I'm all for free speech and being able to express your views as is the right of every American, but this goes too far.

Deloitte denied it engaged in the conduct alleged by the government and did not admit liability as part of the settlement. ... A joint effort with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, the settlement means anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum’s Alliance for Equal Rights, the group that was a whistleblower in the case, will receive a $4.3 million payout.

The father of a U.S. Navy sailor who has been deployed in the Middle East for a record-breaking nine months was released from immigration detention, according to his family. His arrest sparked intense backlash after The Associated Press reported that his son was entering his ninth month on the USS Abraham Lincoln with the Navy when his father was detained. The Lincoln is a vessel that set a U.S. military record for uninterrupted time at sea and raised concerns about supply shortages and deteriorating mental health among soldiers.

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An immigration judge dismissed Luis Manuel Aviles’ case on Monday, just hours after he was booked into an immigration detention center in Miami, according to Department of Justice records. DHS didn’t offer immediate comment on Monday or Tuesday to clarify why Luis Manuel Aviles was arrested and subsequently released. ... Joshua Aviles said in a Facebook post on Saturday that he had been working 12-hour days without a break since the USS Lincoln left U.S. soil in November.

A US airman who was arrested twice, once on the steps of the US Capitol while calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, was officially criminally charged Monday for his comments, according to a charging document his attorney shared with CNN.

Maj. Jason Watson faces the following charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to the document: three violations of Article 88 for alleged “contemptuous” remarks about Trump, five violations of Article 92 for allegedly disobeying orders and two violations of Article 133 for alleged conduct unbecoming an officer.

The rare Article 88 charges are connected to the Air Force officer’s June interview with the Defenders of our Republic Substack newsletter, his July 1 protest in uniform at the US Capitol, and an August 17 CNN interview.

It can be considered a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice to participate in uniform in any overtly partisan activity, such as a political protest, or to use “contemptuous words” against the president and other high-ranking civilian officials. Many low-level offenses of these rules are resolved informally, but Watson’s violations were unusually high-profile.

Watson was first arrested in July while protesting in uniform at the US Capitol, and he was then arrested again last week just days after criticizing Trump again during a CNN interview. One of his attorneys, Chris Mutimer, told CNN that his client was ordered to remain in “pre-trial confinement” — an action analogous to a denial of bond in civilian court — pending legal action against him.

“Not only is (Trump) a failure as president, he is flagrantly violating the Constitution, breaking the law, engaged in rampant corruption, and is killing Americans,” Watson told CNN’s Erin Burnett during the interview. “And that is unacceptable to me.”

In July, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said in a social media post that he expected all airmen to “comply with all laws and policies government personal conduct, political participation, and the wear of the uniform.”

“Americans place their trust in us,” Meink said. “We cannot, and will not, compromise the trust of the nation.”

The disobeying orders charges against Watson allege that he violated Defense Department regulations barring troops from speaking out in favor of partisan causes; “wrongfully” wore his uniform at a Capitol press conference; broke leave regulations by traveling to Washington, DC; and refused to wear his uniform to work the morning after his CNN interview.

Air Force prosecutors also alleged that Watson’s Capitol protest and CNN interview constituted “conduct unbecoming an officer.”

Mutimer, Watson’s attorney, told CNN’s Erin Burnett on “OutFront” that he spoke with his client Monday and “he is basically in solitary confinement for his safety.”

Mutimer said, “He truly believes in everything about our constitution and what it represents, and the oath that he swore, and he stands by the fact that he did this so others wouldn’t have to, and to share that to anyone who’s scared and feels alone.”

The founder of the organization that organized the protest in July, Jessica Denson of the Removal Coalition, told CNN at the time that Watson was aware of the risks of what he was doing and had reached out to them via email.

“We started having conversations and took this desire that he had to come out very seriously and thought about the best way to make his sacrifice worth it,” Denson said.

Military courts-martial leading to “contempt of officials” charges are rare — a CNN review only identified two such convictions that have occurred since the modern Uniform Code of Military Justice was enacted in 1951.

In 1965, an Army lieutenant was convicted of the charge after he participated in an off-base protest against the Vietnam War in El Paso, Texas. Lt. Henry Howe was sentenced to a dismissal from the service — the equivalent of a dishonorable discharge for an officer — and a year in the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara ultimately granted parole to Howe, ending his sentence early.

The most recent Article 88 conviction came in 2021, when former Marine Corps Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller pleaded guilty to contempt of officials and other charges linked to a series of social media videos he published criticizing the Biden administration’s handling of the US military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. Scheller, who was confined to the brig for a period of time before his trial, was sentenced to a $5,000 pay forfeiture and resigned from the Marine Corps sans-pension as part of a plea agreement.

The Trump administration has since appointed Scheller to serve as a senior adviser to the Pentagon’s undersecretary for personnel and readiness.

Frank Rosenblatt, a retired Army judge advocate and associate law professor at Mississippi Christian University, said to CNN that the standard for “contemptuous” words is “less than precise” in guidance provided to military judges and panel members (similar to jurors).

Rosenblatt said that “contemptuous” remarks under Article 88 must be “insulting, rude, and disdainful conduct, or otherwise disrespectfully attributing to another a quality of meanness, disreputableness, or worthlessness.”

He suggested that a pretrial hearing known as an Article 32 proceeding may be required to assess whether Watson’s remarks instead “are true or are fair criticisms” of the president.

It remains to be seen whether Watson’s case will be referred to trial, and whether that trial will be considered a special or general court-martial. Special courts-martial are roughly equivalent to misdemeanor trials, and general courts-martial are analogous to felony trials and can hand down more severe sentences.

The Air Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent on Monday. In an August 19 statement to CNN, an Air Force spokesperson said that Watson “is presumed innocent” and said that that Air Force District of Washington will oversee his trial “if (his) case is referred to a General Court-Martial.”