The White House is employing one of Donald Trump’s favorite tactics when faced with a judge who is prioritizing the law over placating the president: attacking their family.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday bashed U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg and his wife, describing them as liberal activists attempting to stifle President Trump’s immigration agenda.
“Judge Boasberg is a Democrat activist. He was appointed by Barack Obama, his wife has donated more than $10,000 to Democrats, and he has consistently shown his disdain for this president and his policies and it’s unacceptable,” Leavitt said during a press briefing.
“I would just like to point out that the judge in this case is essentially trying to say that the president doesn’t have the executive authority to deport foreign terrorists from our American soil,” Leavitt said at another point during the briefing.
The administration has not provided evidence as to the identities, or the alleged terrorist affiliations, of the Venezuelans the administration sent to El Salvador without due process over the weekend.
Boasberg was originally appointed to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by former President George W. Bush, and then later elevated to the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., by former President Barack Obama. In his 2011 confirmation vote, Boasberg was ushered into the District Court in a 96-0 Senate vote.
Boasberg drew the ire of the Trump administration when he ordered the Trump administration not to deport two plane loads of Venezuelan migrants that the White House claimed were Tren de Aragua gang members. The administration sent the planes to El Salvador anyway, claiming authority under the Alien Enemies Act. The El Salvadorian government is sympathetic to the Trump administration, and has been accused of systemic human and civil rights violations in their widespread crackdown against gang violence.
Boasberg has raised questions about the timing of the flight’s departure, and whether the Trump administration openly flouted his order in deporting the migrants. On Wednesday, Boasberg granted the government a 24 hour extension to produce an official timeline on the two flights locations, takeoffs, and landings. The judge also stated in his decision that the government’s arguments for the delay were “at first blush are not persuasive.”
On Tuesday, Trump raged that Boasberg was a “Radical Left Lunatic” who “like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!”
“WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY,” Trump added.
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) filed articles of impeachment against Boasberg that same day. The impeachment resolution claimed that Boasberg’s order “jeopardizes the safety of the nation,” and that he abused his judicial authority to “to seize power from the Executive Branch and interfere with the will of the American people.”
John Roberts, the conservative chief justice of the Supreme Court, issued a rare rebuke of the president’s call to impeach Boasberg. “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts wrote on Tuesday. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Leavitt’s comments were not the first time the president or his underlings have attacked a judge’s family. In 2023, Trump targeted the wife of New York Judge Arthur Engoron — who oversaw his New York civil fraud trial — falsely accusing Mrs. Engoron of promoting anti-Trump content on social media. Last year, during his hush money trial, Trump accused Judge Juan Merchan of being biased against him because his daughter had worked on Democratic marketing campaigns.
