
Takeaways from federal appeals court hearing on Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act
CNN
The Trump administration pressed a federal appeals court on Monday to lift a judge’s temporary block against President Donald Trump’s use of a sweeping wartime authority to quickly deport alleged members of a Venezuelan gang.
The Justice Department pressed a federal appeals court on Monday to lift a judge’s temporary block against President Donald Trump’s use of a sweeping wartime authority to quickly deport alleged members of a Venezuelan gang. The nearly hour-long hearing before the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals was the latest front in what has become a bitter fight between the administration and the targets of a proclamation Trump signed earlier this month invoking the Alien Enemies Act to summarily remove them from the US. It’s unclear how the three-judge panel considering the Trump administration’s request to put on hold a pair of lower-court orders will rule, or how quickly that ruling will come. Two members of the panel – one liberal, one conservative – peppered attorneys for both sides with a series of questions on various issues central to the case, including whether the individuals subject to Trump’s proclamation lacked any due process rights that would give them a chance to defend against claims that they are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua – and what the appropriate place for such complaints to be raised is. But one member of the panel – Judge Karen Henderson, an appointee of former President George H.W. Bush – did not ask any questions during the proceedings. Here are the key takeaways from the appeals court hearing:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.

As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.









