FBI Administrator Removes Tweet Concerning Wisconsin Judge's Arrest; Motivation Behind Deletion Remains Mysterious
Rewritten Article:
Hey there! Here's a lowdown on the strange saga involving Kash Patel, the FBI director who's got a knack for stirring up controversy. In a recent Tweet on Friday, Patel claimed that Judge Hannah Dugan, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was nabbed for obstructing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. But here's the kicker - Patel deleted the initial Tweet two hours later, only to repost the exact same message later on.
The original Tweet from Patel at 10:11 a.m. ET read, "Just NOW, the FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on charges of obstruction-after evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week." Patel continued, asserting that Dugan intentionally misled federal agents, causing an illegal alien to escape arrest, and stated that this act created increased danger to the public.
Later on, anyone attempting to access the original Tweet's URL encountered a page stating, "Hmm...this page doesn't exist. Try searching for something else." Patel's revised Tweet appears to have identical content, leaving us scratching our heads about why Patel deleted the original Tweet in the first place.
The U.S. Department of Justice didn't respond promptly to questions regarding Patel's Tweet sent on Friday.
According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, ICE agents were at the Milwaukee County Courthouse on April 18 to arrest a Mexican citizen in Judge Hannah Dugan's courtroom. The newspaper reports that Dugan directed the ICE agents to the chief justice's office, and the targeted individual escaped through a side door. The Journal-Sentinel spoke to five experts with varied opinions on Dugan's alleged actions, but none of them believed she should be charged with a crime.
Law enforcement confirmed that Dugan was arrested on courthouse property around 8:30 a.m. local time (9:30 a.m. ET), and she has been charged with two felonies - obstruction and concealing an individual. Dugan remained silent during the hearing, but her attorney reportedly declared, "Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety."
Franklyn Gimbel, a former federal prosecutor in Milwaukee, commented that Dugan's arrest was "outrageous," and pointed out that the FBI could have asked her to surrender herself instead of carrying out a high-profile arrest at the courthouse.
Dugan attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned her J.D. degree in 1987. She was elected to the county court, Branch 31, in 2016 and had previously worked at Legal Action of Wisconsin and the Legal Aid.
Interestingly, President Donald Trump prosecuted a federal judge in Massachusetts in a similar case in 2019, but the case was dropped in 2022 during the Biden administration. Trump has been vocal about targeting judges as a way to impose his political ideology in the U.S. His buddy, Elon Musk, the head of DOGE, has repeatedly called for the persecution of judges. Musk tweeted about the case on Friday, writing, "More judicial corruption."
Kash Patel was confirmed as FBI director in late February with a vote of 51-49, making every Democratic senator and two Republicans, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, vote no. Patel was a board member for Trump Media, the company that owns Donald Trump's Truth Social, before resigning to take on his role at the FBI. Patel has reportedly earned at least $2.6 million from consulting and media deals and penned an unusual children's book titled "'The Plot Against the King,'" which depicts Donald Trump as a king.
Patel has been an advocate for the QAnon conspiracy theory, published a list of alleged deep state officials to target, and has pledged to "come after" the media. Despite this, some of Patel's supporters have expressed frustration about the perceived slow pace of retribution against his perceived enemies. We'll see if that changes now that Patel seems to be pushing for a more aggressive approach, including the "arrest judges" strategy.
Remember, this is just a summary of the events, and there's a lot more to unpack if you're interested. Happy reading!
Enrichment Insights added sparingly (15% or less of the content):- [1] It's possible that Patel deleted the original Tweet to ensure that the announcement was made after the legal proceedings had begun since making such announcements prior to court proceedings can create complications for the case.- The QAnon conspiracy theory, which Patel has endorsed, is a far-right belief originating from 2017 that posts false information about a satanic pedophile ring involving prominent political figures and deep state actors.- The deep state is a conspiracy theory that claims a network of politicians, intelligence officers, and business leaders secretly manipulate or interfere with the workings of the government agencies, media, and other key elements of the American political process in order to achieve their own goals rather than those of the country as a whole.- Patel's children's book, "The Plot Against the King," has been criticized as promoting authoritarianism and an unhealthy view of power.
- The tech world is abuzz with news about FBI Director Kash Patel's controversial tweet about Judge Hannah Dugan, a conversation that's now shifting towards the future of policy-and-legislation and politics.
- Gizmodo reported that Patel's initial tweet about Dugan's arrest for obstructing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations was deleted, fueling speculation about the reason behind this unexplained action.
- In the general news sphere, it's not just the obstructed ICE operations story that's caught attention; the revised tweet with identical content also gave rise to questions about the role of technology and its impact on policy-and-legislation.
- Amidst these developments, crime-and-justice experts have voiced their opinions on Dugan's alleged actions, raising debates about the rightful use of technology in law enforcement and the implications for the future of the justice system.
