Will Judges Approve Trump's Choice for U.S. Attorney in Manhattan?
The judge, Jed S. Rakoff, said he was curious: Was the office's change in position discussed with or initiated by the Justice Department in Washington?
'No, your honor,' a prosecutor replied.
'OK,' Judge Rakoff said. 'I wanted to make sure we didn't have an Adams situation here.'
The judge was referring to the resignation in February of the head of the U.S. attorney's office after she refused a Trump Justice Department edict to seek the dismissal of charges against New York's mayor, Eric Adams. The department then orchestrated the dismissal anyway.
The former diplomat's guilty plea proceeded as planned, but the courtroom exchange was revealing. It showed that judges still have lingering concerns about the independence and authority of the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York, now led on an interim basis by Jay Clayton, President Trump's pick to be the top prosecutor.
The issue is expected to crystallize later this month when the roughly four dozen judges of the Southern District court, based in Manhattan, are to vote on whether to appoint Mr. Clayton to remain in the post.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 minutes ago
- Yahoo
After D.C., Trump says he might use the National Guard to ‘take back' other cities. Can he actually do that?
When President Trump announced his plan Monday to send 800 National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to crack down on what he described as 'crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor' in the nation's capital, he also issued a warning to other cities around the country. "We're going to take back our capital," Trump said. "And then we'll look at other cities also.' But can Trump actually send federal forces elsewhere? And what cities might he target? Here's everything you need to know about the president's warning. What did Trump say about sending the National Guard into other cities? During his news conference on Monday, Trump singled out Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore and Oakland, Calif. as 'other cities also that are bad, very bad.' 'They're so far gone,' he continued. 'We're not going to let it happen. We're not going to lose our cities over this. And this will go further. We're starting very strongly with D.C. and we're going to clean it up real quick, very quickly, as they say.' Beyond that, the president didn't elaborate on his plans. But he did issue what amounted to an ultimatum: 'self-clean up' or else. 'Other cities are hopefully watching this,' Trump said. 'Maybe they'll self-clean up, and maybe they'll self-do this.' But 'if they don't learn their lesson, if they haven't studied us properly,' he continued, 'then I'm going to look at New York in a little while. … And if we need to, we're going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster.' Later Monday, Trump issued an executive order directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to coordinate with state governors and "authorize the orders of any additional members of the National Guard to active service, as he deems necessary and appropriate, to augment this mission." What does the law say about Trump's plans? Trump's actions in Washington, D.C., are legal. As you may remember from elementary school, D.C. isn't a state. It isn't part of any other state either. It doesn't have a constitution of its own. Instead, D.C. is what's known as a 'federal district,' and it's been mostly under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress since its founding in 1791. In 1973, Congress passed the Home Rule Act, which allowed D.C. residents to elect their own mayor and council members. But the law doesn't give D.C. complete autonomy. Even now Congress controls its budget. Congress also has the power to review and block local legislation. The president, meanwhile, still appoints D.C.'s judges — and he still leads its National Guard. He can also take control of the District's police force by invoking Section 740 of the Home Rule Act, which is precisely what he did Monday. But Trump doesn't have the same powers across the rest of the country. Under current law, governors are in charge of each state's National Guard and the police are largely controlled locally. Trump has already challenged some of these rules. Over the objections of state and local officials, he deployed nearly 5,000 National Guard members and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles in June after a new round of ICE workplace raids sparked protests marred by sporadic violence. California Gov. Gavin Newsom swiftly sued the administration to end the mobilization, claiming that Trump was violating the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which prohibits the president from deploying the armed forces to participate in domestic law enforcement operations unless he declares that an insurrection is underway. A federal judge agreed with Newsom, but an appeals court blocked that ruling. Now Trump and Newsom are facing off in a three-day trial that began on Monday in San Francisco to determine whether Trump has the authority to do what he did in L.A. in other cities such as Chicago and New York. A verdict is expected Wednesday. What does Trump hope to accomplish by mentioning other cities? Whether the president sends federal forces into other cities remains to be seen; much depends on the outcome of the current trial in California (and any subsequent appeals). In the meantime, Trump was clear on Monday: He wants to pressure Democratic-run cities to change certain policies he disagrees with. One policy he mentioned was cashless bail, which eliminates the requirement for defendants to pay money to be released from jail before their trial. Supporters say the policy addresses disparities in the justice system, where those who can afford bail are released while those who cannot remain incarcerated; critics (like Trump) say that it puts the public at risk by releasing potentially dangerous individuals back into the community. Maybe other cities will 'get rid of the cashless bail thing and all of the things that caused the problem,' Trump said Monday. 'I mean, if you go back, this whole thing with cashless bail is a disaster. So many problems came that we never had before.' Have local officials pushed back? Yes. As Yahoo News reported Monday, 'the president's description of crime in Washington, D.C., is not reflected in official statistics, which show that the city had its lowest violent crime rate in over 30 years in 2024. The rates of homicide, sexual abuse, assault with a dangerous weapon and robbery all fell by at least 25% compared to 2023, according to statistics from the U.S. attorney's office for the district.' On Sunday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, cited similar statistics to claim that Trump is prioritizing politics over policy. 'If the priority is to show force in an American city, we know he can do that here,' Bowser told MSNBC. 'But it won't be because there's a spike in crime.' Officials elsewhere have repeated that message. On Monday, the U.S. Conference of Mayors responded to Trump's actions and statements by touting a "nationwide success story" of plummeting crime rates. An FBI report released Aug. 5 found that between 2023 and 2024, violent crime nationwide dropped by 4.5%, with murder and non-negligent manslaughter falling by nearly 15%. "Ultimately, the best public safety outcomes are delivered by local police departments and local officials, who know the communities," Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, president of the mayors' conference, said in a statement. "America's mayors never see takeovers by other levels of government as a tactic that has any track record of producing results."
Yahoo
3 minutes ago
- Yahoo
DC Residents Are Saying The Same Thing About This Clip Of DEA Officers Patrolling The National Mall
On Monday, Donald Trump announced he would be taking over the Washington DC police department and deploying National Guard troops there. One day before that, on Sunday, DC news anchor Lorenzo Hall took this video of DEA police officers patrolling the National Mall: LorenzoHall/Twitter: @LorenzoHall Related: There were a bunch of *viral* responses to the clip. DC political analyst and journalist Tom Sherwood called it "Basically [a] meaningless stroll." Related: @johnmconnollyjr said, "I've lived in DC for 10 years. The only crime I've ever seen on the National Mall was when a mob ransacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021 at the direction of the man who lost the 2020 presidential election." And Aaron Fritschner the Deputy Chief of Staff for Virginia Rep. Don Beyer, pointed out, "The Metropolitan Police Department tracks and publishes the location of all crimes committed in the DC; the map grid section where this video was shot on the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial has recorded zero (0) crimes so far in 2025: Related: The responses get pretty funny from there: One person said, "6 guys in full uniform on a stretch of the mall where the biggest threat is the mama ducks defending their ducklings from my dog." Another person joked, "You know what screams 'high crime area'? White women jogging." Related: And this person said, "This is cosplay. this is drag. this is banned from entering Florida public schools." Basically, everyone is like: "If you know DC you understand how tremendously goofy this is." Also in BuzzFeed: Also in BuzzFeed: Also in BuzzFeed:
Yahoo
3 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Army sergeant charged with attempted murder in the shootings of 5 Fort Stewart soldiers
Army Base Lockdown SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A U.S. Army sergeant accused of shooting five fellow soldiers at a Georgia base was charged Tuesday with attempted murder, aggravated assault and domestic violence as the Army revealed that one of the victims was the suspect's romantic partner. The charges were issued as Sgt. Quornelius Radford made his first appearance Tuesday in a military courtroom at Fort Stewart, where officials say he opened fire with a personal handgun on members of his supply unit. The hearing officer ordered Radford, 28, to remain in pretrial confinement. Radford was arrested Aug. 6 after officials say soldiers disarmed and restrained him until military police arrived. All five of the wounded soldiers survived the attack. Radford was charged with six counts of attempted murder — the sixth referring to a soldier he shot at and missed, said Michelle McCaskill, a spokesperson for the Army's Office of Special Trial Counsel, which is prosecuting Radford. Radford also faces six counts of aggravated assault and a single count of domestic violence. 'That charge is there because one of the victims was the intimate partner of the accused,' McCaskill said. She said she did not know whether Radford's partner was among the five people he wounded. The Army has not released the victims' names. Fort Stewart officials have declined to comment on the shooter's motives. Under military law, attempted murder carries a potential penalty of life imprisonment. Radford was represented by Army defense attorneys at his hearing Tuesday. Phone and email messages left with Fort Stewart's Trial Defense Service were not immediately returned. Now that he's been charged, Radford faces pretrial proceedings to determine whether there is enough evidence for him to stand trial by court-martial. The largest Army post east of the Mississippi River, Fort Stewart is home to thousands of soldiers assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division. It is located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Savannah. Radford served as a supply sergeant in the division's 2nd Armored Brigade. Army records show he enlisted in 2018. Soldiers in Radford's unit said they followed the sound of gunfire into the hallways of an office building where they found hazy gunsmoke in the air and wounded victims on the floor and in nearby offices. Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the 3rd Infantry's commander, credited soldiers with saving lives by immediately rendering first aid, in some cases using their bare hands to staunch bleeding gunshot wounds. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll visited Fort Stewart the day after the shootings to award Meritorious Service Medals to six soldiers who helped restrain the gunman and treat the victims.
