Grand Juror Told Trump DOJ Prosecutor ‘Broadview Six’ Case Was a ‘Crock of Sh*t,’ Wild Transcript Reveals

An already unusual federal criminal case got even wilder Tuesday as grand jury transcripts were made public — a rare development that was ordered by the judge after finding improprieties in the proceedings — including one grand juror who flat-out declared the prosecution’s case to be a “crock of sh*t.”

The case derives from an altercation at the Broadview ICE detention center in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois between federal agents and Democratic activist protesters that resulted in six people being charged for allegedly “physically hinder[ing] and imped[ing] a federal agent’s vehicle. Among those charged was then-Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazalah.

Long story short, the entire case imploded last month when Judge April Perry with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, a Biden appointee, hauled in the prosecutors from President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice to demand an explanation for improprieties in the grand jury proceedings. The prosecutors had turned in transcripts from the grand jury proceedings that were redacted and the judge was not satisfied with that, demanding the full transcripts. U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros permanently dismissed all remaining charges against the defendants, and was sharply scolded by the judge, who had previously served in that same U.S. Attorney’s Office herself.

The “trust had been broken” between the prosecutors and the court, Perry said, commenting that she had “never seen the types of prosecutorial behavior before a grand jury that I saw in those transcripts,” lambasting the federal prosecutors for moments where they made improper comments to the grand jury, misrepresented or withheld information, or otherwise failed to meet their ethical and professional obligations. One specific issue was the multiple attempts the prosecutors made to get the indictment, failing to inform the grand jury of the prior no true bill that had been returned when the initial grand jury rejected the charges.

Those transcripts were made public on Tuesday, and several passages were soon highlighted by legal commentators.

One particularly notable section was an exchange between a grand juror being quizzed by prosecutor Sheri Mecklenburg about being able to “have an open mind” during deliberations. As local Capitol News Illinois legal affairs reporter Hannah Meisel noted, it is “extremely rare” for grand jury transcripts to be released.

GRAND JUROR: Are you actually presenting any new actual facts or just a different viewpoint on your side?

MS. MECKLENBURG: Okay. I’m feeling the skepticism already. Are you going to be able to listen with an open mind? Tell me the truth.

GRAND JUROR: I — no.

MS. MECKLENBURG: Okay. Then you have to 90 —

GRAND JUROR: I heard this case like last week and I thought it was a crock of sh*t then and I still think it is.

MS. MECKLENBURG: Okay. Thank you for your opinion for everybody.

That grand juror was excused.

Several other notable sections are shared below. The entire grand jury transcript can be read here.

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