Judge demands DOJ records after defendants tie possible criminal misconduct to White House

A federal judge demanded Justice Department records of any outside communications about the “Broadview Six” prosecution, as the former defendants tie possible criminal misconduct to the White House.

U.S. District Judge April Perry, in a Friday court order, “requests” that the government turn over by Oct. 30 all communications with anyone outside the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago about “any investigatory or charging decisions” in the case.

She also wants an Oct. 14, 2025, email that sent U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros a grand jury transcript. Perry, who alone will see the records, wrote that they will help her make findings on “potential sanctions or criminal contempt,” a charge for obstructing a court.

The six, most of them active in local Democratic politics, were accused of conspiring to impede a federal agent at a September 2025 protest outside an immigration facility in suburban Broadview during Operation Midway Blitz, the Trump administration’s deportation campaign, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

In a March filing, prosecutors told Perry there were “no communications of any nature” with anyone outside their office about charging decisions, other than local FBI investigators, according to the defendants’ April reply. The government called the defense’s suspicions “fevered paranoia.”

“To be crystal clear, this specifically includes anyone in the White House and all components and offices of Main Justice,” the prosecutors wrote, referring to Justice Department headquarters.

Perry accepted that assurance in April and found much of the defense request moot, WTTW reported.

The case collapsed on May 21, after Perry found that the lead prosecutor, Sheri Mecklenburg, allegedly vouched for the charges, staking her own credibility on them, and spoke to grand jurors outside the grand jury room, the Sun-Times reported. Perry also said Mecklenburg excused grand jurors who disagreed, which Mecklenburg denies, and found it “most problematic” that the misconduct was redacted from transcripts Boutros’ office first gave her.

“I have never seen the types of prosecutorial behavior before a grand jury that I saw in those transcripts,” Perry said at the May hearing, according to a government filing she unsealed Friday.

In June, the former defendants asked Perry in a motion to appoint an outside special counsel to investigate possible criminal contempt. They argued the misconduct “runs much deeper … and likely to the Department of Justice in Washington D.C.”

The motion said the misconduct “casts serious doubt on the government’s representations regarding a lack of outside influence from administration officials in Washington D.C.”

The defense filings cited a Sept. 19, 2025, post by White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson about defendant Kat Abughazaleh, then a congressional candidate.

“Obstructing law enforcement (which is what you just posted a video of yourself doing) isn’t a First Amendment right. It’s a crime,” Jackson wrote on X.

The motion also cited Boutros’ own appearance before the grand jury on Oct. 23, 2025, after prosecutors had twice failed to win an indictment from the panel. The panel indicted the six that day.

“If there’s anyone here who is struggling with a certain type of cases, such as the immigration cases … I would ask that you raise your hand and identify yourself,” Boutros told the grand jurors, according to the motion.

At an Oct. 1 hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Whalen acknowledged outside communications might exist but said they would have come after the decision to file charges, the Sun-Times reported. Perry tried to pin down when that decision was made.

“[T]here’s nothing. No way, no how,” Perry said she had been told. “And now, your argument has changed pretty significantly, and is ‘well, if there was something, it would be privileged.’”

“[M]y sole focus, at this point, is on lack of candor, concealment of material facts, or other misconduct that occurred before me,” Perry said at the hearing.

The Oct. 14 email sent Boutros the transcript of the Oct. 9, 2025, grand jury session, according to her order. The defense motion says the vouching happened in that session.

Boutros told Perry in May that he learned of the vouching on “either April 27 or the 28th,” the motion said.

Perry’s order also requires the tracking data for each message, including “read receipts, delivery status, and message tracking logs.” For any conversations, the government must list who took part and certify they were not recorded, she wrote.

“Testimony from witnesses may be requested at a later time, after the Court has reviewed the relevant documents,” Perry wrote.