"Abuse of Power": Trump Admin's "Bizarre" Arrest of Milwaukee Judge Shocks Legal Community 28APR25

 

"Abuse of Power": Trump Admin's "Bizarre" Arrest of Milwaukee Judge Shocks Legal Community

PROOF of NOT MY pres musk's and NOT MY pres drumpf's / trump's battle against the American judiciary, this time with  propaganda campaign of lies and deception of the actions of Judge Hannah Dugan as well as Eduardo Flores-Ruiz and both dea and fbi agents. pam bondi continues to show her only qualification to be the a.g. in the drumpf / trump-vance administration is her right purty mouth  and the way she squeals like a pig when speaking in public ( the same "qualities" that qualify little marco to be sec of state ). From DemocracyNow!.....

 On Friday, FBI agents arrested a county judge in Milwaukee and charged her with obstructing justice and concealing an individual from arrest. After an undocumented immigrant, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, appeared before her in court on an unrelated misdemeanor charge, Judge Hannah Dugan learned that ICE agents were waiting in the hallway outside her courtroom to arrest him. Dugan told the agents they could not perform the arrest without a judicial warrant and adjourned the hearing, directing Flores-Ruiz to leave her courtroom into a public hallway. Milwaukee-based attorney Ann Jacobs says it appears that two DEA agents who remained in the hallway as Flores-Ruiz left did not take any action toward an arrest while he was still inside the courthouse. He was later pursued and arrested outside. One week later, FBI agents arrested Dugan, accusing her of helping Flores-Ruiz avoid arrest. "The message is crystal clear: ‘If you cross the Trump administration, we will arrest you,'" says Jacobs. "The goal is to chill judges from ruling against the Trump administration," with "the hopes that they can cudgel the judiciary into simply becoming meekly obedient to the executive branch." Dugan's longtime friend Emilio De Torre, who spoke at the protests, says FBI Director Kash Patel's public celebration of her arrest is "absolutely disgusting and damaging," and slams the effects of Trump's attacks on civil society. "People here in Milwaukee are not taking kindly to the fact that our community, our economy, our family, now our courthouses and our schools are being disrupted by the heavy-handed overreach that we see."

TRANSCRIPT

0:00

this is democracyow democracynow.org I'm

0:03

Amy Goodman We look now at how the Trump

0:05

administration is escalating its attacks

0:08

on judges On Friday FBI agents arrested

0:12

a county judge in Milwaukee Judge Hannah

0:15

Dugan and charged her with obstructing

0:19

justice and concealing an individual

0:21

from arrest The FBI accuses her of

0:25

helping an undocumented immigrant leave

0:27

her courtroom in her Wisconsin

0:30

courthouse April 18th to avoid arrests

0:34

by agents waiting in the hallway That

0:37

day a Mexican immigrant named Eduardo

0:39

Flores Ruiz was before her in a hearing

0:41

on battery charges he faced stemming

0:43

from an argument over loud music with

0:44

his roommate the roommate's girlfriend

0:46

and her cousin Florida Ruiz had been

0:48

working in the US for about 12 years as

0:50

a cook in Milwaukee after he was first

0:52

deported in 2013 The day before the

0:55

hearing an immigration judge had issued

0:56

a warrant for his arrest After he left

0:59

Judge Dugan's courtroom agents

1:01

reportedly saw Fletzer walking down the

1:04

hallway to the elevator and leave the

1:06

courthouse They arrested him minutes

1:07

later outside Judge Dugan's arrest just

1:10

this past Friday came a week after all

1:13

this unfolded has drawn massive backlash

1:15

across the country Democratic Senator

1:18

Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin said quote

1:20

"This action fits into the deeply

1:22

concerning pattern of this president's

1:23

lawless behavior and undermining courts

1:26

and Congress's checks on his power."

1:29

unquote FBI Director Cash Patel is

1:31

facing accusations he broke DOJ policy

1:35

by posting a photo online of Judge Dugan

1:39

in handcuffs On Saturday protesters

1:43

rallied outside the FBI building in St

1:45

Francis Wisconsin to protest the Trump

1:47

administration's crackdown on immigrants

1:49

and the arrest of Judge Dugan

1:54

and to do what she did and respect

1:58

everything she tried to do People think

2:02

people think we are not near fascism but

2:06

we are They think it can't happen here

2:08

but it can and is happening here right

2:11

now And if we don't stop it before it

2:15

gets too far along We're going to be no

2:18

better than Germany was in the 30s and

2:21

40s Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan was

2:24

released Friday after her arrest by the

2:26

FBI On Sunday reporters asked President

2:28

Trump about the case What's next for

2:31

cleaning up the courts after Judge

2:33

Dugan's arrest oh terrible What happened

2:35

there is terrible That that could happen

2:37

with a judge is so ashamed And we have

2:39

to look we have to bring our country

2:42

back from all these criminals that Biden

2:43

allowed to come in These are worldclass

2:46

criminals and people that are insane

2:48

People from jails murderers drug addicts

2:51

drug dealers and you know we have a

2:54

country We have to be proud of our

2:56

country We can't let these people stay

2:57

And the courts are allowing them to stay

2:59

And we're not going to we're just not

3:01

going to allow it So hopefully the

3:03

Supreme Court will come to the rescue of

3:05

our country For more we're joined in

3:08

Milwaukee Wisconsin by Anne Jacobs a

3:11

Milwaukee based attorney who personally

3:13

knows Judge Hannah Dugan has appeared

3:15

before her in court Jacobs is also chair

3:18

of the Wisconsin Elections Commission

3:20

And Jacobs welcome to Democracy Now What

3:23

happened here

3:26

it's a fascinating story isn't it um and

3:31

thank you for highlighting the fact that

3:34

uh the director of the FBI made a

3:37

photograph of Judge Dugan being taken

3:40

away in handcuffs Um the which is just

3:45

appalling and such an abuse of power

3:48

What happened here was the according to

3:51

the complaint

3:53

uh immigration authorities six people

3:57

two FBI two ICE a de and a couple of

4:01

DEAs I may have the numbers exactly

4:03

wrong but six people go to pick up this

4:06

gentleman in court uh like courouses

4:09

across the country we have metal

4:11

detectors so no guns allowed and they

4:15

come into the courthouse and they say

4:17

they go to judge Judge Duke's courtroom

4:19

and they say "We're here to arrest this

4:21

guy." And she says "We got a protocol

4:24

You have to go talk to the chief judge

4:25

whose courtroom is some distance away."

4:28

And they say "Fine." And she goes back

4:32

in The interesting part of all this is

4:35

apparently four of the six go off to the

4:39

chief judge's office leaving the two DEA

4:42

agents behind in the hallway Um there's

4:45

some lengthy discussion in the complaint

4:47

about what happens in the courtroom Uh

4:49

but I think it's undisputed which is

4:51

that um she allows the public defender

4:55

and the gentleman at issue to go out a

4:58

side

4:59

door and from that side door they exit

5:03

onto the public

5:06

hallway In the public hallway are the

5:08

two DEA agents sitting there uh

5:11

ostensibly waiting for him

5:14

Uh the attorney and the gentleman come

5:16

out into the hallway and they look

5:17

around This is in the complaint They

5:20

look

5:21

around Nothing happens to them So they

5:24

walk to the elevators and they go

5:26

downstairs to leave the

5:28

courthouse Um the DEA agents we don't

5:32

know why don't arrest him one of them

5:35

gets into the elevator with them and

5:38

they go downstairs and then eventually

5:41

he is arrested Um it that's the sum

5:47

total of what really the accusations are

5:50

against Judge Dugan There's a lot of

5:52

very breathless she was stern she walked

5:56

quickly she appeared angry There's a lot

5:59

of those sort of um salacious tidbits

6:04

but in the end the sum total of what she

6:07

did is direct him to a side door and

6:11

send him out to the public hallway

6:15

to a public hallway where the agents

6:18

could have gotten him there But she did

6:20

express anger right to the agents before

6:23

he appeared in court that they were

6:25

concerned that they would arrest him in

6:27

her courtroom Is that right um that's

6:31

certainly what the complaint says And I

6:33

want you to think about a couple of

6:34

things First of all if you've ever met a

6:36

judge um they're not always very happy

6:39

when their courtroom is being disturbed

6:42

Secondly and the assumption is that the

6:46

only reason she's upset is that ICE is

6:48

there to arrest him in her courtroom In

6:50

other words that there's something about

6:52

him that she is upset about Um in her

6:55

courtroom she's in misdemeanor court in

6:57

her courtroom are witnesses victims and

7:01

the like for whom an ICE going around

7:06

ICE agent going around arresting people

7:08

can really impede the justice for those

7:11

folks So it's not only the fact that

7:14

somebody who's charged with a crime is

7:15

getting arrested and I'm simply reading

7:18

into the complaint It is equally logical

7:21

to be upset about the fact that they're

7:23

coming into a courtroom where you need

7:25

to have everyone in the community

7:27

documented or not be able to feel safe

7:31

I wanted to go to Pam Bondi the attorney

7:36

general of the United States

7:42

No one is above the law in this country

7:44

And if you are destroying evidence if

7:48

you are obstructing justice when you

7:50

have victims sitting in a courtroom of

7:53

domestic violence and you're escorting a

7:55

criminal defendant out a back door it

7:58

will not be tolerated and it is a crime

8:01

in the United States of America So that

8:04

was US Attorney General uh Pam Bondi

8:07

speaking on Fox News and Jacobs your

8:09

response

8:11

As lawyers we have really strong ethical

8:14

rules on what we're allowed to say and

8:16

what we're not allowed to say in part to

8:18

prevent uh impacting a court case Um and

8:24

and especially for government attorneys

8:28

who are required to be um honest and

8:31

accurate and everything else And I think

8:34

those sort of comments that she's making

8:36

are unfortunate and designed to sort of

8:38

taint the view of uh what happened here

8:42

Uh it also makes it sound like this was

8:44

going to be a trial and what have you

8:47

This was a pre-trial hearing in

8:49

misdemeanor court with an out of custody

8:52

defendant Um this is not

8:56

some day of justice as it were Um it's a

9:00

pretty ordinary day in a pretty ordinary

9:03

court where you're going to have lots

9:05

and lots of misdemeanor misdemeanence uh

9:08

persons charged with misdemeanor in the

9:09

courtroom and adjouring the case is not

9:12

a denial of justice It's a pretty

9:15

ordinary thing and she sent him out to a

9:18

public corridor where law enforcement

9:20

was waiting and law enforcement looked

9:23

at him and watched him walk to the

9:26

elevators It it's just a bizarre story

9:29

What message do you think the Trump

9:31

administration is trying to send to

9:33

judges as it loses one case after

9:37

another scores of cases around the

9:40

country Whether we're talking about

9:43

Trumpappointed judges uh conservative

9:45

judges or not

9:48

the message is crystal clear If you

9:51

cross the Trump administration we will

9:53

arrest you I mean I think that's that's

9:56

literally what they are trying to do Um

9:58

so I think the goal is to chill uh

10:02

judges from ruling against the Trump

10:04

administration requiring that they

10:07

follow applicable laws and procedures

10:10

when it comes to detentions arrests to

10:13

require them to have valid warrants and

10:16

the like So certainly that's the

10:18

intention of this with the hopes that

10:21

they can cudle the the judiciary into

10:24

simply becoming meekly obedient to the

10:27

executive branch And Jacobs Warner thank

10:29

you so much for being with us An

10:32

attorney based in Milwaukee knows Judge

10:35

Hannah Dugan well has appeared before

10:37

her in court This is Democracy Now I'm

10:40

Amy Goodman We're staying in Milwaukee

10:42

now where on Friday FBI agents arrested

10:46

a Milwaukee County judge Judge Hannah

10:49

Dugan after they accused her of

10:51

obstructing justice and concealing an

10:53

immigrant from

10:56

arrest when in fact the federal agents

10:58

very soon after arrested the immigrant

11:01

who had appeared in her court We're

11:04

speaking now with Alio Detore the

11:08

executive director of Milwaukee Turners

11:11

which was founded by immigrants and

11:13

refugees in

11:15

1853 He's a longtime friend of Judge

11:18

Dugan spoke at both the Friday afternoon

11:21

protest outside Milwaukee County

11:23

Courthouse and at a Saturday protest in

11:26

front of the FBI headquarters in St

11:27

Francis Wisconsin which was held to

11:30

protest her arrest Judge Dugan is a

11:33

former board member of Milwaukee Turners

11:37

Welcome to Democracy Now Emilio Start

11:39

off by explaining what Milwaukee Turners

11:42

is um and your response to the judge's

11:46

arrest

11:48

Well thank you for inviting me Amy Uh

11:50

the Milwaukee Turners is a 171-year-old

11:53

civic society

11:55

uh founded as you said by immigrants and

11:57

refugees We operate out of an historic

12:00

landmark in downtown Milwaukee Uh the

12:02

longest continuously running gymnasiums

12:04

there Uh we teach yoga gymnastics rock

12:08

climbing of trained Olympians there

12:09

There's a concert hall there Uh we do a

12:12

variety of programs across two

12:14

counties Uh in regards to the arrest

12:17

this is devastating It's affecting folks

12:20

all over especially as it's rolled into

12:22

the wake of the confusion of

12:24

some almost 100 students in Wisconsin

12:27

who faced the retraction of their F1 and

12:30

J1 visas This is just upsetting uh

12:33

people all over the county

12:37

you were one of the uh you were one of

12:39

the first people to uh protest her

12:42

arrest to get copies of the complaints

12:45

against the judge and share them with

12:48

the public Um can you talk more about

12:52

what we know about her arrest and how

12:54

this has affected the judge and the

12:57

overall Milwaukee community and her long

13:00

history in Milwaukee

13:03

sure People were tremendously upset I

13:06

had uh folks calling early in the

13:09

morning alerting me to what had happened

13:11

Uh as we shared copies of the complaints

13:14

on Facebook we had people reaching out

13:17

uh who had gone to grade school with her

13:19

high school with her She is a well-known

13:21

and respected person Former executive

13:24

director of Catholic Charities worked

13:26

for Legal Aid Legal Action former

13:29

Milwaukee Bar Association president uh

13:32

she's not just some secluded figure in a

13:35

courthouse She is uh an active part of

13:37

the community She's known for giving out

13:39

copies of the Constitution and flags on

13:41

Constitution Day and Flag Day This is

13:44

somebody who is well respected in

13:46

multiple communities across uh the city

13:49

And this has a devastating effect uh on

13:51

our social fabric and also this sends a

13:54

ripple of fear Um this affiliate here

13:56

where I'm speaking to you from is on

13:58

MATC's campus and with students uh being

14:01

threatened in in Marquette uh at UWM

14:05

WMadison MATC Concordia

14:08

uh people with visas people who may be

14:11

undocumented are now frightened to even

14:13

come to the courts to pay municipal

14:15

citations or to or to bear witness to a

14:18

crime or to file for licensing They

14:22

don't understand what's going to happen

14:23

if they feel as though a judge who is an

14:26

integral part of the community can be

14:28

picked up for what is seemingly nonsense

14:31

especially if it just appears to be a

14:34

photo op to frighten other judges And

14:37

can you respond to uh Cash Patel to say

14:43

the least breaking with convention the

14:44

head of the FBI tweeting out using words

14:48

like perw walk and showing a picture of

14:50

the judge in handcuffs and writing no

14:53

one is above the law

14:56

It's absolutely disgusting and damaging

14:59

I think it sends an incorrect message to

15:01

all of these armchair quarterbacks who

15:04

are just going to believe a a short

15:06

character tweet And locally it has

15:10

devastated many communities U not only

15:13

just immigrant communities but all folks

15:15

who have known Judge Dugan for the

15:17

decades of her selfless involvement here

15:20

in the county Uh I I I personally find

15:23

it disgusting that he would use such

15:25

terminology for somebody so well

15:26

respected Do you think this has anything

15:29

to do with the major Republican defeat

15:32

uh over the special election for a judge

15:35

where um Elon Musk the richest man in

15:38

the world spent I don't know how many

15:40

millions uh on that um race and even

15:45

came out to Wisconsin and spoke and

15:47

still lost Do you think this is

15:49

retribution for that

15:52

i think it can surely be connected to

15:54

that I think it's a it's a part of an

15:57

attempt to stifle the judges like Anne

16:00

Jacobs said It's an attempt to cudle

16:02

folks into submission Uh Hannah is known

16:05

for elevating the rule of law and for

16:09

honoring due process And to make this

16:11

statement against somebody who has been

16:13

uh so admirable in her in her practice

16:16

for so many years I is ridiculous And

16:20

the fact that Cash Patel would add this

16:22

terribly insulting uh photo and

16:24

statements to it has actually had uh a

16:27

reverse effect here in Milwaukee I think

16:29

people are uh more strongly supporting

16:32

the judge more strongly coming out on

16:34

behalf of immigrants and more strongly

16:37

rejecting this message And certainly you

16:39

can connect it to the amount of money

16:41

that they attempted to dump into the

16:42

state supreme court race

16:44

And finally in related news federal

16:46

agents in New Mexico have arrested a

16:48

former judge Jose Luis Kano and his wife

16:50

They've been accused of tampering with

16:52

evidence linked to a former tenant who

16:54

the government claims was a member of a

16:56

Venezuelan gang Uh that was another

16:59

judge a former judge who was arrested

17:02

the overall message being sent and

17:04

what's happening on the ground now

17:07

around

17:11

organizing Uh the overall message being

17:15

sent is is is being linked to the same

17:18

types of statements that uh that were

17:21

made in 1930s Germany and 1940s Russia

17:24

Folks were actively comparing the recent

17:26

federal statements from the United

17:27

States to Stalin's statements about

17:29

repressing the judiciary I think these

17:32

actions are just underscoring it Uh

17:34

people here in Milwaukee are not taking

17:37

kindly to the fact that our community

17:40

our economy our family now our courouses

17:42

and our schools are being disrupted by

17:44

the heavy-handed overreach that we see

17:47

It really seems like an unjust and and

17:51

and perhaps quite illegal grab into our

17:55

courouses and it is having the opposite

17:57

effect I think that the federal

17:59

government had intended it to have

18:01

Emilio Dtori is the executive director

18:03

of Milwaukee Turners longtime friend of

18:06

Judge Hannah Dugan

Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.