EXCLUSIVE: America's prosecutors are coming to D.C. with a message for Trump: F-A-F-O.

This week district attorneys are gathering in the nation's capital to talk about prosecuting law-breaking federal agents.

This week, something unusual is happening in the nation’s capital. Local prosecutors from across the United States are flying to Washington, D.C. for an emergency meeting about a simple idea that shouldn’t be controversial: No federal agent is above the law. Yet the Trump administration will undoubtedly be furious to know the gathering is taking place, as the organizers are readying efforts to hold its agents accountable for misconduct.

The closed-door session marks the first in-person meeting of the Fight Against Federal Overreach project — FAFO — a new coalition of locally elected district attorneys and prosecutors who are collaborating on how to respond when federal officers violate state criminal law or trample constitutional rights in their communities.

News of the group’s launch was revealed by The New York Times less than a week ago. Yet the speed at which participants are coming together shows how urgent the situation has become. Indeed, new videos have surfaced almost daily of ICE agents and DHS officers breaking protocol, intimidating American citizens, or engaging in potential criminal activity. Normally, the federal government would prosecute such misconduct, but the Trump administration continues to insist its agents are “following protocol.”

So local prosecutors are preparing to take action.

Alongside the meeting announcement, they released a blunt video message on social media (also embedded above) explaining why they’re coming together. The group includes the top district attorneys from major cities around the country, including prosecutors from Minneapolis, Dallas, Philadelphia, Austin, Tucson, Northern Virginia, and beyond.

In the wake of the killings of American citizens in Minnesota by federal agents, the White House has continued to assert that agents have “absolute immunity” — a claim that experts have said is bogus. While charging federal agents can be difficult and legally complicated, members of the FAFO project have made clear in interviews that we are in extraordinary times.

As one participant, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, put it:

“Federal authority does not mean federal immunity.”

The historic gathering aims to challenge the myth that a badge and a gun place a federal officer beyond accountability. In fact, the administration’s continued insistence that DHS agents are effectively untouchable is partly why the prosecutors have dubbed their group with its cheeky name, throwing the Trump administration’s crass threats (“f*** around and find out”) back at them with a FAFO that has real legal weight and consequence.

Another group member, Mary Moriarty, the elected prosecutor in Hennepin County which includes Minneapolis, added this:

“When they see no consequences for unlawful actions, it means people also understand that the rule of law will crumble. That’s the opposite of safety.”

FAFO prosecutors say this week’s meeting in Washington is about making sure that any such “crumbling” doesn’t happen. Not without a fight. They plan to use the closed-door summit to share legal strategies, investigative frameworks, and best practices for what to do when federal enforcement actions cross the line into unlawful arrests, warrantless entries, excessive force, or other criminal violations.

One former senior DHS official who was asked about the gathering said he couldn’t think of anything comparable in recent memory.

“When you see local prosecutors having to take on federal agents, you know we’re in uncharted territory,” he told DEFIANCE.News. “This is a consequence of the administration’s abuses of power.”

Organizers say the summit is also about restoring public confidence. Americans need to be reminded, they say, of something that should be stitched into the fabric of their government in good times and in bad: No one is above the law. Whether it’s the president of the United States or the agents he sends to harass journalists and assault protesters, those perpetrators will — at some point or another — face accountability.

And local prosecutors across America are preparing to be the ones to make sure that happens.

The launch of the new project is being supported in part by members of the public who contribute at FederalOverreach.org, by nonpartisan legal groups, and by DEFIANCE.org.

Your friend, in defiance,

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