The Department of Justice has filed an official complaint alleging misconduct by US District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg. Fox News has reviewed the complaint which was written by Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Chief of Staff Chad Mizelle and addressed to the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Sri Srinivasan.

Fox News has learned that the complaint was written and filed at the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi.

WHO IS JAMES BOASBERG, THE US JUDGE AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP’S DEPORTATION EFFORTS?

«The Department of Justice respectfully submits this complaint alleging misconduct by U.S. District Court Chief Judge James E. Boasberg for making improper public comments about President Donald J. Trump to the Chief Justice of the United States and other federal judges that have undermined the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary,» says Mr. Mizelle.

Judge Boasberg is presiding over a high-profile case involving the deportation of several migrants to El Salvador and has talked about holding DOJ lawyers in contempt because of his assertion that his order to turn airborne planes around was not followed. President Trump has also made critical comments about Judge Boasberg.

The complaint details two occasions on which Judge Boasberg made comments the Justice Department alleges undermine the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.

«On March 11, 2025, Judge Boasberg attended a session of the Judicial Conference of the United States, which exists to discuss administrative matters like budgets, security, and facilities. While there, Judge Boasberg attempted to improperly influence Chief Justice Roberts and roughly two dozen other federal judges by straying from the traditional topics to express his belief that the Trump Administration would «disregard rulings of federal courts» and trigger «a constitutional crisis.» Although his comments would be inappropriate even if they had some basis, they were even worse because Judge Boasberg had no basis—the Trump Administration has always complied with all court orders. Nor did Judge Boasberg identify any purported violations of court orders to justify his unprecedented predictions.»

TRUMP FOE BOASBERG ORDERS DOJ TO DETAIL STATUS OF CECOT MIGRANTS SENT TO VENEZUELA

This is the second time the Bondi DOJ has filed a complaint against a federal judge. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

«Within days of those statements, Judge Boasberg began acting on his preconceived belief that the Trump Administration would not follow court orders. First, although he lacked authority to do so, he issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Government from removing violent Tren de Aragua terrorists, which the Supreme Court summarily vacated.

«Taken together, Judge Boasberg’s words and deeds violate Canons of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, and, erode public confidence in judicial neutrality, and warrant a formal investigation.» 

JUDGE BOASBERG ORDERS RUBIO TO REFER TRUMP OFFICIALS’ SIGNAL MESSAGES TO DOJ TO ENSURE PRESERVATION

The complaint details two occasions during which Boasberg allegedly made comments undermining the judiciary’s integrity and impartiality. (DREW ANGERER/AFP via Getty Images)

The DOJ is asking Chief Judge Srinivasan to refer the complaint to a special investigative committee as an inquiry is essential to determine whether Judge Boasberg’s conduct constitutes «conduct prejudicial to the effective and expeditious administration of the business of the courts.» The complaint also asks that Judge Boasberg be taken off the case involving Venezuelan migrants who were deported to El Salvador, «to prevent further erosion of public confidence while the investigation proceeds.»

The case in question is J.G.G. v Trump.

This is the second time the Bondi DOJ has filed an official complaint against a federal judge. In late February, the DOJ filed a complaint about US District Judge Ana Reyes, concerning what the DOJ calls Judge Reyes’ «misconduct» during the proceedings in Nicolas Talbott et al. v. Donald J. Trump et al., which is a case brought by two LGBTQ groups challenging the Trump Administration’s Executive Orders barring transgender individuals from serving in the US military.

News of the complaint comes at a time when the Trump administration has excoriated dozens of so-called «activist» judges who have blocked or paused some of Trump’s sweeping executive orders from taking force in his second White House term.

Judge Boasberg in particular found himself at the center of Trump’s ire and attacks on so-called «activist» judges this year, following his March 15 temporary restraining order that sought to block Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport hundreds of Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador.

Boasberg had ordered all planes bound for El Salvador to be «immediately» returned to U.S. soil, which did not happen.

WHO IS JAMES BOASBERG, THE US JUDGE AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP’S DEPORTATION EFFORTS?

WASHINGTON, DC-  Judge James E. Boasberg, chief judge of the Federal District Court in DC, stands for a portrait at E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, DC on March 16, 2023. (Photo by Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images) (Washington Post via Getty)

His emergency order touched off a complex legal saga that ultimately spawned dozens of federal court challenges across the country – though the one brought before his court on March 15 was the very first – and later prompted the Supreme Court to rule, on two separate occasions, that the hurried removals had violated migrants’ due process protections under the U.S. Constitution.

Boasberg, as a result, emerged as the man at the center of the legal fallout. 

Trump administration officials have repeatedly excoriated Boasberg both for his order and his attempt to determine whether they acted in good faith to comply with his orders, and Trump himself has floated the idea that Boasberg could be impeached earlier this year – prompting Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to issue a rare public warning. 

The complaint, focused on months-old behavior and allegations surrounding Judge Boasberg— first tapped as a judge by then-President George W. Bush in 2002, comes at a time when he could again have a say in a major class action case brought by lawyers representing the former CECOT migrants. 

Lawyers for the ACLU and others in the class asked Judge Boasberg earlier this month to reopen discovery in the case, citing allegations from a United Nations report regarding custodial status of migrants at CECOT, and the recent decision to remove the 252 migrants sent from the U.S. to El Salvador to Venezuela under the prisoner exchange.

Asked at a status hearing in court last week whether the Justice Department would comply with the court’s orders, DOJ lawyer Tiberius Davis said they would, «if it was a lawful order.»

They also said they would likely seek an appeal from a higher court.

In April, Judge Boasberg also ruled that the court had found «probable cause» to hold the Trump administration in contempt for failing to return the planes to U.S. soil, in accordance with his March 15 emergency order, and said the court had determined that the Trump administration demonstrated a «willful disregard» for his order.

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit stayed his original motion in April, and has yet to move on the matter.

Sentado en el borde de la cama de un hotel porteño, con la valija todavía cerrada y el sol del mediodía pegado a la ventana, Juan Cárdenas dice: “El artista no es un apostador que va al casino a tirar toda su plata a ver si gana algo”. Atravesó el cielo en un avión trasnacional y el “tráfico infernal” de Ezeiza a Buenos Aires para participar del Festival Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos. Que empieza hoy y se extiende hasta el 1 de agosto en tres sedes diferentes. “Siempre hay un no saber en el artista. No es una especie de ignorancia tonta, es una facultad y hay que ir cultivándola”, agrega.

El ciclo es organizado por la Revista literaria Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, fundada en 1948 y editada de manera ininterrumpida desde entonces. De esta edición participan más de veinte autores en unas trece actividades desparramadas en los cuatro días que dura. Habrá talleres, recitales de poesía y mesas. Cárdenas participa de dos: una es hoy, a las 19:30, en el Centro Cultural de España en Buenos Aires (“Literatura a la contra: algunos discursos incómodos”); otra es el viernes a las 18 en la Biblioteca Ricardo Güiraldes (“Escritura desde los márgenes”). La entrada es libre y gratuita.

Juan Cárdenas es crítico de arte, traductor y escritor. Publicó varias novelas, entre las que se destacan Los estratos, Ornamento y Peregrino transparente. Nació en Colombia y allá vive, aunque también un poco en Chile: va y viene. Hoy trabaja mayormente como docente. Acaba de publicar, por la editorial argentina Sigilo —sello que editó varios de sus textos—, La ligereza, un libro de ensayos. Son cuatro en total, y cada uno a su modo, entre el diario personal, la reseña de obras y el desarrollo de conceptos, explora la relación entre vida y arte en un sentido casi esencial.

En el primero, el más potente, el que da título al libro, dice que “vivimos en un mundo que confunde la ligereza con la frivolidad” y que “no hay nada más pesado, nada más insoportablemente pesado que la frivolidad”, cuyo sabor es el de la “ideología dominante”. También dice que el arte, “si flota, es político”, y “si no es político, no flota, por mucho que hable de política o por mucho que trate de ilustrar alguna de las doctrinas de moda. Esto último es lo que le sucede a buena parte de la literatura feminista, queer, ecologista o antirracista que se escribe hoy”.

Aquel concepto, el de la ligereza, reflexiona ahora, del otro lado del teléfono, apareció a contramano de la fascinación: “Siempre me preguntaba por qué determinadas formas de arte me producían decepción. ¿Por qué esto no funciona? ¿Por qué esto se me cae? Fíjate que uno usa esta expresión cuando algo no le gusta: ‘se me cayó’. Y haciéndome esa pregunta, indagando en esa sensación de decepción, lentamente fui dando con el concepto. Precisamente: se me cae porque le falta ligereza. Fue la conciencia de la pesantez, de esa gravedad innecesaria, la que me llevó a elaborar el concepto».

Cárdenas sostiene que se trata de un “concepto bien dialéctico”: no busca hacer una “apología de la ligereza”, sino que “siempre es relativo y depende de fuerzas contrarias precisamente a la ligereza”. “Es curioso: lo que mantiene en cierto modo flotando a los objetos del arte es su peso”, agrega. En el libro se ve, sobre todo, en la contraposición que hace entre el arte y la transparencia: “Si todo está demasiado claro, es posible que el diablo nos haya jugado una mala pasada. La ligereza despeja la claridad engañosa y nos devuelve a la superficie turbia, manchada de reflejos”.

“Esto está ligado a la relación con el inframundo. Sé que suena un poco místico, pero en el fondo tiene que ver más bien con otras tradiciones. Es como si las cosas estelares solamente pudieran serlo si también mantienen un extraño vínculo con lo que está por debajo de la Tierra”, dice y agrega: “Lo que trato de mostrar es la tensión entre el impulso religioso, que siempre está dentro del arte, y el discurso profanador. El arte tiende a profanar, pero al mismo tiempo tiende a mantener ese vínculo con lo sacro. Y esa duplicidad es lo que yo no veo en mucho del arte militante que hoy se promueve”.

“Ese arte falsamente militante —continúa— es incapaz de salirse de las coordenadas identitarias, lo que es un problema. Lo identitario está ligado a unas lógicas de poder contemporáneo que tienen que ver con el mercado. No encuentro mucha diferencia entre identidad y marca. Ahí dirijo mi ataque. Y sé que hoy está todo muy polarizado, que esto parece el típico discurso antiwoke de que ya no se puede decir nada, lo incorrecto, patatín, patatán. Al contrario: lo que estoy mostrando es una secreta complicidad entre ese arte falsamente militante y la dictadura de mercado en la que estamos”.

En ese punto, La ligereza viene a recuperar una zona fundante, primitiva y —otra vez— esencial: el placer. “El arte da placer no porque imite a la vida, sino porque es capaz de traducir sus leyes secretas al lenguaje de las formas sensibles (…) La ligereza se conquista en el placer por lo gratuito. En aquello que se hace por ninguna razón, como la sucesión de Fibonacci, cuyos misteriosos números se despliegan por toda la naturaleza, desde las alcachofas hasta el árbol genealógico de las abejas. Sigamos soplando porque sí. Busquemos algo de placer, a ver adónde nos conduce”, escribe Cárdenas.

Ahora, en esta breve conversación con Infobae Cultura, subraya que “ese placer está fuertemente conectado a las energías políticas más profundas y elementales. ¿Para qué hacemos política, digámoslo así, progresista o de izquierdas, si no es para producir placer y producir felicidad? Si nos desconectamos de ese principio, pues no veo yo que eso conduzca ni al progresismo ni a ninguno de los valores de los que se supone que defendemos». Entonces aparece la pregunta por el propósito del arte. “Personalmente, no me siento muy cómodo con asignarle por default al arte una función”, asegura.

“Incluso detesto también una cosa que se ha vuelto muy cómoda en las últimas décadas: la figura del artista, escritor o intelectual que cree que sí o sí tiene que ir contra el poder. Si rascas un poco verás que es una actitud completamente frívola, que por lo general lo único que hace es repetir discursos inofensivos y atacar unos poderes que es fácil atacar. Yo creo que el arte se mueve en el interior de tensiones, y si esas intenciones obligan, por una circunstancia coyuntural, política o de algún tipo, al artista a manifestarse e ir a la contra, pues me parece que tiene que ser así”, agrega.

“No me gusta asignarle funciones fijas al arte. Creo que el arte se tiene que mover en un terreno que a veces es difícil de entender, lleno de ambigüedades, y uno como artista va navegando esas tensiones y va tomando decisiones a partir de su lectura. Además, siempre hay un no saber. No es una especie de ignorancia tonta. El artista no es un apostador que va al casino a tirar toda su plata a ver si gana algo. El no saber es una facultad y hay que ir cultivándola. El artista no sabe muy bien qué es lo que no sabe, pero intuye cómo darle forma y cuál es el contorno de eso que no sabe”, concluye.

The Trump administration is reportedly blocking Taiwan’s president from stopping over in New York City, en route to a diplomatic meeting in Central America, following pressure from China.

The Financial Times reported Monday that the administration has denied Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te the opportunity to stop over in New York City during a planned trip to Paraguay, Guatemala and Belize — all countries that recognize Taiwan as its own independent country.

However, on Monday, the office of the president in Taiwan released a statement indicating that Lai «currently has no plans to go on an overseas visit,» according to Taiwan-state media. A source familiar with the matter at the State Department confirmed that no formal travel plans for President Lai have been announced.

TAIWAN ENVOY URGES CONGRESSIONAL ACTION, WARNS OF RISING CHINA THREAT AFTER MEETING LAWMAKERS

«In consideration of the ongoing rehabilitation efforts in southern Taiwan following a recent typhoon and regional developments including the United States’ tariffs, the president currently has no plans to go on an overseas visit,» the statement from President Lai said.

According to the Financial Times, which spoke with unnamed sources said to be intimately familiar with the alleged trip, Lai’s decision not to travel came after he was informed that he would not be able to stop in New York City on his way to Central America. 

Lai’s trip was also reportedly supposed to include a stop in Dallas, but it is unclear if the Trump administration was also planning to bar Lai from stopping there as well, according to the Financial Times.

PILLSBURY: TRUMP TO HOLD ‘TENSE’ TRADE TALKS WITH CHINA

U.S.-Taiwan solidarity has long included symbolic gestures — but critics suggest that the Trump administration may be undermining that relationship in a bid to engage China on trade. (Stephen Lam/Reuters)

The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. However, a State Department source familiar with the matter indicated that the Trump administration continues to be committed to the government’s long-standing one China policy, rooted in the Taiwan Relations Act, joint diplomatic agreements with China and longstanding pledges crafted by the government in regard to Taiwan and China.

Despite being in line with longstanding government policy, the move still garnered criticism from some Asia policy experts and critics of Trump. 

Lyle Morris, a senior fellow on foreign policy and national security at the Asia Society’s Center for China Analysis, said the «first concrete move» under Trump’s second term regarding Taiwan is «a cause for concern.» 

«The assumption is this decision was made in the context of ongoing US-China trade negotiations and a possible Trump-Xi meeting,» Morris said on X. «Still, not a good sign for enduring US-Taiwan relations.»

News broke Monday afternoon that the Trump administration was allegedly blocking Taiwan’s president from making a stop in New York City en route to a diplomatic trip to Central America. However, sources familiar with the matter have indicated no travel plans for Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te have been formally announced.   (Getty Images/Reuters)

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«Denying President Lai a transit is a deeply concerning break with bipartisan precedent and sends a reckless signal to Beijing that our partnership with Taiwan is on the negotiating table,» added Democrat Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., in a post on X following the news about President Lai’s alleged travel. 

«American leadership is now seen as deeply unreliable, with Trump’s fits and starts with Ukraine, NATO allies, and other key partners. I urge President Trump to reverse course and do what presidents of both parties have done and allow a transit, and ask my colleagues in Congress to join me in that call.»

News of the Trump administration’s decision to prohibit the Taiwanese president from stopping in New York City comes as the president is reportedly feeling out a potential trip to Beijing himself, alongside major U.S. CEOs. Nothing so far has been set in stone regarding Trump’s trip, however.