Hamas accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement early Tuesday after a wave of military strikes in Gaza killed more than 400 people, Palestinian authorities said.A federal judge pressed Justice Department officials to explain why flights carrying Venezuelan migrants were allowed to land in El Salvador despite a ruling he issued to turn the flights back. ABC News reports that the judge was skeptical of the administration’s argument justifying its action. The Wall Street Journal’s Shelby Holliday joins to explain what’s happened with Trump’s plan to temporarily house migrants at Guantánamo Bay.Eric Umansky of ProPublica examines a secretive NYPD unit and how it earned the support of New York City’s mayor.Plus, a Houston-area midwife was arrested for allegedly performing illegal abortions, the astronauts stuck in space for nine months are on their way back to Earth, and how real-life companies named “Lumon” are responding to the hit show Severance. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.
Chapter 1: What are the latest developments in the Gaza ceasefire?
But first, after weeks of relative calm in Gaza under the ceasefire deal, Israel launched a series of strikes overnight, killing at least 400 people, according to Palestinian authorities.
The surprise attack came during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and called into question whether this was a one-off pressure campaign to get Hamas to give in to Israel's demands in negotiations or a full-on return to a state of war. Israel says Hamas is stalling progress on peace talks.
The AP reports Israel wants Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is saying Israel will, quote, act against Hamas with increasing military force until it releases all remaining hostages.
Hamas says Israel is trying to sabotage the initial ceasefire agreement and endangering remaining hostages in Gaza.
And Hamas instead wants to follow the terms of the original deal reached by the two sides, which calls for negotiations to begin on the ceasefire's second phase, which is supposed to lead to a permanent end to the war, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and a return of all hostages.
At the start of the ceasefire, people were finally able to return to northern Gaza, and a surge of crucial aid and food started coming in. But in recent weeks, Netanyahu has been threatening to resume the war and has stopped aid from entering to pressure Hamas to accept a new proposal.
Humanitarian organizations, rights groups, and countries in Europe and the Middle East say this violates international law and amounts to collective punishment. This is a developing story, and you can follow the latest in the Apple News app. Now to domestic news.
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Chapter 2: Why did a federal judge question the landing of Venezuelan migrants in El Salvador?
The executive and judicial branches clashed in a court hearing yesterday where a federal judge pressed Justice Department officials to explain why flights carrying more than 200 Venezuelan migrants were allowed to land in El Salvador despite a ruling he issued to turn the flights back. The Associated Press reports U.S.
District Judge James Boasberg was incredulous after Trump administration lawyers argued the judge didn't have jurisdiction in the case because the flights had already left the United States when the directive was issued for them to turn around. The government also said it couldn't reveal the timing of the flights, citing national security concerns.
In response, the judge said he did have jurisdiction and that it would have been better for the flights to turn around and for the government to appeal the issue in court. And he demanded the government provide more information on the flights by noon today. Here's how White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt defended the government's actions in yesterday's press briefing.
This administration acted within the confines of the law, again, within the president's constitutional authority and under the authority granted to him under the Alien Enemies Act. We are quite confident in that and we are wholly confident that we are going to win this case in court.
Chapter 3: How is the Trump administration handling court orders on deportations?
We mentioned the Alien Enemies Act yesterday. It's a somewhat obscure 1798 wartime law that gives presidents broad authority to deport immigrants without them going before an immigration or federal court judge. The Trump administration has said the group that was deported over the weekend were suspected members of a Venezuelan gang that's conducting, quote, irregular warfare in the United States.
Although officials did not provide any evidence, they are in fact gang members or that they committed any crimes. Yesterday's hearing was a critical moment and the latest in a standoff between the Trump administration and the judiciary. And it comes as over the past several weeks, Trump administration officials have suggested they would be OK with defying the courts.
In fact, early yesterday, Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, told Fox News the administration would continue its deportation actions despite court rulings.
We're not stopping. I don't care what the judges think. I don't care what the left thinks. We're coming.
And on the day of the flight, El Salvador's president seemed to openly mock the judge's order to turn the flights around, posting on social media, quote, Oopsie, too late, with a laughing emoji. That post was shared by Elon Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
University of Virginia law professor Amanda Frost spoke to NPR about Trump's recent actions and whether we've entered constitutional crisis territory.
The administration continues to say that it is not refusing to comply with court orders, but we have seen it behave in disingenuous ways in terms of ignoring what courts have told it to do. There is a difference in kind if an administration says we no longer have to do what a court tells us to do. And this administration has yet to say that.
Nonetheless, I think it is extremely disturbing that this administration is playing so fast and loose with the courts.
Now, Republicans are also saying words like constitutional crisis, except they're talking about the judge in this case, not Trump. Texas Congressman Brandon Gill, who's a Republican, says he plans to file articles of impeachment against the judge this week.
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Chapter 4: Why did Trump's plan to house migrants at Guantanamo Bay fail?
Let's turn now to an investigation from ProPublica into a policing unit in New York City and its history of hidden abuse. Please be warned, this story involves graphic descriptions of violence. The NYPD's Community Response Team, or CRT, was founded in 2022, several months after Mayor Eric Adams took office.
Crime in New York was rising at the time, and Adams, a former NYPD captain himself, promised to take action against not just violent crimes, but also general quality-of-life issues that New Yorkers were complaining about. One of this policing unit's first priorities was cracking down on people using motorcycles and ATVs around the city unlicensed.
ProPublica editor-at-large Eric Umansky told us about one of the most troubling cases he encountered involving a father from the Bronx named Sammy Williams. He took an unlicensed motorcycle out for a ride on Memorial Day in 2023. Officers with CRT saw him approaching and swerved their patrol car into oncoming traffic, hitting Williams head-on.
And so he flew off of it and had horribly broken bones and begged the officers for help. And said, why are you doing this over a motorcycle? That's a ticket, which he's right about. It's not a criminal violation even to have an unlicensed motorcycle. And the officers handcuffed him, and Sammy Williams ended up dying the next day.
The officer who was driving that police car did not respond to ProPublica's request for comment. The NYPD said he forfeited 13 vacation days after William's death, and the department's website shows he's still part of the CRT unit today. Mayor Adams declined to be interviewed for this story, but ProPublica learned that Adams is closely connected to this unit.
It's been led by close allies of his and often focuses on his priorities. At one point, he had special access to a live stream of the body cameras worn by officers. A former top NYPD official told ProPublica the unit effectively reports directly to City Hall. And when people inside the department raised red flags about officers' conduct, leadership in the unit would complain to Adams.
On numerous occasions, NYPD officials tried to warn that CRT's policing tactics were too aggressive. In one audit from 2023, one official wrote that officers were wrongfully stopping New Yorkers and failing to document those incidents. ProPublica also learned that many of the officers assigned to CRT had concerning records.
About half of them have been found guilty of engaging in misconduct. That's not a criminal finding. It's a finding by a civilian oversight board. But half of them have been found to have engaged in misconduct.
By comparison, 15% of officers across the entire NYPD have been found to have engaged in misconduct. And Umansky told us he learned that many officers involved with CRT were hired not because of their record, but because of their personal networks.
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