Kilmar Abrego Garcia tells senator about his trauma in El Salvador prison | The Excerpt

On Saturday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: Kilmar Abrego Garcia said he's been traumatized by his experience in Salvadoran custody. Plus, an ambiguous Supreme Court ruling may have invited the Trump administration to refuse to try to return him. The Supreme Court temporarily halts deportations of Venezuelan migrants under the Alien Enemies Act. Paste BN Entertainment Reporter Patrick Ryan discusses the federal government's sex-crimes case against Sean "Diddy" Combs. New records show the suspected FSU shooter had a fascination with hate groups. Paste BN National Correspondent Will Carless explains what experts say about military service remaining the 'single strongest predictor' of involvement in violent extremism, 30 years after the Oklahoma City bombing.

Let us know what you think of this episode by sending an email to podcasts@usatoday.com.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it.  This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Podcasts:  True crime, in-depth interviews and more Paste BN podcasts right here

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Saturday, April 19th, 2025. This is the Excerpt. Today we're learning more about what conditions Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been held in. Plus, the Supreme Court pauses deportations of Venezuelan migrants under the Alien Enemies Act. And we discussed the threat of domestic terrorism 30 years after the Oklahoma City bombing.

♦

The Maryland man wrongly deported to El Salvador and held in a notoriously violent prison, told the Senator that he's been traumatized by the experience. During their meeting in Central America, Kilmar Abrego Garcia reported to Senator Chris Van Hollen that he was moved over a week ago from that country's Terrorism Confinement Center or CECOT to another facility with better conditions, but that he had been traumatized by his time in CECOT and that he had been taunted by other prisoners. Abrego Garcia's meeting with Van Hollen this week was the first time he had been seen publicly since he was detained in March by US Immigration officials near his home in Beltsville Maryland.

Even though the Supreme Court told Trump administration officials to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia, the case could soon be back at the Supreme Court's doorstep. The Trump administration says, it does not need to even request his release from El Salvador because of how the court worded its decision. As of this morning, Abrego Garcia remains in custody in El Salvador. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

♦

The Supreme Court earlier today, paused the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelan men in immigration custody after their lawyers said, they were at imminent risk of removal without the judicial review previously mandated by the court. Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union filed urgent requests yesterday in multiple courts, including the Supreme Court, urging immediate action after reporting that some of the men were told they would be deported. Trump has invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act in an attempt to deport accused members of the Tren de Aragua gang that his administration labels a terrorist organization.

♦

The federal government's sex crimes case against Sean Diddy Combs will soon be underway. I spoke with Paste BN Entertainment reporter Patrick Ryan, who joined me from outside the courthouse in New York, following a hearing yesterday. Patrick, thanks for carving out some time on this.

Patrick Ryan:

Yeah, thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it.

Taylor Wilson:

So Patrick, what has Diddy been accused of or charged with? I guess, let's start there.

Patrick Ryan:

Here in New York, he's been charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. But there are numerous lawsuits. I hesitate to even try to put a number on it, but he is in civil court faced sexual assault allegations from victims dating back to incidents from the '90s up until 2023. But those are all related to sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, harassment, and so on and so forth.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. So you're joining us from outside the courthouse. Set the scene for us, if you would, Patrick. What was the atmosphere like in and out of court yesterday, Patrick?

Patrick Ryan:

Actually last month, I went to the first pre-trial hearing, and honestly, he seemed in very good spirits then. He had a whole row of family and friends who were there supporting him. He was smiling, waving, blowing kisses. He seemed, yeah, again, in very good spirits last month, which was a stark change to yesterday where he appeared very solemn. His son was there, Justin, and his mom, Janice was there as well. But otherwise there weren't many supporters. He looked a little more serious this time. Maybe just recognizing that this trial, it's happening, it's coming up in just a few weeks now, and maybe the reality of all that hit him.

Taylor Wilson:

Interesting. And the big news out of yesterday, Patrick, of course, this decision from the judge not to grant a trial delay. Can you talk through why the judge made this decision, and why did Diddy and his legal team want the trial delayed?

Patrick Ryan:

Diddy and his legal team, they wanted a little more time to prepare his defense. So they requested earlier this week that the judge would push back the trial by two months. But basically the judge ruled yesterday that the trial's still three and a half, almost four weeks away, and he thought that they had still ample time to prepare their defense and get all their ducks in a row.

Taylor Wilson:

I know there were also decisions made about which testimony may be included in the trial, and also how the alleged victims will be involved. Can you talk through those decisions?

Patrick Ryan:

The judge granted three of the alleged victims that are named in the indictment, the right to use a pseudonym throughout the trial explaining that it's free common practice in terms of sexual violence and trafficking cases. But the defense pushed back a bit saying that the three alleged victims have already been out in public giving interviews about Diddy, and that essentially they waived their right to anonymity by doing so. But the prosecution argued that just because the victims have already given interviews, it doesn't mean that they've already gotten into the more explosive personal details of their allegations. So therefore, the judge sided with prosecution then, is allowing them to use pseudonyms throughout the trial. The prosecution wanted to bring in expert who could talk a little bit about memory and processing trauma and coping strategies for alleged victims.

The prosecutor said that potential jurors need a little more context about certain phrases and certain subjects about how perpetrators interact with victims and exert power over alleged victims. But the defense argued that the expert that the prosecution wants to call in has never interviewed the alleged victims in this case, and therefore, doesn't know the specifics of their experiences. I mean, a lot of back and forth for probably about an hour, about whether or not the experts could be called I?and the judge ultimately said that he needs a little more time to, I guess, sit with a decision and he will let them know, I believe next week, whether those experts brought in.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Well, the trial is now just right around the corner, Patrick. When will it functionally begin and just how big a case, I guess, do you expect this to be? I'd imagine it'll be pretty closely followed considering who's involved.

Patrick Ryan:

The jury selection begins on May 5th, and then opening statements are scheduled to start on May 12th. I mean, it's going to be a massive case. Already, just from these two hearings that I've attended, dozens of reporters are already there. Lots of people with no involvement in the case, even just waiting outside the courthouse, I think wanting to catch a glimpse of Diddy or his family. It's a pretty major case. I think there's a lot of different sort of threads to it and numerous allegations that I think are going to make it pretty complicated. The judge said yesterday that he estimates it'll take about 8 to 10 weeks. For context, I covered the Harvey Weinstein trial a few years ago, and that lasted maybe about five weeks. So again, there's a lot to this trial, and I think it's only just going to be ramping up from here.

Taylor Wilson:

All right folks, you can stick to Patrick in Paste BN's coverage of the trial here coming up in a few weeks. Patrick Ryan covers Entertainment for Paste BN. Thank you, Patrick.

Patrick Ryan:

Thank you.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

The suspected gunman in an attack at Florida State University this week had a troubling fascination with Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, according to screenshots of his online history captured by the Anti-Defamation League and shared with Paste BN yesterday. The suspect used a drawing of Hitler with the word nine in a thought bubble next to him as a profile photo for an online gaming account according to analysts at the Anti-Hate group. The new revelations come after the shooting that began when a gunman opened fire near the university's student union killing two and injuring six.

♦

Today marks 30 years since a former army soldier committed the worst act of domestic terrorism in the country's history, and decades after the Oklahoma City bombing, military service remains the single strongest predictor of involvement in violent extremism. So what's being done? I spoke with Paste BN National Correspondent, Will Carless, for more. And a note Will joins me before boarding a flight back from reporting in El Salvador. So you may hear some airport sounds. Will, thank you for making some time.

Will Carless:

Thanks as always for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So just resetting this Will, I think especially for some of our younger listeners who don't have any recollection of this day and this tragedy, what happened 30 years ago in Oklahoma City and how does this tragedy, I guess, resonate with Americans today?

Will Carless:

30 years ago, a van full of homemade explosives was detonated outside the Alfred P. Murrah Building, the federal building in Oklahoma City. 168 people died, including I believe it's 19 children who were in a preschool in the building. It was and remains the most deadly, the sort of most horrific act of domestic terrorism in the United States history.

Taylor Wilson:

The attacker back in the '90s was a military veteran, Will. A former army soldier. And military service remains the single predictor of involvement in violent extremism according to terrorism researchers. Can you talk through exactly what that research tells us?

Will Carless:

Sure. And I want to stress, I mean, look, an awful lot of people serve in the US military, and everybody you talk to says, "Look, extremism is called extremism for a reason." It's extremely rare, and the vast, vast majority of servicemen and women don't have an extremist sort of thought in their minds. However, what the research has shown is that when you look at who commits violent extremism in this country and you look at their background, more often than not, they're likely to have a background in the US military, and that as a factor is sort of more of a defining factor than things like race or political affiliation, things like that. So, that's how they've concluded that there is this uncomfortable connection between military service and violent extremism.

Taylor Wilson:

Okay. So, what efforts have we seen, Will, in recent years to tackle this problem? I guess, what's now changing over the past few months under new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Will Carless:

So in the wake of the January 6th insurrection at which hundreds of people who arrested turned out to have military backgrounds or indeed to have been serving in the military at the time. Then Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin launched a really significant campaign to try and basically root out extremism. He set up a working group to study the question, and the working group came up with a number of different recommendations. I did a big investigation back in 2023. This was a couple of years after that that had been launched that found that basically only two of those recommendations had ever come to any fruition, and that the others had pretty much fallen by the wayside. Now, we're a couple of years on from then, we have a new administration, we have a new Secretary of Defense, and there's really a feeling that there's very little being done on this front. That any of the programs that we set up to try and identify extremists have been shut down or are not continuing at the same time that we've got sort of potential risk of domestic violence extremism, particularly from veterans.

Taylor Wilson:

Well, it really does seem like in this moment, Will, some even supporters of Trump within the military also feel abandoned and cheated. Can you talk through some of those tensions and issues?

Will Carless:

Yes. So, one thing I didn't realize before reporting out this story is that something like one in three federal workers has a background in military service. An awful lot of veterans end up working for the federal government, and that's the same federal government that has since sweeping cuts and sweeping reforms in the name of this Department of Government Efficiency, this Elon Musk Doge effort that sent an awful lot of people, basically kicked out of their jobs. And the people I've talked to at sort of veterans organizations have said, look, it's not only that they've been laid off and they've lost their livelihoods, but they've essentially been told, "You are a waste. We didn't need you." And that's upset a lot of people.

Taylor Wilson:

Researchers and veterans groups warn the risk of another attack like Oklahoma City, potentially from a disgruntled veteran is higher than it's been in a while, Will. I guess, considering some of what we've been talking about, what are some of their specific fears?

Will Carless:

Extremists come from pools of disgruntled people, particularly people who have lost their financial livelihood, particularly people who are facing financial hardship and financial strain. Domestic extremists also come from people who have beefs, who have a problem with the federal government, and we've just created thousands of those people. And then when you overlap the fact that you have this connection to veterans and to the military, and you think of how many of the people who've been laid off and have lost their livelihoods over the last few months have military backgrounds, that's what concerns people who research and study this nexus between domestic violence, extremism and the military. There's just, the more people you create, the more people you put in a position of being disgruntled with the federal government, the more likely you are to have somebody who goes out and commits an act like this, unfortunately.

Taylor Wilson:

And Will, what do we hear from the Hegseth or Trump perspectives on all this?

Will Carless:

Nothing, I mean, is the simple answer. I mean, I sent them several detailed emails asking for more information I sent to the Pentagon, to the DoD. Literally didn't receive a single response to that. So, the answer is just nothing. They're not talking about it.

Taylor Wilson:

Great piece, Will. Folks can find the full version with a link in today's show notes. Will Carless covers extremism and emerging issues for Paste BN. Thank you, Will.

Will Carless:

Thanks man.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

What role does humor play in making the world make sense? My colleague Dana Taylor spoke with author Christine Wenc about her new book, "Funny Because It's True: How The Onion Created Modern American News Satire."

Christine Wenc:

It's interesting because I also know that journalists love The Onion. They say, The Onion says things that we wish we could say and we can't say. And so, I find that really interesting too. So I think The Onion is aware that journalists actually love them even though they're often making fun of what journalists do.

Taylor Wilson:

You can find their conversation tomorrow morning, beginning at 5:00 am Eastern Time right here on this feed.

♦

And thanks for listening to the Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your pods. If you're on a smart speaker, just ask for the Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, I'll be back Monday with more of the Excerpt from Paste BN.