We have major news tonight. A federal grand jury has refused to indict Letitia James, a stunning setback and public embarrassment for Donald Trump. And that is not all: a devastating new report reveals the Trump administration has been overseeing conditions in Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” facility that amount to torture.
Before I dig in, I need to ask something important.
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Here’s the news:
A federal grand jury declined to issue a new indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James, less than two weeks after her original bank-fraud case was thrown out because it was brought by an unlawfully appointed Trump-aligned prosecutor; the Justice Department, which reassigned the case to different prosecutors, can still try again, but Thursday’s failure marks a significant setback in the politically charged effort to pursue charges against one of Trump’s top critics.
The Government Accountability Office has opened an investigation into FHFA Director Bill Pulte after Senate Democrats raised concerns about his referrals of several prominent officials — including Letitia James, Adam Schiff, Lisa Cook, and Eric Swalwell — to the Justice Department for alleged mortgage fraud, amid broader scrutiny of Pulte’s politically charged actions and his use of the agency to target figures criticized by President Trump.
The United States government is being accused of torture today. Amnesty International reports severe human rights abuses at Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” and Miami’s Krome detention center, including detainees being shackled and confined in a 2ft-high outdoor metal cage (“the box”) for up to 24 hours without water, exposed to heat, humidity, and mosquitoes.
The report describes widespread unsanitary and dangerous conditions: overflowing toilets contaminating sleeping areas, limited showers, constant lighting, inadequate food and water, and inconsistent or denied medical care—treatment Amnesty says can amount to torture.
Florida officials under Gov. Ron DeSantis dismiss the findings as fabricated, even as the facility previously faced a federal closure order that was later blocked by Trump-appointed appellate judges.
At Krome, Amnesty found extreme overcrowding, delayed intake, prolonged solitary confinement, racist violence by guards, lack of legal access, and medical neglect; some detainees were forced to sleep for days on buses without toilets or air-conditioning.
Amnesty warns that Alligator Alcatraz operates without basic tracking systems, enabling incommunicado detention and “enforced disappearances” as families cannot locate transferred detainees.
The report urges Florida to close Alligator Alcatraz, end cooperation with federal immigration authorities, and calls on the Trump administration to stop criminalizing migration and halt mass detention practices.
Senator Jack Reed said he is “deeply disturbed” by footage of a 2 September “double-tap” strike on a suspected drug-trafficking boat, calling the briefing confirmation of his worst fears about the Trump administration’s military actions and asserting that releasing the unedited video was necessary as Congress begins its investigation.
Nonpartisan watchdog American Oversight sued the Defense and Justice Departments for failing to release FOIA-requested records on the Trump administration’s strikes on Venezuelan boats, arguing that allegations of potentially unlawful military actions and mishandling of classified intelligence demand transparency.
Federal authorities arrested and charged Brian Cole of Virginia for planting pipe bombs outside the RNC and DNC on the eve of January 6, 2021, identifying him through renewed forensic review and surveillance evidence after years without a suspect, marking a major breakthrough in a long-running investigation overshadowed by conspiracy theories.
The Washington Post has confirmed that Donald Trump has replaced James McCrery II — the architect he originally selected to design the planned new White House ballroom — with Shalom Baranes, due to McCrery’s firm being too small and unable to meet deadlines for the 90,000-square-foot project.
A federal appeals court paused a lower-court order that would have forced President Trump to end his National Guard deployment in Washington, DC, allowing more than 2,000 troops to remain as he expands the mission following the fatal shooting of two Guard members, despite the DC attorney general’s lawsuit alleging Trump is unlawfully seizing local policing powers and violating bans on domestic military enforcement.
UC Berkeley student and animal rights activist Zoe Rosenberg was sentenced to 90 days in jail and ordered to pay over $100,000 after she and other DxE members broke into a Petaluma poultry facility to take four chickens they described as rescues, a case that highlighted tensions over “right to rescue” arguments and drew both condemnation from agricultural groups and support from high-profile advocates.
According to CNN, CDC vaccine advisers, many appointed by Trump health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., delayed a contentious vote on restricting infant hepatitis B vaccinations after a heated meeting in which no evidence of harm was presented despite decades of data showing the shot’s safety and efficacy, raising alarm among experts who warn that merely debating such changes risks confusing parents and undermining a vaccine that has reduced childhood hepatitis B by 99%.
According to the Guardian, dozens of people across New Orleans have been detained as Trump’s latest ICE crackdown enters its second day, with advocates reporting U.S. citizens being questioned or briefly detained, arrests occurring in everyday public spaces, and immigrant communities living in fear amid what organizers describe as racial profiling and a “siege” that has shuttered businesses, disrupted daily life, and sparked heated protests at a city council meeting.
See you in the morning.
— Aaron
