Now-cleared ‘Broadview 6’ immigration protesters seek evidence of White
House pressure to indict
[June 06, 2026]
By Hannah Meisel
CHICAGO — Attorneys for the now-cleared “Broadview Six” defendants are
seeking any possible evidence of pressure from White House officials on
the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago to secure an indictment against
the group of Democratic activists, local elected officials and
candidates this past fall.
The defendants, who were indicted in October after attending an
immigration protest in the early weeks of the Trump administration’s
Chicago-focused Operation Midway Blitz mass deportation campaign, had
been set to face trial late last month. But trial was abruptly canceled,
and all charges dropped, in the face of alleged prosecutorial misconduct
in front of the grand jury.
In a filing late Thursday afternoon, defense attorneys asked U.S.
District Judge April Perry for permission to conduct discovery to reveal
communications and any other evidence that would explain how the group
went from six protesters among a crowd of hundreds and to those
defendants facing a rare felony conspiracy charge.
They also indicated their intention to seek evidence of what they called
a “cover-up” of the alleged prosecutorial misconduct from the former
lead assistant U.S. attorney on the case, which was only discovered in
the eleventh hour before trial when Perry read unredacted transcripts
from prosecutors’ multi-day efforts to secure an indictment from grand
jurors.
“The requested discovery is essential to guarantee the Defendants a full
and fair opportunity to demonstrate the bad faith, vexatious, and/or
frivolous nature of this misguided prosecution,” the filing read.
Among evidence sought by the former defendants: Any “documents,
communications and records,” including emails, texts and cellphone data,
between now-Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche or his direct report,
Aakash Singh, and U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros’ office in Chicago.
The filing also outlined evidence the former defendants are seeking to
prove what they called a “seven-month cover-up” of the alleged
prosecutorial misconduct in front of the grand jury “that culminated
with multiple federal prosecutors actively concealing” the alleged
misconduct from Perry.
In an extraordinarily rare move last month, Boutros himself appeared in
Perry’s courtroom to announce the charges would be dropped and take
responsibility for prosecutors’ behavior. Since then, a growing number
of prominent Illinois Democrats have called for Boutros’ resignation;
U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth issued a joint statement
demanding the same on Tuesday, saying the U.S. attorney’s office under
Boutros “has been riddled with chaos, deep internal dysfunction, and
alleged misconduct.” That was followed by similar calls by U.S. Reps.
Mike Quigley, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and Jan Schakowsky later in the week.
But on Thursday, Blanche came to Boutros’ defense, writing in a social
media post that since taking office 14 months ago, the U.S. attorney
“has steadfastly advanced President Trump’s mission to make Chicago and
Northern Illinois safe for the American people.”
Blanche cited an increase in indictments in the Northern District of
Illinois and named prominent defendants charged during his term,
including the undocumented immigrant charged with the murder of
18-year-old Loyola University Chicago student Sheridan Gorman in March.
“This Department fully supports U.S. Attorney Boutros and his efforts to
combat violent crime, drug trafficking, immigration violations, and
fraud, and we look forward to more great work from his office,”
Blanche’s statement concluded.
In response, Boutros thanked Blanche “for his strong and unwavering
support” in a social media post that blasted previous leadership of the
Chicago U.S. attorney’s office as “doing less than even the bare
minimum” before he took over.
The office has bled talent in the last year, with an unprecedented
exodus of prosecutors, including most section chiefs in the criminal
division. Two of those section chiefs, former assistant U.S. attorneys
Amarjeet Bhachu and Sarah Streicker, helped bring down political
kingpins including ex-Chicago Ald. Ed Burke and ex-Illinois House
Speaker Michael Madigan.
Boutros’ statement thanked those who he said “have shown me
unconditional support and encouragement during this time.”
“I am grateful to all of you, and I will not forget how you all stood by
me when others capitalized on the opportunity to attempt to destabilize
the Office, distract us from our mission, and wreak discord among our
once-united AUSA and law enforcement community under the guise that they
love or even really care about this incredible and storied Office,” he
wrote.
As the case was collapsing late last month, Perry told defense attorneys
that she would entertain briefings “and perhaps a hearing on the issue
of vindictive prosecution,” based on what she’d learned from the grand
jury transcripts.
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Chicago’s 45th Ward Committeeman Michael Rabbitt and his wife Sarah
celebrate the remaining charges being dropped against him and his
co-defendants in the Broadview Six protest case. (Capitol News
Illinois by Hannah Meisel)
Defense lawyers had already tried to proceed on a similar theory earlier
this year, but their claims were focused on whether the Department of
Justice had communications about the case with White House officials.
When prosecutors in March assured the judge there weren’t, she dismissed
the motion.
But Perry told prosecutors that the trust she normally extended to them
“has been broken” both by what she read in the grand jury transcripts,
and because it had previously been obscured from her in redacted
transcripts the government gave her.
“We all took the government attorneys’ word on a great many things,”
Perry said. “I, at the time, was operating on a presumption of regular
grand jury proceedings, which these were very clearly not. So based upon
what I’ve seen in the grand jury transcripts, the calculus has changed
and it has changed considerably.”
The former defendants’ request to see any communications from Singh is
notable for his involvement in another high-profile collapse of an
immigration-related case recently — that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who
was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last year. Albrego Garcia’s case
became a flashpoint for the Trump administration when a federal judge
ordered he be returned to the U.S. Upon his return, he was hit with
charges alleging he smuggled undocumented immigrants stemming from a
2022 traffic stop in Tennessee.
But those charges were dismissed last month, with a federal judge in
Nashville ruling that there was enough evidence to conclude “presumptive
vindictiveness” from the DOJ had led to the charges against Abrego
Garcia because his wrongful deportation embarrassed the Trump
administration.
The Broadview Six defense attorneys cited communications between Singh
and top prosecutors involved not just in Abrego Garcia’s case, but also
recent indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and former
CNN journalist Don Lemon.
“First, publicly available reporting indicates that Mr. Singh has played
a central role in guiding the prosecution of ‘top administration targets
such as Kilmar Abrego Garcia, James Comey, and Don Lemon’ and, of
particular note here, in seeking ‘to dismiss [grand] jurors who
presented hurdles’ when ‘grand juries refused to indict … following mass
street arrests,’” a footnote in Thursday’s filing read.
Singh was also the subject of a New York Times story in March that
detailed internal directives from the DOJ to prosecutors to aggressively
pursue charges against immigration protesters. Singh was quoted as
telling deputies on a January conference call to “go big … and go loud”
in order to garner headlines about such indictments. He also was quoted
as directing local U.S. attorneys’ offices to be “bounding” federal
agents to make cases.
In a statement Thursday, Chris Parente, a lawyer for one of the former
Broadview Six defendants, said the group is seeking evidence about how
the indictment was secured because “the public has a right to know
exactly what happened in the cover-up of the grand jury misconduct by
the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago.”
“We also need to know whether or not the orders to pursue this sham
political prosecution came from Washington, and how closely officials in
the main Department of Justice were tracking or encouraging developments
in this case,” he said.
Parente, a former federal prosecutor himself, represents Oak Park
village trustee Brian Straw. He cited Boutros’ recent sentiment that it
is “’important’ that career prosecutors involved in this case be ‘given
an opportunity to explain their side of the story’ to prove they ‘acted
in good faith.’”
“While we agree, we also know that this USAO has forfeited the privilege
of the presumption of good faith, and we are seeking the necessary facts
to resolve any outstanding questions about the government’s actions and
intent,” Parente said. “We will not stop until we get answers and those
who engaged with or oversaw a miscarriage of justice are no longer in
positions of public trust.”
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