Transcript
Alison Gill (0:00)
MSW Media hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Monday, May 26, 2025. Today, federal judges weigh taking control of the U.S. marshals amid threats from the Trump administration. President Zelensky condemns the United States silence after a massive Russian drone and missile strike. A federal judge orders the Trump administration to return a wrongfully disappeared Guatemalan man. Trump signed orders to overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from removing medical research papers from a Health and Human Services database over references to transgender people. A federal judge has halted the Trump administration's ban on Harvard's ability to enroll international students. The food sucked and security was lax at Trump's $148 million meme coin dinner. And the Navy reverses course on their diversity, equity and inclusion book ban. I'm your host, Alison Gill. Hey everybody, Happy Monday. Dana's out, as you know. Thanks for hanging in with me solo. She is out doing the good work, raising funds, protecting communities in need. And so we appreciate her work and we'll always honor her need to do that and travel and thank her very much for everything that she does. So I do appreciate you sticking around for the news while she's out. And thanks to everyone who's a patron who came to the Mega Super Happy Hour cocktail mocktail meet and greet extravaganza on Friday. That Zoom call we had hundreds and hundreds of people show up. We answered a ton of questions. It was me, Harry Dunn, Andy McCabe and Dana Goldberg. If you want to become a patron and get invites to these happy hour calls, you can do that@patreon.com Muller she wrote. Also, I'll be hosting the no Kings rally June 14 in downtown San Diego. And I'll be hosting a meet and greet for patrons after the march so we can get some food and drinks. Patrons, you should have an RSVP in your inbox and again to become a patron. Patreon.com Muller she wrote. I will be joined later in the show by ian Miller, a 22 year service member who was wrongfully arrested about a decade ago. And we're going to talk about how that impacted his life and the parallels that we see in these, you know, current stories that we're covering on due process and our two tiered justice system. All right, everybody, we have a lot of news to get to, so let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up, incredible scoop from the Wall Street Journal. Amid rising tensions between the Trump administration and the judiciary, some federal judges are beginning to actually discuss the idea of managing their own armed security force. The notion came up in a series of closed door meetings in early March, when a group of roughly 50 judges met in Washington for a semiannual meeting of the Judicial Conference. And that's a policy making body for the federal judiciary. That's the conference that decides that there can or can't be cameras in the courtroom, stuff like that there. During that conference, members of a security committee spoke about threats emerging as President Trump stepped up criticism of those who rule against his policies. Dozens of judges and their relatives have received, for example, anonymous pizza deliveries to their homes, which they perceive as, quote, we know where you live now. In March, five days after the Supreme Court upheld a lower court's ruling that the administration must pay U.S. aid contractors, Justice Amy Coney, Barrett's sister was. Was targeted with a bomb threat, and that's according to police records. Another judge had a SWAT team called on him after he overturned an executive order restricting birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court has its own dedicated police force, but the rest of the federal bench are protected by U.S. marshals. And the U.S. marshal Service reports to Attorney General Pam Bondi. Security committee members worried that Trump could order the marshals to stand down in retaliation for a decision that doesn't go his way. They weighed one potential proactive solution. What if they commanded their own security force? Their concerns even reached Chief Justice John Roberts, who fielded anxieties from judges over a breakfast in a meeting room in the Supreme Court that their current protection may be insufficient. On Thursday, Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey introduced legislation that would allow the Chief justice and Judicial Conference to. To appoint the head of the marshals, placing the courts in charge of their own security. In a statement, Booker said the legislation was necessary because Trump, quote, has made it abundantly clear through his words and actions that he does not respect the law, court orders, the safety of our judges or our institutions, unquote. The marshals, quote, dual accountability to the executive branch and the judicial branch paves the way toward a constitutional crisis. That's Booker. That's a U.S. senator. Judge John Kohenauer of the Western District of Washington, who had the SWAT team called on him, called the proposal to move the marshals under the judiciary a wonderful idea. Quote, there's never been any reason in the 43 years that I've been on the bench to worry that the marshal service would do whatever was appropriate until recent years. That's what Kohenhauer said. Now, moving to marshals under the judicial branch would be complicated and likely politically difficult. Still, that some Judges worry about the president pulling their security suggests that their relationship with the executive branch is more strained now than it ever has been. That's what retired Judge Jeremy Fogle, now the executive director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute, said. In addition to judicial protection, marshals have wide ranging responsibilities, including transporting prisoners, apprehending fugitives and operating the witness protection program. And here's the key. The marshal service also plays a role in enforcing judicial orders. Quote, I'm concerned about the constitutional crisis that occurs if the courts issue a lawful order ordering the marshal to do X. This is Carl Koch, a former assistant director of the Marshall's Judicial Security Division. And he goes on to say, and then the Justice Department comes in and says, you will not execute that order. I'm thinking specifically of contempt orders. So also speaking of contempt orders, I looked up the language in the billionaire bailout bill about contempt. And it's not what I think people are thinking that it is. And I've written it up@muellershirote.com basically, rule I think 65C of the federal civil Code says that if you're going to bring a motion for a preliminary injunction or a temporary restraining order, you need to put up a security. You have to put up money, an amount that the judge sees fit, that the judge thinks is appropriate before you can get that temporary restraining order in case it gets overturned and the defendants want to, you know, recoup costs, legal costs. Now usually that Rule 65C has been there forever. Generally, judges don't require. It's up to the judges. You know, it says in, in the rule, it's what the judges deem appropriate. The judges never, they charge $0 right up front as a security deposit. But what the bill, the big billionaire welfare bill says is that they can no longer charge $0, but nothing stopping the judges from charging like a nickel. So I don't think that this is at least as written as necessarily bad. I don't think it restricts contempt appropriations. So check that out. I wrote it up. Mullershiro.com Next up from NBC, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday criticized the United States and the international community for remaining silent after Russia unleashed what Ukrainian officials are describing as the large aerial assault on the country since the war began. Russian forces launched a massive overnight barrage Saturday as 367 drones and missiles targeted more than 30 sites and villages across Ukraine, including the capital Kiev. At least 12 people were killed, according to officials, including three children in the northern region. Quote, the silence of America, the silence of others in the world only encourages Putin. That's what Zelensky wrote on Telegram went on to say every such terrorist Russian strike is reason enough for new sanctions against Russia. Saturday's massive air raid follows a drone attack Friday that killed four people and also coincided with the final day of a large scale prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia. Next up from cnbc. President Trump signed a series of executive orders Friday to overhaul the nrc, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and speed the deployment of new nuclear power reactors in the United States. The NRC is a 50 year old independent agency that regulates the nation's fleet of nuclear reactors. Trump's orders call for a total and complete reform of the agency. That's according to a senior White House official who spoke to reporters in a briefing. Under the new rules, the commission will be required to decide on nuclear reactor licenses within 18 months. Now, Trump said Friday the orders focus on small, advanced reactors that are viewed by many in the industry as the future. But the president also said his administration supports building large nuclear plants. Quote, we're also talking about the big plants. Very, very big. The biggest we're going to be doing them also. That's what Trump said. The very, very big, big, big. The biggest. Unbelievable. Next Also from CNBC, the price of Trump's meme coin plunged 16% as a Friday morning, just hours after he hosted a black tie gala at his Virginia golf club for its biggest buyers, an elite crowd that spent a combined $148 million on the token for the chance to be there. It was billed as the most exclusive invitation in the world among 220 attendees included crypto influencers, industry executives such as Sandy Carter of the unstoppable domains, former NBA star Lamar Odom, who used the occasion to praise Trump as the greatest president and promote his own meme coin. The top 25 wallets were promised private reception and a guided tour. Others such as 25 year old Nicholas Pinto, whose dad drove him to the event in his Lamborghini, left underwhelmed and still hungry. Quote the food sucked, pinto said. Wasn't given any drinks other than water or Trump wine. And I don't drink, so I had water and my glass was only filled once, unquote. Trump made only a brief appearance. Pinto said he didn't talk to any of the 220 guests. Maybe the top 25, he said. Now the number one token holder was Chinese born crypto mogul Justin sun, who is currently facing a securities and Exchange Commission fraud charge. Multiple charges actually that were recently paused with the agency citing the public interest soon holds over $22 million in Trump coin and another 75 million in World Liberty Financial's native token. So this is nothing more than a slush fund for pay to Play. I mean, the corruption is right out there in the open, as it always has been with with Donald Trump and his administration. Next, let's turn to some good news. A federal judge ordered the Trump administration late Friday to facilitate the return of a Guatemalan man who'd been deported to Mexico despite fearing persecution and having told US Authorities about the violence he experienced there. The man known by OGC is gay and is now living in hiding in Guatemala in constant panic and constant fear. And that's according to a sworn declaration, quote, I can't be gay here, which means I can't be myself. The ruling by Judge Brian E. Murphy, one of the U.S. district Court in Boston, criticized the government for first claiming that OCG said he was not afraid of being sent to Mexico, where he said he was actually raped and held captive, but later admitting that it was unable to identify the officials who said he supposedly made that statement. So the the judge was not happy about that. Judge Murphy also found that OCG was likely to succeed in showing that his removal lacked any semblance of due process. That's a quote. Perhaps the case closest to OCG's is that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a mistakenly deported Maryland man. And it raises questions about the likelihood of OCG's return to the United States. Despite Judge Murphy's order. In both cases, a federal judge has instructed the Trump administration to correct its own admitted mistake and seek the men's return. Mr. Abrego Garcia, however, remains in prison in El Salvador. For more updates on Abrego Garcia, check out the latest episode of Unjustified came out Sunday. Don't want to miss it. All right, next up, I'm going to read to you from Judge Leo Sorkin's ruling. He's an Obama appointee. He says the plaintiffs in this action are physicians and professors who challenged the removal of articles they authored from an online patient safety resource launched and hosted by the federal government. They allege violations of their First Amendment rights and the Administrative Procedures Act. The apa, arising from the implementation by three government agencies of an executive order concerning gender ideology signed by the President on January 20, 2025. Before the court is the plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction, which is fully briefed and was the subject of a hearing. The plaintiffs are likely to succeed in proving that the removal of their articles was a textbook example of viewpoint discrimination by the defendants in violation of the First Amendment because irreparable harm necessarily flows from such a violation and the balance of harms and the public interest favor the plaintiffs. The motion for a preliminary injunction is granted in part. As explained below. The defendants must restore the patient safety articles they removed from the online resource at issue. So that's wonderful news. And more good news from cnn. A federal judge has temporarily halted the Trump administration's ban on Harvard's ability to enroll international students. And this was going down fast anyway. U.S. district Judge Allison Burrows ruled hours after the nation's oldest and wealthiest college filed suit on Friday. Harvard argued revocation of its certification in the student and exchange visitor program was, quote, a clear retaliation for its refusal of the government's ideologically rooted policy demands. Judge Burroughs is the same judge considering a separate lawsuit from Harvard challenging the administration's freeze of $2.65 billion in federal funding. Burrows, an Obama appointee, said in her order Harvard had shown it will sustain immediate and irreparable injury if the government were allowed to revoke the school's certification before the court could consider the matter. A remote conference in the case is set for Tuesday. Two days later, the judge is due to hear arguments at the federal courthouse in Boston over whether to issue a preliminary injunction, which is an order that would block the administration's action until a final decision is made in the lawsuit. So here's a judge appointed by Obama whose kids and himself went to Harvard. Baron Trump was not accepted into Harvard. And and so I hope that the the walls of Mar a Lago are running red with ketchup tonight. That's what I hope because there's just a lot of Obama and Harvard going against him in this particular ruling. And finally from ABC, in a major reversal, almost all of the 381 books that the Naval Academy removed from its libraries have been returned to the bookshelves after a new review using the Pentagon's standardized search terms for diversity, equity and inclusion titles found about 20 books that be removed pending future review by a Department of Defense panel. That's according to a defense official. The reversal comes after a May 9 Pentagon memo set Wednesday as the date by which the military services were to submit and remove book titles from the libraries of their military educational institutions that touch on diversity, race and gender issues, including the Pentagon specific search terms. Prior to the Pentagon memo standardizing search terms, the Navy used its own terms that identified 381 titles, including titles like I know why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, how to Be an Anti Racist by Kendi, Bodies in Doubt by Elizabeth Reese, and White Rage by Carol Anderson. So most of those titles have been returned to the shelves. Good. All right, we have listeners submitted good news to get to. But first, a 22 year service member, active duty, was wrongfully arrested a little over a decade ago. And we'll talk about why and what impact that had on him after this break. So stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.