The Briefing with Jen Psaki
'They obviously targeted me': Newark mayor describes chaotic arrest in confrontation at ICE facility
Sat, 10 May 2025
Newark, New Jersey Mayor Ras Baraka talks with Jen Psaki following his release from being held in a Homeland Security cell after being arrested and charged with federal trespassing in a chaotic confrontation that included members of Congress outside an ICE facility. "This is disturbing what they think they have the ability to do."
Chapter 1: What led to the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka?
It was one of those Fridays where we have unfortunately become accustomed to in the age of Donald Trump. I mean, it was chaotic, it was bizarre at times, and at times it was very cruel. I mean, today a sitting mayor, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, was arrested during a visit to an ICE facility. You may have seen that video. It was just released in the last hour.
If we learn more about that and how he's doing, we'll bring that to you. But Mayor Rasbaraka and members of Congress from New Jersey say they were there as part of an oversight visit, something that is very much allowed for members of Congress, something that has been allowed since the first Trump administration.
And after the mayor was arrested, there was an incredibly chaotic scene, you can see it there, in which members of Congress were basically in the middle of a scrum with masked ICE agents. A member of Congress who was there is going to join me live in just a few minutes. I just mentioned that and we're going to ask more questions about where things stand.
Also today, a Tufts University student was released after spending 45 days, you can see her there after her release, 45 days in a Louisiana detention center simply for writing an op-ed. That's what she did. That's why she spent 45 days in this detention facility.
That apparently or maybe was one of the things that made good old Stephen Miller pretty big mad because today he suggested that the administration is considering suspending people's right to challenge their own imprisonment. And White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt also gave a pretty bonkers briefing today.
So a little later in the show, I'm going to go back to my roots, some of my roots, and field some of the same questions she was asked, but actually answer them truthfully. Not going to show you what she said. I'm going to show you what the questions were asked, because everybody wants to know what's actually happening out there.
But before we get to all of that, I actually want to start with a bit of a different headline today out of Newark, New Jersey. The headline is this. Radar screens at Newark Airport went black again overnight. And just before 4 a.m.
this morning, air traffic control radar screens went black, just totally, completely dead for about 90 seconds, leaving air traffic controllers completely in the dark again. Because remember, this is the second time in just two weeks that air traffic controllers at Newark lost their only tool for preventing plane crashes.
And this, of course, comes on the heels of a series of aviation disasters and near misses during the first 100 days of the Trump administration. I mean, less than four months into the Trump's term, we're still less than four months, we also find ourselves in the middle of one of the worst measles outbreaks in this country, since we eradicated measles more than 25 years ago.
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Chapter 2: What was the scene like during the confrontation at the ICE facility?
The FBI director oversees all of the law enforcement in the country. There's never a shortage of things to be briefed on. They could probably be briefed all day long about everything happening.
Dozens, if not hundreds, of FBI intel officials compile these briefings overnight, often in order to ensure that the FBI director and other members of the national security team are fully up to speed on every single development. Akash Patel has decided to basically take a pass on these daily briefings, it seems. Instead, he's decided that he really only needs that briefing two days a week.
Again, this is compiled by many people in the administration, intelligence officials and others, to make sure the person overseeing law enforcement knows what's happening. And when he does show up, Patel seems kind of bored, according to Delaney & Spies. Here's what it says.
The two current FBI officials telling NBC News that Patel sometimes seemed uninterested in the material, and his intelligence briefers are struggling to craft a briefing that captures his attention. So sorry you're bored, FBI director, I guess. I mean, the FBI Director's Daily Brief contains some of the most sensitive information in the world about the country and threats it's facing.
But maybe Patel would prefer pictures or Cliff Notes or something else. I'm not sure. PowerPoint? Other officials told NBC News that the reason for the scheduling change is because Patel kept showing up late. Maybe he's tired from all the trips he's taking.
I mean, since becoming FBI director, and this is in part in Delaney's reporting as well, Patel has been to Nashville three times to visit his girlfriend, twice to Las Vegas, where he has a house, and also to New York so he could watch a hockey game, one of many sporting events, by the way, he's attended. All of those flights taken on the taxpayer's dime.
One longtime associate of Kash Patel tried defending him, saying, quote, I've known Kash for a long time. The only thing he's doing late into the night is going to the gym. I mean, that's the best offender you can get. I'm not sure. I'm not sure that's as reassuring as that friend thinks it is.
Now, all of this may explain why the FBI director was apparently too busy to turn in his budget request on time before testifying yesterday.
When will we get it? I'll get you an answer, ma'am. I don't have a timeline on that.
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