MIKEY SMITH: 6 authoritarian things Donald Trump's team did in 24 hours as he faces contempt charge

It was a matter of time before a judge decided they'd had enough of the Trump administration's nonsense and threatened them with contempt.

James E Boasberg is by no means the only federal judge considering such a nuclear option against a sitting president - but he'll probably be the first to get it over the line.

If he goes ahead with it, it raises a question - are there any actual consequences for a President simply ignoring the ruling of a court?

And if not...what happens next?

Oh, and the administration will either defend your right to free speech to the death, or crack down on it with furious anger depending on whether you're a malign foreign power or Harvard University. Guess which is which.

Here's some of the authoritarian-adjacent things the Trump administration did in the last 24 hours.

A federal judge says has found probable cause to hold President Donald Trump ’s administration in criminal contempt of court for violating his orders to turn around planes carrying deportees to El Salvador.

Last month US District Judge James E. Boasberg ordered planes holding hundreds of Venezuelans bound for a gulag in El Salvador to be turned around. They were not.

Boasberg warned he could refer the matter for prosecution if the administration does not “purge” its contempt within a week.

He said the administration could do so by returning to US custody those who were sent to the El Salvador prison in violation of his order so that they “might avail themselves of their right to challenge their removability.”

The administration is potentially facing a second contempt ruling over its continual refusal to end its petulant ban an the Associated Press covering some administration events because it refuses to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

Corks popped in Beijing and Moscow at the news the State Department has shut down its Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference office.

Marco Rubio said he was doing so in an effort to "protect" freedom of speech.

Rubio claimed, citing no evidence, that the body, which worked to counter foreign disinformation and propaganda, "actively silenced and censored the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving."

James Rubin, former special envoy and coordinator for the office, said: "This is the functional equivalent of unilateral disarmament. If we remove our defenses against Russian and Chinese information warfare, it's just to their advantage. That's called unilateral disarmament."

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt came out with more dredged up dirt designed to discredit a man they illegally abducted and accidentally deported to a torture gulag in another country.

The Trump administration has, thus far, presented no evidence to support its assertions that he is a member of the gang MS-13, that he has been convicted of such, that he has been ruled a member by a court, that he is a terrorist and that he was involved in some kind of "human trafficking".

The best they could do last night was to suggest the Chicago Bulls hat and "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" hoodie he was wearing were evidence of gang membership. That and a single tip from an anonymous source.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis wrote in an order last week that the "evidence" against Abrego Garcia "consisted of nothing more than his Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie, and a vague, uncorroborated allegation from a confidential informant claiming he belonged to MS-13's 'Western' clique in New York -- a place he has never lived."

And while the White House didn't manage to find any actual evidence of gang affiliation - or indeed of any crime committed in the United States that would warrant a man's expulsion to a torture camp, they did find a request from his wife for a restraining order a year ago.

Jennifer Vasquez Sura, Mr Abrego Garcia's wife said in a statement: "After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution following a disagreement with Kilmar by seeking a civil protective order, in case things escalated. Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. We were able to work through the situation privately as a family, including by going to counselling."

"Our marriage only grew stronger in the years that followed. No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect. But that is not a justification for ICE's action of abducting him and deporting him to a country where he was supposed to be protected from removal. Kilmar has always been a loving partner and father, and I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him."

We reported last month that Elon Musk's bully squad had targeted a tech team called 18F, which was behind Direct File - a genuinely popular service that saves American taxpayers a lot of money.

So, first of all, you need to know that in the US, employees have to calculate their own taxes. Here, employers do that for us through the PAYE system. America doesn't do that. It's weird.

And before Direct File, American taxpayers had to pay private services like TurboTax in order to file their tax returns every year - costing individuals about $170 a year.

In 2022, the US government rolled out the Direct File service in a number of states, which allowed Americans to file their tax returns online, directly with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Which seems like a mind-bogglingly obvious thing that should really have existed already, but never mind.

Anyway, because one of the teams that built it was "woke" - meaning they had a relatively diverse workforce and had an inclusive workplace culture - Musk has seen it as a target.

(And perhaps also because it took business away from a small number of very well off private companies which have spent millions of dollars lobbying against it)

This came to a head when Musk tweeted that it had been "deleted" - leading to confusion over whether Direct File was being "deleted too".

It's currently still up and running.

But two sources told the AP said IRS staff assigned to the program were told in mid-March to stop working on its development for the 2026 tax filing season.

Young volunteers who travel the country responding to natural disasters and helping with community projects have been told their services are no longer required.

AmeriCorps' National Civilian Community Corps informed volunteers Tuesday they would exit the program early "due to programmatic circumstances beyond your control."

More than 2,000 people, ages 18 to 26, serve for nearly a year, according to the program’s website, and get assigned to projects with nonprofits and community organizations or the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The volunteers are especially visible after natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Helene last year. The organization said on social media last month that teams have served 8 million service hours on nearly 3,400 disaster projects since 1999.

The Trump administration's battle with Harvard University rumbles on - with the latest escalation being a threat to prevent the college from taking international students, somehow.

The Department of Homeland Security ordered Harvard late Tuesday to turn over "detailed records" of its foreign student visa holders' "illegal and violent activities" by April 30. International students make up 27% of the campus.

The department also said it was canceling two grants to the school totalling $2.7 million.

Trump suggested Tuesday on social media that Harvard should lose its tax-exempt status "if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting 'Sickness?'"

So, for anyone that's keeping score, the Trump administration is *against* freedom of speech for students and faculty at one of the world's most renowned universities, but is *for* free speech for people repeating propaganda from Iran, China and Russia.

How d'you like them apples?