by
Mark
Wilson/Getty
Images)
Donald
Trump
and
his
critics
were
busy
this
week.
In
response
to
the
“No
Kings”
rallies,
Trump
posted
a
video,
created
by
artificial
intelligence,
that
showed
him
wearing
a
crown,
flying
a
plane,
and
dumping
excrement
on
protestors
in
America
cities. But
that’s
not
all. Trump
literally
took
a
sledgehammer
to
the
White
House,
destroying
the
historic
East
Wing
to
make
room
for
his
new
“President
Donald
J.
Trump
Ballroom.” But
that’s
not
all.
Trump
filed
a
claim
demanding
that
the
government
pay
him
$230
million
to
offset
supposed
damages
Trump
had
suffered
as
a
result
of
government
investigations
of
him. Trump
will
decide
whether
his
Department
of
Justice
should
pay
him
$230
million
of
taxpayer
money.
Maybe
the
press
had
a
right
to
be
distracted.
But
not
me,
your
worthy
opinion
commentator.
In
the
avalanche
of
last
week’s
news,
one
story
has
not
received
the
attention
it
deserves.
Earlier
this
year,
the
United
States
wanted
to
be
able
to
deport
people
who
were
described
as
Venezuelan
gang
members
to
the
CECOT
prison
in
El
Salvador. The
U.S.
agreed
to
pay
El
Salvador
a
fee
of
$6
million
to
hold
300
American
prisoners
for
one
year
pending
the
U.S.
government’s final
decision on
where
to
place
the
prisoners.
The
deal
apparently
included
one
extraordinarily
unseemly
aspect.
MS-13
is
an
El
Salvadoran
gang.
According
to
articles
in The
Washington
Post, CNN,
and ProPublica,
the
administration
of
El
Salvadoran
President
Nayib
Bukele
refused
to
accept
the
300
Venezuelan
prisoners
unless
the
U.S.
agreed
to
return
at
least
nine
MS-13
gang
leaders
—
some
of
whom
were
protected
federal
informants
—
to
El
Salvador. Secretary
of
State
Marco
Rubio
spoke
to
Attorney
General
Pam
Bondi
about
the
proposal,
and
Rubio
ultimately
agreed
to
the
deal.
The
El
Salvadoran
government had
apparently
made
deals
for
the
MS-13
gang
to
use
its
political
influence
to
turn
out
votes for
candidates
belonging
to
Bukele’s
Nuevas
Ideas
party
in
legislative
elections
in
2021. The
gang
bosses
had
also
“agreed
to
reduce the
number
of
public
murders
in
El
Salvador,
which
politically
benefited
the
government
of
El
Salvador,
by
creating
the
perception
that
the
government
was
reducing
the
murder
rate,”
according
to
a
federal
indictment.
For
years,
Bukele
has
sought
to
block
witnesses
from testifying
about
alleged
ties between
his
government
and
the
gang.
At
least
three
of
the
MS-13
leaders
involved
in
Rubio’s
deal
had
previously
given
testimony
that
some
members
of
Bukele’s
government
had
ties
to
the
gang.
If
the
United
States
really
released
to
El
Salvador
gang
members
who
were
“protected
federal
informants”
to
obtain
use
of
the
CECOT
prison,
then
the
press
—
liberal
or
otherwise
—
should
be
screaming
louder.
Is
Trump
really
sending
protected
federal
informants,
who
gave
testimony
about
how
the
El
Salvadoran
government
had
agreements
with
gang
members
for
the
gangs
to
serve
the
government’s
purposes,
back
to
El
Salvador?
If
so,
then
the
Trump
administration
has
hit
the
immoral
trifecta. First,
the
federal
government
is
violating
its
word. The
government
agreed
to
“protect”
informants,
not
to
condemn
those
informants
by
sending
them
back
to
the
country
whose
government
they
incriminated.
Second,
to
all
appearances,
the
U.S.
government
is
sending
its
informants
back
to
near-certain
death. High-level
gang
members
who
gave
testimony
ratting
out
both
the
MS-13
gang
and
the
El
Salvadoran
government
are
not
going
to
survive
for
long
in
El
Salvador. Damn
near
everyone
in
the
country
wants
those
turncoats
dead.
Lastly,
if
the
U.S.
government
releases
protected
informants
to
achieve
political
ends,
who
will
ever
agree
in
the
future
to
give
evidence
to
the
U.S.
government
in
return
(in
part)
for
the
government’s
protection? Everyone
will
know
that,
when
the
government
sees
a
political
advantage
from
no
longer
protecting
you,
the
government
will
break
its
promise
to
give
protection.
If
you
want
to
entice
informants
to
speak,
you
must
provide
iron-clad
permanent
protection,
not
meaningless
protection
that
can
later
be
undone
at
the
whim
of
government
officials.
The
press
should
pursue
this
story
relentlessly,
investigating
who
was
sent
back
to
El
Salvador,
what
protection
the
U.S.
government
had
previously
promised
them,
and
how
long
those
folks
survived
after
being
shipped
back
home.
A
sophomoric
AI
video,
the
destruction
of
a
historic
building,
and
a
demand
for
$230
million
are
news. But
sending
protected
informants
back
to
the
country
(and
gang)
they
incriminated
may
well
top
last
week’s
heap.
Mark Herrmann spent
17
years
as
a
partner
at
a
leading
international
law
firm
and
later
oversaw
litigation,
compliance
and
employment
matters
at
a
large
international
company.
He
is
the
author
of The
Curmudgeon’s
Guide
to
Practicing
Law and Drug
and
Device
Product
Liability
Litigation
Strategy (affiliate
links).
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected].