Overview
- A newly unsealed December 3 order says senior Justice Department officials labeled the case a “top priority” only after Kilmar Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported and then ordered returned.
- Judge Waverly Crenshaw cited emails indicating Associate Deputy Attorney General Aakash Singh pushed the prosecution from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office.
- The decision says Nashville’s U.S. attorney was not the sole decision-maker, pointing to Washington input during the period when the government was resisting a Maryland court’s return order.
- Crenshaw ordered internal communications produced over privilege claims, referencing Abrego Garcia’s due-process rights and noting Blanche’s Fox News remarks as part of the context.
- A late-January hearing will address the motion to dismiss for vindictive prosecution, the trial is postponed, and Abrego Garcia remains on pretrial release after pleading not guilty.