By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and MIKE HOUSEHOLDER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic lawmakers who appeared in a social media video urging U.S. troops to defy “illegal orders” say the FBI has contacted them to begin scheduling interviews, signaling a possible inquiry into the matter.

It would mark the second investigation tied to the video, coming a day after the Pentagon said it was reviewing Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona over potential violations of military law. The FBI and Pentagon actions come after President Donald Trump accused the lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” in a social media post.

“President Trump is using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass Members of Congress,” a group of four Democratic House members said in a statement Tuesday. “Yesterday, the FBI contacted the House and Senate Sergeants at Arms requesting interviews.”

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Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, one of the six Democratic lawmakers in the video, told reporters Tuesday that “last night the counterterrorism division at the FBI sent a note to the members of Congress, saying they are opening what appears to be an inquiry against the six of us.” She said Trump “is attempting to use the FBI to scare us.”

“Whether you agree with the video or don’t agree with the video, the question to me is: is this the appropriate response for a president of the United States to go after and seek to weaponize the federal government against those he disagrees with?” said Slotkin.

The FBI declined to comment Tuesday, but Director Kash Patel, in an interview with journalist Catherine Herridge, described it as an “ongoing matter” in explaining why he could not discuss details.

Asked for his reaction to the video, Patel said, “What goes through my head is the same thing that goes through my head in any case: is there a lawful predicate to open up an inquiry and investigation, or is there not? And that decision will be made by the career agents and analysts here at the FBI.”

Householder reported from Inkster, Michigan. Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington also contributed to this report.

By ERIC TUCKER and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge’s dismissal of criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney Letitia James, two political foes of President Donald Trump, won’t be the final word on the matter.

The Justice Department says it plans to immediately appeal a pair of rulings that held that Lindsey Halligan was illegally appointed interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. It also has the ability to try to refile the cases, though whether it can successfully secure fresh indictments through a different prosecutor is unclear, as is whether any new indictments could survive the crush of legal challenges that would invariably follow.

A look at the possible next steps:

What exactly did the rulings say?

At issue is the slapdash way the Trump administration raced to put Halligan in charge of one of the Justice Department’s most elite offices. A White House aide with no prior experience as a federal prosecutor, Halligan was named interim U.S. attorney in September after the veteran prosecutor who held the job, Erik Siebert, was effectively forced out amid Trump administration pressure to charge Comey and James.

U.S. attorneys, top federal prosecutors who oversee regional Justice Department outposts across the country, are typically nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, though attorneys general do have the authority to directly appoint interim U.S. attorneys who can serve in the job for 120 days.

But lawyers for Comey and James argued that the law empowers only one such temporary appointment and that, after that, federal judges in the district have say over who fills the vacancy until a Senate-confirmed U.S. attorney can be installed.

Since Halligan replaced an interim U.S. attorney who had already served for more than 120 days, the lawyers said, her appointment was invalid and the indictments she secured must be dismissed as a result.

U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie overwhelmingly agreed. Currie, an appointee of President Bill Clinton who was assigned to hear the dispute despite serving in South Carolina, not only dismissed the cases but also concluded that Halligan had been serving illegally in her position since the day she was sworn in.

Could the Justice Department appeal?

Yes, and Attorney General Pam Bondi indicated that the department would do exactly that.

Any appeal would first be considered by the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but theoretically could go all the way up to the Supreme Court and present a fresh constitutional test about the Justice Department’s appointment authority.

Interestingly, Currie implied that her interpretation of the law might be well-received by at least one current conservative member of the Supreme Court.

In a footnote, she cited a 1986 legal memo from Samuel Alito, then a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, that concluded that the Justice Department could not make another temporary appointment after a first 120-day period expired.

Can the cases be filed again?

Since the cases were dismissed “without prejudice,” the Justice Department is clearly able to seek a new indictment against James using a different prosecutor with lawful authority to present to the grand jury.

The question, however, is much trickier in Comey’s case. It’s complicated by the fact that the five-year statute of limitations — or the limited time in which charges can be filed — expired at the end of the September, just days after Halligan raced to present to the grand jury.

Federal law allows prosecutors to return a new indictment within six months of dismissal even after the statute of limitations has passed. But Comey’s lawyers said they will argue the judge’s ruling makes the indictment “void,” and therefore “the statute of limitations has run and there can be no further indictment.”

The judge noted in her ruling that the deadline had passed and suggested that the statute of limitations is not tolled — or paused — in the case of an “invalid indictment.” Quoting from an earlier ruling, the judge wrote that “if the earlier indictment is void, there is no legitimate peg on which” to extend the deadline.

Regardless, the Justice Department in either case would have to convince a new grand jury to return new indictments, and that may be harder given the intense publicity around the cases. Widespread media coverage of the allegations and the defense claims of improper conduct by prosecutors could make it more difficult to find grand jurors who can view the cases impartially.

What happens to the other challenges to the indictments?

For now, those arguments are all moot as the Justice Department labors to salvage the indictments.

But in the event prosecutors do succeed in getting new indictments, they’ll likely have to fend off some of the same challenges that Comey and James had already raised and that remain pending as of Monday’s rulings.

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Comey is charged with lying to Congress about whether he authorized an associate to serve as an anonymous source for the news media. James was charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a home purchase in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2020.

Both have pleaded not guilty and had urged judges to throw out their indictments on grounds that the prosecutions were illegally vindictive and emblematic of a Justice Department that’s been weaponized to pursue the president’s adversaries. Those arguments would presumably be revived in the event of any new indictments.

Comey, for his part, has challenged a series of irregularities in Halligan’s presentation to the grand jury after a different judge who reviewed a record of the proceedings said he had identified a series of flaws — including the fact that the prosecutor apparently suggested to the panel that Comey did not have a Fifth Amendment right to not testify at trial.

He has also said that the testimony he gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee that underpins his criminal case was truthful and that, in any event, the question he was responding to was so vague and ambiguous as to make a false statement prosecution a legal impossibility.

By VALERIE GONZALEZ, Associated Press

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Yaakub Vijandre was preparing to go to work as a mechanic when six vehicles appeared outside his Dallas-area home. Federal agents jumped out, one pointed a weapon at him, and they took him into custody.

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Vijandre is a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama-era program that has shielded hundreds of thousands of people from deportation since 2012 if they were brought to the United States as children and generally stayed out of trouble. The Trump administration said it targeted Vijandre over social media posts. The freelance videographer and pro-Palestinian activist described his early October arrest to his attorneys, who relayed the information to reporters.

His arrest and several others this year signal a change in how the U.S. is handling DACA recipients as President Donald Trump’s administration reshapes immigration policy more broadly. The change comes as immigrants have face increased vetting, including of their social media, when they apply for visas, green cards, citizenship, or to request the release of their children from federal custody. The administration also has sought to deport foreign students for participating in pro-Palestinian activism.

DACA was created to shield recipients, commonly referred to as “Dreamers,” from immigration arrests and deportation. It also allows them to legally work in the U.S. Recipients reapply every two years. Previously if their status was in jeopardy, they would receive a warning and would still have a chance to fight it before immigration officers detained them and began efforts to deport them.

In response to questions about any changes, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin issued a statement saying that people “who claim to be recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are not automatically protected from deportations. DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country.” DACA recipients can lose status “for a number of reasons, including if they’ve committed a crime,” she said.

McLaughlin also claimed in a statement that Vijandre made social media posts “glorifying terrorism,” including one she said celebrated Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida’s leader in Iraq who was killed in a U.S. strike in 2006.

An attorney for Vijandre, Chris Godshall-Bennett, said Vijandre’s social media activity is “clearly” protected speech. He also said the government has not provided details about the specific posts in court documents.

Vijandre is among about 20 DACA recipients who have been arrested or detained by immigration authorities since Trump took office in January, according to Home is Here, a campaign created by pro-DACA advocacy groups. The administration is seeking to end his DACA status, which could result in him being deported to the Philippines, a home he has not visited since his family came to the U.S. in 2001, when he was 14.

FILE – Susana Lujano, left, a dreamer from Mexico who lives in Houston, joins other activists to rally in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on June 15, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

DACA has faced legal challenges

DACA survived the first Trump administration’s attempt to rescind the program when the Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that the administration did not take the proper steps to end it.

There have been other attempts to end the program or place restrictions on recipients.

This year, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that would deny work permits for DACA recipients who live in Texas. The Trump administration recently presented its plans to a federal judge who is determining how it will work.

The administration also has issued new restrictions on commercial driver’s licenses that would prevent DACA recipients and some other immigrants from getting them. Last year, 19 Republican states stripped DACA recipients’ access to health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. And the number of states where immigrant students can qualify for in-state tuition has dwindled since the Justice Department began suing states this year.

“This administration might not be trying to end DACA altogether the way that they did the first time around, but they are chipping away at it,” said Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, spokesperson for United We Dream, which is part of Home is Here, the coalition keeping track of public cases of DACA recipients who have been detained.

Detained DACA recipients question their arrests

Catalina “Xóchitl” Santiago Santiago, a 28-year-old activist from El Paso, Texas, was arrested in August despite showing immigration officers a valid work permit obtained through DACA.

Days later, federal officers arrested Paulo Cesar Gamez Lira as the 28-year-old father was arriving at his El Paso home with his children following a doctor’s appointment. Agents dislocated his shoulder, according to his attorneys.

Both Santiago and Gamez Lira were held for over a month while their attorneys petitioned for their release.

Marisa Ong, an attorney for Santiago and Gamez Lira, said the government failed to notify either of her clients of any intention to terminate their DACA status.

“DACA recipients have a constitutionally protected interest in their continued liberty,” Ong said, adding that “the government cannot take away that liberty without providing some valid reason.”

DACA recipients can lose their status if they are convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanors like those involving harming others, driving under the influence or drug distribution, or three or more misdemeanors. They can also lose their status if they pose a threat to national security or public safety.

DHS claimed in a statement that Santiago was previously charged with trespassing, possession of narcotics and drug paraphernalia and that Gamez Lira was previously arrested for marijuana possession.

Ong said that when attorneys sought their release “the government presented no evidence of any past misconduct by either individual.”

Vijandre, the Dallas-area man who was arrested in October, remains in a Georgia detention facility. His attorneys say he received notice two weeks before his arrest that the government planned to terminate his DACA status but that he wasn’t given a chance to fight it.

“I think that the administration has drawn a very clear line and at least for right now, between citizen and noncitizens, and their goal is to remove as many noncitizens from the country as possible and to make it as difficult as possible for noncitizens to enter the country,” Godshall-Bennett, Vijandre’s attorney, said.

The look on Michael Boxall’s face spoke volumes.

As the Loons captain sat in front of a camera for a video conference call late Monday night. San Diego FC ended Minnesota United’s season with 1-0 result in a Western Conference semifinal at Snapdragon Stadium, and Boxall’s expression said it all:

Anguish.

San Diego FC midfielder Anders Dreyer (10) shoots past Minnesota United defender Michael Boxall (15) during the second half of MLS soccer’s Western Conference semifinal Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

“As soon as the final whistle went, it was all pretty somber,” Boxall said. “Grateful for what we do and really appreciate all the traveling fans that showed up (Monday). That’s always huge.”

The Loons amassed a club-record 58 points in 34 regular-season games to finish fourth in the 15-team Western Conference —  an even bigger achievement considering the club’s salary budget was 13th. MNUFC beat Seattle Sounders, a MLS gold standard, in a first-round series and reached the conference semis for a second straight year. Again, they hit their heads on that ceiling.

Seeking the first trophy in the club’s nine-year MLS history, United finished three games shy of winning the MLS Cup, and two games from hoisting U.S. Open Cup in September.

“I think there’s that sense of real frustration, a sense of realism, I suppose, with where we’re at and how that game reflects the entirety of the year,” head coach Eric Ramsay said late Monday night. “But then also some real pride. And we’re certainly leaving here feeling like we’ve taken some big steps forward over the course of this year, really moved the club forward.”

“We’re not leaving with the same feeling that we had in the semifinal last year as we left L.A.,” Ramsay said about the 6-2, semifinal loss to the Galaxy in 2024. “I am pretty capable of looking at these things fairly objectively, even in the immediate aftermath of it.”

But this Loons’ season comes with a heavy dose of what might have been?

Minnesota sold its leading scorer, striker Tani Oluwaseyi, in August for upwards of $9 million to Villarreal — a club-record transfer fee to allow the Canadian to follow his dream of playing in a top European league. Ramsay said that changed the trajectory of the season. And he acknowledged Monday, “We haven’t been the same threat.”

“I’m not going to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, I suppose, by speaking about it differently, but I haven’t wanted to dwell on that,” he added. “We haven’t talked about it internally all that much. Obviously (we) don’t talk about that type of thing with the players. And we have wanted to be super positive, constructive, and we have found a way in spite of the fact that we’ve lost a very obvious, key component of our team.”

When Oluwaseyi was sold, Loons Chief Soccer Officer Khaled El-Ahmad retorted that the “leading striker has not left,” a reference to Kelvin Yeboah still being with the team. But weeks after Oluwaseyi’s exit, Yeboah pulled his hamstring in the Open Cup semifinal loss to Austin and didn’t return until the regular-season finale a month later.

As he worked into better fitness, Yeboah was a non-factor during the Seattle series and had one shot in 90 minutes against San Diego.

To aid the attack, the Loons paid a $2 million transfer fee to Austria Wien for midfielder Dominik Fitz at the close of the summer transfer window. He didn’t play against the Sounders, and didn’t make an impact as a sub in seven brief minutes against San Diego. The 26-year-old will need to get up to speed by next season to show he’s worth a four-year contract.

Now that the season is over, the biggest questions pertain to the futures of a few key pieces in Minnesota.

Ramsay, in a move from the U.K in 2024, became the youngest coach in MLS at age 32. In two seasons, he has produced outsized success with a low-spending club. He has previously received interest from UK looking for head coaches, and those inquiries will likely rekindle this winter.

The key things for him to ponder are: How much further can he take a low-spending team? Will a potential regression in the standings hurt his ambitions to advance his career in Europe?

“I wouldn’t swap what we’ve built over the course of these two years here,” Ramsay said. “I’ve loved it as a coach. I feel like it’s really developed me and my staff, and we’ve loved working with the group of players. They’re a really honest group of players. … We can find solutions to problems, we can find a way of making our group far more competitive than our means and spend (as) those types of things would suggest. That’s a great challenge, and one that I’ve loved leading.”

The Loons in September led MLS with more General Allocation Money (GAM) than any other club ($4.9 million), which should help them reinvest in the roster. Payments on the Oluwaseyi fee also should boost the bottom line.

San Diego FC defender Christopher McVey (97), left, fights for the ball with Minnesota United midfielder Robin Lod (17) during the second half of MLS soccer’s Western Conference semifinal Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

But there’s always the question with United: Are they ambitious enough to spend more, or do they look at how they annually outperform their salary spending in the MLS standings and just bank on that continuing?

Three veteran players have uncertain futures: goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair and midfielders Robin Lod and Hassani Dotson. St. Clair and Dotson are pending free agents, while Lod has a contract option that has not been picked up.

Boxall and midfielder Wil Trapp had their contract extensions for 2026 triggered with on-field performances during the regular season.

St. Clair, the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, seeks a salary that puts the 28-year-old in the top tier in the league (think $1 million annually), while Lod, 32, is the highest-paid player on the team ($1.6 million in 2025) and might need to take a pay cut if he wants to remain in Minnesota.

In preseason, Dotson demanded a trade but was retained. The 28-year-old then suffered a serious knee injury and was ruled out for the year, but he rehabbed and subbed on during seven games down the stretch.

“We would be a club that, I think, would want to improve in every window,” Ramsay said. “There are obviously some big decisions to make on players from our perspective, from their perspective, and that will gradually fall into place.”

With the Loons bounced from the playoffs, the club’s front office plans to meet with players in Minnesota on Wednesday and submit its end-of-season roster decisions soon after that.

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