Federal Judge Flames AG Bondi for Ignoring Presumption of Innocence

After yet another federal judge juridically slapped the wrists of the Trump administration, Judge Dulce J. Foster said yesterday she was “deeply disturbed” that Attorney General Pam Bondi shared the mug shots of arrested protesters in Minnesota… while they were still defendants in an ongoing trial and hence, still innocent.

The photos, which Bondi posted on Twitter, shared 11 of the protesters’ faces; called them “rioters”; and accused them of “allegedly assaulting federal law enforcement.” (Again, typically—and in less authoritarian times—a trial would come before the sentencing.) “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,” Bondi continued. “NOTHING will stop President Trump and this Department of Justice from enforcing the law.”

“This conduct is not something that the court condones,” Foster said of the post, emphasizing that no one should be publicly labeling individuals as guilty before their trial is concluded—especially when they’re the nation’s chief legal advisor. “These are young people,” she continued. “These are women.”

The photos were raised to Foster’s attention during Wednesday’s trial by Defense Attorney Lisa Lopez, who represented several of the defendants. They were “dangerous in this political climate,” Lopez argued. Foster looked at them during the break in the hearing.

Wednesday’s hearing eventually concluded with criminal charges for the 16 defendants, ruling they allegedly assaulted officers or interfered with federal immigration enforcement operations. But according to the New York Times, two of them had to be hospitalized after their encounters. They “don’t get the same courtesy as masked agents,” Lopez explained.

Per court documents, many of the charges stemmed from protests outside a Minneapolis high school on January 7 or, in other words, the day Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent. Two of the charged protesters had been attempting to pull agents off of another demonstrator when they were detained.

During the trial, prosecutors asked Foster to block defendants from contacting the federal agents they’re accused of assaulting. Foster denied to do so, saying that such an order isn’t possible as federal authorities never named any of the immigration goons in the first place.

Foster also said that because the defendants’ cases were not formally assigned to her, she lacked legal authority to act on Bondi’s social media post. But per the DOJ‘s own rules, the department is prohibited from releasing mug shots unless it is to serve a legitimate law enforcement function.

Bondi’s fervor, however, comes as a stark contrast to other anti-immigration villains in the administration like Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller—who have actively been trying to beat their chests softer after Good and Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, were shot and killed by federal agents.