This Week in Democracy – Week 47: Judges and Grand Juries Block Trump
Another week of Zeteo's project to document the ongoing growth of authoritarianism in Trump's second term.
Welcome to Week 47 of ‘This Week in Democracy.’ We’ve almost made it a year.
The good news: From lower court rulings to grand juries refusing to get on the president’s retribution train to members of his own party breaking rank, Donald Trump appears to be losing a lot more than he is winning these days.
The bad news: Trump and his cronies are still managing to do a lot of harm to the country and free societies worldwide.
From continuing to escalate tensions with Venezuela to a litany of lies and racist comments to failing to ensure millions of Americans won’t experience a spike in healthcare subsidies, here’s what Trump and his allies did this week that underscore the growth of authoritarianism during Trump’s second term.
Saturday, December 6
A federal judge blocked the Justice Department from using communication records between James Comey and Columbia University law professor Daniel Richman as evidence to re-indict the former FBI director.
On Truth Social, Trump attacked CNN’s Kaitlin Collins, calling her “Stupid and Nasty” over what he claimed was a question about the increasing cost of his new White House ballroom. Later, Collins responded that her question was actually about Venezuela.
Sunday, December 7
The Washington Post spoke with Bruna Ferreira, the mother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew, who was detained by ICE last month for being in the US illegally (a civil violation) after overstaying a visa while she was a child. Ferreira disputed a White House statement claiming she hadn’t spoken to Leavitt in years, saying she asked Leavitt to be the child’s godmother, signed off on her son’s visit to the White House for the Easter egg hunt, and “moved mountains” to make sure he could attend Leavitt’s wedding in January.
In the final draft of their annual defense policy bill, congressional leaders included an amendment to withhold a quarter of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget until the Pentagon provides the House and Senate Armed Services Committees with “unedited video of strikes” conducted against boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
On Truth Social, Trump lashed out at Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, whom he pardoned last week, for announcing he would seek re-election as a Democrat rather than switching parties. Trump called the move “such a lack of LOYALTY,” and added, “next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!”
NBC News reported that more than one-third of the approximately 220,000 people arrested by ICE agents from Jan. 20 to Oct. 15 had no criminal histories.
Monday, December 8
ProPublica reported that Trump has engaged in the same practice of “mortgage fraud” he has accused his political enemies of doing illegally. In 1993-94, he signed mortgages for two homes he attested would be his principal residence, despite the fact that it doesn’t appear he ever lived in either home, which were instead used as investment properties and rented out. A White House spokesperson said “there was no defraudation” and claimed that Trump “has never, or will ever, break the law.”
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) temporarily paused a policy change that would significantly cut federal funding for permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness less than two hours before a court hearing challenging the move, which would also put new conditions on the program, including giving HUD the authority to eliminate funding for organizations that acknowledge the existence of trans and nonbinary people.
Trump continued his attacks against women journalists, this time calling ABC News reporter Rachel Scott “the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place” and “actually a terrible reporter” after she pushed back against Trump’s denial that he had said five days prior that he would have “no problem” releasing the footage of the second boat strike in the Caribbean that killed two survivors on Sept. 2.
An immigration judge ordered the release of Bruna Ferreira, the mother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew, while she challenges her potential deportation to Brazil.
An appeals court paused a federal judge’s order blocking the Trump administration from implementing a provision in the president’s tax and spending bill to cut federal Medicaid funding from affiliates of Planned Parenthood.
Alina Habba, Trump’s former personal lawyer whom he maneuvered to keep as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey, said in a statement that she would step down from her post after an appeals court ruled last week that she was disqualified from the position. Habba said she would continue at the Justice Department in what appears to be a new position – a senior adviser to the attorney general for US attorneys. Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi tweeted that the DOJ “will seek further review” of the “flawed” decision to disqualify Habba, who she said “intends to return” to the position if the ruling is overturned.
The Wall Street Journal reported that as part of his efforts to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount chief executive David Ellison told Trump earlier this month that he would make sweeping changes to CNN. Additionally, Trump has privately said that he wants new ownership of the network and changes to its programming.
On Twitter, Honduras’s attorney general ordered local authorities and asked Interpol to execute an existing warrant against the country’s former president, Juan Orlando Hernández, on charges of money laundering and fraud. Hernández was pardoned by Trump and released from a US prison, where he was serving a 45-year sentence for conspiring to import cocaine to the US.
On Truth Social, Trump lashed out at outgoing Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene after she appeared on ‘60 Minutes.’ He also attacked the show’s correspondent, Lesley Stahl, and slammed the “new ownership” of Paramount for “allow[ing] a show like this to air.”
A dozen former FBI agents who were fired under Director Kash Patel’s leadership for kneeling during a racial justice protest in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd sued Patel and the bureau in an effort to have their jobs reinstated. The agents received termination letters in September that cited “unprofessional conduct and a lack of impartiality in carrying out duties, leading to the political weaponization of government.” The lawsuit argues the agents were “employing reasonable de-escalation to prevent a potentially deadly confrontation with American citizens.”
The Washington Post reported that the ACLU sent a letter to ICE alleging that the Trump administration tried to illegally coerce immigrants being held at a makeshift detention center in Texas to leave the country for Mexico, without written warning or hearings with an ICE officer, a move it says violates the government’s guidance for “third country” deportations. The letter claims four Cuban immigrants were driven to the border and told to cross it or be beaten and imprisoned. Two of them said they were beaten after they initially refused to be transported to the border.
The developer of the app ICEBlock, which tracks ICE agents and alerts people when they are in their area, sued the Trump administration over its removal from Apple’s App Store, arguing that the government violated the First Amendment by threatening the company.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore the SEVIS record of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish national who had been studying at Tufts University before being arrested by masked immigration agents in March over an op-ed she wrote calling for the school to disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel. The move will allow Öztürk to resume her research and teaching while she continues to challenge her arrest and detention.
During a softball interview with Politico’s Dasha Burns, Trump continued to spread lies claiming the 2020 presidential election was “rigged,” adding that “it’s going to come out over the next couple months too, loud and clear, because we have all the information.” (Read Mehdi’s fact-check of the interview here.)
Tuesday, December 9
On Truth Social, Trump posted an unhinged rant about the New York Times’ November article that detailed his signs of aging and increasing fatigue, saying, “The best thing that could happen to this Country would be if the New York Times would cease publication because they are a horrible, biased, and untruthful ‘source’ of information.” He also noted that he believes that unfavorable reporting about his health is “seditious,” and “perhaps even treasonous.”
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) proposed a new policy change that would require travelers entering the US from the 42 countries participating in the visa waiver program, including Australia, South Korea, and many European countries, to undergo a review of up to five years of their social media history. Travelers would also need to provide any email addresses used in the past 10 years, along with the names, birth dates, residences, and birthplaces of spouses, children, parents, and siblings.
After years of denying he ever uttered the term “shithole countries” in 2018 to describe Haiti and African nations, Trump bragged during a rally in Pennsylvania that he had said, “Why is it we only take people from shithole countries,” and added, “Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden?” He then described Somalia as “filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.” Trump also made Islamophobic and racist remarks about Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, referring to her hijab as a “little turban,” falsely claiming she illegally immigrated to the US, and saying, “throw her the hell out” of the US.
The New York Times reported that Pentagon lawyers raised the prospect of sending survivors of a mid-October boat strike in the Caribbean to El Salvador’s megaprison in an effort to ensure they don’t end up in the US court system, where the Trump administration could be forced to present evidence justifying their strikes in the region.
The Education Department moved to eliminate a Biden-era student loan forgiveness plan, which lowered the monthly payments of millions of borrowers, and included $0 payments for borrowers making $16 or less per hour.
A federal appeals court allowed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to move forward with his ban on trans people serving in the military. In a dissent, an Obama-appointed judge said the policy was rooted in “denigration and vitriol,” and warned the move will make it “all but inevitable that thousands of qualified servicemembers will lose careers they have built over decades.”
Senate Democrats published a report examining the Trump administration’s extrajudicial immigration detentions of US citizens. Congressional investigators interviewed nearly two dozen Americans, who said immigration officers had dragged them from cars, made up assault claims, and used excessive force. Some of them were detained for days and denied access to medical care. Agents also “treated children with reckless disregard for their safety and wellbeing.”
A federal judge declined to order the release of Tina Peters, a former county clerk in Colorado who was convicted of several charges after using someone’s security badge to allow an associate of Trump ally and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell to access county election equipment following the 2020 presidential election. Trump has repeatedly called for Peters, who is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence, to be released, calling her an “innocent political prisoner.”
The Washington Post reported that the Environmental Protection Agency has scrubbed references to human-caused climate change from its website, including a statement from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that said, “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land.” While some pages still include mentions of the “natural causes” of climate change, other pages have been completely removed.
CBS News reported that Trump plans to name Troy Edgar, the deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, to serve as the US ambassador to El Salvador, one of the leading countries involved in Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
The Justice Department moved to eliminate a key provision of the Civil Rights Act by reinterpreting regulations that allowed the use of statistical disparities as evidence of racial discrimination.
AP reported that hundreds of children were held in ICE custody for more than the 20-day limit from August to September, with at least five children being held for 168 days. Some children were held in unsafe conditions and went days without access to medical care.
The Atlantic reported that Mike Benz, a right-wing influencer who spread conspiracy theories about the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and once wrote under a pseudonym, “I want white identity politics to grow like wildfire,” has been hired by the agency as a special government employee tasked with substantiating his allegations of USAID suppressing free speech, promoting “state-sponsored hit pieces” and playing a role in foreign regime change.
A federal judge granted a request from the Justice Department to release grand jury materials from Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s case, but noted that the documents “would not reveal new information of any consequence,” added that much of the evidence presented to the grand juries were already public and that the panels only heard “summary testimony from two law enforcement officials.”
HuffPost reported that the Trump administration is planning “Operation Irish Goodbye,” which will involve sending immigration agents to the US-Mexico border to apprehend undocumented immigrants trying to return to their home country voluntarily for the holidays.
CNN reported that families being held in an ICE detention facility in Texas are being subjected to conditions including being denied access to urgent medical care, worms and mold in the food, and threats of family separation by staff, with some children becoming weak, faint, and pale due to malnutrition.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed a new law limiting immigration enforcement outside state courthouses. The law also makes it easier for residents to sue immigration agents for violating their rights, and limits the information that hospitals, daycare centers, and colleges in the state can provide to immigration agents.
DHS launched a new database named the “Dictionary of Depravity,” which lists the “worst of the worst” of the undocumented immigrants who have been arrested during Trump’s second term. The database includes the names of the individuals, along with their charges and convictions, as well as where they were arrested.
A coalition of advocacy groups sued the Trump administration in an effort to force it to turn over the DOJ’s Office of Special Counsel’s memo justifying the legal justification for US military strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific.
Senate Democrats on the Armed Services Committee sent a letter to Navy Secretary John Phelan calling the Pentagon’s investigation into Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) over a viral video where he and other Democratic lawmakers urged military members to refuse illegal orders “an outright, brazen abuse of power,” and added that the review “amount[s] to a purely political exercise seeking to threaten legitimate and lawful actions…and politicize our military justice system.”
Wednesday, December 10
A federal judge ordered the release of more files related to Jeffrey Epstein, including the unsealing of grand jury materials and investigative records from the Justice Department’s 2019 investigation into the convicted sex offender.
Reuters reported that the Trump administration is threatening new sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) and penalties to ICC officials if it doesn’t meet new demands, including changing its founding document to ensure it doesn’t investigate Trump or his administration officials, dropping investigations against Israeli leaders for its genocide in Gaza, and formally ending an investigation into the actions of US troops in Afghanistan.
The Washington Post reported that the Department of Homeland Security recently signed a nearly $140 million contract to create its own fleet of Boeing 737 planes to be used for deportations. ICE currently uses charter planes for deportation flights.
A federal judge blocked Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles and ordered them to be returned to the control of California Governor Gavin Newsom. In his ruling, the judge wrote, “The founders designed our government to be a system of checks and balances. [The Trump administration], however, make clear that the only check they want is a blank one.”
The Trump administration continued to escalate tensions with Venezuela by intercepting and seizing a sanctioned oil tanker off the country’s coast in a move an official called a “judicial enforcement action on a stateless vessel.” Trump, in confirming the seizure, said that “other things are happening.”
The New York Times reported that prosecutors in Romania lifted travel restrictions for Andrew and Tristan Tate, who were under investigation for rape and human trafficking, back in February because the country’s prime minister believed the move would appease the Trump administration, which, according to a text message from Andrew Tate, “was on top of things.”
An ethics complaint was filed against federal appeals court Judge Emil Bove, who previously served as Trump’s personal lawyer before the president appointed him to the federal bench, after he attended Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on Tuesday. The complaint noted, “It should have been obvious to Judge Bove…that this was a highly charged, highly political event that no federal judge should have been within shouting distance of.”
Speaking to reporters, Trump escalated his threats against Colombia, saying that the country is “producing a lot of drugs” and warning that its president, Gustavo Petro, “better wise up or he’ll be next.”
Trump also called for CNN to be sold, saying, “I think the people that are running CNN right now are either corrupt or incompetent,” and adding, “I don’t think they should be entrusted with running CNN any longer.”
Bloomberg reported that a lawyer filed claims for roughly 400 people who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection and were subsequently pardoned or granted clemency by Trump, with most of them seeking between $1 million and $10 million in payouts from the federal government.
The Trump administration named Gregg Phillips, who spread conspiracy theories that millions of people illegally voted in the 2016 presidential election, to serve as the head of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery. In his new role, Phillips will be responsible for overseeing billions of dollars in recovery funding and issuing recommendations to the agency’s administrator about disaster declarations.
Thursday, December 11
MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) reported that the Trump administration is trying to get the Senate to confirm his former lawyer, Lindsey Halligan, whom a federal judge recently disqualified, as the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told MS Now in a statement that Halligan is “the president’s nominee” and “it is our hope that she is confirmed.”
A federal judge granted Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s habeas petition, ordering his immediate release from ICE custody and ruling that since his wrongful detention in El Salvador, “he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority.” In her ruling, she noted that “the history of Abrego Garcia’s case is as well known as it is extraordinary.”
Navy Secretary John Phelan submitted a report to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reviewing Senator Mark Kelly’s (D-Ariz.) conduct in relation to the viral video he participated in telling military members to refuse unlawful orders. It’s unclear whether Phelan’s report, which is now being reviewed by the Defense Department’s Office of General Counsel, found any evidence of wrongdoing against Kelly.
On Truth Social, Trump announced that he granted a pardon to Tina Peters, the former Colorado county clerk who was convicted of tampering with voting machines following the 2020 presidential election. The pardon, which Trump said was “for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud,” is largely symbolic as the president can’t pardon individuals of state charges. Peters will continue to serve her nine-year prison sentence.
Also on Truth Social, Trump renewed his calls to eliminate the so-called “blue slip” policy, which allows home state senators to effectively veto the president’s nominees for district court judges and US attorneys’ offices in their state, a rule that Trump called a “scam” and claimed is “making it impossible to get great Republican Judges and US Attorneys approved.”
Zeteo reported that the Trump administration is in high-level talks to revoke the visas of two European green card holders who are prominent critics of Twitter.
The Republican-controlled Senate blocked a bill to extend the Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies that are due to expire at the end of the year, rejecting the Democrats’ months-long campaign to prevent premium hikes for millions of Americans. The Senate also rejected a Republican bill to give Americans up to $1,500 to spend on healthcare, a move designed as an alternative to extending the subsidies.
Trump ally and MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, who was a prominent promoter of conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election being stolen, officially entered the race to become the Republican nominee to challenge Governor Tim Walz in 2026.
A grand jury declined to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on mortgage fraud charges for the second time. In a statement, James’s lawyer said that any further attempts to revive the charges against his client “would be a mockery of our system of justice.”
The Indiana Senate voted to reject a proposal to redraw the state’s congressional map designed to help Republicans sweep all nine House seats in the state during the 2026 midterm elections.
A federal appeals court blocked the immediate release of hundreds of immigrants detained as part of Trump’s immigration crackdown in Chicago. However, the court allowed the extension of a consent decree, which, in part, limits warrantless arrests by ICE.
Reuters reported that the Trump administration is planning to intercept and seize more tankers carrying Venezuelan oil in the coming weeks.
A TSA agent sued the Trump administration for damages in relation to the Department of Homeland Security withholding his and his colleagues’ paychecks during the record-long government shutdown while continuing to pay ICE and Border Patrol agents.
Trump signed an executive order designed to limit the ability of states to regulate artificial intelligence and allow the attorney general to sue states in an effort to overturn existing AI laws. The move has raised concerns that companies could avoid accountability if their products harm consumers.
Friday, December 12
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from re-detaining Kilmar Abrego Garcia following his release from an ICE detention facility.
The Justice Department sued four additional states – Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Nevada – in an effort to force them to turn over voter registration lists. The DOJ also sued Fulton County, Georgia, for records related to the 2020 election.
DHS announced it’s ending Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopians, along with terminating a family reunification parole program for immigrants from Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras.
The Guardian reported that more than 50 members of Congress signed a group letter demanding answers from the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) and DHS officials about a database the VA is compiling documenting all non-citizens “employed by or affiliated with” the department. The lawmakers warn the database, which is expected to be shared with immigration authorities, will “seed fear in non-citizens who perform duties in service to our nation’s veterans.”
In a court filing, the Trump administration asked an appeals court to block Judge James Boasberg from holding hearings to determine whether officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, were in contempt of court by deporting Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s megaprison in March in violation of Boasberg’s court order, arguing he has no constitutional authority to move forward with the hearings.
The New York Times reported that the Trump administration is giving immigration agents air passenger data in an effort to locate people with deportation orders, with the Transportation Security Administration providing ICE with lists multiple times per week.
A coalition of Democratic-led states sued the Trump administration to block its implementation of a new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas.
The nonprofit organization National Trust for Historic Preservation sued the Trump administration in an effort to stop the president’s construction of a new White House ballroom that involved demolishing the East Wing, arguing in the lawsuit that “no president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever.”
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The corruption in this administration is almost mind-numbing. Not only does it pertain to our country but multiple countries. WTF is wrong with these heads of governments who just cow down and rollover to the fascist? The bastard is nothing but a bully, who would go cry in a corner, if stood up to. People know better than to cave into ridiculous, corrupt, and illegal demands, especially coming from the most corrupt president in our history. I am praying that Democrats take the House and Senate in '26, in big numbers, so he can be impeached, convicted, and thrown the hell out of office. The man is a shit stain on our country, who needs to be removed asap.
Ongoing growth of criminality would be more like it.