TPM’s David Kurtz has been covering, in person, a hearing in Nashville in which the Trump administration must prove it did not pursue a vindictive prosecution against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man it erroneously imprisoned in El Salvador last year.
We’re going to discuss it right now on Substack Live. Click here to join.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers fought his removal from the country and won. The Trump administration returned him to the U.S. last summer, only after he was indicted on new, criminal charges. His lawyers argued that those new charges were a vindictive prosecution, meant to punish him for successfully fighting his rendition to CECOT, and that the judge should throw out the case. Vindictive prosecution is usually a challenging case to make in court, but U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw found Abrego Garcia’s argument credible, and ordered the Trump administration to prove the prosecution was not vindictive. That’s what today’s hearing is for.
2025 saw many prosecutions that were clearly intended as retribution against people who the Trump administration understood to be its enemies, but this is the first time a vindictive prosecution claim has reached the point of, potentially, getting a case dismissed. That broader context is a big part of why we’re covering it today.
Join us on Substack Live for a report on what happened during today’s hearing.
