Politics
Amid Murky Investigation, Key Defender Asks to Quit 9/11 Case
GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — A protracted-serving dying penalty protection lawyer for one of many 5 males accused of plotting the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist assaults has requested to be faraway from the case, stirring new uncertainty about when the trial would possibly start.
It’s finally as much as the trial decide to resolve whether or not the lawyer, Cheryl Bormann, or any protection lawyer can resign. If she is allowed to go away, the decide could possibly be confronted with the conundrum of whether or not to gradual or halt pretrial proceedings till her alternative is employed and introduced on top of things.
Or the decide might resolve that the person she represents, Walid bin Attash, be tried individually as an accused conspirator within the assaults, which killed almost 3,000 folks.
Ms. Bormann first appeared on the courtroom in Could 2012 for the arraignment of Mr. bin Attash and the 4 different accused plotters, together with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the assault. The one feminine capital protection lawyer on the case, she drew consideration by carrying a head scarf and a black abaya, a conventional gown worn by girls in Saudi Arabia, the place her consumer grew up.
In time, most different girls engaged on the protection groups would comply with her instance and canopy their hair; some additionally wore loosefitting clothes, in what they’ve described as an indication of respect for the faith of the lads, whom they take into account to be victims of C.I.A. torture. The apparel has angered some kin of Sept. 11 victims, who interpreted the gesture as submissiveness to the accused terrorists.
It isn’t clear why Ms. Bormann abruptly resigned. However she lately filed a courtroom pleading that disclosed that her “efficiency and conduct” had been beneath investigation by the Army Commissions Protection Group, the Pentagon workplace that gives sources and legal professionals to navy commissions case.
Ms. Bormann mentioned that she couldn’t ethically signify the prisoner whereas the investigation was underway and requested that hearings this month be canceled. As a substitute, the decide, Col. Matthew N. McCall, notified legal professionals on Tuesday that he would maintain hearings with out the participation of Ms. Borman or her authorized group.
They’re scheduled to start out Friday and proceed for the subsequent two weeks.
The decide gave legal professionals and prosecutors till subsequent week to file pleadings on whether or not he ought to launch Ms. Bormann from the case.
Earlier than Guantánamo, she practiced capital protection in Chicago, the place she gained a popularity as a dogged fighter on the Prepare dinner County public defender’s murder job drive. She joined the struggle courtroom bar after Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois abolished the dying penalty in 2011, and has used the plain-spoken language of a death-penalty defender in courtroom arguments to clarify what’s at stake.
“This can be a case the place the federal government seeks to kill Mr. bin Attash and these different 4 males,” Ms. Bormann reminded the decide in November. Protection legal professionals had been urgent Colonel McCall to order the federal government to launch extra info from the C.I.A.’s so-called black websites, the place the Sept. 11 defendants had been held and tortured earlier than their switch to Guantánamo in 2006.
She has referred to prosecutors as “the federal government that wishes to kill him.” At one level, protesting the restricted hours she might spend along with her consumer, Ms. Bormann famous that “no exception is made for a commissions lawyer who’s defending a person the place the federal government needs to kill him.”
On the coronary heart of the difficulty confronting the decide is that Ms. Bormann serves as a so-called discovered counsel, a lawyer with particular abilities and expertise in defending folks at death-penalty trials. By regulation, every defendant in a capital case at Guantánamo is entitled to a discovered counsel.
However no alternative is ready within the wings, mentioned Brig. Gen. Jackie L. Thompson Jr. of the Military. Because the chief protection counsel for navy commissions, he can rent legal professionals for Guantánamo circumstances however doesn’t have authority to fireplace them. He oversaw the investigation of Ms. Bormann.
Neither Basic Thompson nor Ms. Bormann would elaborate on the substance of the investigation.
“My ongoing concern for Mr. bin Attash presents me from commenting,” she mentioned.
The final mentioned that he had taken no actions towards Ms. Bormann in gentle of the investigation and that she nonetheless had safety clearances and full entry to her workplaces. Ms. Bormann met with the decide on Monday; her group members have twice met with him individually, as soon as with Mr. bin Attash. Basic Thompson mentioned that the decide “has what he wants” to resolve whether or not to let her go.
In his view, he mentioned, the opposite legal professionals on her group — three civilians and two members of the navy — don’t qualify as discovered counsel.
After the discovered counsel for an additional defendant, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, obtained permission to go away the case in 2020 due to a coronary heart situation, the Pentagon took a number of months to rent, fund and procure safety clearances for the brand new lawyer, David I. Bruck.
Mr. Bruck, one of many nation’s prime capital defenders, mentioned no five-person capital case had been tried to verdict within the fashionable historical past of the dying penalty and requested for 30 months to organize. The request was by no means dominated upon as a result of the Guantánamo courtroom was closed for greater than 500 days due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Politics
Appeals court rules Texas has right to build razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration: 'Huge win'
A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that Texas has the right to build a razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration into the Lone Star State.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the ruling on X, saying President Biden was “wrong to cut our razor wire.”
“We continue adding more razor wire border barrier,” the Republican leader wrote.
Wednesday’s 2-1 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals clears the way for Texas to pursue a lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of trespassing without having to remove the fencing.
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It also reversed a federal judge’s November 2023 refusal to grant a preliminary injunction to Texas as the state resisted federal efforts to remove fencing along the Rio Grande in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, Texas.
Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, a Trump appointee during the president-elect’s first term, wrote for Wednesday’s majority that Texas was trying only to safeguard its own property, not “regulate” U.S. Border Patrol, and was likely to succeed in its trespass claims.
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Duncan said the federal government waived its sovereign immunity and rejected its concerns that a ruling by Texas would impede the enforcement of immigration law and undermine the government’s relationship with Mexico.
He said the public interest “supports clear protections for property rights from government intrusion and control” and ensuring that federal immigration law enforcement does not “unnecessarily intrude into the rights of countless property owners.”
Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton called the ruling a “huge win for Texas.”
“The Biden Administration has been enjoined from damaging, destroying, or otherwise interfering with Texas’s border fencing,” Paxton wrote in a post on X. “We sued immediately when the federal government was observed destroying fences to let illegal aliens enter, and we’ve fought every step of the way for Texas sovereignty and security.”
The White House has been locked in legal battles with Texas and other states that have tried to deter illegal immigration.
In May, the full 5th Circuit heard arguments in a separate case between Texas and the White House over whether the state can keep a 1,000-foot floating barrier on the Rio Grande.
The appeals court is also reviewing a judge’s order blocking a Texas law that would allow state officials to arrest, prosecute and order the removal of people in the country illegally.
Politics
Rep. Katie Porter obtains temporary restraining order against ex-boyfriend on harassment allegations
U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) secured a temporary restraining order Tuesday against a former boyfriend, saying in dozens of pages of court filings that he had bombarded her, as well as her family and colleagues, with hundreds of messages that she described as “persistent abuse and harassment.”
Porter, 50, alleged in a filing with Orange County Superior Court that her ex-boyfriend Julian Willis, 55, was contacting her and her family with such frequency that she had a “significant fear” for her “personal safety and emotional well-being.”
Judge Stephen T. Hicklin signed a restraining order Tuesday barring Willis from communicating with Porter and her children until a mid-December court hearing. He also barred Willis from communicating about Porter with her current and former colleagues.
In the court filing, Porter said that Willis had been hospitalized twice since late 2022 on involuntary psychiatric holds and had a history of abusing prescription painkillers and other drugs.
She said in a statement to The Times that Willis’ mental health and struggles with addiction seemed to have gotten worse since she asked him in August to move out of her Irvine home. She said she sought the court order after his threats to her family and colleagues “escalated in both their frequency and intensity.”
“I sincerely hope he gets the help he needs,” Porter said.
Willis declined to comment. He will have an opportunity to file a legal response to the temporary restraining order and challenge Porter’s allegations.
Porter is leaving the House of Representatives in January after losing in California’s U.S. Senate primary in March. She has been discussed as a front-runner in the 2026 governor’s race in California after Gov. Gavin Newsom is termed out, but has not said whether she will launch a campaign.
The 53-page court filing, first reported by Politico, included 22 pages of emails, text messages and other communications among Porter, family members and colleagues who had received messages from Willis, as well as messages that Willis sent to Porter’s attorney and to her political mentor Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
The filing also included messages between herself and Willis’ siblings as they discussed trying to help him during his psychiatric holds and while he was staying in a sober-living facility.
Porter said that since she ordered Willis to move out, he had sent her more than 1,000 text messages and emails, including texting her 82 times in one 24-hour period in September, and 55 times on Nov. 12 before she blocked his number.
Porter said in the filing that her ex-boyfriend had “already contacted at least three reporters to disseminate false and damaging information” about her and her children, which she said “poses a serious risk to [her] career and personal reputation.”
The filing includes an email that Porter said Willis sent to her attorney late Monday, in which Willis said he had visited Porter’s son at college in Iowa and told him that he would “bring the hammer down on Katie and smash her and her life into a million pieces.”
Another screenshot shows Willis telling Porter’s attorney that he would file a complaint about Porter, who has children ages 12 and 16, with child protective services.
One of Porter’s congressional staff members received a text message from Willis saying he would “punish the f—” out of him if he did not agree to “cooperate” with a New York Times reporter and Willis’ attorneys, according to a screenshot included in the court document.
Willis previously made the news in 2021, when he was arrested after a fight that broke out at a Porter town hall at a park in Irvine.
Times staff writer Christopher Goffard contributed to this report.
Politics
Homan taking death threats against him ‘more seriously’ after Trump officials targeted with violent threats
Incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan reacted to news of death threats against Trump nominees on Wednesday and said he now takes the death threats he has previously received seriously.
“I have not taken this serious up to this point,” Homan told Fox News anchor Gillian Turner on “The Story” on Wednesday, referring to previous death threats made against him and his family.
“Now that I know what’s happened in the last 24 hours. I will take it a little more serious. But look, I’ve been dealing with this. When I was the ICE director in the first administration, I had numerous death threats. I had a security detail with me all the time. Even after I retired, death threats continued and even after I retired as the ICE Director. I had U.S. Marshals protection for a long time to protect me and my family.”
Homan explained that what “doesn’t help” the situation is the “negative press” around Trump.
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“I’m not in the cabinet, but, you know, I’ve read numerous hit pieces. I mean, you know, I’m a racist and, you know, I’m the father of family separation, all this other stuff. So the hate media doesn’t help at all because there are some nuts out there. They’ll take advantage. So that doesn’t help.”
Homan’s comments come shortly after Fox News Digital first reported that nearly a dozen of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees and other appointees tapped for the incoming administration were targeted Tuesday night with “violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” prompting a “swift” law enforcement response.
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The “attacks ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting,’” according to Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman and incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“Last night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” she told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “In response, law enforcement acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted. President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action.”
Sources told Fox News Digital that John Ratcliffe, the nominee to be CIA director, Pete Hegseth, the nominee for secretary of defense, and Rep. Elise Stefanik, the nominee for UN ambassador, were among those targeted. Brooke Rollins, who Trump has tapped to be secretary of agriculture, and Lee Zeldin, Trump’s nominee to be EPA administrator, separately revealed they were also targeted.
Threats were also made against Trump’s Labor Secretary nominee, GOP Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and former Trump attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz’s family.
Homan told Fox News that he is “not going to be intimidated by these people” and “I’m not going to let them silence me.”
“What I’ve learned today I’ll start taking a little more serious.”
Homan added that he believes “we need to have a strong response once we find out is behind all this.”
“It’s illegal to threaten someone’s life. And we need to follow through with that.”
The threats on Tuesday night came mere months after Trump survived two assassination attempts.
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report
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