[U — Complete — 30 Days.] Live Notes — From Courtroom 5D, In The Morning…

This will go live (assuming lawyers' cell-phones are permitted inside the well) shortly after 9 AM Central on February 26, 2026.

Hopefully, the day ends in a dismissal on all counts.

. . . ➢ more live blogging, to come, here. . . .

➢ We are about halfway through Mr. McGuire's testimony. . . And it is not going well for him. He hasn't been cross examined yet and it's 11 AM. Cell phones are not permitted inside the court so only when we take breaks will there be updates. . . .

➢ Acting US Atty. Robert McGuire has claimed on cross-examination (under oath), that when the liaison with Main Justice was emailing him about including "the Baltimore information" in his speaking indictment, that he did not take that as anyone trying to "help" him draft his indictment. Uh-huh.

➢ Yet in the next breath, he admitted that in high profile cases, he would expect to be submitting an indictment like this up the chain for "approval/awareness" -- in other words, that Pam Bondi or Todd Blanche (or someone) was suggesting that counts should be added, even though there was no competent proof for allegations like "MS 13 -- or gun trafficking, or sexual offenses." That's all pretty explosive.

➢ And, in fact, this speaking indictment contained at least three clearly false statements about Mr. Abrego Garcia, which were never actually made part of any included charge. More as we get it.

➢ Supervisory Special Agent John VanWie, Homeland Security Investigations was on the government's witness list, but the AUSA rested without calling him. Hmm. [Would he have contradicted his prior testimony, from Summer of 2025?]

➢ We learned that he was the conduit and keeper of the "Baltimore information". Question: is it at least possible that the entirely sealed proceeding we mentioned early in the week has to do with VanWie, and how it came to be. . . that Kristi Noem herself repeated several of his lies -- at a press conference she called, in Nashville? [It is nearly unheard of for a Cabinet level official like Noem, to traffic in lies in public press conferences -- about a regional ICE indictee.] We shall see, but she's never set the record straight. . . .

➢ We are done — post hearing briefs in three* [nope; 30] days; then Judge Crenshaw will rule. . . .

Onward -- but now, I must sleep. ✈

नमस्ते

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* The New York Times reporter in the well thought Judge Crenshaw said "30 days". Updated: he heard correctly; paper order entered 02.27.26 -- but that would be the typical rule for full post trial briefs (of perhaps 30-50 pages…) this should come in at under 10 pages -- as today's two witnesses appeared merely at an evidentiary hearing. Moreover, a man has been indicted for felonies, and quite possibly the DoJ was acting vindictively (lawlessly) -- in the judge's own prior orders. I thought I heard three days, but I was wrong. Could the delay in Judge Crenshaw's ruling indicate that the sealed matter involves a consensual transfer to Costa Rica -- for Mr. Abrego Garcia? We shall see.