After losing the Illinois 9th Congressional District Democratic primary Tuesday night, Progressive influencer Kat Abughazaleh ended her concession speech with "F--- Trump, f--- ICE, free Palestine." (Credit: WFLD)
Biden judge rejects DOJ bid to halt probe of prosecutors in botched ICE protest case
by Elaine Mallon · Fox NewsNEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A federal judge investigating whether prosecutors misled her court in the "Broadview Six" case against anti-ICE protesters canceled a hearing requested by the Justice Department to clarify her authority to conduct the inquiry.
U.S. District Judge April Perry, a Biden appointee, has ordered four federal prosecutors, including Chicago's U.S. attorney, to testify under oath as she considers possible sanctions or criminal contempt proceedings.
"Ultimately, the Government’s professed lack of clarity about the Court’s inherent authority to ask lawyers who have made misstatements to or misled the Court to explain their actions is immaterial," Perry wrote Wednesday, canceling the Nov. 17 hearing.
The Justice Department dropped the criminal case against the six protesters in May amid allegations of misconduct involving former federal prosecutor Sheri Mecklenburg, who later resigned. But Perry's investigation into the prosecutors' conduct has continued.
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Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, the Justice Department's third-ranking official, argued in a filing that requiring prosecutors to testify would put them in a "Catch-22."
"They can testify and risk prosecution, or they can assert their rights under the Fifth Amendment and risk antagonizing the court, while it may also be considering non-contempt sanctions," Woodward wrote.
Perry rejected the government's argument, writing that "the Government does not represent at least 3/4 of the individuals who have been asked to testify, two of whom have expressed their willingness to do so."
Perry has ordered U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros and three assistant U.S. attorneys in the Northern District of Illinois — William Hogan, Matthew Skiba and Andres Almendarez — to testify under oath Monday about possible misconduct in grand jury proceedings involving the protesters.
"There is no indication on the docket that the Government represents the fourth individual," Perry wrote, referring to Boutros.
The testimony is expected to address prosecutors' knowledge of possible grand jury misconduct, the accuracy of their statements to the court, why grand jury transcripts were redacted and whether officials outside the U.S. Attorney's Office received information about the investigation. Perry could use the testimony to determine whether sanctions or criminal contempt proceedings are warranted.
The canceled hearing follows a separate dispute over communications the Justice Department has declined to disclose to Perry.
On Monday, Woodward argued in a motion that certain communications involving federal prosecutors were privileged and should not be disclosed. The Justice Department also submitted a privilege log identifying the withheld communications and the grounds for withholding them.
Perry rejected the submission Tuesday, finding it "noncompliant" because the government had redacted information identifying numerous senders and recipients in lengthy email chains. She also questioned the Justice Department's response to her request for an email sent to Boutros containing an expedited transcript of the Oct. 9, 2025, grand jury session, when jurors first declined to return an indictment. The PDF, the judge said, lacked metadata that could help establish whether Boutros had read the email.
Prosecutors were given until Thursday to address her concerns. The inquiry began May 20, when Perry ordered prosecutors involved in redacting grand jury transcripts to appear in court and questioned them during a sealed hearing the following day.
In October, Perry requested communications between federal prosecutors and outside officials concerning investigative and charging decisions in the case, finding that "several aspects of this prosecution were very flawed."
The inquiry stems from a grand jury's refusal to return an indictment on Oct. 9, 2025, and again during a subsequent session convened by Boutros, when two jurors were excused over concerns about their impartiality. Those jurors later returned for a third session on Oct. 23, when the grand jury indicted the protesters on a felony conspiracy charge.
According to court records, grand jury transcripts initially provided to Perry in April contained redactions that concealed evidence of possible misconduct, including allegations of improper "vouching" for the government's case by former Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg during an Oct. 9, 2025, grand jury presentation.
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Six protesters, including former Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, faced federal charges stemming from a Sept. 26, 2025, confrontation outside an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois. Prosecutors alleged that the demonstrators surrounded a federal immigration agent's vehicle to prevent him from entering the facility. Members of the crowd allegedly struck the vehicle, damaging a side mirror and windshield wiper, although prosecutors did not identify any of the six defendants as personally responsible.
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The other defendants were Oak Park village trustee Brian Straw, Chicago Democratic Committeeman Michael Rabbitt, Abughazaleh campaign staffer Andre Martin, former Cook County Board candidate Catherine Sharp and musician Joselyn Walsh.
Elaine Mallon is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business covering national politics.