Trump Impeachment STORM IGNITES as 29 Judges Vote for Conviction!!

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]The whole point of having due process in this country and really any country is so that you can find out what the truth is, right? There's lots of allegations against Kilar Argo Garcia. The Trump administration has called him a gang member, a terrorist, and a human trafficker. Those are serious things to say about someone. Yesterday, the DOJ released this trove of documents intending to show that the man is an MS-13 gang member, including something called a gang field interview sheet that was put together in 2019 from the Prince George's County Police Department of Maryland. The report alleges that during a 2019 interview with police of Garcia was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie with rolls of money covering the eyes, ears, and mouth of the presidents on the separate denominations. Officers know such clothing to be indicative of Hispanic gang culture.

[00:00:48]The report also says officers spoke to a quote reliable source of information who advised ago Garcia is an active member of MS-13.

[00:00:55]Today, Prince George's County Police Department released a statement confirming that Abrago Garcia was never charged with a crime. They also confirmed that one of the officers who put together that gang field interview sheet pleaded guilty to misconduct in office in an unrelated case and was fired in 2022.

[00:01:12]>> All right, people. Welcome back to Daniel Moore is here. 29 federal appellet judges just voted to overturn a prior ruling favoring Trump. An overwhelming supermajority demanding a full onbunk review. In appellet procedure, this is a defcon 1 event, a flashing red signal that the original ruling was catastrophically wrong and must be corrected by the full court.

[00:01:34]Legal historians will study this seismic moment for decades. The 29 judge onbank vote is a legal earthquake. Now, Abrao Garcia's lawyers and family say he is not a gang member and we know that he has no criminal record. But of course, none of these allegations right against Garcia are definitive one way or the other.

[00:01:55]The whole point of hundreds of years of legal tradition we are inheritors to is that there is a process to establish these contested facts. They could have just held an immigration hearing. As Judge Jay Harvey Wilkinson, the legendary conservative Reagan appointee on the Four Circuit Court of Appeals, noted in a remarkable ruling today, one that thunders with righteous indignation from a jurist long admired on the right.

[00:02:21]Wilkinson writes, quote, "The government asserts that a Breaker Garcia is a terrorist and a member of MS-13.

[00:02:27]Perhaps, perhaps not. Regardless, he is still entitled to due process. If the government is confident of its position, it should be assured that position will prevail in proceedings to terminate the withholding of removal order. Right?

[00:02:40]That was the order that was in place to stop him from being deported to El Salvador. So, in other words, if you guys are so certain he's guilty, it should be easy to prove. In fact, the standard uh that would >> evidence against Trump is so overwhelming, his legal arguments so insubstantial that judges from both parties and multiple eras converged with near unonymity to vacate a prior ruling entirely. His appeal prospects have essentially evaporated. A historic rebuke signaling that the lower court got it catastrophically wrong, not on a technicality, but at the foundational level. pertain here would be a prepoundonderance the evidence not even beyond a reasonable doubt right that portion I read you was part of the larger decision today in which the fourth circuit rejected efforts by the Trump DOJ to s short circuit the lower court's order to facilitate Abrigo Garcia's return from that prison in El Salvador Judge Wilkinson also included a stark warning quote it is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter but in this case it is not hard at all The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process. That is the foundation of our constitutional order. Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done. This should be shocking not only to judges but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courouses still hold dear. Asher Agapa, a former FBI special agent, now an assistant dean at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs, and she joins me now. Good to have you here.

[00:04:18]>> Thanks.

[00:04:19]>> Um, this was a seven-page uh I guess opinion uh order issued by the Fourth Circuit, authored by Wilkinson, I it really sort of put me back in my chair.

[00:04:31]>> Yeah, I think when he says, >> "You're exactly right to highlight the mechanics. Normally appeals go to a three judge panel and onbunk review is rare reserved for exceptional constitutional questions or clear error that 29 judges voted to vacate and rehear means they found the original ruling fundamentally wrong not a minor dispute. The high bar makes this vote historic. Exactly.

[00:04:55]>> It's very simple to get to the heart of the matter. You know, there aren't many silver linings in this Abrego Garcia situation, but we do have the fact that we've gone from zero to pinish in 100 days and it's pretty clear where we are.

[00:05:09]When I teach habius corpus in my national security law class, I use as sort of the hyperbolic example, habius corpus is what stands between you and the president grabbing you in the middle of the night and throwing you throwing you into a foreign goolog. And that's not hyperbolic anymore. that is what is happening is such a foundational right that it is the the right that is expressly forbidden from being suspended in the constitution and it's in article one because the framers knew that if you gave that power to the president you might have a lot of invasions and rebellions to justify it so the fact that this is happening that the Trump administration has washed its hands of ago Garcia is simple lawlessness there is no other word to describe it Yeah, that that point about uh habius the judge Wilkins said another point in the opinion talks about look the seventh circuit didn't just grant onbon review it immediately vacated the proTrump ruling stripping it of all legal force 29 judges acting with near unonymity signaled that the original decision was so fundamentally defective it couldn't stand even temporarily. Trump's strategy of delay and procedural maneuvering has hit a judicial wall that will not yield.

[00:06:22]The lower court had handed Trump a win which his team celebrated as proof he was untouchable. But prosecutors appealed arguing fundamental legal errors. He calls him a resident of the country which I thought was well characterized. Right. He is a resident of the country. He's not a citizen. He is a resident of the country. And again deport like >> who gets constitutional rights.

[00:06:43]>> This is actually a really important point. Can we just stay on this for a second? Like >> the this is a very established principle. We've played video on the program of Justice Scalia and Justice Ruth Berg Ginsburg in a joint interview saying this constitutional rights in the United States are not just for citizens.

[00:07:02]>> Correct.

[00:07:02]>> Right. I mean the 14th amendment, right, says all persons like it's this doesn't there's not this neat line. Now it's there are differences in terms of what process is due to be deported and there are differences but like generally it's not the case. The Constitution just stops existing because the person's not a citizen.

[00:07:18]>> That's right. And that evidence that you were talking about that >> now 29 judges on the seventh circuit have voted to vacate that ruling entirely. Not correct it, but wipe it out and start over. It's a total rejection of Trump's legal strategy and a signal that no victory is final when the underlying law is this flawed.

[00:07:37]You've nailed it. Trump's entire defense strategy was delay. Run out the clock until an election or political shift intervenes. But this 29 judge on bonk vote signals the appellet judiciary has lost patience. No more courtesy extensions. No more treating frivolous theories as serious.

[00:07:55]>> The Trump administration is now waving about. By the way, a judge looked at that >> right >> already and made a determination that actually this person has a credible fear of persecution if he is returned to El Salvador specifically. Right. And so, you know, the the government is trying to frame this as a separation of powers, infringing on foreign affairs. I would do a reverse UNO here and say, "No, this is actually the executive branch usurping judicial functions and acting as judge, jury, executioner. This man has been sentenced."

[00:08:29]>> They're moving toward resolution on the merits, and that demolishes Trump's core legal tactic. Legal commentators now speak with rare certainty. With 29 judges across ideological lines united against him, Trump has almost no realistic chance on appeal. The onbank court will reverse, reinstating charges or consequences. The Supreme Court rarely intervenes when a full circuit speaks with such clarity, especially without a circuit split or novel constitutional question. The outcome is no longer in doubt. What prosecutors have assembled according to multiple legal experts who have followed the evidence trail is a case of overwhelming strength. This is not a situation where the facts are ambiguous or the witnesses lack credibility or the legal theories are novel and untested. The evidence is documented, corroborated, and extensive.

[00:09:18]It includes witness testimony that has been tested under cross-examination and found to be consistent and believable.

[00:09:24]It includes physical evidence and documentary records that establish a clear chain of events. It includes the kind of proof that leaves very little room for reasonable doubt. The lower court ruling that initially favored Trump appears in retrospect to have been an outlier, a decision that gave disproportionate weight to defense arguments while undervaluing the prosecution's evidence. And 29 appellet judges have now effectively said as much through their extraordinary vote to vacate and rehear. This judicial action is unfolding within a broader pattern that has become increasingly visible over the past year. Courts across the country are shedding the difference they once showed toward a former president.

[00:10:04]The era of treating Trump's legal team with procedural courtesy of granting extensions as a matter of routine, of bending over backward to avoid any appearance of political bias. That era is demonstrably over. Judges are now imposing sanctions on Trump's attorneys when they file frivolous motions. They are issuing contempt threats when court orders are not promptly obeyed. They are setting expedited timelines that compress the litigation schedule rather than extending it. They are making clear through their rulings and their conduct that being a former president does not entitle anyone to special treatment before the law. This 29 judge vote is the most dramatic manifestation of that shifting judicial attitude, but it is far from the only one. It is part of a systemic response to what many in the legal community view as an unprecedented campaign to manipulate the judicial process for personal protection. The 29 judge vote strips Trump's defenders of the partisan witch hunt narrative. It's now the judiciary itself across ideologies, signaling his legal position is indefensible. For impeachment advocates, this is powerful institutional validation, making it much harder to dismiss the case as mere political theater. Some Republican lawmakers who have spent years defending Trump against every accusation are beginning to recalculate their positions. Defending a former president who is losing this decisively in court who just watched 29 appellet judges repudiate a ruling in his favor becomes increasingly difficult as a political matter. It exposes them to attack ads featuring judicial findings and legal conclusions. It forces them to explain to constituents why they are standing by someone whose legal defenses are being systematically dismantled by judges at every level of the federal judiciary.

[00:11:47]The midterm elections are now clearly visible on the political horizon, and some Republicans are quietly assessing whether their own survival requires creating distance between themselves and a former president whose legal situation grows more dire with each passing month.

[00:12:03]The calculation is cold and entirely political, but it is real and it is happening in congressional offices right now. The implications for Trump's political future extend well beyond the current impeachment debate. He is turn limited under the 22nd amendment and cannot appear on a presidential ballot again. But the broader Trumpist movement, the candidates he endorses, the political operation he has constructed, all of it operates under the shadow of his legal troubles.

[00:12:31]Campaign advertisements in upcoming elections will feature clips of judges ruling against him. Headlines about 29 appellet judges voting to overturn his courtroom victories. Evidence summaries prepared by prosecutors and validated by judicial findings. Swing voters who might have been willing to support Trump aligned candidates will be confronted with a relentless stream of information about criminal conduct and judicial repudiation. The political brand has been damaged in ways that will take years to assess fully. Within Trump's inner circle, the atmosphere has reportedly become increasingly fraught.

[00:13:05]When the judiciary moves against a political figure with this degree of force and unity, the people around that figure start making their own calculations about personal exposure and professional future. Staffers wonder whether their association with a losing cause will damage their career prospects. Donors evaluate whether their contributions are funding a viable political operation or a sinking legal defense fund. Political allies begin hedging their public statements, offering qualified support rather than fullthroated defenses. This pattern has played out before during Trump's various legal and political crises, and the 29 judge vote appears to be triggering another wave of quiet distancing. The onbank court will almost certainly reverse the lower ruling given the 29 judge vote. Trump can appeal to the Supreme Court, but it's unlikely to hear the case without a circuit split. Once appeals are exhausted, convictions and sentencing hearings will follow, and Trump faces the real prospect of years or decades in federal prison. The impeachment debate in Congress will intensify in parallel with these legal developments. Once courts have spoken definitively, once convictions have been entered and judicial findings have been documented, the political argument that Trump is being unfairly persecuted becomes almost impossible to sustain.

[00:14:20]Lawmakers will face a stark choice between accepting the judiciary's conclusions and taking appropriate legislative action or standing in defiance of the entire federal court system. the pressure for some form of congressional accountability measure, whether impeachment or a resolution barring future office holding, will become enormous. This moment also carries profound significance for the rule of law in America. The question of whether the legal system can effectively hold powerful people accountable, whether evidence and legal reasoning matter more than political connections and delay tactics, is being tested in real time. The 29 judge vote provides a powerful affirmative answer. It demonstrates that the federal judiciary, even in an era of intense political polarization, retains the capacity to evaluate legal arguments on their merits and reach consensus conclusions. It shows that judges appointed by presidents of both parties can set aside political considerations and enforce the law as they understand it. This is important for public trust in democratic institutions which has been eroding for years under the pressure of scandal and polarization. When the judiciary acts decisively, when it demonstrates that no individual is above the law, regardless of their former office or current political influence, it helps rebuild the institutional legitimacy that democracy requires to function. For Trump personally, this moment represents something genuinely unprecedented in his long career of evading consequences. He built his public identity around the idea that he could outmaneuver any opponent, beat any system, escape any trap. He spent decades deploying lawyers and money and influence to make problems disappear. And for a very long time, the strategy worked. Accusations accumulated, but accountability never materialized. But now 29 federal appellet judges have voted against him in a single unified action. The evidence has been examined and found overwhelming. The legal arguments have been scrutinized and found wanting. The delay tactics have been recognized and rejected. The walls are closing in from every direction. And the remaining avenues of escape are narrowing to nothing. The prospect of spending years behind bars. The very outcome he has spent his entire adult life avoiding has moved from distant hypothetical to concrete probability. This is the reality that 29 judges have helped to create and it is a reality from which there is no obvious exit. The bottom line could not be clearer even as its full implications will take years to unfold. 29 federal appellet judges voted to vacate a lower court ruling that had favored Donald Trump. They demanded a full onbunk review of the entire case.

[00:17:03]Legal analysts who have devoted their professional lives to understanding the federal courts say this means Trump's legal defenses are collapsing in real time. His prospects of success on any subsequent appeal have effectively disappeared. The evidence against him has been described by multiple experts as overwhelming to the point of being undeniable. Conviction has shifted from possible to probable to virtually certain. The political consequences are cascading through Washington, giving impeachment advocates new ammunition, placing Republicans in an increasingly untenable position and casting a long shadow over Trump's legacy and the future of his political movement. This is a defining moment in American legal and political history. the kind of turning point that future generations will study as the instant when accountability stopped being a theoretical possibility and started being an inexurable reality. Stay attentive, stay informed. This story is accelerating toward its conclusion and when the final chapter arrives, it will reshape everything we understand about power and justice in America.