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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is suing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for refusing to honor a request to extradite an ICE agent facing criminal charges in Minnesota. Agent Christian Castro faces multiple charges stemming from the shooting of a man during an immigration raid, including allegedly giving a false account of what happened. Abbott says he won’t sign the extradition papers until Minnesota repays federal money lost to fraud, a demand with no legal relevance to the case.
Today I spoke to Ellison about the case. He called Abbott’s refusal “anti-constitutional” and said it “defies precedent.” If Castro leaves the country, Ellison told me, “There is no escape. He’s going to stand trial in Minnesota.”
We also discussed the investigations into the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti. Ellison says federal authorities have handed over some evidence, but Minnesota is still waiting for the complete files. On J.D. Vance, who has called for Ellison to be investigated over fraud in Minnesota, Ellison was unsparing: “I don’t think Vance has cognitive issues. I think he has moral issues.”
On today’s news that Trump’s Education Department is moving to strip the American Bar Association of its role accrediting law schools, Ellison said, “This is classic Third Reich stuff,” saying, “Show me a totalitarian society and I will show you a government that wants to punish lawyers, punish academics, punish journalists, punish anyone and anyone who might say that what they’re doing is wrong.”
He does not mince words or shy away from a fight. Find our full conversation at the top of this email.
PS: My fancy camera decided not to cooperate today, so we went with the backup. Hence the slightly strange framing. But more importantly: Do you like the new wall color?
Also in this newsletter: 10 days without power. The court weighs in on the ballroom. The cost of Trump’s pardons. Why you should care about the bond market. Trump’s new fight with lawyers. Trump’s devoted assistant under scrutiny. Women rally for Lindsay Clancy. And in News That Doesn’t Suck, electric flight just got real.
In the Dark: Desperation is mounting for tens of thousands of people across northern Indiana who are now in their tenth day without power. Many are in Gary, amajority-Black citywhereone-third of residents live below the poverty line. Grocery storeshelves are bare, schools and businesses closed, and medications have spoiled. People are lining up for meals, searching for places to charge their phones or connect to the internet, andstaying up late, afraid of looters in the dark. The utility, NIPSCO, said itcould be days before power is fully restored. “We’re always in survival mode in Gary,”one resident said. “I think that’s probably why it wasn’t so much of an uproar because the first few days, it was like, ‘OK, we’re used to this.’ … But this is the second week now. It’s not OK for us to continually be in survival mode, doing the best that we can.”Pardon Me: Anew House Judiciary Committee reportfound that Trump’s pardons have saved white-collar criminals from paying nearly $1.7 billion in penalties owed to victims and taxpayers.Go Ahead: Supreme Court Chief Justice John Robertsallowed Trump to continue work on his White House ballroomwhile the court considers a legal challenge against the project.**Pentagon v The Press:**The Pentagon fired Eric Slavin, the editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes — the highly regarded military news outlet,along with the paper’s publisher and one of its reporters. Slavintold the Associated Presshe believes he was fired for perceived “insubordination,” after saying in an interview that he works “for Stars and Stripes. Not for the Pentagon. Not for any administration.” Stars and Stripes received some funding from the Pentagon but it has long operated with editorial independence. Until now. Under Hegseth, the Department of Defense has taken issue with itsreporting about conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln, and its objections topress restrictions at the Pentagon.The Pentagon says it defends American freedom. That includes the freedom to report objectively on the Pentagon.
The Name’s Bond: Financial experts and governments around the world are increasingly worried about the U.S. bond market and what it may signal about the U.S. economy. This week Treasury Secretary Scott Bessentannounced that the Treasurywould “at least” double some of its purchases of long-term bonds. That’s called a buyback. It didn’t go as likely planned. To understand why that matters, here’s a quick bond-market primer: Bonds areessentially loans to the government. The yield on a bond is the return investors demand for lending the government money. When investors demand higher yields, it costs the government more to borrow and more to service its enormous debt. Those higher rates can ripple through the economy. This week Bessentannounced a buybackto drive yields lower. It worked, but only briefly. Within hours, yields wereclimbing againback near20-year highs. Experts say Bessent’s move didn’t produce an enduring response because itdidn’t addressthebigger forcesthat arepushing yields higher. Those forces include stubbornly high inflation, which makes bonds worth less, so investors demand a better return to keep buying them. Investors are also worried about record U.S. debt and the unpredictability of Trump’seconomic policies. Bessent’s buyback was, ironically, part of that story. Treasury buybacks are usuallyannounced on a schedule. This one was unexpected. Why should you care? The bond market is a measure of investor confidence in the U.S. economy, andsome experts noteyields haven’t been this high since before the Great Recession. Higher yields also mean the U.S. has tospend morejust to payinterest on its debt, leaving less money for everything else. And, perhaps most importantly for you, bond yields help drive the ratesAmericans payon all kinds of major loans, including mortgages and car loans. Those rates arealready high. And there’s the political aspect: The bond market is one place investors are registering their concern about Trump’s policies.How Strange: Bessent this weekadmitted to reportershe didn’t “really understand” whyoil prices had spiked, dismissing them as “noise.” In the words of aFox News host, “Literally everyone else knows” why prices spiked. Just one day earlier,Trump announced“the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country,” threatening “tremendous economic consequences” for any nation helping Iran.
Anti-Accreditation: The Education Departmentformally recommended stripping the American Bar Association’s authorityto accredit law schools when itcomes up for renewal next month. The ABA reviews nearly 200 law schools. Its accreditation can determine whether schools qualify for federal student loan funds and, in many states, whether graduates can sit for the bar exam. This is a sharp escalation in the Trump administration’s longstanding feud with the ABA, which Republicans accuse of having a liberal bias. The groupwon a lawsuitagainst the Justice Department last year, after arguing the DOJ illegally canceled millions of dollars in grants for domestic violence and sexual assault services becausethe ABA had criticized the administration. The ABA alsosuspended a diversity rulefor law schools shortly after Trump took office. Trump hascalled accreditationhis “secret weapon” to influence and reshape higher education, andcritics warnhe is trying to use it to pressure schools to fall in line with his views. “This is classic Third Reich stuff,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told News Not Noise. He said he thinks this effort against the ABA won’t succeed. (Watch the rest of our conversation at the top of this newsletter.)
What’s In a Name: The Pentagon isconsidering renaming an aircraft carriernow under construction, potentially after Trump. For years, the carrier was supposed to be named after Doris Miller, a Black World War II hero. “This is a slap in the face to every war hero and every service member who has worn the uniform,”the NAACP’s president said. “It’s beyond comprehension for a president to want his own name on a Navy ship while our armed forces are living in deteriorating conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.”Cabin Fever: Trump is alsogetting involvedinhow the Navy builds its ships. He ordered the Pentagon toreplace the modern system used to launch planesfrom this aircraft carrier — which is already half-built — with an older steam catapult system. Expertswarn it could cost billionswhile leaving the Navy with a system that ismore expensive to operate and less reliable.
Making History: Progressive state Sen. Aisha Wahabwon the special electionto replace former Rep. Eric Swalwell, who resigned in April after being accused of sexual assault. It’s another one of these races where Super PACs connected to AIPACpoured more than $6 million into supportingWahab’s opponent, Bay Area Rapid Transit Director Melissa Hernandez. Wahab will be thefirst Afghan American to serve in Congress. She and Hernandez will face each other again in November.All’s Not Well for Swalwell: The FBI raided former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s Washington, D.C. home andseized his electronic devicesat San Francisco airport. Agents are reportedlyusing civil rights statutes to investigate allegationsof sexual harassment and assault. That’s unusual; sex crimes are usually prosecuted by state and local authorities.
Always There: The White House isreportedly furiousabout all the attention on Natalie Harp, Trump’somnipresent assistant. Observe the internet’s obsession𝕏hereand𝕏here. In our opinion, much of this is tabloid noise. But it also raises legitimate questions about her access and influence. Harp’s devotion to Trump is quite something. She reportedlywrites him fawning letters,declaring he is“all that matters” to her and that she is “unworthy” of him. She oncesprinted after his golf cartrather than be left behind and[jumped in the trunk of an SUV](https…