{"id":212,"date":"2026-07-05T14:57:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T09:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=212"},"modified":"2026-07-05T14:57:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T09:57:34","slug":"chicago-fbi-head-ousted-official-account-claims-he-wasnt-on-board-with-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=212","title":{"rendered":"Chicago FBI Head Ousted; Official Account Claims He Wasn\u2019t \u2018On Board\u2019 With Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\">\n<p><em>Good morning!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>For the next few months (at least), I\u2019m going to be posting a few stories every morning that TPM reporters are closely tracking. We\u2019ll still be doing <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/morning-memo\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Morning Memo<\/em><\/a><em>, our flagship daily newsletter, too. While Morning Memo captures all the stories you need to know, the yet-to-be-named thing you\u2019re reading here will focus in on a couple of stories that TPM reporters are following \u2014 and, likely, reporting on \u2014 closely (as well as a few other odds and ends that captured my attention).<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>We hope to make this briefing an email at some point in August. For now we\u2019re doing a kind of soft launch.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Let me know what you think of these little dispatches<\/em><em>. I\u2019m very curious if they\u2019re useful for TPM members \u2014 or for anyone else. (But hey, if you\u2019re not a member, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/memberships\" target=\"_blank\"><em>please become a member<\/em><\/a><em>! We need those memberships to keep doing what we do.)<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h2-5a341850-0e19-4e93-86b2-86b3a166eb83\"><strong>Chicago Special Agent-in-Charge Ousted<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The head of the FBI\u2019s field office is leaving his job under eyebrow-raising circumstances.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[O]ur recent past has challenged us in more ways than most of us could have ever imagined,\u201d Special Agent-In-Charge Douglas DePodesta wrote in <a href=\"https:\/\/chicago.suntimes.com\/politics\/2026\/07\/02\/chicago-fbi-chief-departure-depodesta-message-to-staff-us-attorney-boutros-trump\" target=\"_blank\">a farewell note to staff<\/a>, obtained by various news outlets. \u201cI\u2019ve never backed down from a fight, as long as it meant our personnel could continue serving the FBI\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately,\u201d DePodesta continued, \u201cthat has proven unpopular over time and my departure is a consequence of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While it\u2019s unclear exactly what DePodesta was referring to, an official FBI account had this to say:<\/p>\n<div class=\"GalleryImageWrapper\">\n<h2 class=\"GalleryImageWrapper__Title\"\/>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FBI_Response\/status\/2072487049723064668\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"473\" width=\"804\" src=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-03-at-7.31.40\u202fAM.png?w=804\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1551242\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-03-at-7.31.40\u202fAM.png 1054w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-03-at-7.31.40\u202fAM.png?resize=768,452 768w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-03-at-7.31.40\u202fAM.png?resize=804,473 804w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-03-at-7.31.40\u202fAM.png?resize=600,353 600w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-03-at-7.31.40\u202fAM.png?resize=1000,588 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 804px) 100vw, 804px\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>DePodesta\u2019s departure comes less than a year after a spectacular immigration crackdown, Operation Midway Blitz, in Chicago, which saw anti-ICE protesters being indicted in cases that quickly collapsed. One \u2014 the Broadview Six case \u2014 involved prosecutorial misconduct so egregious that the U.S. attorney for Illinois, Andrew Boutros, now claims to be reviewing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/doj-reviewing-1000-chicago-grand-jury-cases-misconduct-illinois-prosec-rcna352768\" target=\"_blank\">more than 1,000 other cases<\/a>. TPM is following that closely.<\/li>\n<li>Boutros suggested Thursday he was surprised by DePodesta\u2019s departure, and claimed they worked together to keep Operation Midway Blitz from being even worse. \u201cWe did a lot to de-escalate the situation and there\u2019s a reason why Operation Midway Blitz, which I don\u2019t want to really make this about, but the reason why in Chicago it didn\u2019t turn into what happened, frankly, in a place like Minnesota and it was because of all the close work behind the scenes,\u201d he told local <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/chicago\/news\/operation-new-dawn-anti-violence-initiative-chicago-us-attorney-andrew-boutros\/\" target=\"_blank\">outlets<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>This also comes as the FBI, at Patel\u2019s direction, is <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/georgia-fbi-2020-election-investigation-trump-a1d9f555519bb3ee1e39594b8eab0a4f\" target=\"_blank\">surging<\/a> personnel to dig up anything in the wake of the raid on the Fulton County Election Hub that may substantiate Donald Trump\u2019s baseless claims about his 2020 defeat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h2-424a9bab-9326-4b8c-bb35-a5b0b9309377\"><strong>The Alito Thing<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>So, will Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito be resigning at some point this summer? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/newsletter-samuel-alito-retiring\/\" target=\"_blank\">Speculation<\/a>, of course, <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bloomberglaw.com\/legal-exchange-insights-and-commentary\/justice-samuel-alito-wont-hang-up-his-robes-anytime-soon\" target=\"_blank\">abounds<\/a>. There are the things we\u2019ve known for awhile now: he has a book release planned this fall; his wife has spoken about her hope that he will retire soon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/10\/us\/politics\/alito-pride-flag.html\" target=\"_blank\">so the couple can fly even more provocative flags<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/supreme-court-justices-alito-thomas-not-retiring-sources-say\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u201csources close\u201d to Alito have repeatedly insisted to friendly reporters<\/a>: he is not retiring.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for all involved, the Nina Totenberg fiasco on Tuesday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/newsletters\/reliable-sources-06-30-26-151755?utm_source=cnn_Reliable+Sources&amp;utm_medium=email\" target=\"_blank\">turbocharged<\/a> the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/story\/npr-justice-alito-retirement-retraction?srsltid=AfmBOoobxlBJrwqdoOBlvWdE4r9IQF89Y3WdEd98TYTrucVAY9U5LkHt\" target=\"_blank\">rumor mill<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/npr-public-editor\/2026\/06\/30\/g-s1-131107\/npr-retracts-story-about-alito-retirement\" target=\"_blank\">As NPR tells it<\/a>, Totenberg had left the Supreme Court building, then heard from a bystander that an announcement was being made that had to do with retirement(s). She immediately assumed said announcement must be about Alito and called her editor, who published a story they had ready to go in the event Alito retires.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That the story was already waiting in draft form is not unusual. News outlets prewrite tons of things; we, too, have various retirement stories and obituaries filed away for the moment they are needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The real question is: why did Totenberg assume it was Alito based on information she got second hand. Why not Thomas? Or any of the other justices? Or someone else who works at the Court? Not a terribly safe thing to just assume! Despite her explanation, her decision to jump to a conclusion seems <em>so <\/em>risky, it\u2019s hard not to conclude that she, a notoriously well-sourced reporter, had advanced knowledge of what already seemed at least somewhat likely: Alito plans to soon grant his wife\u2019s wish. That\u2019s exactly where speculation has gone. He\u2019d, of course, also be doing the ultimate favor for Trump, who, should any justice retire, will get to nominate a (presumably much younger) successor to be confirmed just as the possibility of a Democratic-controlled Senate closes in.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll of course be keeping an eye on all of this, for better or worse, through the holiday weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h2-f3812995-1c66-436d-97aa-7929880a361f\"><strong>Tabs<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2026\/07\/03\/babies-born-this-year-will-receive-social-security-cards-with-freedom-250-logo\/\" target=\"_blank\">Trump owns expectant parents<\/a> by announcing that the Social Security Administration will for the rest of this year be issuing cards to newborns with the logo of his grifty Freedom 250 organization on them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Republicans fear that if the party loses the House or Senate in November, Trump will have yet another reason to badger them about the SAVE Act, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/republicans-fear-trump-will-use-save-america-act-blame-lose-election-rcna352551?cid=eml_npd_nws_nbcp_07022026&amp;tpcc=eml_npd_nws_nbcp_07022026\" target=\"_blank\">NBC News<\/a> reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h2-22f01a88-42a0-4d1d-aef4-9c5b2028374a\"><strong>Silver Lining<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani will give a speech on July 4th. Ahead of it, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/07\/01\/nyregion\/mamdani-usa-250-birthday-nyc.html\" target=\"_blank\">the Times interviewed him about his thoughts on the 4th and America\u2019s 250th anniversary<\/a>, and he had this to say: \u201cPatriotism is not pretending our country has no flaws. It is loving our country enough to fight for the fulfillment of its ideals. The freedoms we enjoy were not handed down; they were won. And we have many more to win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m a fan of any effort to reclaim patriotism from the reactionaries. The story of our country is one of an experiment that\u2019s never been completed. It was born imperfect and remains imperfect. Still, we now have 250 years of attempts to improve it, which feels worthy of acknowledgement and reflection.<\/p>\n<p>I <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/cafe\/bill-moyers-saw-what-was-coming\" target=\"_blank\">wrote a year ago<\/a> about my time working for political aide-turned-muckraking journalist Bill Moyers, who had recently passed away. He did a lot to shape my idea of our project here in America. So as we go into this holiday weekend, I\u2019ll end with some words from him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cThe eight-hour day, the minimum wage, the conservation of natural resources and the protection of our air, water, and land, women\u2019s rights and civil rights, free trade unions, Social Security and a civil service based on merit \u2014 all these were launched as citizen\u2019s movements and won the endorsement of the political class only after long struggles and in the face of bitter opposition and sneering attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCivilization happens because we don\u2019t leave things to other people. What\u2019s right and good doesn\u2019t come naturally. You have to stand up and fight for it \u2014 as if the cause depends on you, because it does.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n    window.fbAsyncInit = function() {\n      FB.init({\n        appId: \"101800829865996\",\n        xfbml: true,\n        version: ' v2.6'\n      });\n      window.fbAsyncInit.__didInit = true;\n    };\n    (function(d, s, id) {\n      var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n      if (d.getElementById(id)) {\n        return;\n      }\n      js = d.createElement(s);\n      js.id = id;\n      js.src = \"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\";\n      fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n    }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n  <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Good morning!\u00a0 For the next few months (at least), I\u2019m going to be posting a few stories every morning that TPM reporters are closely tracking. We\u2019ll still be doing Morning Memo, our flagship daily newsletter, too. While Morning Memo captures all the stories you need to know, the yet-to-be-named thing you\u2019re reading here will focus&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2283646126.jpg?w=804","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}