Blumenthal casts doubt on Abrego Garcia prosecution: 'Charges are not evidence'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

06/07/25 2:18 PM ET


Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) cast doubt on the prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia upon his return to the U.S. following his mistaken deportation to El Salvador, claiming that “charges are not evidence.” “These charges have to be regarded with a very hefty dose of skepticism, in light of the timing, and all of the attendant circumstances,” Blumenthal said during a Friday night appearance on CNN’s “The Source.“

“The administration has no right to bring charges simply as an offramp, or a face-saver. And now it’s going to have to, in effect, put up and shut up, put its evidence where its mouth is.” “And I’ve heard again and again and again, as a prosecutor, as a United States attorney, federal prosecutor, as well as state attorney general, charges are not evidence,” he told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “And so far, we’ve seen no evidence.”

Abrego Garcia, a Salvadorian national, who entered the U.S. illegally, was brought back by the Trump administration to the U.S. on Friday. He was hit with a two-count indictment, one for conspiracy and another for unlawful transportation of undocumented aliens. Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported earlier this year to El Salvador, is accused by prosecutors of making over 100 trips from Texas to other states in prior years, transporting migrants for payments.

The probe originates from when Abrego Garcia was pulled over by the Tennessee Highway Patrol in late 2022 for speeding. The van was full of passengers without any luggage, prompting questions from the officer on-site, according to the video of the stop. Abrego Garcia said to authorities that he was transporting construction workers to Missouri, but in reality was transporting undocumented migrants, the indictment alleges.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5338594-blumenthal-abrego-garcia-charges-evidence/

[Klarkashton]

1. It was done with some backwoods secret grand jury

Where the man had no representation.
This is the way all of this shit is going to go from now on. Nobody is safe anymore. They can accuse anybody of anything and fuck your life up forever.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. In general

the "Grand Jury" is a prosecutor's tool to be able to "charge" someone with a crime when LEO is not present to do so (along with a local/state/federal prosecutor) when the alleged crime happens. So the accused is actually not involved in any "defense".

The obvious bigger event is the actual trial (and in some cases, pre-trial motions to a court) to determine whether the charges are valid.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Were these individuals being transported as laborers?

Like for agriculture or construction? Were there any employers involved? Investigations for this case could go in a lot of directions.

[wiggs]

3. Why did the WH originally say he was mistakenly deported? He may or may not have done something illegal in

the past but I'm not seeing the public and official outrage about how much this stinks....covering up a mistake by weaponizing DOJ.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. Deadline: Legal Blog-Abrego Garcia is back but contempt and sanctions for Trump admin still on the table

“The Government flouted rather than followed” court orders, Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyers reminded the judge who ordered his return

Abrego Garcia is back but contempt and sanctions for Trump admin still on the table www.msnbc.com/deadline-whi...

— Tom Jones (@earl2.bsky.social) 2025-06-09T17:29:36.117Z

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/abrego-garcia-returned-contempt-sanctions-trump-admin-still-table-rcna211782

Responding to the claim that the civil case is now moot due to his return, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers reminded the Obama appointee that she “still retains jurisdiction to find contempt and impose sanctions.”

They called the government’s claim that it has complied with her order “pure farce,” writing:

The Government flouted rather than followed the orders of this Court and the United States Supreme Court. Instead of facilitating Abrego Garcia’s return, for the past two months Defendants have engaged in an elaborate, all-of-government effort to defy court orders, deny due process, and disparage Abrego Garcia. In its latest act of contempt, the Government arranged for Abrego Garcia’s return, not to Maryland in compliance with the Supreme Court’s directive to “ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” . . . but rather to Tennessee so that he could be charged with a crime in a case that the Government only developed while it was under threat of sanctions.

Farcical is a good summary of this case and the administration’s broader immigration stance. The description pairs well with U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s recent nod to Franz Kafka’s “The Trial,” in comparing the novel’s absurd legal ordeal to the administration’s summary removals of scores of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador’s mega-prison known for human rights abuses. (Litigation is pending separately in that case in Washington, D.C., as lawyers try to secure the immigrants’ return. That case also includes an attempt to hold the administration accountable for contempt, which is pending separately on the government’s appeal in D.C.’s federal appeals court.)

Urging Xinis to keep the civil case alive, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said the government’s “wanton disregard for the judicial branch has left a stain on the Constitution” and that if there’s “any hope of removing that stain, it must start by shining a light on the improper actions of the Government in this tragic affair and imposing meaningful remedies.”

Meanwhile, Abrego Garcia’s criminal case is getting started in Tennessee, where he’s charged with illegally transporting undocumented immigrants. It’s an understatement to say the new case will be highly scrutinized, given how it came about in an apparent attempt by the administration to save face. That doesn’t mean federal prosecutors won’t be able to secure a conviction; they may be even more motivated to do so, given the political stakes.

On that note, ABC News reported, citing unnamed sources, that the decision to pursue the criminal case led high-ranking Tennessee prosecutor Ben Schrader to resign due to “concerns that the case was being pursued for political reasons.” Asked about the reason for his resignation, Schrader declined to comment to NBC News. If his resignation is connected to the criminal case against Abrego Garcia, then the administration’s political posturing through the Justice Department has led to the loss of yet another career prosecutor — one of this administration’s sordid legacies, as exemplified by the Eric Adams dismissal debacle earlier this year.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. I had a story in a tab ready to go and finally posted

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143474872

[Torchlight]

7. I believe they'll turn Mr. Garcia into the proverbial Canary in the Coalmine

and press as hard as they possibly can to see just how far down they take him. If their agenda for him is successful, I fear that could be the beginning of national purges, open with nationality as an excuse, then race for public flavor, and finally ideological purges for. For good.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. They are going through an extraordinary face-saving production

since they decided to use him as a "test" for how far they could go. But since they instead went leaping off the cliff like the ever-bumbling Wiley E. Coyote does in almost every episode, they have to start over with a new scheme.

They are now trying "retrofit" a "storyline" to justify why they did what they did in the first place and when that fails, they will make sure the media deep-sixes this whole incident by giving them some other "juicy" outrage to report on as a distraction.