Catholic bishops in Florida have written a letter to the White House asking for a pause in immigration enforcement, and ex-CIA Director John Brennan makes a special request regarding a Florida judge.
Catholic bishops write letter to Trump, DeSantis, urging pause in immigration enforcement
Florida Catholic bishops are asking President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis to pause immigration enforcement during the Christmas holidays.
Eight members of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, including the dioceses of Orlando and St. Pete, signed a letter urging the federal and state governments to temporarily halt deportations.
“A pause during this holy season can lower the temperature within our partisan divisions, ease the fear and anxiety present in many of our immigrant and even non-immigrant families and allow all of us to celebrate with greater joy the advent of the prince of peace,” the bishops said in the letter.
The White House says immigration operations will continue despite the appeal.
Lawyers for former CIA Director John Brennan want the Justice Department to be prevented from steering an investigation of him and other former government officials to a “favored” judge in Florida who dismissed a classified documents case against President Donald Trump.
The request Monday is addressed to U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga, the chief judge in the Southern District of Florida, where federal prosecutors are pursuing a criminal investigation related to the U.S. government assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Brennan and other former officials have received subpoenas, and Brennan’s lawyers say he’s been advised by prosecutors that he’s a target of the investigation.
Brennan’s lawyers say in their letter that they are concerned the Justice Department is engaged in “judge-shopping” and trying to arrange for the investigation to be transferred to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who issued favorable rulings to Trump during the classified documents case and dismissed it last year. They asked Altonaga to exercise her “supervisory authority” as chief judge to ensure the Justice Department is unable to steer the current Russia-related matter to her.
“In short, we are seeking assurance that any litigation arising out of this grand jury proceeding will be heard by a judge who is selected by the court’s neutral and impartial processes, not by the prosecution’s self-interested maneuvering contrary to the interests of justice,” wrote Brennan’s attorneys, Kenneth Wainstein and Natasha Harnwell-Davis. The New York Times earlier reported on the letter.
It remains unclear what specific allegations of criminal conduct are being examined by prosecutors in Florida. But the subpoenas issued last month to Brennan and other former law enforcement and intelligence officials sought documents related to the preparation of the Obama administration’s intelligence community assessment, made public in January 2017, that detailed how Russia waged a covert influence campaign to help Trump defeat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.