Ex-Trump defense lawyer Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official, is picked to be federal judge
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He also moved aggressively to align the department with Trump's agenda around immigration and other matters, ordering federal prosecutors to investigate for potential criminal prosecution state or local officials who are believed to be interfering with the Republican administration's immigration crackdown.
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Trump picked Bove to fill a vacancy on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases from Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The nomination, which is subject to Senate confirmation, comes just months into Bove's contentious tenure at the department.
'Emil is SMART, TOUGH, and respected by everyone,' Trump said in a social media post announcing the nomination. 'He will end the Weaponization of Justice, restore the Rule of Law, and do anything else that is necessary to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. Emil Bove will never let you down!'
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When Todd Blanche, another former criminal defense attorney for Trump, was sworn in as deputy attorney general, Bove became Blanche's top adviser, serving as the principal associate deputy attorney general.
Bove, a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, was on the defense team during Trump's New York hush money trial and defended Trump in the federal criminal cases brought by the Justice Department. The Justice Department abandoned Trump's federal 2020 election interference case and the classified documents case after Trump won the election in November.
Bove's order to dismiss the Adams case roiled the department. Manhattan's top federal prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, and several high-ranking department officials resigned rather than carrying out Bove's order. In remarkable departure from long-standing department norms, Bove said the case should be dropped because it was interfering with the mayor's ability to aid the president's crackdown on illegal immigration.
Bove clerked for two federal judges appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. He then spent nine years at the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan where he specialized in prosecuting drug kingpins and alleged terrorists.
He was involved in multiple high-profile prosecutions, including a drug-trafficking case against the former Honduran president's brother, a man who set off a pressure cooker device in Manhattan and a man who sent dozens of mail bombs to prominent targets across the country.
Bove's actions at the New York office, however, rankled some fellow prosecutors and defense attorneys. In 2018, the federal public defender's office compiled complaints about his behavior from defense attorneys and sent them to two top officials in the U.S. attorney's office. About 18 months after the email was sent, Bove was promoted to be co-chief of the office's national security and international narcotics unit.
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Atlantic
22 minutes ago
- Atlantic
A Military Ethics Professor Resigns in Protest
Seven years ago, Pauline Shanks Kaurin left a good job as a tenured professor at a university, uprooted her family, and moved across the country to teach military ethics at the Naval War College, in Newport, Rhode Island. She did so, she told me, not only to help educate American military officers, but with a promise from the institution that she would have 'the academic freedom to do my job.' But now she's leaving her position and the institution because orders from President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, she said, have made staying both morally and practically untenable. Remaining on the faculty, she believes, would mean implicitly lending her approval to policies she cannot support. And she said that the kind of teaching and research the Navy once hired her to do will now be impossible. The Naval War College is one of many institutions—along with the Army War College, the Air War College, and others—that provide graduate-level instruction in national-security issues and award master's degrees to the men and women of the U.S. armed forces. The Naval War College is also home to a widely respected civilian academic post, the James B. Stockdale Chair in Professional Military Ethics, named for the famous admiral and American prisoner of war in Vietnam. Pauline has held the Stockdale Chair since 2018. (I taught for many years at the Naval War College, where I knew Pauline as a colleague.) Her last day will be at the end of this month. In January, Trump issued an executive order, Restoring America's Fighting Force, that prohibits the Department of Defense and the entire armed forces from 'promoting, advancing, or otherwise inculcating the following un-American, divisive, discriminatory, radical, extremist, and irrational theories,' such as 'gender ideology,' 'race or sex stereotyping,' and, of course, anything to do with DEI. Given the potential breadth of the order, the military quickly engaged in a panicky slash-and-burn approach rather than risk running afoul of the new ideological line. The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, in New York, for example, disbanded several clubs, including the local chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers. Other military installations, apparently anticipating a wider crackdown on anything to do with race or gender, removed important pages of American history about women and minorities from their websites. All of this was done by bureaucrats and administrators as they tried to comply with Trump's vague order, banning and erasing anything that the president and Hegseth might construe as even remotely related to DEI or other banned concepts. Some Defense Department workers 'deemed to be affiliated with DEI programs or activities' were warned that Trump's orders 'required' their jobs to be eliminated. Many professors at military institutions began to see signs that they might soon be prohibited from researching and publishing in their fields of study. Phillip Atiba Solomon: Am I still allowed to tell the truth in my class? At first, Pauline was cautious. She knew that her work in the field of military ethics could be controversial—particularly on the issues of oaths and obedience. In the military, where discipline and the chain of command rule daily life, investigating the meaning of oath-taking and obedience is a necessary but touchy exercise. The military is sworn to obey all legal orders in the chain of command, but when that obedience becomes absolute, the results can be ghastly: Pauline wrote her doctoral dissertation at Temple University on oaths, obedience, and the 1969 My Lai massacre in Vietnam, in which a young U.S. officer and his men believed that their orders allowed them to slay hundreds of unarmed civilians. For more than 20 years, she taught these matters in the philosophy department at Pacific Lutheran University, and once at Newport, she wrote a book on the contrasting notions of obedience in military and civilian life. When the Trump order came down, Pauline told me that Naval War College administrators gave her 'vague assurances' that the college would not interfere with ongoing work by her or other faculty, or with academic freedom in general. But one day, shortly after the executive order in January, she was walking through the main lobby, which proudly features display cases with books by the faculty, and she noticed that a volume on LGBTQ issues in the military had vanished. The disappearance of that book led Pauline to seek more clarity from the college's administration about nonpartisanship, and especially about academic freedom. Academic freedom is an often-misunderstood term. Many people outside academia encounter the idea only when some professor abuses the concept as a license to be an offensive jerk. (A famous case many years ago involved a Colorado professor who compared the victims of 9/11 to Nazis who deserved what they got.) Like tenure, however, academic freedom serves crucial educational purposes, protecting controversial research and encouraging the free exchange of even the most unpopular ideas without fear of political pressure or interference. It is essential to any serious educational institution, and necessary to a healthy democracy. Conor Friedersdorf: In defense of academic freedom Professors who teach for the military, as I did for many years, do have to abide by some restrictions not found in civilian schools. They have a duty, as sworn federal employees, to protect classified information. They may not use academic freedom to disrupt government operations. (Leading a protest that would prevent other government workers from getting to their duty stations might be one example.) And, of course, they must refrain from violating the Hatch Act: They cannot use government time or resources to engage in partisan political activity. But they otherwise have—or are supposed to have—the same freedoms as their colleagues in civilian institutions. Soon, however, jumpy military bureaucrats started tossing books and backing out of conferences. Pauline became more concerned. Newport's senior administrators began to send informal signals that included, as she put it, the warning that 'academic freedom as many of us understood it was not a thing anymore.' Based on those messages, Pauline came to believe that her and other faculty members' freedom to comment publicly on national issues and choose research topics without institutional interference was soon to be restricted. During an all-hands meeting with senior college leaders in February, Pauline said that she and other Naval War College faculty were told that the college would comply with Hegseth's directives and that, in Pauline's words, 'if we were thinking we had academic freedom in our scholarship and in the classroom, we were mistaken.' (Other faculty present at the meeting confirmed to me that they interpreted the message from the college's leadership the same way; one of them later told me that the implication was that the Defense Department could now rule any subject out of bounds for classroom discussion or scholarly research at will.) Pauline said there were audible gasps in the room, and such visible anger that it seemed to her that even the administrators hosting the meeting were taken aback. 'I've been in academia for 31 years,' she told me, and that gathering 'was the most horrifying meeting I've ever been a part of.' I contacted the college's provost, Stephen Mariano, who told me in an email that these issues were 'nuanced' but that the college had not changed its policies on academic freedom. (He also denied any changes relating to tenure, a practice predicated on academic freedom.) At the same time, he added, the college is 'complying with all directives issued by the President and Department of Defense and following Department of the Navy policy.' This language leaves Pauline and other civilian faculty at America's military schools facing a paradox: They are told that academic freedom still exists, but that their institutions are following directives from Hegseth that, at least on their face, seem aimed at ending academic freedom. In March, Pauline again sought clarity from college leaders. They were clearly anxious to appear compliant with the new political line. ('We don't want to end up on Fox News,' she said one administrator told her.) She was told her work was valued, but she didn't believe it. 'Talk is cheap,' she said. 'Actions matter.' She said she asked the provost point-blank: What if a faculty member has a book or an article coming out on some controversial topic? His answer, according to her: Hypothetically, they might consider pulling the work from publication. (Mariano denies saying this and told me that there is no change in college policy on faculty publication.) Every government employee knows the bureaucratic importance of putting things on paper. Pauline's current project is about the concept of honor, which necessarily involves questions regarding masculinity and gender—issues that could turn the DOD's new McCarthyites toward her and her work. So she now proposed that she and the college administration work up a new contract, laying out more clearly—in writing—what the limits on her work and academic freedom would look like. She might as well have asked for a pony. Administrators, she said, told her that they hoped she wouldn't resign, but that no one was going to put anything in writing. 'The upshot,' according to her, was a message from the administration that boiled down to: We hope you can just suck it up and not need your integrity for your final year as the ethics chair. After that, she told me, her choices were clear. 'As they say in the military: Salute and execute—or resign.' Until then, she had 'hoped maybe people would still come to their senses.' The promises of seven years ago were gone; the institution now apparently expected her and other faculty to self-censor in the classroom and preemptively bowdlerize their own research. 'I don't do DEI work,' she said, 'but I do moral philosophy, and now I can't do it. I'd have to take out discussions of race and gender and not do philosophy as I think it should be done.' In April, she submitted a formal letter of resignation. Initially, she had no interest in saying anything publicly. Pauline is a native Montanan and single mom of two, and by nature not the type of person to engage in public food fights. (She used to joke with me when we were colleagues that I was the college's resident lightning rod, and she had no interest in taking over that job.) She's a philosopher who admires quiet stoicism, and she was resolved to employ it in her final months. But she also thought about what she owed her chair's namesake. 'Stockdale thought philosophy was important for officers. The Stockdale course was created so that officers would wrestle with moral obligations. He was a personal model of integrity.' Even so, she did not try to invoke him as a patron saint when she decided to resign. 'I'm not saying he would agree with the choice that I made,' she told me. 'But his model of moral integrity is part of the chair.' She kept her resignation private until early May, when a professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Graham Parsons—another scholar who teaches ethics in a military school, and a friend of Pauline's—likewise decided to resign in protest and said that he would leave West Point after 13 years. Hegseth's changes 'prevent me from doing my job responsibly,' he wrote in The New York Times. 'I am ashamed to be associated with the academy in its current form.' Hegseth responded on X, sounding more like a smug internet troll than a concerned superior: 'You will not be missed Professor Parsons.' The episode changed Pauline's mind. She felt she owed her friends and colleagues whatever public support and solidarity she could offer them. Nor are she and Parsons alone. Tom McCarthy, a professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland, recently resigned as chair of the history department rather than remove a paper from an upcoming symposium. And last month, a senior scholar at the Army War College, in Pennsylvania, Carrie Lee, also handed in her resignation, a decision she announced to her friends and followers on Bluesky. Jason Dempsey: Hegseth has all the wrong enemies Lee told me in an email that she'd been thinking of leaving after Trump was elected, because it was apparent to her that the Trump administration was 'going to try and politicize the military and use military assets/personnel to suppress democratic rights,' and that academic freedom in military schools was soon to 'become untenable.' Like Pauline, Lee felt like she was at a dead end: 'To speak from within the institution itself will also do more harm than good. So to dissent, I have little choice but to leave,' she said in a farewell letter to her colleagues in April. I asked Pauline what she thinks might have happened if she had decided to stay and just tough it out from the inside. She 'absolutely' thinks she'd have been fired at some point, and she didn't want such a firing 'to be part of the legacy of the Stockdale Chair.' But then I asked her if by resigning, she was giving people in the Trump administration, such as Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought—who once said that his goal was to make federal workers feel 'trauma' to the point where they will quit their jobs—exactly what they want: Americans leaving federal service. She didn't care. 'When you make a moral decision, there are always costs.' She dismissed what people like Vought want or think. 'I'm not accountable to him. I'm accountable to the Lord, to my father, to my legacy, to my children, to my profession, to members of the military-ethics community. So I decided that I needed to resign. Not that it would change anyone's mind, but to say: This is not okay. That is my message.' At the end of our discussion, I asked an uncomfortable question I'd been avoiding. Pauline, I know, is only in her mid-50s, in mid-career, and too young simply to retire. She has raised two sons who will soon enter young adulthood. I asked her if she was worried about her future. 'Sure,' she said. 'But at the end of the day, as we say in Montana, sometimes you just have to saddle up and ride scared.'
Politico
22 minutes ago
- Politico
Pritzker to run for a 3rd term
Happy Wednesday, Illinois. New York's ranked choice voting has us interested. TOP TALKER HE's DOING IT: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is set to announce on Thursday that he'll seek a third term in 2026, leaving open the possibility that he could also run for president in 2028. The Democratic governor, who's been on a media blitz criticizing President Donald Trump's administration, will make the announcement at events starting Thursday in Chicago before traveling to Springfield and across the state in the coming days, according to two people in the campaign. Pritzker is seen as a shoo-in to win the Democratic primary in March. Republicans have yet to step up with a challenger. Illinois does not have term limits for its statewide offices, though there hasn't been a three-term governor since Republican Gov. Jim Thompson, who won four times and held office from 1977 to 1991. Pritzker's campaign kick-off comes after months of speculation about whether the state's top Democrat would run for re-election at a time of budget uncertainty — and then run for president in 2028, too. Watch for that to be a Republican talking point. Pritzker has headlined numerous national speaking engagements in recent months, fueling the buzz about a presidential run. In an interview with POLITICO, Pritzker insisted he's just trying to bring attention to Illinois and highlight the Trump administration's tariffs and cuts to his constituents. The big question for Thursday's announcement is whether he will also bring out a running mate. We hear that's not likely. Watch him announce his No. 2 down the road, allowing for another media bump. Current Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who has served with him both terms, is now running for the U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring Sen. Dick Durbin. Pritzker self-funded his past two campaigns — spending a combined $350 million to do so — and will do the same this time around. THE BUZZ GETTING INTERESTING: State Rep. Kam Buckner, former County Commissioner Richard Boykin and SEIU's Anthony Driver Jr. are considering running for Congress in the IL-07 District now represented by Rep. Danny Davis. They join a growing list of potential and declared candidates who are tip-toeing around Davis as he has yet to reveal his future political plans. We hear he'll announce in early July. It's starting to irk some folks who wonder if Davis is just holding out to make it hard for candidates to start a campaign, allowing him to open a lane for an anointed candidate. Davis' chief of staff insists the congressman is just 'assessing' his next move. 'More people are telling him to run than telling him not to run,' said Tumia Romero. Our assessment: Davis is 83. His back hurts. And he's facing a political moment of increased scrutiny on age. Meanwhile, potential candidates are waiting in the wings. Buckner is the Illinois speaker pro tempore and co-leader of House budget negotiations and an education and transit modernization advocate. Boykin is a former Cook County commissioner who previously worked as Davis' chief of staff for nearly 10 years. He's an attorney and president of Bridge Builders Consulting and Legal Services. Driver is executive director of the SEIU Illinois State Council and president of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, which works to improve police oversight and public safety. Driver, Boykin and Buckner are still just 'considering' a run and won't jump in until Davis makes an announcement. Announcing Thursday: Marine Corps veteran and Chicago comedian John McCombs, who served as a public affairs officer at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and currently works at the Naval Station Great Lakes training new sailors. He's also traveled the world doing stand-up comedy, something he started while in college. Politics is part of his show, says the 34-year-old McCombs, who describes himself as progressive. 'My experience as a Marine was to fight and win battles, and as a standup comedian it's to communicate in any room.' He joins state Rep. La Shawn Ford and businessman Jason Friedman, who also have filed to run along with fellow Democrats Kamaria Kali and Jerico Brown. Others still considering: Chicago Ald. Walter Burnett Jr., who serves as vice mayor and is the longest-serving West Side elected official next to Davis; Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, who ran for the seat in 2024; Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins; and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District President Kari Steele. You counted right: That's 12 candidates. If you are Danny Davis, Playbook would like to hear from you! Email: skapos@ WHERE'S JB No official public events WHERE's BRANDON At Arie Crown Theater at 9 a.m. for the Chicago Fire Department firefighter and EMT graduation Where's Toni At the Cook County building at 10 a.m. to launch the next phase of the Cook County Down Payment Assistance Program Have a tip, suggestion, birthday, new job or a (gasp!) complaint? Email skapos@ BUSINESS OF POLITICS — IL-09: The progressive 314 Action Fund is endorsing Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss for Illinois' 9th Congressional District. 'He's a proven leader, delivering results rooted in facts and data. As Trump and Republicans try to strip millions of their health care to give tax breaks to billionaires, Daniel will work tirelessly to protect the district,' said Shaughnessy Naughton, the group's president, noting Biss' experience as mayor, state legislator and local activist. 314 Action is a national nonprofit that recruits, trains and helps elect STEM candidates up and down the ballot. — Speaking of IL-09: State Sen. Mike Simmons is considering a run for the congressional seat now held by Rep. Jan Schakowsky. Simmons is taking part in a candidate forum Sunday with other announced candidates. Details here — IL-06 REMATCH: Republican Niki Conforti is running for the seat held by Democratic Congressman Sean Casten. The two faced each other in 2024, too. 'With our strong foundation from the 2024 election and my background in business and policy, I am confident we can flip this seat in 2026,' Conforti said in announcing her campaign. 'People feel disenfranchised. Something needs to give, and I am the change agent.' — Nick Uniejewski has been endorsed by Dick Simpson, the former Chicago alderman and political consultant, in his bid for the 6th District state Senate seat. Uniejewski is a Democrat primarying state Sen. Sara Feigenholtz. THE STATEWIDES — New Illinois laws: Gas tax, hotel offerings set for changes on July 1, via NBC 5 — CDC confirms Illinois' first human case of West Nile virus this year, by USA Today's Hannah Hudnall — Challenges persist for women, minorities breaking into Illinois' skilled trades, by Capitol News' Maggie Dougherty TAKING NAMES — Janice Jackson is stepping down as founding CEO of Hope Chicago, a nonprofit that offers debt-free college scholarships and wrap-around services to students and their parents. She's exiting 'to pursue other career opportunities, effective Aug. 1,' according to a statement. Jackson, the former head of Chicago Public Schools, has been mentioned as a potential 2027 mayoral candidate. — Michael O'Grady has been named chair of the Civic Committee. In his day job, O'Grady is CEO of Northern Trust. He succeeds Jennifer Scanlon, president and CEO of UL Solutions, by Crain's Brandon Dupré. CHICAGO — City mum on what documents it provided ICE in Streets and Sanitation subpoena, by the Tribune's Alice Yin — Bucking policy trend, public access to video of CPD Officer Krystal Rivera's fatal shooting is delayed, by the Tribune's Madeline Buckley and Sam Charles — After objections, Chicago Police agree officers won't search vehicles based on smell of raw cannabis, advocates tell judge, by WTTW's Heather Cherone — New Jersey solar company Nautilus relocates headquarters to Chicago, by the Sun-Times' Abby Miller — Woman charged with driving car through downtown anti-ICE protest, by the Sun-Times' Cindy Hernandez — 'Danke Schoen": Ferris Bueller vest sells for $279,400 at auction, by the Block Club's Gwen Ihnat COOK COUNTY AND COLLARS — Suburban lawmakers, Democratic and Republican, address concerns about political violence: 'It's unfortunately a real consideration that any time I am going to have a public event I have to think about what the security situation is,' said Democratic state Rep. Bob Morgan. 'The temper and tone of political rhetoric has been out of control for quite some time,' added Republican state Rep. Marty McLaughlin, by the Pioneer Press' Daniel I. Dorfman. — DuPage to establish community land bank, trust to incentivize more affordable housing, by the Tribune's Tess Kenny — OPINION: Cook County stands with public servants as feds purge workers, Toni Preckwinkle writes in the Sun-Times Reader Digest We asked who you're hoping the Bulls get in the draft. Brian Caminer: 'Derrick Queen of Maryland.' Rev. Tyrone McGowan: 'Anyone other than another guard.' Ron Michelotti: 'Rasheer Fleming of St. Joseph's College. He's 6-8 and can shoot threes.' Omari Prince: 'Ace Bailey is definitely out of the picture, but I hope the Bulls land Will Riley or Danny Wolf.' Timothy Thomas: 'Another University of Illinois veteran to join Ayo Dusomo, specifically either Kasparas Jakučionis or Will Riley.' Noah Walch: 'Derik Queen seems like the consensus answer and would be fine with me, but something about the height and rawness of Yang Hansen appeals to me. Otherwise, cross your fingers Khaman Maluach falls to 12.' NEXT QUESTION: What do you like or not about ranked-choice voting? THE NATIONAL TAKE — Mamdani topples Cuomo in NYC mayoral primary: It was a race about affordability v. fear and affordability won, by POLITICO's Jeff Coltin and Joe Anuta — Dems struggle to respond as Trump's Iran strikes sow chaos, by POLITICO's Elena Schneider and Nicholas Wu — Rubio credits president for pushing NATO allies to increase spending, by POLITICO's Felicia Schwartz — White House sends Dr. Oz to calm Senate nerves, by POLITICO's Adam Cancryn TRANSITIONS — Paula R. Worthington has been named senior policy adviser at the Civic Federation. She's a long-time senior lecturer at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. EVENTS — July 1: Screening of 'Drop Dead City,' a documentary about New York City's financial crisis in the 1970s. It's presented by the Chicago Policy Center, Civic Federation and Better Government Association. Their pitch: 'What New York fixed with courage and oversight, Chicago can fix too, if we learn from history.' Details here TRIVIA TUESDAY's ANSWER: Congrats to Barbara Flynn Currie for correctly answering that Jeanne Hurley and Paul Simon were Illinois House members (not Senate) who married each other. TODAY's QUESTION: What year did Mayor Richard M. Daley first suggest closing Meigs Field? Email skapos@ HAPPY BIRTHDAY Former state Sen. Mike Jacobs, The Strategy Group partner Aviva Bowen, Globetrotters Engineering CEO Ajay Shah, philanthropy pro Francee Harrington, Fisher Broyle Deputy General Counsel Jayne Reardon, blogger John Kass and Tribune political reporter and POLITICO alum Olivia Olander -30-
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump bombs Iranian nuclear facilities in major escalation. What happens next?
President Donald Trump has claimed to have 'completely, totally obliterated' Iran's nuclear program in a series of missile strikes and bombings, marking explicit U.S. intervention into Israel's war that risks a wider international crisis. The true extent of the damage is unclear. Retaliatory strikes are expected, as are efforts to revive already-fractured negotiations and diplomatic efforts to lower temperatures. But the United States is now embroiled in a war between two well-armed nations that could spill out far beyond their borders with untold casualties, experts have warned. 'Remember, there are many targets left,' Trump said in a brief address to the nation on June 21, roughly two hours after announcing a 'very successful' series of strikes on nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan. 'If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill. Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes.' The world is watching to see what will happen, as experts and analysts consider how current conditions, history and a volatile political environment could inform what's next. A 'dangerous escalation' Trump had campaigned on a promise to end all wars, including Israel's war in Gaza and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, yet the president has so far failed to negotiate an end to either. Israel sought American military support for its campaign against Iran after receiving virtual permission for its devastating war in Gaza in the wake of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks — 'undermining Trump's claim to be a peacemaker and his assertion that wars would never have started under his leadership,' according to Brookings Institution senior fellow Sharan Grewal at the Center for Middle East Policy. He now risks exploding a wider crisis across the Middle East that could endanger U.S. installations abroad and embolden Iran's allies to retaliate, following a legacy of U.S. intervention and destabilization in the Middle East dovetailing with U.S. support for Israel's ongoing devastation in Gaza and in occupied territories. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said late Saturday that he was 'gravely alarmed' by Trump's decision to bomb Iran, calling it 'a dangerous escalation' and 'a direct threat to international peace and security.' 'There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control — with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world,' he said. Iran could also retaliate by blocking the strategically important Strait of Hormuz or attacking the energy infrastructure of the Arab Gulf — dramatically driving up global oil prices. Within hours after Saturday's attacks, roughly 50 oil tankers were seen scrambling to leave the Strait of Hormuz. Iran-backed Houthis have warned that Trump 'must bear the consequences,' Houthi political bureau member Hizam al-Assad posted on X. The Houthi-controlled Yemeni Armed Forces also said the group was prepared to target U.S. Navy warships in the Red Sea 'in the event that the American enemy launches an aggression in support' of Israel. Houthi rebels had previously attacked ships linked to Israel's war in Gaza, and the United States retaliated with a series of airstrikes in Yemen earlier this year. Hardening Iran's resolve — or doing enough damage to force negotiations? Saturday's attack marks an 'unprecedented event that may prove to be transformational for Iran, the Middle East, U.S. foreign policy, global non-proliferation, and potentially even the global order,' according to Karim Sadjadpour, an Iranian-American policy analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.' 'Its impact will be measured for decades to come,' he wrote. 'It could entrench the regime — or hasten its demise. It could prevent a nuclear Iran — or accelerate one. ' Iranian officials have stressed for years that its nuclear programs are for civilian and peaceful purposes only, but Israel has claimed that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, a claim central to the long and now accelerating conflict between the two nations. Following Saturday's bombings, Iran's atomic agency vowed 'never' to stop its nuclear program, according to Iranian media. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said the three targeted nuclear sites came under 'savage assault,' seen as 'blatant violation of international law, particularly the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.' The agency also accused the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog of 'complicity' in the effort as it urged the international community to condemn the strikes and 'never allow the progress of this national industry … to be halted.' Aerial bombardment alone would not be enough to conclusively stop any nuclear ambitions because 'neither Israel nor the U.S. can kill all the nuclear scientists,' former U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker told Politico. Targeted strikes that significantly damage operations could convince Iran to negotiate, according to former U.S. special envoy Dennis Ross. But a wider assault — fueled by demands from Israeli officials and Iran hawks in the United States — could be seen by Iran as seeing that 'they have little to lose and their best bet is to show they can make us pay a heavy price,' he told Politico. When Israel struck nuclear programs in Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007, 'the long-term results were diametrically different,' according to Mara Karlin, former assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and capabilities under Joe Biden. 'Tehran could conceivably choose either path,' she said. 'And, as long as the uranium enrichment complex at Fordow remains largely intact, it does not need to decide.' Blowback in Washington — and across America Trump's attacks risk deepening a growing divide between his allies and anti-interventionist Republicans now tenuously aligned with a wider anti-war movement and the majority of Americans who do not want the United States involved with Israel's campaign at all. Several members of Congress have questioned whether the president's actions are even legal, amounting to an unconstitutional attempt to escape congressional authorization. At least two congressional Republicans — Rep. Warren Davidson and Thomas Massie — joined Democrats to immediately condemn the bombings as unconstitutional. 'The only entity that can take this country to war is the U.S. Congress,' Sen. Bernie Sanders said in remarks in Oklahoma as the crowd learned about the bombings in real time. 'The president does not have the right.' 'The President's disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers,' said Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 'He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations.' The New York congresswoman said the attack is 'clearly grounds for impeachment.' Top Democrats on congressional intelligence committees were also not briefed in advance of the attacks. 'The American public is overwhelmingly opposed to the U.S. waging war on Iran,' said Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, who has urged Congress to pass legislation that would require Trump to go to Congress before attacking Iran. He noted that Israeli officials said its bombs have already set Iran's nuclear capability back by two to three years. 'So what made Trump recklessly decide to rush and bomb today?' he said. 'Horrible judgment. I will push for all Senators to vote on whether they are for this third idiotic Middle East war.' While Trump touts what he claims are unequivocal military successes, he has also spent his first few months in office developing plans to crush dissent domestically. The deployment of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles to respond to protests against his anti-immigration agenda could be seen as a 'dress rehearsal' for far more expansive emergency powers to impose federal control of America's cities, according to The Atlantic's David Frum. More demonstrations against further military action in Iran are expected, adding to a steady rhythm of protests and unrest against the Trump administration that exploded across American streets in recent weeks.
