US President Donald Trump speaks on the day the final steel beam goes into the ballroom, at the White House in Washington, DC, US, November 4, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci
A lawyer for President Donald Trump’s Justice Department asked for more time to screen records for privileges that could keep them out of a federal judge’s inquiry into whether prosecutors made false statements to her about outside communications, including with Justice Department headquarters and the White House.
Henrique Carneiro, counsel to Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, asked U.S. District Judge April Perry on Wednesday to push her deadline to Monday, court records show. Perry had already given the government three extra days to respond.
In the filing, Carneiro argued that “typically, the subjects of an inquiry do not bear the burden of discovery” without help from lawyers further removed from it. The extension, he wrote, would let additional government attorneys finish reviewing documents for responsiveness and privileges, citing protections for law enforcement investigations and internal deliberations.
Perry granted the request Thursday, setting a new deadline of 2 p.m. Monday, according to the court docket.
Perry’s Oct. 9 request covers any communications Chicago prosecutors had with anyone outside their office about investigative or charging decisions in the “Broadview Six” case, which involved protesters at an immigration facility in suburban Broadview, Illinois. The case collapsed May 21 after Perry discovered alleged misconduct in grand jury transcripts, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Perry wrote Nov. 2 that she is investigating whether prosecutors made “willful false statements” to her.
At issue is a denial the department has steadily narrowed. On March 30, Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hogan told Perry there had been no communications with anyone outside the U.S. attorney’s office, other than local FBI investigators assigned to the case, about investigative or charging decisions.
“To be crystal clear, this specifically includes anyone in the White House and all components and offices of Main Justice,” Hogan told the court.
But in August, U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros wrote that he had reported the charging decision to the department’s Washington headquarters shortly before the first grand jury session in October 2025. A September correction then acknowledged communications with headquarters after the charging decision, maintained they were privileged, and said there had been no communications with the White House about the case.
Perry wrote Nov. 2 that the department’s “caveats and carve-outs” indicate Hogan’s statement was false. The department has said the statement was true as it relates to pre-charging decisions, according to her order, and Hogan noted the contact with headquarters in a footnote.
When Perry’s first deadline arrived Oct. 30, Woodward told her the government had not agreed to provide any information, and asked her to clarify whether the truthfulness of Hogan’s March statement was what drove her inquiry.
Because the department has already called its communications with headquarters privileged, the new privilege review could allow it to withhold the same kinds of records from Perry. Her request requires any privilege log to identify each document’s author, recipients, date, subject and a short summary.
Defense attorneys for the protesters argued in March that the Trump administration had repeatedly and openly tried to bend the Justice Department toward the president’s personal and political interests.
Boutros, Hogan and two other prosecutors must testify under oath before Perry on Nov. 16, a week after the new deadline. She wrote in October that her inquiry could lead to potential sanctions or criminal contempt.