Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor and ex-MSNBC legal analyst, believes President Donald Trump and his Department of Justice will face criminal contempt charges over their defiance of U.S District Judge James E. Boasberg’s orders to halt recent deportations.
Trump invoked an 18th century wartime act last week to deport hundreds of immigrants to a prison in El Salvador, ignoring a verbal order from Boasberg. He has since called for the judge, whom the White House called a “Democrat activist,” to be impeached.
On “The Dean Obeidallah Show” Thursday, Kirschner weighed the potential consequences.
“I was a prosecutor for 30 years,” he told the SiriusXM radio host. “You don’t write in pleadings or say in court, things like, ‘Judge, we don’t believe the information you’re looking for is relevant.’ Guess whose determination that is, sport? Not yours! The judge’s!”
“We are going to see the C-word uttered very soon — contempt,” Kirschner continued. “It will start as criminal contempt. It will very likely morph, it will start as civil contempt that will very likely morph into criminal contempt.”
The openly defiant administration told Boasberg in a court filing Wednesday to be more “respectful,” prompting the federal judge to give the administration 24 more hours to fulfill his demand for more information about their refusal to follow his initial order.
The Justice Department characterized Boasberg’s demand for information about the deportation flights as “a picayune dispute over the micromanagement of immaterial factfinding,” as opposed to a potentially illegal defiance of a federal judge’s order.
“I don’t remember lawyers, in the times I practiced, telling judges, ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about,’ in writing!” Obeidallah, a former attorney, told Kirschner. “And this is, I’m sure, [U.S. Attorney General] Pam Bondi doing this for Donald Trump.”
Trump claimed Friday that “other people handled” the deportation document that bore his signature. Steven Senne/Associated Press
On Friday, Trump claimed that he “didn’t sign” the document invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 that led to the deportations — and claimed “other people handled it” — despite his name being readily visible at the bottom.
The comment came less than a week after Trump baselessly claimed that his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, used an autopen during his time in office on numerous pardons that are now supposedly “void.”
Kirschner foresees things getting dicier for Trump.
“For the viewers at home, here’s a fun fact,” he said Thursday. “The only time a judge can appoint an independent prosecutor to prosecute a case, it is contempt of court for violating court orders. So hold on tight because the ride is going to get a whole lot bumpier.”
