The White House has dug in on its refusal to return a man who US officials have acknowledged was wrongly deported last month from Maryland to an El Salvador mega-prison.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down on accusations that Salvadoran national Kilmar Ábrego García was a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyer denies.
Leavitt also accused the 29-year-old of domestic violence, citing records showing his US citizen wife once filed a protective order against him.
A Maryland judge has ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to bring Mr Ábrego García back to the US. But El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said on a visit to the White House this week that he did not “have the power” to return him.
His lawyers can try to split hairs about “facilitate” vs. “effectuate” but saying he will never come back to the US after being ordered to try to get him back to the US seems like the most obvious violation possible of a 9 - 0 supreme court decision. If republicans were honest, trump could be removed from office by Saturday morning. What would there be to even investigate?