Overview
- Defense lawyers subpoenaed Blanche and other senior DOJ and DHS officials to testify at a two-day hearing in Nashville set for the first week of November.
- The Justice Department has asked the court to quash the subpoenas and opposed broader discovery, calling the defense bid an open-ended fishing expedition.
- U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw previously found a realistic likelihood of vindictiveness, ordered discovery, and set the hearing.
- A government filing indicates former local prosecutor Ben Schrader drafted a memo declining to charge the case, which DOJ argues is not subject to disclosure.
- Abrego was deported to El Salvador in March despite a 2019 court order—later labeled an administrative error—and he disputes MS-13 allegations that the judge called fanciful, while reported third-country removal bids to Uganda, Ghana, and Eswatini were rejected.