Trump's red-meat retribution
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The Trump administration moved Tuesday against three enemies of the MAGA coalition: a former Anthony Fauci adviser, Somali-run daycare centers in Minneapolis, and Jimmy Kimmel.
- A fourth, former FBI director James Comey, was indicted for a second time after a federal judge dismissed the Justice Department's case against him last year.
Why it matters: The retribution campaign at the heart of President Trump's second term is escalating, not easing, as gas prices climb, the Iran war grinds past 60 days and his approval rating sinks to record lows.
- Much of the activity has come in the 26 days since acting Attorney General Todd Blanche assumed leadership of the Justice Department following the ouster of Pam Bondi.
Zoom in: Each of Tuesday's actions channels federal power against a long-running MAGA grievance.
1. COVID: The Justice Department indicted David Morens, a former senior Fauci adviser at the National Institutes of Health, on charges of using personal email to evade public records laws and hide communications about COVID's origins.
- Fauci is a foundational MAGA villain, blamed by Trump's base for COVID lockdowns, school closures, vaccine mandates and an alleged cover-up of the virus' origins in a Chinese lab.
- Morens' indictment marks the first criminal case against a top Fauci-era NIH official — a long-sought prize for conservatives, even as the underlying lab-leak theory remains contested in the scientific community.
2. Minneapolis: Federal authorities executed 22 search warrants in the Twin Cities, almost all at Somali-owned childcare centers suspected of bilking taxpayer-funded programs.
- Alleged fraud in Minnesota's Somali community has become a MAGA obsession, ignited by a viral video last year from YouTuber Nick Shirley that drew attention from the White House.
- The raids mark federal law enforcement's first major return to Minneapolis since Trump's sweeping ICE operation, which was scaled back in February after the killing of two American citizens.
- While Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz touted the raids as a joint federal-state effort, FBI Director Kash Patel lashed out at Democratic state leaders and claimed credit for the crackdown.
3. Liberal late-night: The FCC ordered Disney to file early license renewals for its eight owned-and-operated ABC stations in major markets, citing an ongoing probe into the company's DEI programs.
- The move comes amid fresh outrage over late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who joked that First Lady Melania Trump "had the glow of an expectant widow" two days before a gunman allegedly tried to assassinate Trump at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
- Both the president and first lady have called for ABC to fire Kimmel, who was briefly suspended last year after FCC chair Brendan Carr threatened the network's affiliate licenses over a separate monologue about Charlie Kirk's assassination.
4. Comey Round 2: The Justice Department indicted Comey again, this time charging him with making threats against the president over a 2025 social media post showing seashells arranged to read "86 47" — which prosecutors allege was "a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States."
- Comey, who led the FBI before Trump fired him in 2017, has been a fixture of MAGA grievance for nearly a decade. The DOJ's first attempt to indict him last year — for allegedly lying to Congress in 2020 — collapsed when a federal judge ruled Trump's hand-picked prosecutor had been illegally appointed.
- Comey said in a video on Substack: "Nothing has changed with me. I'm still innocent, I'm still not afraid."
What they're saying: "Fraudsters ripping off the American people is not made up — it's a real problem that this administration is addressing head-on," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.
- "The entire administration is working tirelessly to deliver on President Trump's promises to the American people by restoring integrity to our institutions and enforcing the law, whether the media likes it or not."
The big picture: Through every chapter of his presidency — the wars, the MAGA feuds, the legal setbacks and victories — retribution has remained Trump's ambient fixation.
- The DOJ has indicted a spate of longtime Trump foes, including Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and former National Security Adviser John Bolton. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which Trump allies accuse of falsely labeling conservative groups as extremist, was indicted on fraud charges last week.
- Countless others have faced federal investigations, referrals or official reviews, including former CIA Director John Brennan and other Obama-era intelligence officials; Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell and Fed governor Lisa Cook; Sens. Adam Schiff, Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin; Reps. Eric Swalwell, Maggie Goodlander, Jason Crow, Chrissy Houlahan and Chris DeLuzio; former special counsel Jack Smith; former cyber agency director Christopher Krebs; and retired Gen. Mark Milley.
- No target has been convicted so far. The campaign's tangible product, instead, has been the punishment of the process itself, including steep legal fees and reputational damage for Trump's enemies.
