DOJ won’t say what it advised Noem amid contempt inquiry over El Salvador deportations
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(WASHINGTON) — Department of Justice officials, citing privilege, did not disclose details on the legal advice given to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about the decision to continue the deportation of more than 100 Venezuelans to El Salvador in March.
The declarations filed in court Friday are a response to a contempt inquiry initiated by U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg, who is determining whether Noem or anyone else should be referred for potential contempt prosecution.
The court filings Friday were submitted after DOJ lawyers said in a filing last week that Noem directed the deportation flights to continue despite Boasberg’s order to return the planes to the U.S. as he heard a legal challenge to the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to deport the Venezuelans, whom the Trump administration accused of being gang members.
In her declaration, Noem confirmed she made the decision to continue the transfer of the detainees after receiving legal advice from DOJ leadership and from Joseph Mazarra, the acting general counsel of DHS.
In the filings Friday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, a DOJ official in March who is now a U.S. circuit judge, declined to provide details on the “privileged” legal advice they gave to Noem.
“DOJ has not authorized me to disclose privileged information in this declaration,” Bove said.
Mazarra, in his declaration, said that he analyzed Judge Boasberg’s order that sought to block the deportations and then provided Noem with legal advice.
“DHS had removed these terrorists from the U.S. before this Court issued any order (or oral statement regarding their removal),” Mazarra wrote in the filing Friday.
In a separate filing, DOJ attorneys said it would be “prejudicial and constitutionally improper” to compel testimony from the officials who submitted declarations in advance of a referral for prosecution.
“[The] Court has all the information it needs to make a referral if it believes one to be justified, and further factual inquiry by the Court would raise constitutional and privilege concerns,” the DOJ attorneys stated.
In response to the declarations, Lee Gelernt, the lead attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which has challenged the AEA deportations in court, told ABC News “the Trump administration is again refusing to cooperate with a federal court.”
In March, the Trump administration invoked the AEA — an 18th-century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process — to deport two planeloads of alleged migrant gang members to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.
In a March 15 court hearing, Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order and ordered that the planes carrying the detainees be turned around, but Justice Department attorneys have said his oral instructions directing the flight to be returned were defective, and the deportations proceeded as planned.
Boasberg’s earlier finding that the Trump administration likely acted in contempt was halted for months after an appeals court issued an emergency stay. A federal appeals court last month declined to reinstate Boasberg’s original order, but the ruling allowed him to move forward with his fact-finding inquiry.
(WASHINGTON) — As the first government shutdown in seven years got underway on Wednesday, tens of thousands of federal workers face the risk of missing paychecks as broader America braces for the absence of some key services.
Starting on Wednesday, 750,000 federal employees are expected to be furloughed, and essential employees will have to work without pay for the duration of the shutdown, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The workers will be placed on leave without pay and will get paid retroactively once the shutdown is over.
“The number of furloughed employees could vary because some agencies might furlough more employees the longer a shutdown persists and others might recall some initially furloughed employees,” the CBO said in a statement.
While Oct. 1 paychecks have already gone out to some 2 million U.S. military troops, they may miss their next payday on the fifteenth of this month if lawmakers can’t reach a compromise to end the shutdown.
Jaime Billert of New York, whose husband serves in the U.S. Coast Guard, told ABC News that she’s already spoken to her children about setting priorities and cutting back on expenses, including dining out.
Billert said she told her children, “Your dad’s not getting paid right now. That’s our sole source of income.”
Other federal employees deemed essential — including Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers, air traffic control workers and U.S. Border Patrol agents — will be required to continue working without pay.
Jon Zumkehr — a corrections officer at a federal prison in Thomson, Illinois, and president of Local 4070 of the American Federation of Government Employees — said he and his co-workers are concerned about how long the shutdown will last.
The federal government stoppage in December of 2018 lasted 35 days and cost the U.S. economy $11 billion, according to the CBO.
Meanwhile, members of Congress, whose average annual salary is around $174,000, will still collect their paychecks during the shutdown as mandated under Article 1, Section 6 of the Constitution.
Other impacts of the shutdown could also affect national parks, which remain partially open but could face staff shortages during the shutdown.
In previous government shutdowns, national parks that remained open but unstaffed experienced vandalism and destruction of wildlife habitats, according to a recent letter signed by 40 former park superintendents and sent to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
In a statement on its website on Wednesday, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., announced that its museums, research centers and the National Zoo will use prior-year funds to remain open to the public during the shutdown at least through Oct. 6.
If the shutdown goes beyond a week, other government services could be cut off.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which assists 7 million low-income mothers and their children, is expected to run out of funding in about a week.
Some key federal agencies are expected to continue running during the shutdown, including the U.S. Postal Service.
Social Security payments are not expected to be affected by the shutdown. Federal financial aid for students is also expected to keep flowing and and student loan payments will still be due, according to the Department of Education.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks to the members of the media during a press conference, following Senate Democrats weekly policy lunch on Capitol Hill in Washington, September 30, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Senate on Wednesday — the first day of a government shutdown — once again failed to pass bills aimed at funding the government as congressional leaders continue to trade blame for the shutdown.
Negotiations appear to be underway, and Friday is the next opportunity for the Senate to vote on government funding — leaving many Americans to wonder what’s next with the shutdown.
The Senate held two votes on funding bills that mirrored the failed votes they took on Tuesday, resulting in a government shutdown that took effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Both failed — resulting in the government shutdown continuing.
What’s next?
After the failing of the bills Wednesday morning, the Senate is expected to take votes on other matters in the afternoon and then they’re expected to depart for Yom Kippur. Though things could always change if some sort of deal is struck.
The Senate is not expected to hold any additional votes on government funding until Friday at the earliest, all but assuring this shutdown stretches on at least until Friday.
Bipartisan path forward?
During Wednesday’s vote on whether to advance a seven-week stopgap funding bill, a large bipartisan huddle of senators gathered. The group included a number of closely watched moderates including Sens. Gary Peters, Jacky Rosen, Raphael Warnock, Ruben Gallego, Ben Ray Lujan and more.
Lawmakers who left that huddle told ABC News that the conversations they were having were preliminary. But it’s clear a bipartisan group is coming together that’s looking for some sort of shutdown off ramp.
“The Democrats who you saw there are trying to find a good faith way to move forward, get the ACA tax credits that we want, and also some of the appropriations that they are asking for,” Sen. Ruben Gallego, who was part of the group, told reporters.
One of the possibilities being floated among the group include trying to pass a shorter-term government funding bill to allow some additional breathing room for negotiations on the Affordable Care Act tax credit extensions that Democrats say they want, according to sources.
Sen. Mike Rounds, who appeared to be among the key GOP negotiators in the huddle, said Republicans are trying to convince a group of Democrats that opening the government back up would create the best avenue to continue negotiations on health care.
“We’re trying to convince them this is the right thing to do: find the path forward, get the 10 votes or more to move forward with this, and then let’s go right to work on fixing the issues that they were concerned about,” Rounds said.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said that there’s “a lot of bipartisan hope” that the shutdown would be as “short and costless as possible” — adding that negotiations would be ongoing.
“There are real and significant glimmers of hope that we could have a meeting of the minds,” Blumenthal said.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has been leading Senate Democrats in their blockade against a short term funding bill unless health care needs or met, was not in the huddle. But he seemed encouraged by it.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Wednesday that he was aware of the bipartisan huddle and that he’s also engaged in discussions with members of both sides to come up with a solution to fund the government.
Wednesday’s votes
The first vote that failed in the Senate was, once again, a procedural vote on the Democrats’ government funding proposal that includes the health care provisions they’ve been seeking. It failed by a vote of 47-53. As was the case on Tuesday night, every Democrat voted for it and every Republican voted against it.
The second vote in the series was a procedural vote on the clean, House-backed Republican stop-gap funding bill that failed Tuesday night. Democrats continued to hold the line during Wednesday’s vote, leading it to fail with a vote of 55-45.
Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and John Fetterman, as well as independent Angus King, voted — as they had Tuesday — with Republicans to advance the GOP funding solution. But no additional Democrats broke ranks during the vote series. Republican Sen. Rand Paul voted no, so Republicans would have needed to pick up at least five more Democrats to advance this bill, which needed 60 votes to pass.
Thune said that Republicans are on the hunt for those few additional Democrats to support their clean, short term funding bill.
Senate leaders place blame on opposing party
In floor remarks ahead of the Wednesday votes, both leaders opened by blaming the other party.
“Here we are, Democrats have bowed to the far left and they’ve shut down the federal government,” Thune said on the floor. “As of this morning critical federal employees including members of the military, border patrol agents and air traffic controllers are working without pay and a number of government services are unavailable or at risk.”
Schumer, meanwhile, said “Donald Trump and Republicans have barreled us into a shutdown because they refuse to protect America’s health care.”
Schumer, in his speech, said Republicans won’t be able to “bully” Democrats into stepping down from their demands that health care be addressed as part of government funding.
At a press conference Wednesday morning, Thune said Democrats “have taken the American people hostage in a way that they think benefits them politically, at the consequence of the cost of what’s going to happen to the American families if this government shutdown continues.”
Speaker Mike Johnson slammed Democrats during the Wednesday morning press conference.
“Every single bit of this was entirely avoidable,” Johnson said, adding that Democrats should pass the clean CR as they did in the House.
“Democrats in Congress have dragged our country into another reckless shutdown to satisfy their far-left base,” Johnson said. “Whether or not the government remains open or reopens is entirely up to them.”
Democrats hit back during a press conference of their own Wednesday morning.
“Republicans control the Senate, the House and the White House. They need Democratic votes to fund the government, so it’s on them to talk with us,” House Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Pete Aguilar said.
On Tuesday, Schumer urged Republicans to come to the negotiating table.
“So, we want to sit down and negotiate, but the Republicans can’t do it in their partisan way, where they just say ‘It’s our way or the highway,’” Schumer reiterated at a news conference following Senate votes Tuesday night.
Schumer rehashed the failed votes on the Senate floor — placing the blame on Republicans who “have failed to get enough votes to avoid a shutdown.”
ABC News’ Lauren Peller and Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Monday continued to take aim at Chicago as the city braces for potential federal intervention.
“We’d love to go into Chicago and straighten it out,” Trump said as he delivered remarks at the Museum of the Bible.
Earlier Monday, Trump wrote on his social media platform that the people of Illinois should “band together and DEMAND PROTECTION” from what he has said is a crime problem in Chicago, despite police data showing murders and shootings down this year compared to last.
“I want to help the people of Chicago, not hurt them. Only the Criminals will be hurt! We can move fast and stop this madness,” Trump wrote in the post.
The comments come after a war of words over the weekend between Trump and Illinois leaders following a controversial post from the president referencing the newly rebranded Department of War.
“Chicago is about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” Trump wrote in a post on Saturday that included a manipulated image and a caption reading, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning,” a nod to the often-quoted line “I love the smell of napalm in the morning” from the war film “Apocalypse Now.”
Trump later downplayed the threat, telling reporters on Sunday: “We’re not going to war. We’re going to clean up our cities.”
Democratic leaders in Illinois slammed Trump’s rhetoric, and protests unfolded throughout Chicago on Saturday against the president’s threat to increase immigration enforcement and dispatch National Guard troops.
“‘I want to help people, not hurt them,’ says the guy who just threatened an American city with the Department of War,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker wrote on X on Monday.
While Trump on Monday said that he wanted to “fix” Chicago, he also signaled his administration may not send in troops without a request from state and local officials, saying his administration is “waiting for a call from Chicago.”
“I don’t know why Chicago isn’t calling us, saying, please give us help when you have over just a short period of time, 50 murders and hundreds of people shot. And then you have a governor that stands up and says how crime is just fine. It’s, it’s really crazy, but we’re bringing back law and order to our country,” Trump said.
Pritzker has made clear he will not be making such a request, telling reporters last week: “When did we become a country where it’s okay for the U.S. president to insist on national television that a state should call him to beg for anything, especially something we don’t want?”
Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday launched an expanded operation dubbed “Midway Blitz,” that will “target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a post on X.
Trump, touting his administration’s federal takeover of Washington, suggested on Monday the same be done in other American cities.
“We could do the same thing in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles,” Trump said in his remarks at the Museum of the Bible.
“We saved Los Angeles, we saved Los Angeles,” he said.
The Trump administration deployed thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June, over the protests of Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. A federal judge recently ruled the use of federal troops in the California city was illegal.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch earlier Monday said she is “revolted” by the presence of the National Guard on big city streets.
“As a lifelong New Yorker, I am revolted by the idea of the militarization of our streets,” Tisch said during a breakfast at the Citizens Budget Commission. “I will be very clear with anybody, all of you, the attorney general, anyone who wants to talk to me about this that the NYPD, we’ve got this. We don’t need or want the federal government’s help here in that way.”
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
