A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Things Have Escalated in D.C.
The clumsy Trumpian takeover of D.C. has been as comical as it has been foreboding. The notion of FBI agents — not trained in street-level policing at all — walking a beat is as Keystone Cops as it is sinister. The images of mismatched federal agents plodding along through the quiet streets of Georgetown have added to the comedy. The D.C. resident openly hurling a Subway sandwich at a federal agent and then scampering down the street captured the absurdity of the whole situation, including the impossible position law enforcement officers are being put it.
Still, combined with the federal presence in Los Angeles and the stated goals of Trump and his minions to effectively occupy blue cities — which is really to say bring Black and brown people and their elected representatives to heel in a high-profile, performative, reality TV way — Trump’s D.C. gambit is also deeply disquieting. While it may be tempting to wave away the show of force as silly and ineffectual, the underlying urge toward violence continues to animate Trump and the MAGA movement in dangerous and unpredictable ways. This will not end well.
The overnight developments in D.C. were less comedic than substantive. Attorney General Pam Bondi asserted a new level of authority over the D.C. police, purporting to install Terry Cole, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, as D.C.’s “emergency police commissioner,” a commissar of sorts over the entire force. She also purported to issue new guidance rescinding previous directions on enforcement priorities from the local police chief.
D.C. officials immediately rejected Bondi’s claims to power. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb quickly issued an opinion that Bondi had exceeded the statutory authority that allows for the use of D.C. police for federal purposes. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has been walking a fine line between resisting and acquiescing to the Trump White House, endorsed the legal position of Schwalb, who is himself elected.
By this morning, Schwalb had filed suit in federal court in D.C. to block Bondi’s power grab.
Meanwhile, the saga of the sandwich guy is starting to take on real importance. Improbably, Sean Charles Dunn was a DOJ employee at the time he threw the Subway sandwich at an officer on a street corner. Bondi has since fired him. But things gets more interesting from there.
Dunn was first charged in D.C. Superior Court and released on Monday. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro then ratcheted up the case to a felony in federal court. Dunn tried to surrender on the federal charges, but some 20 federal officers showed up at his D.C. residence Wednesday night to arrest him.
The White House trumpeted the arrest in an off-the-wall video, which again has comedic elements. Note the first text on screen: “West End, DC.” Don’t be afraid. That’s the part of DC between the White House and Georgetown, filled with hotels, restaurants, bars, law firms, and George Washington University. Only in MAGA world would D.C.’s West End inspire fear and loathing:
The upshot of yesterday’s hearing was the judge agreed to release Dunn despite the new felony charge.
To cap off a wild day in D.C., we learned from a witness more about the sub in question: salami.
D.C. Grand Jury Twice Rejects Assault on Officer Case
Pirro’s office twice sought and failed to secure a grand jury indictment against a woman accused of assaulting an FBI agent during an ICE inmate transfer last month, a judge revealed in court Thursday, WUSA reports.
“Two presentations to the grand jury returned no bill both times,” Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey told defense counsel. “Suggesting the evidence is wanting, given the standard for indictment is probable cause. Suggesting the government may never get an indictment.”
Sydney Lori Reid was charged last month with the same felony being lodged against the D.C. sandwich thrower.
Gauntlet Thrown
A bunch of armed Border Patrol agents massed outside a Los Angeles press conference on redistricting being held by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), sparking outrage among local elected officials.
The Border Patrol was ostensibly there for a raid, the LAT reported, and one person was detained.
But the proximity in time and place was more than suspicious.
Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol official who is spearheading the aggressive immigration enforcement in Southern California, swaggered onto the scene and declared: “We’re here making Los Angeles a safer place, since we don’t have politicians who can do that. We do that ourselves.”
Detention Camp Watch
- WaPo: ICE documents reveal plan to double immigrant detention space this year, expanding the capacity of the world’s largest immigration detention system from 50,000 to more than 107,000.
- AP: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced plans for second state-run immigration detention camp that he’s dubbing “Deportation Depot.”
- TPM’s Hunter Walker: Inside One Native American Tribe’s Fight Against The ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Detention Camp
Quote of the Day
“What he’s trying to do is to present the best possible picture of what he’s doing, even if that means he has to cook the numbers, even if that means he has to distort the data. It’s basically a page from the authoritarian playbook.”–Robert Cropf, a political science professor at St. Louis University, on Trump’s war on data
Trump Judge Blocks Anti-DEI Initiative in Education
U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher of Maryland, a Trump appointee, struck down the Trump Education Department’s attempt to eliminate DEI at public schools and universities.
Costco Knuckles Under to Right Wing on Abortion Pill
Under political pressure from the right, Costco announced it will not dispense the abortion pill mifepristone from its pharmacies. Right-wing groups hailed the decision as a victory.
The Smallest of Men
President Trump cold-called Norway’s finance minister last month to lobby for the Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv reported.
“Out of the blue, while finance minister Jens Stoltenberg was walking down the street in Oslo, Donald Trump called … He wanted the Nobel prize – and to discuss tariffs,” according to the newspaper.
Stoltenberg, who was NATO secretary-general during Trump’s first term, confirmed that a call about tariffs occurred but declined to provide further details.
Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!
