A whistleblower on Thursday leaked emails and text messages between government officials as they plotted out lies to tell the courts in order to avoid bringing back those they had wrongfully deported.

The whistleblower, Erez Reuveni, was fired from his position as a deputy director at the Department of Justice (DOJ) after he told a district judge that Abrego Garcia’s deportation was a mistake due to an “administrative error.” The emails corroborate Reuveni’s claims that his boss, Emil Bove, told those working on the case that they would need to “say fuck you to the courts” in order to implement Trump’s immigration enforcement plan.

While preparing for the case, Reuveni sought guidance from his superiors on what claims he could make based on DOJ evidence. He was instructed to tell the judge that Abrego Garcia was a “verified member” of the gang MS-13, and that he wasn’t in any immediate danger while detained at the Salvadoran mega-prison, CECOT, although the DOJ had no evidence to support either claim. Reuveni was also warned not to verbally mention that the deportation was a mistake, as the admission was buried at the bottom of a previous court filing.

“Text messages, email exchanges, and documents show that the Department of Justice misled a federal court and disregarded a court order. Mr. Bove spearheaded this effort, which demanded attorneys violate their ethical duty of candor to the court,” US Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said in a statement. “This is a declaration of defiance of our courts at the highest level of our government.”

The messages reveal a larger effort within the DOJ to purge its workforce of nonpartisan employees, as well as demands from leadership to prioritize loyalty to Trump above all. The politicization of the agency is best illustrated by Bove’s insistence that, should the courts order them to do something contrary to what Trump wanted, they would need to “say fuck you to the courts.”

Reuveni, a 15-year employee of the DOJ who received three special commendation awards during Trump’s first term, becomes noticeably disillusioned as the correspondence progresses. He’d been promoted to his role as deputy director only weeks before being fired for going against Bove’s orders to lie to the judge and provide an honest assessment of the government’s mishandling of Abrego Garcia’s case.

One month after firing Reuveni, Trump nominated Bove for a lifetime appointment as a federal appeals court judge.

“Erez Reuveni was a career Justice Department attorney who vigorously defended President Trump’s immigration policies during his first Administration,” said Durbin. “These episodes can only lead to one conclusion: Emil Bove belongs nowhere near the federal bench.”

The revelations come as judges in the ongoing cases against Abrego Garcia are set to determine whether he should be released from custody as he awaits trial. Evidence in the leaked messages puts the government's intentions to make bad faith arguments on full display, and delivers a crushing blow to its argument that Abrego Garcia should be deported immediately upon release.

As the dust settles on the undoing of a decade’s worth of diplomatic efforts to prevent war between Iran and Israel, it’s worth looking at who was in the room. This week, let’s take a look at the sort of strategic military minds that have been tapped for Trump’s War Cabinet.

Since taking office in January 2025, Hegseth:

• Has an estimated net worth of $3 million, a lower number than expected due to “two divorces and a lifetime of impulsive behavior.”
• Became the second cabinet member in history to need the vice president’s vote in order to be confirmed.
• Stripped Trump’s political opponents of security clearance and protection.
• Changed a military fort’s name back to that of a Confederate traitor, but claimed it was to honor a WWII soldier with the same name.
• Brought white supremacist Jack Prosobiec to a NATO meeting about Ukraine.
• Discussed military strikes in unsecured group chats.

Defense Secretary, former Fox News Host, and aspiring recovering alcoholic Pete Hegseth has already proven his dedication to national security and keeping a cool head when he added a journalist to an unsecured Signal chat, where he was discussing a top-secret maneuver with emojis, then yelled at reporters who asked about it during an Easter egg hunt.

There’s no indication that Hegseth had any real influence on the strike. His only known involvement before it took place was on a call between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Hegseth didn’t say anything on the call; he just listened in.

Vice President JD Vance already admitted he didn’t know what was going on. He was also on the call with Trump, Netanyahu, and Hegseth, where he opposed Netanyahu’s wishes that the US bomb Iran. We learned from the leaked Signal chat about the March air strike in Yemen that Vance doesn’t agree with Trump on getting the US military involved in the Middle East, but will only say so behind his back. Vance appeared to be left out of the decision-making after this call, as Trump did the opposite of what Vance advocated for.

A cloud of confusion settled over hospitals after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, as it allowed laws criminalizing abortion care to go into effect in a number of states. The Biden administration put a rule in place to provide clarity for healthcare providers that abortion care was still required in emergency situations, regardless of state statutes.

(continues in next comment)