Judge questions whether New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver was illegally targeted by Trump administration

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Politico

10/21/2025 04:22 PM EDT


NEWARK, New Jersey — A federal judge appeared skeptical Tuesday of New Jersey Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver’s attempts to get charges against her dismissed because they are “selective” and “vindictive.”

U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper repeatedly asked how he could reach the conclusion that the Trump administration was targeting McIver following a May scuffle outside a federal immigration facility when two other Democratic members of Congress — Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez — were also there but not prosecuted.

During a two-hour hearing, Semper, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, did less to telegraph his views of McIver’s other attempt to get the charges thrown out. She argues the charges that she assaulted two homeland security officers and impeded their work should be dismissed because of the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause, which grants members of Congress a form of immunity that is mostly impenetrable in investigations relating to the official duties of lawmakers.

The alleged assaults occurred during a 68-second span in the midst of a three-hour tour of the Delaney Hall detention facility, when McIver, Watson Coleman and Menendez were part of a chaotic scrum as immigration agents moved to arrest Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on a trespassing charge that was later dropped.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/21/lamonica-mciver-hearing-trump-00617224

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REFERENCES

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