate attempt to orchestrate the arrest of Black Democrats doing their job.
The post DOJ Is Still Withholding Evidence DHS Entrapped LaMonica McIver appeared first on emptywheel.