The Obama-appointed federal judge who ruled against President Donald Trump’s deportations of suspected Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members played a key role in the failed Russia-Trump collusion accusations while presiding over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court.
Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has started a legal battle against the Trump administration by moving to block and return deportation flights of illegal aliens affiliated with the violent Venezuelan gang last Saturday, Breitbart News reported.
A Thursday report by investigative journalist Jerry Dunleavy on Thursday detailed how deeply entrenched the judge was in the “Russiagate” conspiracy theory that the FBI used in its attempted takedown of Trump during his first term as president:
As the head of the FISA Court, Boasberg “made a number of divisive decisions, including a slap on the wrist for a member of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane team, the appointment of officials who had defended the FBI’s actions during the Russiagate saga, the renewal of the FBI’s FISA powers, and more,” Dunleavy wrote for Just the News.
Despite writing that “the frequency and seriousness” of the errors found by the DOJ watchdog related to the Russia investigation “called into question the reliability of the information proffered in other FBI applications,” Boasberg signed off on the renewal of overreaching surveillance powers for U.S. spy agencies in November 2020.
“In a ruling made public in April 2021, Boasberg approved continuation of the NSA’s warrantless surveillance program, authorized under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, for another year,” the Just the News article stated.
Dunleavy wrote that despite improper searches by the FBI, Boasberg “largely gave the bureau a pass, contending that many of the violations had occurred prior to reforms from the FBI being put in place.”
Boasberg also gave ex-FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who pleaded guilty in special counsel John Durham’s Trump-Russia investigation, a slap on the wrist compared to the jail sentence that federal prosecutors wanted him to serve.
Clinesmith admitted to falsely editing a CIA email in 2017 to state that Trump adviser Carter Page was “not a source” for the CIA when the agency had actually told the bureau that Page was an “operational contact” — prompting Durham to argue that his “deceptive conduct” had “fueled public distrust of the FBI and of the entire FISA program itself.”
Instead of jail time, Boasberg handed Clinesmith a year of probation, 400 hours of community service, and no fine — saying that the disgraced former FBI lawyer’s punishment of losing his job and reputation was enough.
“Mr. Clinesmith likely believed that what he said was true,” Boasberg said during Clinesmith’s January 2021 sentencing, adding, “I do not believe he was attempting to achieve an end he knew was wrong.”
Appointments made by the FISA Court during Boasberg’s tenure also reportedly “raised eyebrows,” with Dunleavy pointing out that he brought on Obama DOJ veterans David Kris and Mary McCord — both proponents of the Russian collusion hoax — to assist the court with FISA reform.
In the latest drama, Trump used the 1798 Alien Enemies Act and made a deal with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to house over 200 TdA-affiliated migrants and around two dozen suspected MS-13 gang members to speed up the deportation process.
By the time that Boasberg ruled that “any plane” containing suspected TdA members that planned “to take off” or had already departed the U.S. needed to “immediately” be “returned to the United States however that is accomplished,” the migrants were already in Bukele’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).
“Oopsie… Too late,” the El Salvadoran president wrote on X:
The White House and Department of Justice (DOJ) have since shot back at Boasberg, with Trump calling him a “crooked judge” who should be “impeached” in a fiery Truth Social post.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Breitbart News that the Trump administration did not “refuse to comply” with the judge’s order, stating that the “terrorist TdA aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory” and that “federal courts generally have no jurisdiction over the President’s conduct of foreign affairs.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi concurred with Leavitt’s opinion, stating in a legal filing that Washington, DC court “lacks the jurisdiction” to interfere with Trump’s deportation order.
In a statement from her office, Bondi accused Boasberg of supporting “Tren de Aragua terrorists over the safety of Americans.”
“This order disregards well-established authority regarding President Trump’s power, and it puts the public and law enforcement at risk,” the Trump-appointed attorney general wrote. “The Department of Justice is undeterred in its efforts to work with the White House, the Department of Homeland Security, and all of our partners to stop this invasion and Make America Safe Again.”
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) has since filed Articles of Impeachment against Boasberg, calling him a “radical activist” judge who is “guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors”:
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