Lawyers in President Donald Trump's Department of Justice made some "significant" admissions in court on Thursday that could doom its prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, according to one expert.
The Trump administration has been in an intense legal fight with Abrego Garcia's lawyers since he was deported to El Salvador last year. Courts ruled that the deportation was illegal and ordered Abrego Garcia to be returned to the U.S. Once he returned, the Trump administration charged him with human trafficking. Abrego Garcia's lawyers have argued that the charges are a "vindictive prosecution."
During a hearing on Thursday, Trump administration lawyers made a series of admissions that undercut key claims levied against Abrego Garcia and raised questions about whether the charges were politically motivated, according to Adam Klasfeld, editor-in-chief of All Rise News.
For instance, Klasfeld said that Trump's lawyers admitted they didn't send a memo outlining reasons not to charge Abrego Garcia, written by Ben Schrader, the former head of the DOJ's criminal division in Tennessee, to the Trump White House because of how "keenly interested" the administration was in the case. Schrader resigned from the DOJ the same day Abrego Garcia was charged.
Shrader's memo stated that he would not bring the case against Abrego Garcia because the charges were politically motivated, Klasfeld said. That stood in stark contrast to Trump prosecutor Rob McGuire's claim that he made an independent decision to file the charges.
McGuire also admitted under oath that he received an email from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche's aide two hours before the charges were filed, telling him who the government's lead cooperating witness would be.
"Another very significant part of the chronology," Klasfeld said.
