So, it’s come to this. The good ship USS Revenge Prosecution is sinking. And the deserting rats are deciding which rats should desert first, apparently based on nothing more than the current state of the organizational chart.
Two people figured heavily into the disastrous attempt to prosecute a handful of Chicago residents for engaging in protected First Amendment activity. The DOJ, urged on by the DHS and Trump himself, wanted to ring up hundreds of people on federal charges for engaging in anti-ICE protests. By the time the DOJ got things in front of a grand jury, the number of defendants had dwindled to… six.
They were the so-called “Broadview Six.” And while the DOJ — represented locally by US Attorney Andrew Boutros — thought it had secured a handful of wins via the grand jury sign-off on the charges, it only took an initial visit to federal court to find out how wrong it was.
Here’s what Boutros did to salvage what was left of his reputation when everything suddenly went disastrously sideways in from of federal judge April Perry:
Boutros announced the decision to dismiss the remaining charges in court following a closed-door meeting over redacted grand jury transcripts. He told U.S. District Judge April Perry he was unaware until recently of the alleged misconduct, including a prosecutor meeting with a grand juror outside proceedings and other jurors who disagreed with the case being dismissed and prevented from participating. Boutros did not dispute the allegations, saying the conduct was upsetting and the reason the case was being dismissed.
“Not good enough!” said the righteously outraged court, which demanded more answers from the DOJ, as well as raising the specter of sanctions if said answers weren’t acceptable:
Although I am not going to prejudge the issue without a hearing, I will say that I was incredibly shocked by the redactions that were made. I have read hundreds, if not thousands, of grand jury transcripts involving prosecutors who are the most junior of prosecutors to several U.S. Attorneys who appeared before the grand jury. I have never seen the types of prosecutorial behavior before a grand jury that I saw in those transcripts.
And this was all over a handful of federal misdemeanor charges, after Boutros and his subordinates (1) did shady shit with a grand jury, and (2) couldn’t actually get anyone to bite on felony charges against the “Broadview Six.”
US Attorney Boutros still has his job, despite being this debacle’s ringleader. The person who has been permanently turfed — former special agent in charge of the Chicago field office, Douglas DePodesta — wasn’t actually involved in the failed prosecution. But he was the one who paid the price for this DOJ failure, as WBEZ Chicago reports:
When charges were dropped against the “Broadview Six” amid revelations of apparent prosecutorial misconduct, “Boutros began a campaign within the Department of Justice to blame DePodesta for the unraveling of the case.” Boutros’ complaints to superiors in Washington ultimately led to DePodesta’s ouster, the lawsuit says.
More succinctly put:
“I was forced to leave my job,” DePodesta said. “I was ordered to leave my job.”
DePodesta’s ouster is likely the result of a couple of things. First, Boutros desperately needed a patsy to take the hit on his behalf so he could continue his disservice to his office and his country. Second, DePodesta was a holdover from Christopher Wray’s stint as Trump’s FBI Director — an FBI director Trump only likes slightly more than James Comey.
The lawsuit [PDF] alleges that DePodesta’s rights (First, Fifth, and others) were violated by this forced resignation. It hopes to secure not only back pay and other damages, but also a formal statement from the Trump administration admitting to violating the former FBI SAIC’s rights.
Most likely, none of that will happen. But while it works its way to not happening, we can hope that it will result in a bunch of discovery that exposes more of the inner workings of Trump’s DOJ-enabled revenge operations.
But before we give DePodesta the ol’ “Comey is my homey” treatment, let’s not forget that he wasn’t exactly opposed to Trump’s anti-migrant/anti-civil rights overtures. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune shortly after his elevation to the top spot in the FBI’s Chicago office, DePodesta not only echoed a bunch of dumb fentanyl-related talking points, but also affirmed his loyalty to the Bigoted New World Order Trump sought to create by turning every federal law enforcement agency into little more than DHS deputies:
DePodesta said the Chicago FBI, which has more than 1,000 total employees, has partnered locally with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, embedding some of the FBI’s 450 agents on the street “helping them effect arrests.”
The targets, DePodesta said, “are people that have removal orders that have a criminal history — murderers, rapists,” adding that the effort was “ongoing” and had no timetable for a conclusion.
“It is not a surge; it is a sustained effort,” DePodesta said. He said no new agents have been added to fulfill the FBI’s role in immigration enforcement — instead, agents from other squads have rotated and worked overtime.
DePodesta was onboard with rerouting FBI resources to help with mass deportation efforts. His contribution here contributed to the events that led to the bullshit charges against anti-ICE protesters. And, until we see something in forthcoming documents that states otherwise, there’s little reason to believe DePodesta wasn’t, at best, just saying nothing as the DHS and ICE utilized shared resources to surveil protesters and use whatever they could find to generate criminal charges.
So, while DePodesta wasn’t involved at all with the extremely questionable prosecutions the DOJ engaged in here, he also doesn’t seem to have done much to keep himself or his direct employees from becoming the very tools of vengeful oppression he’s suing about now that he’s out of a job.
Again, some judgment can be withheld here because all the facts aren’t available. But I’m willing to bet that once they are made public (assuming the administration doesn’t just write a check to DePodesta and tell him to walk away from this), it will not only expose the DOJ’s complete subjugation, but will likely show DePodesta’s agreement to contribute to the mass deportation effort won’t see him emerge from this lawsuit as an anti-MAGA hero.
