contempt

WASHINGTON — A federal judge must end his “intrusive” contempt investigation of the Trump administration for failing to comply with an order to turn around planes carrying Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador last year, a divided appeals court panel ruled Tuesday.

Chief Judge James Boasberg abused his discretion in forging ahead with criminal contempt proceedings over the March 2025 deportation flights, according to the majority opinion by a three-judge panel from U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

President Trump’s administration has a “clear and indisputable” right to the termination of the contempt proceedings, Circuit Judge Neomi Rao wrote in the court’s majority opinion.

“The legal error at the heart of these criminal contempt proceedings demonstrates why further investigation by the district court is an abuse of discretion,” Rao wrote. “Criminal contempt is available only for the violation of an order that is clear and specific. (Boasberg’s March 2025 order) did not clearly and specifically bar the government from transferring plaintiffs into Salvadoran custody.”

Rao was nominated by Trump, a Republican. Boasberg, chief judge of the district court in Washington, D.C., was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama.

On March 15, 2025, two planes transporting Venezuelan migrants from the U.S. to El Salvador were in the air when Boasberg ordered the administration to turn them around.

Administration officials claim Boasberg is biased and overstepped his authority.

Boasberg has said the Trump administration may have acted in bad faith by trying to rush Venezuelan migrants out of the country in defiance of his order blocking their deportations to El Salvador. In an April 16, 2025 order, the judge said he gave the administration “ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions” but concluded that “none of their responses has been satisfactory.”

Trump has called for impeaching Boasberg. Last year, the Justice Department filed a misconduct complaint accusing Boasberg of making improper public comments about Trump and his administration. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts publicly rejected calls for Boasberg’s impeachment.

The case is assigned to Rao and Circuit Judges Justin Walker and J. Michelle Childs. Walker, also a Trump nominee, wrote a separate opinion concurring with Roa’s. Childs, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, dissented from the majority.

Kunzelman writes for the Associated Press.

WASHINGTON — Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of President Trump, on Monday won a Supreme Court order that is expected to lead to the dismissal of his criminal conviction for refusing to testify to Congress.

Prodded by the Trump administration, the justices threw out an appellate ruling upholding Bannon’s conviction for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by a mob of Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol.

The move frees a trial judge to act on the Republican administration’s pending request to dismiss Bannon’s conviction and indictment “in the interests of justice.”

The dismissal would be largely symbolic. Bannon served a four-month prison term after a jury convicted him of contempt of Congress in 2022. A federal appeals court in Washington had upheld the conviction.

The justices also issued a similar order in the case of former Cincinnati Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, who was pardoned by Trump last year.

Sittenfeld had served 16 months in federal prison after a jury convicted him of bribery and attempted extortion in 2022. The high court order allows a lower court to consider dismissing his indictment.

The Justice Department brought the case against Bannon during Democrat Joe Biden’s presidency, but it changed course after Trump took office again last year.

Bannon had initially argued that his testimony was protected by Trump’s claim of executive privilege. But the House panel and the Justice Department contended such a claim was dubious because Trump had fired Bannon from the White House in 2017 and Bannon was thus a private citizen when he was consulting with the then-president in the run-up to the Capitol riot.

Bannon separately has pleaded guilty in a New York state court to defrauding donors to a private effort to build a wall on the U.S. southern border, as part of a plea deal that allowed him to avoid jail time. That conviction is unaffected by the Supreme Court action.

Sherman writes for the Associated Press.

March 24 (UPI) — Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin was sentenced to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine after he was found in contempt of court Tuesday.

Matt Bevin was found to be in contempt Friday for not disclosing his financial records in a legal battle with his estranged son Jonah Bevin. Jonah Bevin is fighting for retroactive child support after his adoptive parents allegedly abandoned him.

Jefferson County Family Court Judge Angela Johnson told Bevin: “Your arrest warrant will be issued today,” the Kentucky Lantern reported. Bevin had been ordered to appear in the Louisville court in person, but he appeared via Zoom.

Matt Bevin said he was traveling to attend the funeral of his ex-wife’s father Monday and was on his way back. He appeared to be in an office, but didn’t say where he was, the Lantern reported.

During the hearing, Matt Bevin interrupted Johnson several times. He argued that he was trying to get the information to the court but needed more time to collect records. His ex-wife, Glenna Bevin, didn’t have to appear because she already turned in her financial information.

“Every litigant in the commonwealth has to provide such information,” Johnson told Matt Bevin, the Lantern reported. “I cannot treat Mr. Bevin or Mrs. Bevin any differently.”

Johnson told the former governor that once he produced the records, including tax returns, bank statements and details of assets and income, his jail sentence would be dropped.

On Monday, Matt Bevin filed a motion calling for Johnson to be removed from the case for her “personal bias and prejudice,” the Louisville Courier Journal reported.

The case began when Glenna Bevin filed for divorce in 2023. Jonah Bevin, who is one of four children the Bevins adopted from Ethiopia, intervened demanding child support for time he spent at boarding schools for “troubled teens.” A school in Jamaica was raided by law enforcement over allegations of abuse while he was in its custody. The Bevins did not retrieve him after the school was raided and shut down.

Jonah Bevin’s attorneys said he suffered abuse at those schools and that his high school diploma from a school in Florida may not be valid.

Matt Bevin’s affidavit said some of Johnson’s rulings make it “clear to me that Judge Johnson’s decisions are being motivated by her personal desire for publicity and ‘earned media’ as a government employee who must seek re-election to remain a Circuit Court Judge in the future.”

Johnson will be up for re-election in 2030.

John Helmers and Melina Hettiaratchi, Louisville-based attorneys representing Jonah Bevin, said the judge is asking for what is standard in Kentucky family court cases.

“This judge has done nothing but give him a fair shot. When he refused, she held him in contempt — and he responded by trying to get her thrown out of the game for calling a foul,” The Courier Journal reoported their statement said. “Now that it is crystal clear he is going to have to play by the same rules as everyone else, he’s taking shots at the judge.”

Jonah Bevin said in a statement he now has “no support, no resources, and no ability to wait [Matt Bevin] out while he does everything he can to avoid sitting down with a judge.”

On Friday in court, Matt Bevin said he loves all of his children and wants “what is in their best interest.”

Matt Bevin served as the 62nd governor of Kentucky from 2015 to 2019. He lost to current Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat.

A family court trial is scheduled for March 27.