{"id":3865,"date":"2026-07-24T14:39:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T14:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3865"},"modified":"2026-07-24T14:39:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T14:39:05","slug":"loaded-weapon-trump-is-ready-to-pull-the-trigger-on-suspending-habeas-corpus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3865","title":{"rendered":"‘Loaded weapon’: Trump is ready to pull the trigger on suspending habeas corpus"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On Friday, the authors of a bombshell tell-all book about the Trump administration revealed just how close President Donald Trump came to suspending the constitutionally enshrined right of habeas corpus, and asserted that the idea is still a \u201cloaded weapon\u201d he\u2019s ready to fire at any time. <\/p>\n

Read more Data expert issues huge warning to Trump\u2019s GOP: \u2018This is what kills parties\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

This is according to journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, authors of the hit book Regime Change, which exposed the chaos in the White House over the course of Trump\u2019s second term. The authors joined Lawfare Senior Editor Roger Parloff to discuss the administration, and over the course of their conversation, they detailed how frighteningly close Trump came to suspending habeas corpus, and emphasized that the danger isn’t over. <\/p>\n

As Haberman explains, by April 2025, Trump was publicly musing about the idea of suspending habeas corpus after the Supreme Court stymied his ability to send migrants overseas without trial. The president was frustrated and ranted at a Cabinet meeting about how \u201cthere’s one thing three presidents have used very strongly,\u201d referring to the Insurrection Act, and CNN reported several days later that he was talking about suspending habeas corpus, but the episode passed quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we were really obsessed with it,\u201d Haberman explains, \u201cbecause habeas corpus is enshrined in the Constitution. It is older than the Magna Carta. It is one of the most fundamental rights of due process, and the idea that a president would think that this was something he could just end … Stephen Miller was openly endorsing this, so we went down this rabbit hole to try to understand it. What we learned was the discussions were extremely serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea came from Miller, who pushed it repeatedly. \u201cThe president was interested,\u201d and Miller tasked the DOJ with studying the matter, \u201cwhich was astonishing \u2014 that it went that far \u2014 and a reflection of how serious it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

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From there, confidential memos were prepared by Staff Secretary Will Sharf, who Haberman characterizes as a \u201cvery conservative lawyer\u201d and extreme Trump loyalist. Here she notes that unlike during Trump\u2019s first term, when there were officials and staff who were uncomfortable with and opposed the president\u2019s most radical ideas, during the second term, his administration is full of people who will obey his every command. Sharf is one of these, and \u201che has endorsed almost all of Trump’s most radical and extreme agenda items.\u201d Sharf prepared two memos that laid out the historical context for such an action, ultimately concluding there was little legal justification for it, and forwarded them to Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to bring to Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re very dry these memos,\u201d says Haberman, \u201cbut the point is very clear: this is a line the administration should not cross. That kind of a memo is not getting written if this is just some kind of idle talk. It was put back on the shelf, but like all ideas with Trump, you know these are loaded weapons on the shelf.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea was taken back up again in January after ICE agents killed Alex Pretti, when Vice President JD Vance suggested the invocation of the Insurrection Act to quell protests. According to Swan, even Miller pushed back, noting they hadn\u2019t \u201cexplored whether the law will stretch to accommodate\u201d it. \u201cThey end the meeting in this sort of no man’s land. They basically decide to put it aside.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it wasn’t this definitive decision \u2014 We will never do this<\/em><\/em>,\u201d warns Swan. \u201cIt’s something that Trump himself has expressed a desire to do many, many times. Stephen Miller clearly has expressed an eagerness to do it. So it’s just waiting there. It’s waiting there for the moment. It is not like they flirted with these things and now it’s the furthest thing from their mind. That\u2019s not the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Go to hell\u2019: Inside the unprecedented GOP civil war exploding over JD Vance<\/a><\/p>\n