Washington, D.C. — New court records show ICE running one of the largest surveillance operations against Americans in U.S. history, Trump’s bank regulators singled out the Southern Poverty Law Center in a “debanking” report, and a Washington grand jury refused to indict Cassidy Hutchinson, the latest rebuke of Trump’s campaign to prosecute his critics.
ICE Is Spying on Americans Who Organize Their Neighbors
Defense attorneys for 15 Minnesota residents facing federal charges have uncovered evidence of a sweeping spying operation on Americans run by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations. HSI put 119 agents on the case, including 11 undercover officers who infiltrated know-your-rights trainings, community meetings, Signal chats, and even churches, in apparent violation of a court order. Agents flew Reaper drones over the Twin Cities, ran the plates of every car parked outside activist meetings, surveilled conferences from Seattle to New York, used Patriot Act financial tools built for terrorism cases, and pulled phone records of journalists covering the crackdown. Even the CIA’s Vietnam-era spying on the antiwar movement only peaked at 42 officers. Trump has turned ICE into a secret police force aimed at activists, organizers, and anyone who dares to watch his agents.
Trump’s Bank Regulators Take Aim at the SPLC
Trump’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released a report from its review of the nine largest banks under Trump’s “debanking” executive order, and it goes after the Southern Poverty Law Center by name. The report faults banks for factoring in SPLC’s hate-group designations when deciding whom to do business with, and the regulator now says it is weighing new rules for the biggest banks. Banks that take a civil rights watchdog’s warnings seriously now have a federal regulator breathing down their necks. The administration that has spent two years attacking nonprofits and civil society groups is now using the banking system to shield extremists and put one of the country’s leading civil rights organizations on notice.
Grand Jury Rejects Trump’s Revenge Case Against Cassidy Hutchinson
Trump’s Justice Department failed to secure an indictment against Cassidy Hutchinson on Tuesday. Hutchinson testified under oath in 2022 that Trump tried to let armed supporters skip security at his Jan. 6 rally and refused to intervene as the mob chanted “Hang Mike Pence.” She also said Trump’s inner circle dangled jobs and money while she cooperated with the Jan. 6 committee. Republicans spent years calling her a liar, and Trump’s DOJ tried to make her truthtelling a crime. The case is one piece of a pre-midterm surge against Trump’s perceived enemies, including a new attempt to prosecute James Comey and federal agents searching Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home. Grand juries almost never refuse to indict, yet D.C. jurors keep doing it, including earlier this year for Democratic lawmakers who urged troops to reject unlawful orders. Ordinary citizens keep seeing Trump’s revenge cases for exactly what they are.
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