"Broadview Six" ask for special prosecutor to investigate criminal charges, seek dealings between White House, U.S. Attorney

Lawyers for the group of Chicago protesters known as the "Broadview Six" have filed motions in court to uncover communication between the White House and the Chicago U.S. Attorney's Office in the wake of charges being dismissed for prosecutorial misconduct.

In their latest discovery filing, attorneys for Michael Rabbitt, Kat Abughazaleh, Andrew Martin, Brian Straw, and Catherine Sharp requested "all communications with officials from Main Justice and the White House" about the decision to indict the "Broadview Six."

The filing reveals the federal government told the defendants' attorneys that they will not contest the request to have the government pay their legal fees and costs as part of a 1997 Hyde Amendment claim.

The 1997 Hyde Amendment allows federal courts to award attorneys' fees and court costs to defendants "where the court finds that the position of the United States was 'vexatious, frivolous, or in bad faith.'"

U.S. Attorney for Northern Illinois Andrew Boutros personally dismissed the charges against the "Broadview Six" in court in May,  citing improper handling of grand jury proceedings by the lead prosecutor in the case. Grand jury transcripts ordered released to the public by the judge show instances of vouching, improper ex parte communication with grand jurors, improper testifying, improper instruction on the law, failure to instruct the law and other misconduct.

Now, as part of their Hyde Amendment claim, defense attorneys want the possible communications between federal prosecutors in Chicago and the Department of Justice and White House so they can demonstrate the "bad faith, vexatious and/or frivolous nature of this misguided prosecution."

They are asking specifically for communications with Associate Deputy Attorney General Aakash Singh or Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, and communications that discuss the decision to cover up grand jury misconduct and other grand jury issues regarding immigration-related cases.

The attorneys argue the government's recognition that the "Broadview Six" are entitled to legal fees supports the need for these communications to be released to them through discovery, arguing it's necessary to ensure their clients receive the appropriate amount of legal fees.

"Broadview Six" ask for special prosecutor for possible criminal charges

The "Broadview Six" are also asking for a special prosecutor to be appointed to investigate the misconduct by the U.S. Attorney's Office for Northern Illinois and prosecute them for criminal contempt if warranted.

Attorneys argued in a motion filed in U.S. District Court that a special prosecutor is necessary because of "what appears to be a determined effort to blame a single prosecutor when the misconduct is now known – particularly in this case – runs much deeper and indeed to the highest levels of the Chicago U.S. Attorney's Office and likely to the Department of Justice in Washington D.C."

The allegations of prosecutorial misconduct have largely been focused on then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg, who had subsequently left the U.S. Attorney's Office for a role as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin subsequently fired her from that role after the "Broadview Six" misconduct allegations came to light.

In the wake of the alleged misconduct and the case subsequently falling apart, Boutros ordered "sweeping internal reforms" to his office's grand jury practices, which he said "will be more transparent, effective, and impactful while greatly reducing the likelihood of mistakes and errors."

Boutros has not shared specifics about what those reforms include.

Ranking House Judiciary Democrat calls for investigation of Chicago U.S. Attorney

A growing number of Democratic lawmakers have called for Boutros to resign in the wake of the accusations. Now, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, is demanding an investigation into Boutros for the misconduct.

In a letter to the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility and the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Committee, Raskin wrote in part, "By tampering with the grand jury, Mr. Boutros and his team corrupted and contaminated the deliberative process, hollowed out the protection that the Constitution guarantees and violated the would-be defendants' right to due process. This misconduct violates the prosecutor's ethical obligations to 'seek justice, not merely to convict,' and numerous other rules prohibiting undue influence and official coercion of the grand jury."

Boutros responded to the letter in a statement, writing, "Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin's June 16, 2026, letter to the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility and to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission is incomplete, ill-informed, and severely distorted.  There is no doubt that both OPR and the ARDC will look into the Broadview Six prosecution, a process that we fully support.  When they do so, we are confident that upon careful, unbiased consideration, neither entity will find misconduct by the United States Attorney because there was none."