Sen. Chris Larson Tells Us What Folks In Milwaukee Think Of The Trump Regime Arresting Hannah Dugan

-by Sen. Chris Larson

Hannah Dugan is one of the nicest people in our community. If she’s guilty of anything, it’s bringing the best dish to the potluck picnic. Hannah celebrates Citizenship Day, Law Day, Bill of Rights Day, Constitution Day, and National Flag Week.

Local reporter Bruce Murphy outlined her humble history before the newly radicalized justice department started smearing her character. 

In September 2021 she sent an email celebrating the signing of the U.S. Constitution, “created 234 years ago not by despots or kings but by ‘we the people.’”

“At the very core of the Constitution is the right to vote. Of the Constitution’s 27 Amendments, three directly expanded suffrage while six Indirectly shape voting rights,” she wrote.“The ratification of each suffrage Amendment was fraught with struggles against voter suppression and for election reform.”

In short, Hannah Dugan is a good person. Hannah is also innocent. If we still have a fair justice system, that will get out eventually. 

Let’s compare this to the legal record of Donald Trump. Trump was found guilty of fraud. He and his family stole from their New York charities and were ordered to pay millions in fines as a result. His is the most lying administration in the recorded history of the American presidency. Even as they try to claim the legal high ground, Trump is openly defying a Supreme Court to return a man back to America.

As they accuse others of obstructing justice, let’s remember that’s exactly what Trump did. From LawFare in October of 2022:

Trump directed one of his lawyers in early 2022 to inform the National Archives that all documents requested by the Archives had been returned from Mar-a-Lago. Such a statement, of course, would have been false: Months later, the FBI would seize over 20 boxes of material remaining at the estate. And, in fact, the lawyer, Alex Cannon, reportedly refused to convey Trump’s message to the Archives because he was not sure if it was true.

In that case, Trump was successful in pressuring the Judge, Eileen Cannon, to delay the case. As a result, Americans were denied justice and enough voters in America viewed Trump as vindicated to again elect him president. 

Politicization and fear are the goal

The arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan was announced by FBI Director Kash Patel's on social media in violation of Justice Department Manual, Section 1-7.610 F which prohibits posting pictures of defendants that might prejudice a legal proceeding. The Empty Wheel Blog outlined the case.

The point isn’t to get a conviction, it’s to intimidate other judges into complying with this administration’s authoritarian goals.

They want to smear Hannah and ruin her life so that any other judge who sees what’s happening does their best to avoid it by following whatever ICE asks for, regardless of what the law says.

The goal is getting to the truth, the goal is to scare judges to obey in advance. The arrest and implicit guilt directed at Hannah and chaos and fear of the public is the plan. Luckily, like all things with the Trump Administration, they went too far, too fast, and it will backfire.

Our patriotic neighbors knew this wasn’t right in the United States of America. They’ve seen enough to know it would be irresponsible to blindly take the side of the accuser when that accuser is itself the arm of an administration that has in its first 100 days ignored court orders, violated the law, arrested the wrong people, threatened Americans with deportation, and released false information to propagate a xenophobic and white supremacist narrative.

Within hours of right-wing blogger turned FBI Director Kash Patel posted about the arrest of Hannah on twitter, a protest built at both the county and federal courthouses. By midday, over a thousand people gathered to rally at the federal courthouse. 

People were condemning ICE arrests at sensitive locations like courtrooms, schools, churches, and hospitals— places where people have an expectation of peace and safety. Due process is not just a fundamental right guaranteed by our Constitution, it is a matter of basic human dignity and compassion.  The County Courthouse is a sanctuary for justice and peace where the accused come forward willingly in a fair and unbiased process. Arresting people out of a courtroom will lead to a breakdown of civil society. We do not support the presence of ICE in places where it will lead to intimidation against witnesses and victims of crimes, denying everyone involved the justice they deserve.

Let’s join together to call for the return to American law and order and an end to the administration’s hamfisted attempts to replace it with authoritarianism. 

Let us roundly reject fascism in the United States of America. We can do that by standing up and fighting back but by also taking a lead from Hannah by reading the constitution, learning from history, and encouraging others to do the same.