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DOJ Tag

Back in 2012, the Republican controlled House of Representatives filed a civil suit after the Department of Justice under then-Attorney General Eric Holder refused to hand over documents related to Operation Fast and Furious. President Barack Obama invoked executive privilege over the documents. Operation Fast and Furious allowed 2000 weapons, monitored by the ATF, to land in the hands of Mexican drug cartels. A cartel member used one of these guns to kill Border Patrol Brian Terry in December 2010. Another gun-running scheme led to the death of ICE Agent Jaime Zapata. Now as the Democrat controlled House fights for the unredacted report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, in which President Donald Trump invoked executive privilege, we received word the two sides settled their 2012 lawsuit.

Attorney General William Barr testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee over the way he handled Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report. We all know that the Democrats desperately wanted Mueller to find that President Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Russia and he obstructed justice. Mueller and his team found no collusion and punted on the obstruction charge.

Outgoing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is no friend to President Donald Trump, criticized President Barack Obama's administration over its handling of Russia hacking in 2016 and called out former FBI Director James Comey at the Public Servants Dinner of the Armenian Bar Association. From Fox News:
“The FBI disclosed classified evidence about the investigation to ranking legislators and their staffers,” he said. “Someone selectively leaked details to the news media. The FBI director [Comey] announced at a congressional hearing that there was a counterintelligence investigation that might result in criminal charges. Then the former FBI director alleged that the president pressured him to close the investigation, and the president denied that the conversation occurred.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has come out to bat for his boss Attorney General William Barr, who has faced criticism from people that he's trying to mislead people on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report. One thing that has annoyed me for awhile is the fact that people have called the four page summary "Barr's summary" when Rosenstein helped draft it.

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti with 36 counts that include "fraud, perjury, failure to pay taxes, embezzlement and other financial crimes." The DOJ wrote in its press release that Avenatti faces 10 counts of wire fraud, 19 tax-related charges, two counts of bank fraud, and four bankruptcy fraud charges, and embezzlement charges.

Attorney General William Barr began his testimony this morning in front of the House appropriations committee to discuss the Justice Department's budget and priorities, but Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report has come up. Barr told the members he asked Mueller if he wanted to review the four page summary, but declined. He also promised a redacted version within a week.

At 11:16AM, lawyer Michael Avenatti tweeted about his press conference tomorrow morning, which would cover a high school/prep school scandal that involves Nike. Only 46 minutes later, a CNN reporter tweeted that the Southern District of New York charged Avenatti for "attempting to extract more than $20M in payments from a publicly traded company by threatening to use his ability to garner publicity to inflict substantial financial & reputational harm on the company if his demands were not met." The DOJ also announced Avennati's arrest on a separate charge of federal bank fraud and wire fraud.

The Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee released pages of transcripts from their interview with ex-FBI attorney Lisa Page, which included admissions of the FBI beginning their Russian investigation with little evidence and an insurance policy in case now-President Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton. Page also confirmed the DOJ told the FBI not to charge Hillary in the email investigation.

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) wants two things concerning President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen: criminal referral for allegedly violating lobbying laws and supposedly committing perjury. Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan joined forces with Meadows on the second item. Both of these concerns came up when Cohen testified in front of the committee on Wednesday.

Back in May 2018, attorney Michael Avenatti published what looked like bank records related to President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen, who in turn demanded the court force Avenatti to reveal his source. Avenatti claimed that Cohen lacked evidence that he received or distributed any bank records. At the time, Cohen represented Stormy Daniels in her case against Trump. Well, now an IRS employee has been charged with providing Cohen's information to Avenatti.

We have been following the developments related to Canada's arrest of China’s Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, who faces extradition to the United States on suspicion she violated U.S. trade sanctions against Iran. The Department of Justice officially unsealed charges against the tech giant, the executive, and several subsidiaries, alleging the company stole trade secrets and misled banks about its business...as well as violating U.S. sanctions.

Attorney General William Barr said that he plans to tell the Senate during his confirmation hearings this week that he believes Special Counsel Robert Mueller should finish his Russia investigation. From NBC News:
"I believe it is vitally important that the Special Counsel be allowed to complete his investigation," Barr plans to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to prepared remarks obtained by NBC News.

Reports have come out today that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein plans to leave the Department of Justice (DOJ) after confirmation of the new attorney general. From ABC News:
Rosenstein has communicated to President Donald Trump and White House officials his plan to depart the administration around the time William Barr, Trump's nominee for attorney general, would take office following a Senate confirmation.