Arresting a Judge

 

FULL DISCLOSURE: THERE ARE PETITIONS CIRCULATING TO DISBAR 

CORRUPT PAM BONDI. LET'S REMEMBER THAT SHE REFUSED TO PROSECUTE 

JEFFREY EPSTEIN. SHE REFUSED TO PROSECUTE THE FRAUDULANT 

TRUMP UNIVERSITY....TRUMP REWARDED HER WITH A $25,000 CAMPAIGN 

CONTRIBUTION. 

THERE'S A GREAT DEAL OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AVAILABLE IF YOU 

JUST DO A SIMPLE SEARCH.

SPINELESS MAGA GOP SENATORS CONFIRMED HER APPOINTMENT! 

FCPA: FOREIGN CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT 

PAM BONDI WAS 

AG Bondi Overhauls FCPA Enforcement in Day 1 Memo

FOLEYHOAG EXPLAINED

5 things you need to know about Pam Bondi

excerpt: 

Her dog custody battle played out publicly

Bondi was involved in a custody battle with Hurricane Katrina victims over a St. Bernard she adopted in 2005 after the dog was separated from his family during the storm.

The family had been trying to find the dog and Bondi refused to return him. She accused the family of neglecting the animal, an allegation they denied.

The family sued, and the dispute lasted 16 months until the two sides settled before trial. Bondi returned the dog to the family with food and medication.

POLITICO PAM BONDI

Arresting a Judge

Joyce Vance Apr 27

Judges across the country are undoubtedly wondering what sort of trumped-up charges might be used to storm into their courtrooms and arrest them if the attorney general of the United States doesn’t like the way they’re keeping order and conducting the people’s business in their courtrooms. Arresting judges isn’t something we should have to worry about in a democracy. But after Friday’s events, where federal agents arrested Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Judge Hannah Dugan to the loud cheering of their bosses, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, it’s one more marker of the country’s constitutional distress.

From Pacer: Compliant signed by Magistrate Judge Stephen C Dries

Dugan is charged with obstruction of proceedings before a department or agency of the United States, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and concealing a person to prevent arrest, which carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison. The allegations relate to efforts by federal agents to arrest a Mexican national, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, on charges of illegally reentering the United States after being deported. He had not been indicted, and the warrant for his arrest was an administrative warrant issued by ICE, not a warrant issued by a federal judge. Flores-Ruiz was in Judge Dugan’s courtroom on misdemeanor assault charges—no one is saying he shouldn’t face both the state and federal charges.

We’ll get into the government’s specific allegations in a minute. Suffice it to say, the Judge was in her courtroom, trying to keep order and conduct proceedings, and the agents intruded into that space in a manner that is inconsistent with the way federal agents are, or at least used to be, taught to respect courtrooms.

There are practical implications too. If ICE can make arrests in courtrooms, defendants simply won’t show up. Witnesses may be hesitant too. People may become less willing to report crimes in immigrant communities. The ability of police to enforce the law, to obtain witness testimony, and to protect communities could be seriously hampered. This is not new territory. It’s been plowed again and again. ICE is free to make their arrests. They can do it outside of the courthouse—there are a limited number of exits. In some courthouses, they can do it in public spaces, but this courthouse in Milwaukee was still in the process of determining its policy, so Judge Dugan asked the agents to speak with the chief judge before they proceeded. An eminently reasonable request.

We don’t yet know the reason she escorted Flores-Ruiz out the side door of her courtroom that led to her jury box, and also back out to the main hall, according to one person familiar with the courtroom. But it makes sense, since the main hall is where they ended up and where agents saw them, following them out of the courthouse. It doesn’t sound nefarious, and even if the Judge took unusual steps to preserve public safety or order in her courtroom—we haven’t heard her version of the facts yet—it hardly rises to the level of criminality. She returned to the bench to continue with her docket after the incident; that’s hardly the conduct of a hardened criminal.

But here’s Attorney General Pam Bondi:

“What has happened to our judiciary is beyond me,” Bondi told Fox News, commenting on Judge Dugan's arrest. “They’re deranged. I think some of these judges think they are beyond and above the law, and they are not. We are sending a very strong message today: If you are harboring a fugitive, we don’t care who you are. If you are helping hide one, if you are giving a [gang] member guns, anyone who is illegally in this country, we will come after you, and we will prosecute you. We will find you.”

Condemning the entirety of the judiciary in 50 states on the strength of two indictments is going overboard. And that’s precisely what we count on the attorney general of the United States not to do. It’s a position that calls for a calm, measured individual who gets the facts straight and understands the rules, because if they don’t, individuals’ rights get trampled upon and due process gets denied.

But what’s going on here is something more. It’s the negligent wave of the hand at “our judiciary,” a weak, sloppy, willingness to undercut the public’s confidence in an entire branch of government at the state level across the country in order to push Trump’s political agenda on immigration. As attorney general, Bondi’s job is to serve the president who appointed her but keep him at arm’s length when it comes to bringing cases against individuals.

My husband is a state court judge. It’s far too easy for me to imagine federal agents entering courtrooms across the country to arrest state court judges for running their courtrooms as they see fit. Getting rid of inconvenient judges on the path to autocracy is a well-worn step for would-be dictators to take. Viktor Orban did it in 2012 in Hungary, using forced retirements to strip out judicial opposition to his plans, despite a finding by the EU court that his steps were inconsistent with EU law. Perhaps in America in 2025, arresting a few judges in hopes of intimidating the rest is considered an easier path to get to the same place without the risk that seven judges on the Supreme Court might rule against you. Arrest judges in places like Milwaukee a few times, and on top of the threats to impeach federal judges who rule against the administration, a president might be able to create a climate of fear that would keep the rest of the judiciary in line. Dictators are adept at eroding democracy into a shell of itself, little more than an empty facade. Interfering with the judiciary is one of the keys to getting there.

Judges do get arrested for legitimate reasons from time to time. We had one of those cases in my office when I was a young prosecutor, and the nature of the alleged crimes is instructive. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Jack Montgomery’s house was searched pursuant to a warrant authorized by a federal judge in October 1993, and FBI agents found thousands of dollars in cash in his home. We indicted him on extortion and racketeering charges. Judge Montgomery was found shot dead in his home before a trial could take place. But despite the outcome of the case, no one had doubts it was the type of case the federal government should be prosecuting, as long as the evidence was solid. The charges were serious, involving corruption of the judicial system and interference with justice.

That’s a far cry from charging a judge with obstruction of justice and harboring a fugitive because a judge let a defendant out a side exit in her courtroom that fed him back into the main hall, which is what happened to Hannah Dugan. We don’t know all of the facts yet, and it’s important to remember that. But, we do have the government’s version—it’s the judge’s side of the story that is yet to be told. And the government’s version isn’t compelling. Even those who staunchly believe in mass deportations may find that prosecuting a judge for maintaining order in and around her courtroom is a bridge too far; the overblown allegations and absurd effort to connect the dots and come up with a crime in the affidavit used to obtain an arrest warrant don’t meet the standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Americans understand how outrageous this is. In Milwaukee, they flocked into the streets outside the courthouse by midday to protest. Suddenly, everyone was aware of what had happened, and there were protests in other cities too. Even at this early stage, there are some real questions about how the government is proceeding and the merit of the charges:

• Why was the Judge arrested? Normally, in cases like this that don’t involve violence or risk to the community, or where there’s some indication that a defendant might flee, a case goes to the next grand jury. If an indictment is issued, the defendant receives a notice to appear in court for arraignment. Arrests like this one are unusual. Here, it appears to be an effort to sensationalize the case in a way that is unnecessary and seems designed to intimidate this judge and other judges. The government will still have to take the case to a grand jury to obtain an indictment within the next few weeks, or face a preliminary hearing in court, where they would have to present all their evidence —a step federal prosecutors typically avoid. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a case where that happened, although there may be a few out there.

• Why arrest her at the courthouse? Again, this is just an effort to sensationalize the case and intimidate other judges. She could have been safely arrested at her home. There is absolutely no doubt that if they had advised her of the situation, she would have turned herself in to be booked. In essence, this is the biggest, most outrageous perp walk of all time, complete with a tweet from the Director of the FBI.

• State court judges have legitimate concerns about ICE operating inside of their courtrooms and courthouses. The agents were always going to get their guy. But the language in the affidavit reflects no respect for any of the Judge’s concerns, describing her as becoming “visibly angry” and calling their conduct “absurd” as though that was somehow objectionable on her part.

• The affidavit used to obtain the arrest warrant for the Judge seems to view every action in the worst possible light. The defendant and his lawyer, after leaving the courtroom, walked down the hall to the elevators, passing one bank and heading to the next. Sounds suspicious if you read the agent’s affidavit. Except that the facts are, they walked past a bank of elevators that went to the parking lot and entered one that took them to an exit on the main floor that they used to leave the building. The agent’s complaint that they spoke Spanish in the elevator, and that he doesn’t, isn’t even worth addressing. At one point, the affidavit seems to object to the Judge walking down “a non-public hallway from which she could access her courtroom and chambers—a pretty standard way for judges to enter their courtroom. Courts are used to relying on agent’s relating the facts in a good faith manner. That’s simply not the case here, and the affidavit contains multiple inconsistencies and overreaches. You can read the complaint here and the DOJ press release here.

• The government has to prove the Judge intended to obstruct justice when she permitted the defendant to leave her courtroom through the side door, and that’s difficult to do. We know that intent is often the most challenging issue prosecutors face. Here, when the defendant leaves the Judge’s courtroom and goes into a space where agents can, and in fact do, apprehend him, it’s going to be hard to show she had “an improper purpose,” as the law requires, and was trying to prevent them from going about their business. We still don’t know what all of the evidence is, but on its face, this looks like a burden the government will have difficulty overcoming.

• As for harboring a fugitive, part of what the government would have to prove involves establishing the Judge actually harbored or concealed the fugitive. There is legal precedent that explains harboring means giving someone a place to stay or caring for them while they’re hiding from law enforcement. The government would also have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Judge intended to prevent the fugitive's discovery or arrest. Unless the government has more evidence, that looks like a heavy lift here.

Given all of these concerns, legal, factual, and policy, you would expect prosecutors to take their time to think things through instead of jumping in with a precipitous and highly public indictment. The concerns take us back to the question of why the case was charged at all, and the answer is that the motivation has little to do with what Judge Dugan did here. Trump is coming for the judges. It will be up to all of us to stand with them.

We’re in this together,

Joyce

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Trump’s playbook is Viktor Orbán’s My breakfast with Orbán expert John Shattuck Robert Reich Apr 15 Friends, A few days ago I had breakfast with my old friend John Shattuck, who, as president of Central European University in Budapest, saw firsthand how Viktor Orbán took over Hungary’s democracy and turned it into an authoritarian state. When Trump was elected in 2016, Trump endorsed Orbán, and Orbán started attacking universities — forcing the Central European University out of Hungary. John believes Trump is emulating Orbán’s playbook. (Steve Bannon once declared that “Orbán was Trump before there was Trump.”) Orbân’s playbook has 10 parts, according to John: One: Take over your party and enforce internal party discipline by using political threats and intimidation to stamp out all party dissent. Two: Build your base by appealing to fear and hate, branding immigrants and cultural minorities as dangers to society, and demonizing your opponents as enemies of the people. Three: Use disinformation and lies to justify what you’re doing. Four: Use your election victory to claim a sweeping mandate — especially if you don’t win a majority. Five: Centralize your power by destroying the civil service. Six: Redefine the rule of law as rule by executive decree. Weaponize the state against all democratic opponents. Demonize anyone who doesn’t support the leader as an “enemy of the people.” Seven: Eliminate checks and balances and separation of powers by taking over the legislature, the courts, the media, and civil society. Target opponents with regulatory penalties like tax audits, educational penalties such as denials of accreditation, political penalties like harassment investigations, physical penalties like withdrawing police protection, and criminal penalties like prosecution. Eight: Rely on your oligarchs — hugely wealthy business and financial leaders — to supervise the economy and reward them with special access to state resources, tax cuts, and subsidies. Nine: Ally yourself with other authoritarians like Vladimir Putin and support his effort to undermine European democracies and attack sovereign countries like Ukraine. Ten: Get the public to believe that all this is necessary, and that resistance is futile. John noted that Orbán’s influence now reaches across Europe. In Austria, a political party founded by former Nazis will be part of a new coalition government this year headed by a leader who has close ties to Russia and opposes European support for Ukraine. A similar nationalist far-right government has taken over next door in Slovakia. Europe’s three biggest countries, Italy, France and Germany, have all swung toward the far-right, but so far they remain democracies. Italy has a nationalist government headed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who’s followed parts of the Orbán playbook but has been pushed toward the center and has softened her position on immigration and Ukraine. In France, the far-right party of Marine Le Pen won last year’s parliamentary elections, but a coalition of opposition parties, prodded by Emmanuel Macron, united to deny her party a parliamentary majority. Their resistance will be tested by new elections in June. In Germany, the center-left government headed by Olaf Scholz fell at the end of last year. In late February, parliamentary elections took place that determined whether the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party would become part of a new government. Viktor Orbán, Elon Musk, and JD Vance all endorsed the AfD before the elections, but it came in second with just under 20 percent of the vote, and polls show that 71 percent of Germans believe that the AfD is a threat to democracy because of its overt connections to the Nazi past. Poland, the biggest new democracy in Eastern Europe, at first adopted but is now resisting the Orbán model. A far-right government elected in 2015 almost destroyed the independence of the Polish judiciary, but opposition parties united to defend the courts and defeated the government in 2023, replacing it with a centrist regime headed by Donald Tusk, with a strong commitment to restore Polish democracy. What lessons can be drawn from all this? John believes that the best way to respond to Orbán’s right-wing populism is by building coalitions for economic populism based on health care, education, taxes, and public spending. He points to historical examples of this, like the American Farmer-Labor coalition that brought together urban workers, white farmers, and Black sharecroppers and led to the Progressive Movement and the New Deal in the 20th century. Today there’s an urgent need for a new populist movement to attack economic inequality. John says that defending democracy should itself be a populist cause. In the Orbán playbook, the national flag was hijacked by the authoritarian leader. John believes that the flag of American democracy must be reclaimed as a symbol of the rule of law, a society built on human rights and freedoms, and international alliances and humanitarian values. When these soft-power democratic assets are destroyed, a huge void opens up — to be filled by authoritarians like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, who are the ultimate political models for Viktor Orbán and Donald Trump. John urges that we pro-democracy anti-Trumpers move quickly with protests, lawsuits, and loud resistance. He says that those who believe Democrats should just play dead and wait for the 2026 midterm elections are profoundly wrong. Speed is essential. I was struck by John’s optimism. He believes that the U.S. is better situated than Hungary to resist authoritarianism. We are 30 times bigger and infinitely more diverse, and our diversity is the source of our economic and cultural strength. The U.S. has an enormous and active civil society, a judiciary that remains mostly independent, a free and open if partially captured and manipulated media, and a constitution that guarantees the rights of the people to challenge and change their government. Trump won less than 50 percent of the vote in last fall’s election, and his approval rating is well below that in recent polls. National polls show that 70 percent of Americans today see democracy as a core American value. Resistance to the assault on democracy is not only possible, John says, but it’s essential — and it can work, as shown by the growing number of successful lawsuits that have been brought against Trump’s flood of executive decrees and the rising tide of grassroots mobilization by civil society groups across the country who are organizing demonstrations and lobbying legislators to stand up for democracy. For two and a half centuries, Americans have fought to expand the right to vote, to achieve equal protection, to oppose intolerance and political violence, to gain freedom of speech and religion, to guarantee due process of law. These goals may now seem to be blocked by Trump, but the U.S. is not Germany in the 1930s nor Hungary in 2025. Americans across the country are beginning to resist. John believes American democracy will emerge stronger for our efforts.

 

Our President Is A Dictator 4.14.25 Ally Sammarco Apr 15 Happy Monday and welcome back to Common Sense, your source for news and analysis on the circus that is American politics and entertainment. Trump wants to be just like his new Central American BFF who won’t return wrongly accused MD man and who trampled all over human rights… Politico reports, “Move over Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban. Donald Trump’s latest strongman bromance is with ‘President B.’ Though Trump has long admired foreign authoritarians, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s repressive regime is in some ways the beta test for Trump 2.0. Bukele calls himself the ‘world’s coolest dictator.’ Trump said he would be a dictator on Day 1. And Trump has floated or deployed many of the same tactics Bukele used to consolidate power: removing judges, intimidating political adversaries, bypassing due process and evading term limits.” Meanwhile, Politico also reports, “El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said in the Oval Office on Monday he would not return Kilmar Abrego Garcia — a Maryland man illegally deported to El Salvador — to the United States, as Trump administration officials vehemently argued they were in no position to force the decision.” Trump’s European BFF Orban’s party pretty much bans being gay in public… ABC News reports, “Hungary’s parliament on Monday passed an amendment to the constitution that allows the government to ban public events by LGBTQ+ communities, a decision that legal scholars and critics call another step toward authoritarianism by the populist government. The amendment, which required a two-thirds vote, passed along party lines with 140 votes for and 21 against. It was proposed by the ruling Fidesz-KDNP coalition led by populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Ahead of the vote — the final step for the amendment — opposition politicians and other protesters attempted to blockade the entrance to a parliament parking garage. Police physically removed demonstrators, who had used zip ties to bind themselves together.” Common Sense with Ally Sammarco is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Harvard becomes first higher ed institution to formally reject Trump Administration’s anti-free speech demands, will lose more than $2 billion… NBC News reports, “The federal government on Monday night said it was freezing more than $2 billion in grants to Harvard University after the school said it would not accept Trump administration demands that included auditing viewpoints of the student body. The administration's Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced the cuts in a statement that called out "the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges.’ It said that $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million ‘in multi-year contract value’ would be frozen to the Ivy League university. Earlier Monday Harvard rejected the administration's demands. ‘The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,’ the university's X account said in a statement posted Monday. ‘Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government.’” Losing $2B but not surrendering your values as an institution? That’s solid, also, I’m sure alumni donations will POUR in after Harvard took this stance. JD Vance just lost Ohio in 2028… CBS News reports, “Vice President JD Vance dropped Ohio State University's national football championship trophy during a celebration at the White House on Monday. Vance — an Ohio State alumnus — tried to lift up the trophy, but it appeared to separate from its base as the vice president bobbled it in his hands. With the Marine Corps Band's rendition of Queen's "We Are The Champions" still blaring in the background, Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson, who was standing next to Vance, swiftly recovered the fumble. Vance later shrugged off the near-turnover, posting on X, "I didn't want anyone after Ohio State to get the trophy so I decided to break it." WOW if this VP thing doesn’t work out (hint: It’s not), maybe he can try stand-up comedy! Oof. Today’s Furry Friend Sometimes it just takes time for a furry friend to open up to us humans. Furry friends can’t tell us their backgrounds or their anxieties – so just be patient and kind! https://youtube.com/shorts/KRkt5o83zNw?si=2rO2UNHvixLL7wG3 Today’s Buzz The Hollywood Reporter doles out unofficial awards to answer the question, “Who Won Coachella?” The Hollywood Reporter writes, “With the first weekend of the festival now in the history books, clear winners have emerged among the dozens of acts who performed, including history-making headliners and small-font breakthroughs.” THR’s winners include: Best Overall Set: Lady Gaga Best Non-Main Stage Set: Gustavo Dudamel Best Surprise: Lorde, Billie Eilish and Troye Sivan With Charli XCX Best Country Moment: Post Malone Best Genre: Rock Best Breakouts: Lola Young and Kneecap Best Band Member to Perform Solo: Blackpink’s Lisa Best Food: Outstanding In The Field Best New Attraction: Red Bull Mirage Thanks for reading – and check back in tomorrow evening for the next edition of Common Sense.

 

Meidas Founder Has Important Sunday Message

MeidasTouch Network and Ben Meiselas Mar 16

By Ben Meiselas

It’s Sunday. Grab your coffee or tea or water. Let’s chat.

First, thanks to all our subscribers to this Substack. Please subscribe now if you can and help us continue to get more views than Fox, Joe Rogan, and all cable news.

Second, did you see Trump is on vacation again at Mar-a-Lago this weekend? What a pathetic and vile thing he is.

He hosted a “Pink Hermès Bag” themed party at Mar-a-Lago where he showcased luxury handbags made of crocodile skin and gold, valued at $445,000 per bag.

Yes, as Trump and Musk are cutting Medicaid, calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme, destroying the lives of veterans, firing most federal workers, destroying the federal government, and crashing our economy and our savings, Trump and his billionaire friends are flaunting their wealth at Mar-a-Lago.

While on his weekend vacation on the taxpayer dime, Trump declared America “is at war” with a “hybrid enemy” that apparently includes the country of Venezuela and “their gangs,” and on this basis, Trump invoked wartime powers to deport people at his whim. So, while Trump was vacationing and golfing, he made up a fake war and invoked powers of a dictator yesterday.

Trump previously claimed he was sending 30,000 migrant “gang members” to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but ended up only sending about 200 mostly non-violent migrants there, only to return them all to Louisiana last week.

Third, protests are picking up in America, slowly but surely, but they are raging in Putin-backed regimes abroad.

Belgrade in Serbia saw tens of thousands of people protest the Putin-aligned regime there. Similarly, tens of thousands of people protested in Budapest, Hungary, against the Putin-aligned Viktor Orbán regime.

As Trump has pulled the United States away from Europe and NATO and into the Axis of Evil with Putin, the adage that ETTD (everything Trump touches dies) seems to be inflicting his buddy Putin right now.

In Europe, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a major virtual meeting with the “coalition of the willing” nations of Canada and European nations (not America), to strongly rally behind Ukraine.

Europe, Canada, and Ukraine have masterfully inserted themselves into the efforts by Trump and Putin to carve up Ukraine while icing out Europe, Ukraine, and others from their dastardly schemes in bilateral negotiations. Trump and Putin are being outmatched and outmaneuvered by Europe, Canada, Australia, and Mexico.

Fourth, and finally, MeidasTouch continues to grow. For most of this week, we led Fox News in views. We have expanded our lead over Joe Rogan in podcast downloads, where we now get double the amount of downloads he does per month. MeidasTouch Editor-in-Chief Ron Filipkowski keeps cranking out the best summaries of the day’s events I have ever read. We are grateful to all the writers who have profiled us over the past few weeks. We have continued to showcase some of the biggest names in politics as guests on our program. We have some big surprises this week in terms of guests. Stay tuned. (Remember to add the MeidasTouch Podcast on audio on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.)

Thanks to our subscribers here on this Substack, of course. We appreciate you. We appreciate all the Meidas Mighty. Unlike our competitors, we have grown with zero investors. Your subscriptions have helped us grow. If you aren’t subscribed, please consider subscribing now. You can always get subscriptions as gifts for people.

Thanks for having coffee with me. We have a big week ahead of us. My 5-month-old is waking up, so I have to run. From the bottom of my heart, thanks for all you do. Your contributions in fighting to restore freedom and bring back democracy are invaluable. The Meidas Mighty is making a huge difference.

You can subscribe by clicking below. Thanks again.

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POLITICO Nightly: Trump’s week of dicey nominations

 

By Calder McHugh and Charlie Mahtesian President Donald Trump greets Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his selection for Health and Human Services secretary, at a rally. | Alex Brandon/AP CONFIRMATION COMPLICATIONS — After squeaking out a confirmation victory on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s nomination last week, this week doesn’t get any easier for President Donald Trump’s most controversial Cabinet nominees. On Wednesday, HHS nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will take questions from the Senate Finance Committee. And on Thursday, Tulsi Gabbard — Trump’s pick for the director of national intelligence — will face the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The resistance to their nominations is more complicated than with Hegseth, who faced pushback over his qualifications compared to predecessors but largely was confronted with questions about his conduct and character. Once it was clear Hegseth was within the ideological mainstream of the current GOP — and once the president and his allies made clear that departures from the party line would result in primary challenges — the Pentagon was his for the taking. The obstacles facing RFK Jr. and Gabbard are different, rooted in their unorthodox views and non-traditional backgrounds. They are as exotic as any Cabinet-level nominations in decades, which, even in a tribalized capital, makes Republicans uneasy. Neither is an obvious Republican ally — both have sought the Democratic nomination for president in recent years and both depart from conservative orthodoxy on key issues. They’re more akin to pet political projects for Trump, who revels in breaking norms and tweaking the establishment. He has a soft spot for political converts and a willingness to reward supporters regardless of the political risk involved. It’s easy to forget that as recently as October 2023, RFK Jr. — who hails from the storied Democratic political dynasty — was still running in the Democratic presidential primary. Kennedy had once described Trump as a “threat to democracy ” and “a terrible president” who “brought this country into disrepute around the globe.” Some of his policy priorities are far out of the mainstream — of either party. His skepticism about the efficacy of vaccines goes beyond just the Covid vaccines. While he told reporters that he would protect the polio vaccine as health secretary, he’s also argued in the past that it led to a wave of new cancers — an idea rejected by medical professionals and scientific studies. He also vowed to remove fluoride, which helps to fight cavities, according to the National Institutes of Health , from America’s drinking water. He’s a proponent of raw milk, which the FDA considers unsafe to drink , due to the higher possibility that it can carry food borne illnesses. Multiple batches of raw milk have recently tested positive for bird flu. RFK also has to deal with a cadre of interest groups and politicians on both sides of the aisle who are suspicious of his views. Anti-abortion Republicans are thus far mostly holding their powder , but many influential groups argue that if they don’t hear what they want from Kennedy in regards to abortion — he’s previously supported abortion rights — on Wednesday, they’ll consider it disqualifying. There is a populist-coloring to some of Kennedy’s positions — he has lambasted pharmaceutical companies and big agriculture and food production, both industries with companies that donate heavily to both parties — that scrambles the partisan equation slightly. And some of his personal health and vaccine choices, which make up the basis of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, have found more of a home in modern conservative politics. The question is whether together it’s enough to overcome his frequent reliance on specious or unconfirmed science . All of this makes him a tough sell, even for a Republican-controlled Senate under Trump’s vengeful gaze. Gabbard’s situation is just as complicated, and perhaps more so given the national security implications of her post — some of her hearing in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee will take place behind closed doors. Like RFK Jr., Gabbard’s ideological commitments are evolving and difficult to map onto the typical left-right spectrum. She was brought up in a secretive offshoot of the Hare Krishna movement called the Science of Identity Foundation — a group that takes strong stands against same-sex relationships and abortion. But by the time she was elected to Congress in 2012, she was recognized by Nancy Pelosi as “an emerging star” in the Democratic Party. In 2016, she was a prominent Bernie Sanders backer in the Democratic presidential primary. By 2020, she ran for president herself as a Democrat. Still, there was much for Trump to like. Along the way, Gabbard became a fierce Hillary Clinton critic — at one point, she filed a defamation suit against Clinton for allegedly lying about Gabbard’s ties to Russia. Gabbard later dropped the suit. Gabbard also drew notice during the 2020 Democratic primary for her sharp attacks on Kamala Harris. When Gabbard left the party in 2022, she said it was controlled by “an elitist cabal or warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness.” The former Hawaii congresswoman has long been a foreign policy isolationist , appealing to a wing of the modern Republican Party . But her critics have latched onto her apparent support for Russia as a disqualifying factor, not to mention her infamous 2017 meeting with now deposed Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Russia and Iran . None of it was a deal-breaker for Trump, but her curious portfolio is unsettling not just to Democrats but to many Republican senators, including those who still want the U.S. to take a more robust role in global affairs. The surest sign of her imperiled nomination is the effort to make the Intelligence committee vote publicly on her nomination . The panel typically deliberates and votes in private, including on presidential nominations, which would insulate any Republican senators from a MAGA-fueled backlash in the event they vote no. Removing that anonymity and forcing a public vote, however, would squeeze wavering Republicans and increase the chances that Gabbard’s nomination reaches the Senate floor. This is the Catch-22 that both Kennedy and Gabbard find themselves caught in. Their unconventional backgrounds, fringe views, checkered histories and record of party-swapping are precisely what captured Trump’s attention — it mirrors his own narrative arc. But those same traits also threaten to sink their nominations. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s authors at cmchugh@politico.com and cmahtesian@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @calder_mchugh and @PoliticoCharlie .   Power shifts, razor-thin margins, and a high-stakes agenda. We’ve transformed our coverage—more reporters, more timely insights, and unmatched policy scoops. From leadership offices to committee rooms, caucus meetings, and beyond, our expert reporting keeps you ahead of the decisions that matter. Subscribe to our Inside Congress newsletter today .     What'd I Miss? THEY PROMPTLY HELD THEIR NAZI RALLY & INVADED THE CAPITOL!  — Judge rescinds order prohibiting Oath Keepers founder from visiting Washington without permission: A federal judge has reversed his recent move barring Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes — and a dozen others whose Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy sentences were commuted last week by President Donald Trump — from visiting Washington, D.C., without court permission. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta acknowledged today that the travel restrictions, which he imposed unilaterally Friday, would not be enforced by the Justice Department , which quickly took Rhodes’ side in the nascent fight. ALL AID WAS STOPPED EXCEPT ISRAEL & EGYPT IS PROTECTING EGYPT CONNECTED TO THE $10 MILLION CASH BRIBE FROM EGYPT TO TRUMP THAT BILL BARR REFUSED TO INVESTIGATE? — Chaos, confusion after Trump halts U.S. foreign aid: The Trump administration’s sudden halt on U.S. foreign aid is causing chaos inside groups ranging from health providers to landmine removers — interrupting lifesaving programs as officials struggle to understand the scope of the directive. Following the Friday order from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, leaders of aid organizations are looking at which programs to stop, and whether to immediately cut staff or even shut down . As they seek waivers, aid groups are scrambling to adjust — from seeking non-federal funds to help refugees arriving in the U.S. to halting efforts at HIV clinics in Africa. MCHENRY FIRING PROSECUTORS WHO DID THEIR JOBS! — Acting attorney general fires prosecutors who worked for special counsel Jack Smith: The Justice Department has fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutions of President Donald Trump, a DOJ official said today. “Acting Attorney General James McHenry made this decision because he did not believe these officials could be trusted to faithfully implement the President’s agenda because of their significant role in prosecuting the President,” said the DOJ official, who wasn’t authorized to be quoted by name. THE NEW ADMINISTRATION FIRING EXPERIENCED & COMPETENT EMPLOYEES! FORCED LEAVE — The Trump administration has ordered dozens of top career employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development to go on administrative leave , according to six people told of the decision. The order — sent via email to members of the senior executive and senior Foreign Service — was issued close to the end of the business day Monday and was effective immediately, according to two current USAID officials and three former USAID officials. It comes as USAID and the State Department have been ordered to impose halts on a vast number of humanitarian and related programs around the world. The decision appears to affect nearly every career staffer who holds a top leadership role at the agency, at least in Washington, the current and former officials said. BESSENT CONFIRMED — The Senate confirmed Scott Bessent, a hedge fund manager, to be Treasury secretary today, installing a key adviser who will help shape and advance President Donald Trump’s economic agenda . Senators approved Bessent’s nomination to the role on a bipartisan vote of 68 to 29. Fifteen Democrats and one independent joined with Republicans in supporting his nomination. POWDER DRY — The nation’s leading anti-abortion groups are holding their fire in the battle over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the government’s health agencies, despite harboring serious concerns about his past support for abortion rights. Their reluctance to oppose Kennedy stems in part from the deference the anti-abortion movement feels it owes Trump after he nominated the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and took a slew of anti-abortion actions last week. But movement leaders acknowledge they remain worried that the Kennedy pick, particularly after Trump sought distance from the movement during his 2024 campaign, could also forebode a presidency less supportive of their goals than Trump’s first. With Kennedy set to face senators at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday — and no clear indication yet of whether he has the 50 votes he’ll need to become health secretary — only one conservative group has publicly opposed him because of his abortion stances. AROUND THE WORLD European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2025. | Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images TRADE TRIUMPH — After years in which trade deals just kept slipping away, all the European Union needed was the shock of Donald Trump’s return to the White House to get its act together. Chief executive Ursula von der Leyen and her trade czar Maroš Šefčovič haven’t merely hung about. They moved fast after Trump’s election triumph in November to close out deals that have been stuck in the works for years — even decades — and want to build new relationships to compensate for his threats to throw up a tariff wall around the United States. “Europe will keep seeking cooperation — not only with our long-time like-minded friends, but with any country we share interests with,” von der Leyen said in a keynote address at the World Economic Forum Tuesday, less than 24 hours after Trump was sworn in on Monday. HUNGARY RELENTS — The EU will save its Russia sanctions from expiring after officials reached an 11th-hour deal with Hungary, which had threatened to trash the war-time penalties. The agreement was cemented by Monday morning, six diplomats told POLITICO, allowing the EU's sanctions to be renewed before a Saturday deadline, which would have allowed Moscow to claw back billions in frozen funds. All 27 EU countries must reauthorize the sanctions every six months. In exchange for relenting, Hungary got EU officials to make a non-committal statement on the importance of Ukraine's energy infrastructure — an oblique reference to Budapest's concerns about the end of Russian gas flowing through Ukraine. WE WERE IN PARIS AT THE TIME OF SOME OF THE BOMBINGS BY ALGERIANS! ULTRA INFLUENCERS — Ultranationalist social media influencers from Algeria are spreading hate across France — the country that used to rule it. The trend has triggered a wave of nervousness in government in Paris, with several high-profile arrests over the past few weeks. A handful of online influencers have built a large audience, incited violence and terrorist activity, and, in some cases, targeted French-based opponents of the Algerian regime. The influencers are “profiteering from a context of heightened tensions between France and Algeria” French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told weekly newspaper L’Express. Relations between France and its former colony have been fraught for decades, poisoned by resentment over the 132-year bloody rule, violence committed during Algeria’s war of independence that ended in 1962, and, more recently, deadlock on migration issues. Nightly Number 956 The number of arrests that ICE made across the country on Sunday , as the agency ramps up the Trump administration’s deportation agenda. RADAR SWEEP SECRET AGENT SURGE — People can’t get enough of spy dramas. On major streaming services, series like Night Agent, Slow Horses and The Recruit are outperforming expectations and drawing tens of millions of viewers. But why are spies so popular right now ? Experts say spy dramas are a major success because they reflect an “unpredictable” and “unstable” society that viewers are connecting with right now. Spy novels first came on the scene in the midst of political turmoil in Europe in the 19th century. The genre flourished during the two World Wars and the Cold War. The creation of national intelligence agencies in the UK and U.S. sparked even more inspiration for espionage content. For the BBC, Laura Martin explores the history of spy drama’s and how they provide comfort to viewers in an age of political mistrust and global conflict. Parting Image On this date in 1973: South Vietnamese Foreign Minister Tram Van Lam signs an agreement to end the war in Paris, France. The agreement, however, was immediately broken by both sides, and open fighting began again in March. | AP   New Year. New Washington. New Playbook. With intensified congressional coverage and even faster delivery of policy scoops, POLITICO’s reimagined Playbook Newsletter ensures you’re always ahead of the conversation. Sign up today .       Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh   Follow us

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