Overview

• Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli filed over 35 felony counts against June ICE protesters in Los Angeles but grand juries declined to indict many defendants, leading to eight dismissals and several downgrades to misdemeanors.
• Prosecutors dropped trespass charges against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka after a federal judge publicly rebuked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for overreaching in the ICE detention oversight case.
• Attorney General Pam Bondi has only urged prosecutors to consider presenting evidence on Trump’s ’Russia hoax’ claims to grand juries, without setting a timeline for action.
• The Office of Special Counsel’s Hatch Act inquiry into former special counsel Jack Smith cannot impose sanctions beyond dismissal, a penalty made moot by his resignation.
• Legal analysts caution that while juries and courts have upheld evidentiary and procedural safeguards so far, continued political pressure risks eroding these democratic checks.