Overview

• U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. found a realistic likelihood of vindictiveness in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case and set a public evidentiary hearing.
• The court authorized Abrego to take discovery focused on DOJ decisionmakers, including depositions and subpoenas directed at officials involved in approving the indictment.
• The order names potential witnesses such as Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Schrader, who resigned the day the grand jury returned charges.
• The judge cited timing and delay evidence, noting the probe was reopened days after a Supreme Court injunction facilitating Abrego’s return and that he was indicted 10 days later following a 903‑day gap from the traffic stop.
• Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman argues in an op‑ed that the decision could be the death knell for the James Comey and Letitia James cases and alleges Trump-driven personnel moves in Virginia enabled those indictments.