'Radical Left Lunatic'? The Judge Trump Hates Has Actually Helped Trump in the Past
Five things MAGA doesn’t want you to know about James Boasberg, the federal judge blocking deportations, who Trump and Musk now want to be impeached.
Donald Trump and MAGA always seem to have a target, a hate figure, a boogeyman, and right now, it is US District Judge James “Jeb” Boasberg.
As chief judge of Washington’s federal court, Boasberg is at the center of the legal case against the Trump administration over its efforts to deport immigrants, without due process, through the 227-year-old Alien Enemies Act.
Boasberg’s temporary restraining order prohibiting the Trump administration from using the act to send Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, which the administration then promptly defied, has led to him quickly becoming the judge everyone on the right loves to hate.
On Tuesday, Trump ramped up the attacks on Boasberg on his Truth Social platform, calling him a “radical left lunatic of a judge” who is “crooked” and “a troublemaker and agitator.” He went on to call for Boasberg to be impeached – a sentiment shared by shadow president Elon Musk, who said on Twitter that articles of impeachment against Boasberg are “necessary.”
But here’s the thing: there is nothing left-wing about Boasberg. He is a former homicide prosecutor who was appointed to head the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court by Chief Justice John Roberts. Does that sound like a flaming liberal to you? Yes, as the Trump people keep pointing out, he was nominated by Barack Obama to the district court in 2011, but what they omit to mention is that the Senate voted unanimously, 96-0, to confirm him, and he had already been appointed as an associate judge nine years earlier by noted far-left president… George W. Bush.
And here’s what the Trump people don’t want you to know: on multiple occasions over the years, Judge Boasberg, this supposed “radical left lunatic,” has issued rulings that are very favorable to Trump and MAGA, and very unfavorable to the Democrats. Here are just five of them:
1. Going Soft on Insurrectionists
Before Trump pardoned over 1,500 rioters who stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6, Boasberg oversaw dozens of cases associated with the insurrection and, as AP has noted, the judge often issued sentences “significantly more lenient than what prosecutors recommended.” He sentenced former Trump supporter Ray Epps to one year of probation instead of the six months in prison requested by prosecutors. In another case, Boasberg reduced the prison sentence of a rioter who called him a “clown” by one year. “I’m happy to let you say whatever you wish, but again, I haven’t interrupted you,” Boasberg told the member of the Proud Boys extremist group. “I have treated you with courtesy in all of these proceedings.”
2. Releasing Hillary Clinton’s Emails
In August 2016, less than three months before the presidential election, Boasberg ordered the expedited release of thousands of emails the FBI found during its investigation into then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s private email server. His ruling was in response to a lawsuit brought by the pro-Trump conservative group Judicial Watch.
There is no ‘But her emails!’ without Judge Boasberg.