The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy and Lead Reporter Tom Pappert criticized attorneys representing Kilmar Abrego Garcia, accusing the legal team of making false statements in a federal court filing concerning The Star’s investigative reporting.
During Wednesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Pappert and Leahy discussed a post-hearing brief filed April 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee by attorney Sean Hecker of the New York-based law firm Hecker Fink, along with Nashville attorney Rascoe Dean of Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison.
Leahy argued the defense filing inaccurately characterized an article published by The Star on April 21, 2025, which examined the route Abrego Garcia allegedly took during his 2022 trip from Houston to Maryland, analyzed trafficking corridors and areas with documented MS-13 activity along that route, and reported that the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) suspected human trafficking before allegedly being instructed by the Biden-era FBI to release him during the traffic stop.
“What they said in this pleading is not true,” Leahy said.
Reading from the filing, Leahy noted that defense attorneys claimed The Star article cited by investigators was “explicitly sourced to anonymous DHS officials” and was published “days after DHS publicly trumpeted its ‘bombshell’ report about the traffic stop.”
Leahy rejected that characterization, saying to Pappert, “That’s factually not true. They cite your April 21, 2025 article. I read through the entire article. You mention no anonymous sources in that article. Am I right about that?”
Pappert responded, “No. In fact, that article was based on research that we conducted, the three Tennessee Star Award winners, by the way, part of our award-winning research on the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case.”
“It explored the potential route that Abrego Garcia may have taken on his alleged human smuggling trip in 2022,” Pappert continued. “There was no quote from DHS. There was no anonymous source telling us for fact that this is the route he took. No, this was research. This was investigative journalism.”
Leahy further argued that the defense filing omitted the key development in The Star’s reporting, which was that the Biden-era FBI instructed THP officers to release Abrego Garcia following the 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee.
“They got it based upon two stories that we broke based upon first sources from the Tennessee Highway Patrol and then an actual statement on April 16, 2025, and then an actual statement confirming that from the Tennessee Highway Patrol on April 17,” Leahy said.
“The key point of this was, A, there was a traffic stop of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and B, the Biden-era FBI ordered the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia during the traffic stop,” he added. “Those are the important points. They didn’t mention that at all.”
Pappert also disputed any implication that The Star’s sourcing came from the Department of Homeland Security.
“Nowhere in either of those two stories could any reasonable person come away thinking that Tom Pappert or Michael Patrick Leahy or anybody at The Tennessee Star was given this information from the Department of Homeland Security,” Pappert said.
“In the second article…we had it confirmed directly from a Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesman saying that it was the Biden-era FBI,” he continued. “So the last time I checked, the Department of Homeland Security is not a subsidiary of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, ergo this is an utterly false claim without an iota of fact or even evidence to back it up.”
Leahy said The Star may seek answers directly from defense counsel regarding the statements made in the filing.
“I think we’re gonna have to ask him about that,” Leahy said, referring to Hecker. “What reasonable investigation, Sean Hecker, did you take to make these false claims about the reporting of The Tennessee Star and the role that it played in informing the public about the FBI ordering the Tennessee Highway Patrol something we reported on April 16, 2025, to not prosecute Kilmar Abrego Garcia and let him go free?”
Pappert said members of Abrego Garcia’s legal team were familiar with The Star and had communicated with him previously.
“We have gotten responses from Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, the immigration attorney on the case,” Pappert said. “They are well acquainted, let’s say, with The Tennessee Star within Abrego Garcia’s legal team.”
Leahy and Pappert also briefly addressed the status of the federal government’s anticipated appeal after U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw dismissed the human smuggling case against Abrego Garcia last Friday.
Pappert stated that federal prosecutors are preparing to challenge the ruling.
“Monday, we received confirmation from U.S. Attorney Braden Boucek saying that he is evaluating an appeal for this ruling,” Pappert said. “We heard last week from the DOJ that there will be an appeal.”
Speculating about the legal costs associated with Abrego Garcia’s defense, Pappert said he believes the total amount so far is “well north” of $20 million.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
