National Guard Arrives in DC, Judge Boasberg Loses Again, Kohberger's Prison Life： AM Update 8⧸14
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Summary
Trump declares a public crime emergency in the nation s capital, 800 National Guardsmen are deployed to the streets of Washington, D.C. as a result of the president's decision to take control of the city s police force.
Transcript
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It's Thursday, August 14th, 2025, and this is your AM Update.
00:00:39.980
He's sending troops into the streets to declare war on our own people.
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The National Guard arriving in D.C. amid President Trump's federal takeover
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The majority of the panel agreed that the probable cause order was so unlawful
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The Trump administration scoring another huge win in its legal battle
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against the chief judge of the federal D.C. District Court, Judge James Bosberg.
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Attorney Will Chamberlain breaks down the case and what it means for the president's power
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And an inside look at convicted killer Brian Kohlberger's life behind bars.
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All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.
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The National Guard officially spotted patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C.
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following President Trump's Monday declaration of a public crime emergency in the nation's
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Home Rule Act, the president has the power to take control of the city's police force.
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Given the crime, homelessness, and general squalor of the city, Mr. Trump exercised those
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powers, mobilizing 800 National Guardsmen to D.C.
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Democrats and the media largely condemning the decision, calling it a power grab and pointing
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to statistics purporting to show that crime is trending downward there.
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When I go to D.C., I'm not afraid of losing my wallet so much as I'm afraid of losing my
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I'm not afraid of losing my wallet so much as I'm afraid that my children's freedom
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to breathe will be stolen in a world where climate change policy is non-existent.
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He's sending troops into the streets to declare war on our own people.
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Never mind the fact that violent crime in D.C. has actually been on a steep decline since
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The administration rejecting arguments that crime in D.C. is not a real problem, pointing
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In 2024, D.C.'s homicide rate was 27.3 per 100,000 residents, the fourth highest in the
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nation, according to research by the Rochester Institute of Technology.
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In addition, there is reportedly an active investigation of a D.C. police commander for allegedly falsifying
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crime data this year to make it appear that violent crime has fallen considerably compared
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Janine Pirro on Tuesday highlighting the number of teens shot and killed by gunfire.
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I wanted to get a sense of what is actually happening in the District of Columbia.
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I asked for the number of teens who have been shot and killed by gunfire.
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As you can see, in 2024, we have 29 individuals who were shot and killed in the district, some
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There is a whole community that is suffering because of the violent crime in this district.
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And anyone who wants to tell me the crime is down and that we don't need an emergency focus on crimes
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of violence, all they need to do is take a look at this and talk to the loved ones and the family
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members of these individuals, all shot and killed long before their time.
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In just the first night under federal authority before the arrival of the National Guard, D.C.
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police and federal agents making 23 arrests for crimes, including homicide, driving under the
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influence, unlawful possession of weapons, lewd acts and more.
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President Trump on Wednesday from the Kennedy Center saying the administration is just getting started.
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Attorney General Pam Bondi, the job she's doing is incredible.
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You're going to see a big change in Washington crime stats very soon.
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I'm determined to make Washington, D.C. safe, clean and beautiful again.
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We're going to have to remove the tents and the people that are living in our parks.
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We're going to be redoing the parks, the grasses and all.
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The Democrats are afraid to do anything because they don't want to be criticized.
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The place is going to hell and we've got to stop it.
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So instead of saying he's a dictator, they should say we're going to join him and make Washington safe.
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D.C. officials offering mixed responses to the takeover.
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Mayor Muriel Bowser blasting it as, quote, an authoritarian push and, quote, an intrusion on our autonomy.
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However, her position on the takeover appears to shift based on her audience.
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Earlier that day, the mayor adopting a softer stance following a meeting with A.G.
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Bondi, who was overseeing the federalization, saying more cops could help the city fight crime, but that she also wants to make sure federal forces are being, quote, well used.
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Police chief Pamela Smith striking a more cooperative tone on Tuesday, saying President Trump's move would, quote, make our city even better.
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The New York Times describing the Tuesday evening arrival of the National Guard, quote,
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About a dozen members of the National Guard appeared in five military vehicles near the Washington Monument as the sun set, a stark juxtaposition to a peaceful evening scene of people jogging by with headphones and walking their dogs.
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The Times conceding the presence of troops was far from menacing, quote,
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The initial deployment near the Washington Monument, at least, often resembled something less fearsome than many might have expected, with troops snapping photos of themselves with visitors.
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They left roughly two hours after they arrived.
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An Army official telling the Times additional troops are continuing to gather in the district and are expected to deploy around national monuments and near a U.S. Park police facility in southeast Washington.
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Under the Home Rule Act, the administration can take control over the local police for up to 30 days.
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President Trump telling reporters on Wednesday he will push for a long-term extension, which will require approval from Congress.
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Well, if it's a national emergency, we can do it without Congress, but we expect to be to Congress before Congress very quickly.
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We're going to be asking for extensions on that, long-term extensions, because you can't have 30 days.
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We're going to have this in good shape, and I don't want to call a national emergency.
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But I think the Republicans in Congress will approve this pretty much unanimously.
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The National Guard is not subject to the same time limitations.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth telling reporters earlier this week,
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troops may be deployed for weeks or months, depending on the president's discretion.
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Coming up, a deep dive into the legal battle waged against the Trump administration
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by Chief D.C. Judge James Bosberg, and what happens next in the contempt of court proceedings
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A federal appeals court panel last Friday delivering a major win for the Trump administration in
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its contentious legal battle with federal D.C. district judge James Bozberg.
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The case beginning back in March with Judge Bozberg ordering the Trump administration to
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pause deportations under the Alien Enemies Act and return any flights underway.
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The administration arguing it no longer had jurisdiction over flights already in international
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airspace and did not compel the two planes already en route to return.
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In early April, the Supreme Court siding with the Trump administration, allowing deportations
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under the Alien Enemies Act to resume so long as detainees received due process.
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The high court also finding the case was filed in the wrong venue to begin with, meaning Judge
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Bozberg should not have heard the case in the first place.
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Despite the Supreme Court's order, Judge Bozberg forged ahead.
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In April, using a probable cause order, the first stage in launching contempt proceedings
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against the Trump administration, leading many to wonder what Bozberg was doing.
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It seemed like an obvious judicial overreach, as we reported right here on AM Update.
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Last Friday, a panel of judges from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacating Judge Bozberg's
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order in a split two-to-one decision, with two Trump-appointed judges ruling against Judge
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Bozberg and one Obama-appointed judge siding with the lower court.
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We spoke to senior counsel at the Article III Project, Will Chamberlain, who cut through
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the complicated legal fight and lays out for us what's likely to happen next.
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Judge Bozberg, essentially what he has is this zombie case.
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The Supreme Court already found that his attempt to force the administration to return a bunch
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of Venezuelans who had been removed to El Salvador was unlawful because he didn't have
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But what he's making the argument for is that the administration is still obligated to comply
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with these orders, even if they're unlawful, because the only proper course is to appeal.
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And he argued they willfully defied these orders and therefore would be subject to criminal
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Chamberlain calling Judge Bozberg's order a brazen judicial attempt to strong arm the executive
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branch, a tactic one of the judges on the panel also criticized.
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In a contempt proceeding, it's literally the judge saying, you're defying my orders.
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But both in civil and criminal contempt, you can purge the contempt at the judge's discretion
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One of the things he was trying to do, which was a big issue and something that Judge Rao found
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specifically obnoxious, was he was essentially trying to coerce the government to comply with
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his order that the Supreme Court had found he had no jurisdiction to issue.
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Basically, what he said in his contempt order was, if you purge the contempt by asserting custody
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over these individuals, then I won't try you for the criminal contempt.
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That's an attempt, a way to use criminal contempt proceedings to circumvent your own lack of
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And it's especially bad when it comes to an Article 3 judge essentially trying to use
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contempt to usurp Article 2 foreign affairs powers.
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Typically, the Trump administration would not be allowed to appeal Judge Bozberg's probable
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But the appeals panel used a rare legal tool called a writ of mandamus to rule against Judge
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Chamberlain explains what that means and why the judges thought this case was extreme enough
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A writ of mandamus is, imagine a kind of catch-all order that appellate courts can use to say,
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A probable cause finding in a contempt proceeding is basically like an indictment in a criminal
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It's the judge saying, there's probable cause to think that you committed criminal contempt.
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Therefore, I am going to initiate an effective prosecution, if you will, for this contempt.
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That's not appealable for the same reason that criminal defendants generally can't appeal
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their indictments, because that would mean that a criminal defendant could avoid a trial.
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The administration in this case normally wouldn't have jurisdiction to appeal a probable cause
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However, the majority of the panel agreed that in this instance, a writ of mandamus was appropriate
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And the reason they said that was because the probable cause order was so unlawful and so
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egregious and such a threat to the separation of powers that it was appropriate at this stage
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to essentially effectively the equivalent of dismissing the indictment outright.
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The irony here is that it was this judge who openly lamented to Chief Justice Roberts at a judicial
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conference this past spring that judges in the D.C. Circuit were concerned the administration would
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The appeals court here finding it was Judge Bozberg who deviated so flagrantly from the law that a writ
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The Court of Appeals finding two major flaws with Judge Bozberg's order.
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As previously mentioned, one judge's opinion focusing on Bozberg's attempt to coerce the Trump
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administration to comply with an order that had already been ruled unlawful.
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The other judge's position that any underlying ambiguity in an order must be construed in favor
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Judge Bozberg in, you know, this very, very rushed proceeding made arguments about how he
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wanted all the planes turned around in midair and he wanted custody immediately asserted over
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all the defendants and have them returned to the country.
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But in this hearing where he was making these demands, he said, don't worry, I'm going to
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Then after the hearing, when he did memorialize it in writing, all he essentially said was
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the government needs to not remove the individuals in question.
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So basically what Judge Katzis says is it's not fair to hold them to ambiguous language if
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they have a reasonable interpretation of what that means and they're complying with it.
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Team Trump argued that term don't remove was ambiguous and seemed to only apply to immigrants
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still in the United States, not to those already on outbound planes.
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The dissenting judge argued that the underlying order was clear and the defending judge also
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effectively argued that the standard for a writ of mandamus isn't met here because certainly
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the conduct of the judge was maybe it was wrong, but it wasn't so egregious as to justify
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Moreover, Judge Pillard also said that the judge's instructions were clear, but personally,
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I found Judge Pillard's reasoning very unpersuasive.
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Chamberlain describing what any next steps might look like.
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There could be an on-bank ruling from the D.C. Circuit as a whole.
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The plaintiffs in this case could seek to bring the case, you know, to appeal to the on-bank
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court who could then issue a different opinion entirely and vacate the reversal of the probable
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And then they could issue their own opinion speaking for the court.
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But if they tried to do something that different than what Judge Katzis and Judge Rao did, I
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suspect that the Supreme Court would then step in and agree with Judge Katzis and Judge Rao.
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Because if the Supreme Court, remember, has already reversed Judge Bozberg once in this very
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same case, I don't think they're going to look kindly upon Judge Bozberg's attempt to
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use a criminal contempt proceeding to coerce compliance with an order they already found
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If on-bank is denied, then these are almost certainly over.
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Theoretically, Judge Bozberg could try and push this to the Supreme Court, but it's really
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The ACLU's lead attorney, arguing on behalf of the Venezuelans at the heart of the original
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We vehemently disagree with the ruling and will consider every option going forward, though
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it is not yet clear if an appeal will be filed.
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The Venezuelan nationals originally deported to El Salvador, where they were held in a maximum
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security prison, have since been sent home to Venezuela in July as part of a prisoner swap
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This factor may complicate their legal standing in this case.
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The bottom line for now is Judge Bozberg's attempt to hold on to this case and try to
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force President Trump to conduct immigrant removals as this unelected judge sees fit has
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failed badly, potentially sending a message to other activist judges.
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So many people wondering how Brian Kohlberger, convicted last month in the brutal killings of
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four University of Idaho students, sleeps at night.
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We are happy to report the answer is he doesn't.
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A law enforcement source telling News Nation Kohlberger, serving four life sentences for
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the murders of Madison Mogan, Kaylee Gonsalves, Zanna Kornodal, and Ethan Chapin, plus 10 years
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on burglary, is suffering relentless torment from his fellow prison mates.
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Retired homicide detective Chris McDonough describing Kohlberger's experience since being
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The good news is the inmates apparently were waiting for him.
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And when he got there, they are now making his life absolutely miserable.
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And they're basically, you know, torturing him through, you know, using psychology.
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And the guards at this point, you know, the most they can do is write it down and or, you
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know, tell him, hey, there's nothing we can do.
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So the prisoners taunt him day and night, and he's whining to the guards that he can't
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This is a man who attacked his defenseless victims with a knife as they lay sleeping.
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Kohlberger serving his time in solitary confinement at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution.
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For 23 hours a day, the dead-eyed murderer sits in a single-person cell in the prison's
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most restrictive housing unit, allotted 60 minutes of outdoor recreation in what is known
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as the cage, kept in restraints the entire hour.
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Kohlberger accepting the life sentences and foregoing the ability to appeal in a controversial
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deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty.
00:21:04.480
Join me back here for The Megan Kelly Show, live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at noon
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east, on youtube.com slash megankelly, and on all podcast platforms.
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