Chief Justice John Roberts pushes back against Trump’s call to impeach judge
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg; Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts pushed back against President Donald Trump’s call to impeach a judge whose ruling conflict with his administration’s priorities.
In a statement on Tuesday, Roberts issued a rare statement after Trump hurled insults at the federal judge who conducted a “fact-finding” hearing on Monday over whether the Trump administration knowingly violated a court order when it handed over more than 200 alleged gang members to El Salvadoran authorities over the weekend.
“This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!” Trump wrote. “WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY.”
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said in the statement. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
The statement signals a stark difference in opinion between the judicial and executive branches.
Trump argued on Tuesday that he should not be prevented from carrying out his immigration agenda, saying “I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do.”
Trump’s comments about Boasberg came after the federal judge blocked the Trump administration from deporting any noncitizens after the president’s recent proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Boasberg, in verbal instructions during a hearing on Saturday, gave orders to immediately turn around two planes carrying noncitizens if they are covered by his order, including one that potentially took off during a break in the court’s hearing. However, sources said top lawyers and officials in the administration made the determination that since the flights were over international waters, Boasberg’s order did not apply, and the planes were not turned around.
On Monday, Boasberg questioned whether the Trump administration ignored his orders to turn the planes around, saying it was “heck of a stretch” for them to argue that his order could be disregarded.
Deputy Associate Attorney General Abhishek Kambli argued Monday during the “fact-finding” hearing convened by Boasberg that the judge’s directive on Saturday evening to turn around the flights did not take effect until it was put in writing later that evening.
Boasberg ordered the Justice Department to submit, by noon Tuesday, a sworn declaration of what they represented in a filing Monday — that a third flight that took off after his written order on Saturday carried detainees who were removable on grounds other than the Alien Enemies Act.
ABC News’ Devin Dwyer and Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Transgender service members are fighting back against the Pentagon’s recent announcement requiring the separation of transgender people from the military.
Lt. Cmdr. Geirid Morgan has served in the Navy for 14 years as part of the medical service corps. She told ABC News that as an openly transgender woman, seeing the ban in “black and white” was “jarring.”
“I just want everyone to know that [transgender military members] have been serving honorably and effectively for a decade now,” Morgan said. “We serve in almost every job role you can imagine in the military. We have doctors, lawyers, fighter pilots, special operations personnel.
“This is a calling, this is a this is a life of sacrifice, a life of service. This isn’t just a job, this isn’t just a career,” Morgan added. “We’re all over the place. We’re doing the jobs. We’re doing it effectively, and that’s it.”
Morgan is part of a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the Human Rights Campaign and Lambda Legal against President Donald Trump following his executive order banning transgender service members from the military.
On Wednesday night, the Pentagon’s new transgender policy, as approved by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was disclosed in a memo filed as an exhibit file by the Defense Department in another court case challenging Trump’s order.
The memo requires the Pentagon to form a procedure to identify transgender troops by March 26 and separate them from the military by June 25, unless they receive an exemption. This would include service members receiving some form of treatment or hormones for that diagnosis of gender dysphoria, as well as those who have gone through a gender-affirming surgery.
“I’m going to put my uniform on every day, go to work, do my job with the best of my abilities for as long as I’m able to,” Morgan added.
Sasha Buchert, an attorney for Lambda Legal who served in the military while openly transgender, told ABC News that the recent Pentagon memorandum does not come as a surprise.
“This is exactly what we anticipated, and it’s exactly how we framed up our complaint and our motion for preliminary injunction,” Buchert said on Thursday. “The executive order, frankly, is dripping with animus, and we expected nothing less than exactly what we got today. So there is absolutely no surprises, and it’s absolutely shameful.”
When asked what else could be expected of the Trump administration regarding transgender service members, Buchert said there is “no bottom” to how extreme the administration may take things.
“Of all of the national security priorities that we have and all of the domestic priorities we have as a country, they’ve chosen transgender people as a top priority of things to work on,” Buchert said. “I think it’s shameful and disgraceful and has caused great harm to both transgender military service members and their families, but also to the military at large.”
“This is just plain wrong,” Buchert added. “This is the opposite of a meritocracy.”
The lawsuit, Shilling v. Trump, claims the ban on transgender service members is unconstitutional and violates fairness principles. Plaintiffs include transgender service members from a range of military branches affected by the Trump administration.
Buchert added that removing thousands of transgender service members will negatively affect the military financially given the U.S. military investment in each troop’s training and development. A 2020 Palm Center study found the removal of these troops would cost nearly $1 billion.
There are currently 4,240 active-duty, National Guard and Reserve service members who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a defense official previously told ABC News.
(WASHINGTON) — Elon Musk, the billionaire businessman and head of the Department of Government Efficiency, called Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly a “traitor” in a post on X after Kelly posted that he had visited Ukraine over the weekend.
Kelly, in a thread on X Sunday night, posted photos of his visit to Ukraine and wrote that “Everyone wants this war to end, but any agreement has to protect Ukraine’s security and can’t be a giveaway to Putin.”
In a reply to the thread, Musk responded, “You are a traitor.”
Kelly, a former Navy pilot and astronaut, responded in a separate post on X.
“Traitor? Elon, if you don’t understand that defending freedom is a basic tenet of what makes America great and keeps us safe, maybe you should leave it to those of us who do,” wrote Kelly, whose recent trip marked his third visit to Ukraine since 2023.
The comments from Musk, one of President Donald Trump’s closest advisers, comes weeks after an explosive meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office that devolved into a shouting match. During the stunning exchange, Trump and Vice President JD Vance rebuked Zelenskyy for his handling of the war, falsely blaming the Ukrainian leader for a conflict that began when Russia’s Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion.
After the meeting, Zelenskyy left without signing an agreement that would have given the U.S. access to Ukraine’s mineral resources, which the country had hoped would ensure the continued flow of U.S. military support as it battles Russia.
Trump’s administration has embarked on a dramatic pivot away from the “ironclad” backing of Ukraine practiced by former President Joe Biden’s administration. Trump has falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the war with Russia, called Zelenskyy a “dictator” and frozen military aid and intelligence support in a bid to force Ukraine into making concessions to Russia.
“If we abandon our ally Ukraine, we will be viewed by other countries including our other allies as untrustworthy and in the future we shouldn’t expect their help,” Kelly posted to X.
Kelly and Musk have feuded in the past. When Musk attacked Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen last month, calling him “an idiot,” Kelly and his brother Scott Kelly, also an astronaut, pushed back.
“Hey @ElonMusk, when you finally get the nerve to climb into a rocket ship, come talk to the three of us,” Kelly wrote.
(WASHINGTON) — Lawmakers from both political parties invoked China as a potential winner in international development as the U.S. reviews its foreign assistance programs and non-governmental organizations funded largely by American grants await answers on the fate of funds critical to their missions abroad.
An official for the demining authority in Cambodia on Thursday said he received a notification to “demobilize staff members and operational teams under the support of the U.S.” starting on March 1, calling the loss of the partnership a “critical situation.”
Grantees in Cambodia were ordered to stop work via an email on Jan. 26 from the State Department office which has since 1993 dispersed grants globally to remove landmines and unexploded ordnance.
A State Department spokesperson told ABC News that “each program is undergoing a review with the goal of restructuring assistance to serve U.S. interests,” including the demining grants from the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement.
In its 2024 annual report, the office said the U.S. was the world’s “top supporter” of weapons destruction projects, including landmine clearance.
‘Clearing unexploded ordnance here for 100 years’
U.S. grants fund 30% of demining work in Cambodia, a vital nationwide effort in the southeast Asian country to remove landmines from its brutal civil war and unexploded bombs dropped by the U.S. in the Vietnam War, said Bill Morse, chairman of Cambodian Self-Help Demining.
“We’ll be clearing unexploded ordnance here for 100 years,” he said to ABC News via video call from Cambodia.
In a statement, Heng Ratana, the director of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), which oversees demining operations in the country, pointed to other countries in Asia — such as China and Japan — and western nations like Germany and Canada who continue to fund the Cambodian authority on demining.
CMAC estimates the country is laden with as many as 4 to 6 million landmines and other unexploded ordnance. Nearly 20,000 people have been killed — and 10,000 more have had amputations because of their injuries — in explosions, according to HALO Trust, a leading NGO.
Non-governmental organizations that work in coordination with CMAC are looking for new funding sources amid uncertainty during the freeze, said Morse, whose NGO has received grants from the State Department since 2009.
“We’ll take money from anyone if they help us clear landmines. I’m not going to be picky about it,” Morse said.
Demining is viewed as a key link between the U.S. and Cambodia, a developing nation that has increasingly relied on China for infrastructure investments and is an ally of Beijing.
Flying the American flag in the field
Demining “is a highly visible demonstration of American support for a country,” Morse said. “We fly the American flag in the field. Our uniforms carry the American flag on it. The helmets that we wear have the American flag on it.”
“Most people in the country, in the countryside, what they know of the United States is what we’re doing in the field … They’ve never seen an ambassador in their life. I may be the only American they ever meet.”
China, which has been a partner on demining efforts in Cambodia, dispersed $4.4 million to the demining authority last week, CMAC announced.
Democrats and Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee sparred over U.S. foreign assistance in a Thursday hearing focused on USAID programs, which Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., said are “indefensible” and “literally betray America.”
“Your money would’ve been better off if it had simply been thrown into a fireplace,” Mast said to open the hearing.
Yet members from both parties pointed to the rising influence of China, alarmed that China could open a spigot of cash for international aid in areas where U.S. programs cease. “It counters China,” former Republican Rep. Ted Yoho testified, describing development work. “If we’re not there, China will be there.”
Strategic competition with China
The top Republican and Democrat on the panel’s East Asia subcommittee framed the assistance issue in terms of strategic competition with China.
“I worry about what’s happening in the Pacific Islands … we’re ceding our influence there,” said Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif. “We’re already seeing China step in and take things over.”
Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., like Bera invoked demining work, citing “reports of CCP officials signaling their willingness to replace USAID in Nepal and demining activities in Cambodia.”
“Even critics of USAID acknowledge the critical soft power value of targeted and efficient programming,” she said.
A House Democratic staffer told ABC News that recipient countries, including allies, of U.S. assistance will be left with little choice but to turn to China.
The U.S. has engaged in Ghana “in part” to limit China’s gains, the staffer said, calling it “a really good U.S. partner” that now has a $156 million gap for which to compensate.
“They don’t want to work with China more. But when you have a country that has such a liquidity crisis — they have a new president, and now they have this huge funding gap — what do you expect them to do?” the staffer asked.
All three expert witnesses at Thursday’s committee hearing agreed that China represents a counterweight to the U.S. in international development.
“The U.S. has owned the space,” the Democratic staffer said, noting Russia’s recent work on mpox and ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, low-visibility assistance that could become more apparent if the U.S. pulls back permanently.
Yoho said good programs run by USAID and the State Department should be “back online as soon as possible” and “mission-driven” projects should be prioritized.
In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week, 17 former ambassadors to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos called for Rubio “to end the 90 day stop work order for U.S. foreign assistance programming that suspends U.S.-funded mine clearance programs” via “a waiver or quick and affirmative review.”
The diplomats said in their letter that U.S.-funded demining work advances national security by ensuring bad actors do not weaponize explosive materials and by fostering important connections in defense and economics.
“As former Ambassadors, we can attest that these programs helped us advance US interests by generating goodwill and providing access to senior government officials,” they wrote.
In its statement to ABC News, the State Department said it was standing up a coordination team to ensure the review of foreign assistance was “accountable” and “transparen[t].”
“Programs that serve our nation’s interests will continue,” the spokesperson said. “However, programs that aren’t aligned with our national interest will not.”
The stakes are life-and-death, Morse said.
“What’s going to happen is, [there’s a] very good chance people are going to die. Next month, they’re going to walk into an area that should have been cleared this month.”
“They’re going to step on a landmine, blow their leg off and bleed out,” he said.
About 81% of cleared land is used for farming, 15% for schools and hospitals and housing, and 4% for energy infrastructure, according to Morse, creating a key second-order effect of development.
“Clearing landmines doesn’t simply save lives,” he said.
