A Trump-appointed judge erased the Proud Boys’ seditious conspiracy convictions today and wrote that no one should mistake his ruling for agreement.
Judge Timothy Kelly sat through the six-month trial where a jury convicted the group’s leaders of plotting to keep Trump in power by force on January 6. The Justice Department asked him to throw out those verdicts as “Biden-era weaponized prosecutions.” Kelly noted the case began while Trump was still president, but granted the motion anyway because he “lacks the authority to compel the Executive to pursue a prosecution, full stop.”
The government ran the same play in Texas this week. Presidio, a small town on the Rio Grande, sued two weeks ago because the border wall would sit on the levee that keeps it from flooding, built without the engineering review a 127-year-old law requires. Homeland Security answered the lawsuit by waiving the law. The Trump administration has learned it’s easy to win when you can edit the rule book at will.
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Trump fires every remaining Election Assistance Commission member, freezing the federal agency that certifies voting machines four months before the midterms.
Today’s GovBrief News
White House weighs new fences across Pennsylvania Avenue that officials could close at will, alongside plans to gate Lafayette Square, the capital's main protest ground.
Source: The Independent
July 10, 2026
Gordie Howe Bridge opens July 27 after Canada grants the US toll oversight and profit sharing, five months after Trump demanded half ownership of the span.
Source: CBC
July 10, 2026
Trump threatens to "decimate and destroy" Iran with 1,000 locked and loaded missiles if it assassinates him, after Khamenei's funeral drew calls for his killing.
Source: CBS News
July 10, 2026
Interior Department strips habitat destruction from the Endangered Species Act's definition of harm, ending 50 years of protection for places imperiled wildlife live and breed.
Source: UPI
July 10, 2026
Trump names a climate skeptic with no climate science training to lead the National Climate Assessment, the congressionally mandated report his administration already pulled offline.
Source: The Guardian
July 10, 2026
Justice Department subpoenas four New York Times reporters, with agents visiting some homes, after stories revealed the Qatari Air Force One lacks antimissile defenses.
Source: The New York Times [gift link]
July 10, 2026
Trump refuses to sign the decades-biggest housing affordability bill, which becomes law at midnight anyway, protesting the Senate's failure to pass his voting restrictions.
Source: Axios
July 10, 2026
SC Guard lifts eight Apache pilots' suspensions hours after Hegseth's "We'll fix this" post, ending a safety review of their July 4 flyover low over beach crowds.
Source: WLTX Columbia
July 10, 2026
Judge permanently dismisses Proud Boys leaders' January 6 seditious conspiracy convictions at DOJ's request, writing that granting the motion is not agreement with it.
Source: NBC News
July 10, 2026
DHS waives the 1899 flood safety law at the center of a Texas lawsuit two weeks after Presidio sued over levee changes for the border wall.
Source: The Associated Press
July 10, 2026
Passengers say ICE shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo from the sides with no agent in front of his van, contradicting the agency's self-defense claim.
Source: Houston Public Media
July 10, 2026
Park Service drains the Reflecting Pool a month after refilling it, as Trump's $1.5 million beautification stands at $14 million with algae and peeling liner.
Source: WTTG Washington
July 10, 2026
Hoboken deploys robots to survey sidewalks, curb ramps, and crosswalks for accessibility barriers as the city extends nine straight years without a traffic death.
Source: City of Hoboken
July 10, 2026
New York Times countersues the EEOC, saying the agency sued over a white editor's promotion 8 days after Times reporting exposed its pro-Trump case targeting.
Source: CNN
July 10, 2026