Former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder criticized FBI Director Kash Patel for posting a photo of Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan in handcuffs Friday after she was arrested on federal charges for obstructing ICE efforts to arrest an illegal alien outside her courtroom April 18. Patel posted the photo of the back of Dugan with her hands in cuffs as she was being led away by FBI agents with the message, “No one is above the law.”
Holder accused Patel trying to “trying to maximize intimidation” by violating a Justice Department rule established by Holder restricting the release of photos of federal defendants.
No one is above the law pic.twitter.com/TSrQ4GNMdA
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) April 26, 2025
A second photo showing that the heavyset Duggan was secured by two pairs of handcuffs behind her back was posted by Fox Business anchor Elizabeth MacDonald:
Photos of Judge Hannah Dugan’s arrest by the FBI today at the Milwaukee County Courthouse. Now charged with 2 felonies-obstructing a U.S. agency & concealing an individual to stop an arrest. Both carry a max penalty of 6 years and a $350K fine. @FBI @PamBondi pic.twitter.com/MzhQkPAji1
— Elizabeth MacDonald (@LizMacDonaldFOX) April 25, 2025
Holder’s comments on Patel were reported by CNN (excerpt):
According to the Confidentiality and Media Contacts Policy listed on the Justice Department’s website, DOJ personnel “should not voluntarily disclose a photograph of a defendant unless it serves a law enforcement function or unless the photograph is already part of the public record in the case.”
Former Attorney General Eric Holder, who implemented the policy during the Obama administration, worked during his tenure to make it more difficult for members of the media to obtain photos of defendants, such as mug shots.
Holder told CNN that Patel’s social media post violates this policy.
“Whatever the issues with what the judge did, they’re trying to maximize intimidation,” Holder said in a statement to CNN.
Dugan is accused of two felonies for obstructing the ICE arrest of Eduardo Flores Ruiz, an illegal alien from Mexico who was in her courtroom for domestic violence charges of beating his roommates.
Dugan is accused of distracting the federal arrest party by sending them to meet with the chief judge of the court and then sneaking Flores Ruiz and his attorney out a private side door of her courtroom to help him evade arrest. Flores Ruiz was arrested after he fled the courthouse following a foot chase.
The shocking details of the criminal complaint against Dugan can be read in this report by TGP’s Cristina Laila.
Eric Holder was a campus radical at Columbia, helping to take over an empty ROTC office in 1970 to make it a “Black lounge” for Black students.
Holder served as President Barack Obama’s attorney general from 2009-2015. Holder famously proclaimed himself to be Obama’s “wing-man” in 2013. Holder was held in contempt by a bipartisan vote in the Republican led Congress in 2012 over his refusal to hand over documents related to the deadly Fast and Furious federal gunrunning scheme to Mexico.
Holder has worked the past several years on redistricting efforts in states to help Democrats gain a permanent majority in Congress.
