Hi, everyone. Happy Friday. It's 4 o'clock in New York. Donald Trump this afternoon,

suffering legal and political blows to his efforts to deport individuals without providing them due process.

Brand new reporting from the Washington Post today undercuts one of the central

rationales for withholding due process.

It has to do with a comprehensive assessment made by the National Intelligence Council

in conjunction with 18 intelligence agencies.

It's an assessment first reported on by the New York Times.

The Washington Post today cites people familiar with the matter in reporting that the

NIC earlier this month determined that the Venezuelan government is not directing an invasion

of the United States by the Trent de Aragua gang. It is a judgment

that contradicts not just what

Donald Trump has said repeatedly in public,

but what the Trump administration

has used as reasoning

for deporting suspected gang members

without due process

under the Alien Enemies Act.

From that new post reporting, quote,

the intelligence product found that although

there are some low-level contacts between the Maduro government and Trend de Aragua or TDA,

the gang does not operate at the direction of Venezuela's leader. The product builds on U.S.

intelligence findings in February, first reported by the New York Times, that the gang is not controlled by Venezuela.

...