Trump Is Prosecuting a Congressional Democrat for Doing Her Job. The Media’s Response: No Big Deal.
Rep LaMonica McIver D-N J exits ICE s Delancey Hall immigration prison on May in Elizabeth N J Photo Angelina Katsanis AP You may have come across a common thought experiment that asks how the establishment U S media might cover a given domestic news event were it to occur in a maligned foreign country The latest disturbing news from Donald Trump s Justice Department for example might be framed as something like Trumpist regime targets opposition politician with fabricated charges for carrying out oversight Instead the typical mainstream reports were muted on the Justice Department s obscene decision Monday night to charge New Jersey Democratic Rep LaMonica McIver with assaulting a U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer when the member of Congress attempted to conduct an oversight visit earlier this month at a massive new ICE detention facility in her hometown of Newark New Jersey Trump is now routinely targeting elected functionaries and judges with outrageous investigations threats and hefty charges for doing their jobs Democratic Rep McIver charged with assault after skirmish at ICE center New Jersey prosecutor says The Associated Press broadcasted Rep LaMonica McIver charged by DOJ over affair with ICE agents read the ABC News headline The Justice Department charged a New Jersey congresswoman with assaulting federal agents during a clash outside a Newark immigration detention center began the New York Times s coverage All of these are technically accurate Alina Habba Trump s sometime personal lawyer and the interim federal prosecutor for New Jersey disclosed on X that the administration was charging the member of Congress with assaulting impeding and interfering with law enforcement after an event when McIver and two other House members went to view ICE s privately run Delaney Hall detention facility News organizations should however have long ago stopped affording the Trump administration such credulous coverage Even the largest part bare-bones facts-only reporting here fails the basic task of truth-telling if it doesn t lead by pointing out that these charges are manufactured malicious politically motivated attacks These general personnel are being treated like criminals for attempting to impose even minimal checks and balances The Trump Justice Department is now routinely targeting elected authorities and judges with outrageous baseless investigations threats and as is now the scenario with McIver hefty charges for doing their jobs That is these citizens functionaries are being treated like criminals for attempting to impose even minimal checks and balances on the authoritarian executive The administration for instance is trying to make an example of a Milwaukee Wisconsin judge who faces federal charges for allegedly preventing ICE from detaining an undocumented immigrant in her courtroom The Justice Department also disclosed on Monday that it was opening a civil rights assessment into Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for I kid you not hiring Black people in his office The bunk charges against McIver who is also Black stem from another attack on an elected Democrat Newark Mayor Ras Baraka who by the way is himself Black That makes three Black elected Democrats targeted in extraordinary strategies by the Trump administration this month alone Masked ICE agents confront Newark Mayor Ras Baraka at a demonstration outside an immigrant jail in Elizabeth N J on May AFP via Getty Images Purely Political During McIver s visit to ICE s Delaney Hall with two other members of Congress Baraka attempted to join the lawmakers to check the detention facility in his city And with good reason The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey has called the jail a serious threat to New Jersey s immigrant communities Baraka was arrested by ICE officers and charged with trespassing McIver her congressional colleagues and several of the mayor s supporters had attempted to encircle Baraka and protect him from being grabbed by ICE agents Video footage shows the confrontation was provoked entirely by the aggressive immigration enforcement officers Only the the bulk short-sighted and context-stripped framing would describe this as a two-sided clash as the New York Times headline did or skirmish like the AP and Washington Post CNN called it a melee Baraka has publicly stated his opposition to Delaney Hall and argued that it is operating illegally in his city The city of Newark is as of now suing GEO Group the private-prison company that operates the facility for allegedly failing to obtain the necessary certificates to open the building which has the limit to cage over people ICE agents created an unnecessary and unsafe confrontation when they chose to arrest Mayor Baraka McIver reported in a short comment posted on social media on Monday night The charges against me are purely political they mischaracterize and distort my actions and are meant to criminalize and deter legislative oversight In the same comment announcing McIver s charges Habba the federal prosecutor also explained that Baraka s trespass charge would be dropped for the sake of moving forward She commented she was charging McIver though because it is her Constitutional obligation to ensure that our federal law enforcement is protected when executing their duties It could even be argued that physically confronting federal officers acting like a modern-day Gestapo is commendable but the idea that McIver was assaulting ICE agents is laughable No officers were injured on the day of Baraka s arrest There is a naked hypocrisy in the Trump administration pretending to care about protecting federal law enforcement officers after pardoning over people charged in the January riot at the U S Capitol which involved brutal assaults on dozens of Capitol Police who are of module federal officers As I ve noted before however there s little point charging brazen hypocrites with hypocrisy They know and they don t care The predicament here isn t hypocrisy it s fascism Dems Growing a Spine The decision to charge Congresswoman McIver is outrageous Her visit to Delaney Hall was for statutorily and constitutionally protected oversight declared Lisa Gilbert the co-president of the watchdog group Masses Citizen in a press release This prosecution is an attempt to shift the blame for ICE s odious behavior to Congresswoman McIver All of Congress regardless of party should be reacting with indignation at this spectacular affront to their prerogatives The administration s attack on McIver has at least provoked an unusually strong response from the House Democratic leadership The criminal charge against Congresswoman LaMonica McIver is extreme morally bankrupt and lacks any basis in law or fact noted House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California Vice Chair Ted Lieu of California and Assistant Leader Joe Neguse of Colorado in a joint announcement Read Our Complete Coverage The War on Immigrants The proceeding initiated by the so-called U S Attorney in New Jersey is a blatant attempt by the Trump administration to intimidate Congress and interfere with our ability to serve as a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch they added Everyone responsible for this illegitimate abuse of power is going to be held accountable for their actions An attack on one of us is an attack on the American people House Democrats will respond vigorously in the days to come at a time place and manner of our choosing It is high time for fighting words to be met with robust action from the Democrats We have yet to see it in four months of Trump s thoroughgoing assaults on civil rights and liberties I will not hold my breath But as Trump s regime has made ever clearer that it will carry out archetypally authoritarian attacks on the perceived opposition in leadership a real opposition worthy of the name should step up They might be spurred into action more fast if instead of soft-pedaling fascist authoritarianism the media did their job too The post Trump Is Prosecuting a Congressional Democrat for Doing Her Job The Media s Response No Big Deal appeared first on The Intercept
