Today in Politics, Bulletin 93. 3/17/25

… Trump outrageously claimed today that Russia has an entire Ukrainian army surrounded in Kursk, but he is going to save them tomorrow when he talks to Putin. EXCEPT THERE ARE NO UKRAINIAN TROOPS SURROUNDED. This is Russian propaganda that Zelensky and Ukraine has already refuted. This entire scam is being choreographed so Trump can claim he “saved” Ukrainians (so they will have to be grateful and sign over their mineral rights), and so he can insist that Ukraine agree to Putin’s demands since he was so nice to them.

… But this whole thing is a lie. A scam.

… Trump: “Tomorrow I am speaking with President Putin to save some soldiers who are in deep trouble. They are captured - surrounded by Russian soldiers. It’s a big deal. If it wasn’t for me, they wouldn’t be here any longer. I was able to get Russia not to do anything at this moment.”

… Trump said he and Putin have already discussed “dividing up certain assets.” Semafor reports that Trump is “considering” recognizing conquered Crimea as a permanent part of Russia as part of any deal.

… Polish PM Donald Tusk: “Dear allies, the investigation of the Lithuanian prosecutor’s office has confirmed our suspicions that responsible for setting fires to shopping centers in Vilnius and Warsaw are the Russian secret services. Good to know before negotiations. Such is the nature of this state.”

… Judge Boasberg held a hearing today to determine whether the Trump Admin and Deportation Czar Tom Homan intentionally violated his clear court order to halt flights of migrants with pending asylum claims since they were denied due process. ICE designated them as “gang members” to justify flying them to a prison in El Salvador yesterday.

… Hours before the hearing, DOJ filed an emergency motion to an appellate court asking for them to intervene since they “cannot - and will not - be forced to answer sensitive questions of national security and foreign relations.” The appellate court did not respond to the motion before the scheduled hearing today.

… Judge Boasberg was not happy during the hearing. DOJ took the position that the judge had no authority over flights once they left US airspace, and would not answer specific questions on how it played out after he issued his order yesterday. He concluded by noting that DOJ refused to answer his questions citing national security, and “since my oral orders seem to mean nothing, I will put this in writing. I will let you know how to further proceed.”

… Immigration lawyer Lindsay Toczylowski: “My client fled Venezuela last year and came to US to seek asylum. He has a strong claim. He was detained at entry because ICE alleged his tattoos are gang related. They are absolutely not. Our client worked in the arts in Venezuela. He is LGBTQ. His tattoos are benign. But ICE submitted photos of his tattoos as evidence he is Tren de Aragua. His attorney planned to present evidence he is not. But never got the chance because our client has been disappeared.”

… “The Alien Enemies Act would allow the Trump admin to remove people from the US based on an accusation alone. The accusation could be, as it is for our client, completely baseless. But they would remove them anyway, despite the dangers, despite the lack of due process. What happened today is a dark moment in our history. One bright spot in this madness that I see are the many lawyers and advocates across the country who spent their Sat fighting like hell to preserve justice in the face of horrific cruelty. And we will keep fighting.”

… A reporter pointed out to Trump that the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 he invoked to justify deportations with no due process while circumventing immigration courts was only used 3 other times, and each was while the country was in the middle of a war: “Well this is a time of war.”

… Trump’s Deportation Czar Tom Homan clearly doesn’t care about court orders. He responded on Fox this morning: "We're not stopping. I don't care what the judges think. I don't care what the left thinks. We're coming."

… Alina Habba, who managed to become lawyer somehow without knowing any law: “To have a federal judge come in and say I don’t agree with President with an executive order? It’s unthinkable and ridiculous.”

… Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT): “In the last three days, Trump appears to have violated court orders in Boston and DC. The GOP won’t make a peep in Congress. The courts need to push back hard with contempt findings or we truly have a constitutional crisis.”

… Trump was asked if he was going to comply with the judge’s order to rehire federal workers who were fired without cause: “What are you talking about? Q: The judge that ruled the govt has to rehire the fired federal workers. Do you plan to comply? TRUMP: That's a very dangerous decision for our country.”

… Trump’s former NSA Michael Flynn said Trump needs to declare martial law: “Many elites still believe what is happening in America is old school, hard ball, politics, you know, Democrats vs Republicans. IT IS NOT. What is now happening with the continuation of lawfare by these leftist organizations and judges isn’t going to end well for these groups or these people. These must end and end now. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. PRESIDENT TRUMP MAY EVENTUALLY HAVE TO HAVE TO DECLARE A NATIONAL EMERGENCY. HE HAS FULL AUTHORITY TO DO SO. DON’T BE SURPRISED IF THE NATION GETS TO THAT POINT.”

… Later in the day, Trump announced that he was appointing Flynn to the US Military Academy board of visitors at West Point.

… Trump claimed that the pardons Biden issued are not valid, so he can prosecute members of the J6 Committee: “The Pardons’ that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen. Therefore, those on the Unselect Committee should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level.”

… J6 Committee Adam Kinzinger: “Trump’s latest threat against me is as real as his 'perfect' phone calls and 'biggest crowds ever.' More whining, more victimhood, zero follow-through. Either do it or keep crying, fatso. I’m so tired of your victimy whiney belly aching crap. You friggin won and you STILL are complaining all the time. BRING IT YOU SMALL LITTLE BOY.”

… The National Archives responded to an inquiry from SNOPES this morning where they confirmed that the Federal Register uses a standardized graphic file of the president’s signature for publication, meaning the signature of Biden that appears in digital records which was used to launch this latest conspiracy does not reflect what is on the original, hand-signed documents.

… Since Trump also claimed that these pardons were issued without Biden even knowing about it, CNN’s Kaitlyn Collins pointed out to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt that Biden talked about making the pardons in interviews before they were announced. Leavitt: “But was he aware of his signature being used? Collins: Is there any evidence that he wasn’t aware? Leavitt: You’re a reporter. You should find out.”

… She literally never answers a question. All she does is stand up there an insult reporters. And her insult game is pretty lame, too.

… CNN’s Jake Tapper doing some sanewashing with this post on X amplifying BS spin about all this from team Trump as if it was legitimate news to report: “A senior Trump world source’s take on the president’s post is that it’s meant to prompt discussions about Biden’s acuity and how incompetent a president can be as well as a legal debate about pardon power and what types of pardons are allowed.”

… Trump announced tonight that he has the Declaration of Independence in the Oval Office. I truly hope this is not the original which has been stored in the National Archives, because if so there is no way it should be stored and displayed like this. It appears that it is a copy, but Trump’s social media post suggested it was the original. There was a story I reported on a few weeks ago that said he wanted the original moved to the Oval, but this does not look like the original to me so maybe they talked him into a copy.

… Or fooled him into thinking this was the original - he wouldn’t know any different.

… NYT reported that Chuck Schumer is postponing his book tour after major backlash from Democrats after he led the group of senators who voted to pass Mike Johnson’s CR. Statement: "Due to security concerns, Senator Schumer's book events are being rescheduled."

… Journalist Grace Panetta posted a statement from BoldProgressive, which was organizing protests at Schumer's tour dates: "We warned last week that if Democrats caved on the funding bill, it would help Republicans by redirecting some of the anger away from Trump and toward Democrats - and Chuck Schumer just proved us right."

… Punchbowl reports that Schumer met with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries this weekend in NY and he reportedly has no intention of stepping down from leadership and isn’t concerned about a primary challenge because he isn’t up for reelection until 2028.

… I don’t think Schumer is now in any position to lead the charge on what has been one of our most important weapons - constituents showing up at town halls of their representatives to speak their minds - since he is afraid to face Democratic voters himself.

Both the House and Senate are off this week, so it appears much of the action is going to be out of the executive branch and the courts. Tomorrow should be pretty crazy after Trump’s call with Putin. I expect nothing good to come out of it, but we will see. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can read it here.

… Sen. Bernie Sanders: “The Democratic Party needs a major transformation. It can no longer be a top-down, billionaire-funded, consultant-driven party. It must be a multi-generational, multi-racial working class party. In a time of growing oligarchy and