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us department of justice
DOJ-Boeing Deal Over Deadly Crashes Called 'Utterly Appalling'
"This kind of nonprosecution deal is unprecedented and obviously wrong for the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history," said one attorney representing crash victims' families.
May 23, 2025
The Trump administration on Friday faced swift backlash to the U.S. Department of Justice's deal to end a felony case against Boeing that stemmed from a pair of 737 MAX passenger jet crashes that collectively killed 346 people in Ethiopia and Indonesia.
Responses on social media included: "No accountability, no safety, just corruption." "Really gotta feel for the families here. Just awful." "Just utterly appalling that Boeing escape[s] real criminal penalties here. People should have gone to jail." "They don't want to set the precedent that powerful people should have to answer to the public for fucking up."
Some critics also pointed to U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial luxury Boeing plane from the Qatari government, asking: "Is Trump getting another free plane? Is that the deal?"
During the Biden administration, Boeing had agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and pay a fine of up to $487.2 million over the 2018 and 2019 crashes—a deal that was also criticized by some victims' relatives who wanted a trial. However, at a meeting last Friday, federal prosecutors told families the company's posture changed after a judge rejected the plea agreement in December.
That's according toReuters, which cited unnamed sources. The news agency also shared remarks from families' attorneys:
Paul Cassell, a lawyer for the families, said in a statement the government was intent on dropping the prosecution, saying "they conveyed their preconceived idea that Boeing should be allowed to escape any real consequences for its deadly lies."
Another lawyer representing family members who attended the meeting, Erin Applebaum, said the DOJ's "scripted presentation made it clear that the outcome has already been decided."
Despite Cassell's conclusion, the lawyer wrote to the DOJ on Thursday to argue against the agreement. He wrote that "in this case any further concessions to Boeing would be utterly inappropriate. This case is the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history, as found by" Judge Reed O'Connor in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, who rejected the previous plea deal.
Also on Thursday, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) urged Attorney General Pam Bondi not to sign an agreement that "would amount to a slap on the wrist, requiring Boeing to pay an additional fine and compensation to the victims' families, and hire an independent compliance consultant, in exchange for dismissal of the criminal fraud charge."
"DOJ must not sign a nonprosecution agreement with Boeing that would allow the company to weasel its way out of accountability for its failed corporate culture, and for any illegal behavior that has resulted in deadly consequences," argued Warren and Blumenthal, respectively the ranking members of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, in their letter to Bondi.
"Instead, DOJ should ensure that both the company and the executives that ran it are held accountable for any wrongdoing by thoroughly investigating the potential culpability of Boeing executives and holding criminally accountable any individuals that contributed to or allowed the pursuit of profits over people in violation of federal laws or regulations," they added.
Ignoring those urgings, the DOJ on Friday announced an "agreement in principle" that—if it receives final approval—will cost Boeing more than $1.1 billion, including an additional $445 million for families of those killed on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Lion Air Flight 610. In exchange, the department would dismiss the fraud charge, and the company would not be subject to oversight by an independent monitor.
"Ultimately, in applying the facts, the law, and department policy, we are confident that this resolution is the most just outcome with practical benefits," a DOJ spokesperson said in a statement. "Nothing will diminish the victims' losses, but this resolution holds Boeing financially accountable, provides finality and compensation for the families, and makes an impact for the safety of future air travelers."
While Boeing hasn't commented, Cassell told Reuters that "this kind of nonprosecution deal is unprecedented and obviously wrong for the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history. My families will object and hope to convince the court to reject it."
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'Should Send a Chill Down the Spine of Every American': Trump DOJ Charges New Jersey Democrat
"The most corrupt administration in our country's history is targeting and punishing public officials who seek to hold them accountable."
May 20, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump's Justice Department announced Monday that it is pursuing assault charges against a Democratic congresswoman from New Jersey who took part in an oversight visit at a privately run migrant detention center in Newark earlier this month.
In a statement, Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba announced the charges against U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), claiming the lawmaker "assaulted, impeded, and interfered with law enforcement" at GEO Group's Delaney Hall. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded GEO Group a billion-dollar contract earlier this year to detain migrants there, even as the facility faced legal challenges and accusations of abuse.
McIver rejected the charges against her as "purely political," saying that "they mischaracterize and distort my actions" in an attempt to "criminalize and deter legislative oversight."
"We were fulfilling our lawful oversight responsibilities, as members of Congress have done many times before, and our visit should have been peaceful and short," said McIver. "Instead, ICE agents created an unnecessary and unsafe confrontation when they chose to arrest Mayor [Ras] Baraka."
Habba said Monday that her office has agreed to drop the trespassing charge against Baraka, who welcomed the decision while expressing solidarity with McIver.
"Congresswoman McIver is a daughter of Newark, past Newark Council president, a former student of mine, and a dear friend," said Baraka. "I want to be clear: I stand with LaMonica, and I fully expect her to be vindicated."
"It reveals the increasingly authoritarian nature of this administration and its relentless, illegal attempts to suppress any dissent or oversight."
The U.S. attorney's announcement sparked an outpouring of support for McIver and grave warnings about the implications of the Trump administration's attempt to prosecute her and other officials who try to stand in the way of its lawless mass deportation effort.
"This is a clear political attack on Rep. LaMonica McIver for having the courage to stand up to Trump's abuses of power," said Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party. "Let's be clear who the real lawbreakers are. In just the last week, both Donald Trump and [Attorney General] Pam Bondi have been caught with a hand in the cookie jar. Bondi sold millions of shares of stock on the same day that Trump announced his disastrous tariffs. And Trump accepted a $400 million luxury plane from the Qatari royal family."
"The most corrupt administration in our country's history is targeting and punishing public officials who seek to hold them accountable," Mitchell added.
McIver's fellow congressional Democrats also rallied to her defense.
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) called the charges a "purely political act" and said that "oversight is not a criminal offense unless you are living under a fascist regime."
The chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), said that "the baseless charges against Congresswoman McIver for simply doing her job should send a chill down the spine of every American."
A group of Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee warned that "charging members of Congress for doing our jobs is a dangerous precedent to set."
"It reveals the increasingly authoritarian nature of this administration and its relentless, illegal attempts to suppress any dissent or oversight, including from judges, members of Congress, and the American people, which check lawless executive power," the lawmakers said. "Representative McIver has our full support, and we will do everything in our power to help fight this outrageous threat to our constitutional system."
The scene at Delaney Hall earlier this month was highly chaotic, with video footage showing jostling and heated verbal exchanges outside of the facility's gate as federal agents moved to arrest Baraka after three New Jersey lawmakers—McIver and Reps. Robert Menendez and Bonnie Watson Coleman—visited the inside of the detention center, which they have a right to do under federal law.
The Department of Homeland Security released a video claiming to show McIver "assaulting" an ICE agent, and one DHS official accused the Democratic lawmaker of "body-slamming" and "body-ramming" officers. McIver, who rejected the claims, said at the time that federal agents at the scene were "roughing up members of Congress."
Watson Coleman, who is 80 years old, said she was "manhandled" by ICE agents as they moved to arrest Baraka.
In a statement late Monday, Mike Zamore of the national ACLU and Amol Sinha of ACLU-NJ said that "the Trump administration's political charges against Congresswoman McIver [are] a method more suited for authoritarianism than American democracy."
"If the Trump administration can target elected officials who oppose its extreme agenda, it can happen to any one of us," they said. "We demand that they drop the charges against Rep. McIver, and we implore her fellow members of Congress to call for the same."
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Gun Reform Groups Warn Trump Admin Settlement on Trigger Device 'Paves the Way for Mass Violence'
Gun violence prevention groups say that the "forced-reset triggers," which allow semiautomatic rifles to fire more quickly, effectively turn rifles into machine guns.
May 18, 2025
The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday announced that it settled litigation centering on "forced-reset triggers," devices that allow semiautomatic rifles to fire faster, and which gun violence prevention groups warn effectively turn semiautomatic rifles into machine guns.
Some gun reform groups said on Friday that the move effectively legalizes machine guns.
The settlement allows the sale of forced-reset triggers. Under the terms of the settlement, a manufacturer of the device, Rare Breed Triggers, will be allowed to sell the devices but will not be allowed to design them for use in a pistol, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The company also agreed to enforce its patent to ward off infringement.
Under former President Joe Biden, some of the devices were classified by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives in 2022 as machine guns, which are illegal under federal law.
In 2023, the DOJ sued Rare Breed Triggers, leading to a ruling that blocked the company from selling the devices. Separately, the National Association for Gun Rights sued over the DOJ's classification of the devices as machine guns. Last year, a federal judge ruled in favor of the National Association for Gun Rights and struck down the ban.
According to the Friday announcement from the DOJ, the settlement resolves both of those cases, which were on appeal.
Brady, a gun violence prevention group, condemned the settlement and said in a statement on Friday that it "benefits the gun industry, circumvents gun laws, and paves the way for mass violence."
"The Trump Administration's secret settlement with the gun lobby to permit the sale of Forced Reset Triggers will turn already deadly firearms into weapons of mass destruction," said Kris Brown, the president of Brady. "This dangerous backroom deal is not only an astonishing abuse of power, but undermines decades of sensible government gun safety policy and puts whole communities at immediate serious risk."
"The Trump administration has just effectively legalized machine guns. Lives will be lost because of his actions," said Vanessa Gonzalez, vice president of government and political affairs at Giffords, another gun violence prevention group.
"This move puts our communities in danger. Machine guns have no place on our streets," wrote the group Everytown for Gun Safety on Friday.
The settlement aligns with an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump in February, which directed the attorney general to look at orders, guidance, and other actions by entities in the executive branch to "assess any ongoing infringements" of rights under the Second Amendment.
"This Department of Justice believes that the Second Amendment is not a second-class right," said Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement on Friday.
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