DOJ | Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion - Part 30
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The Department of Justice (DOJ) will not prosecute an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employee who had a hand in last year’s massive spill of toxic mine waste that contaminated Colorado's Animas River.
A year-long investigation by the EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that the unnamed employee may have broken federal water pollution law and may have made false statements to law enforcement officials regarding the Gold King Mine spill. But after the OIG referred its findings for potential prosecution, the United States Attorney for Colorado, headed by acting U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer, declined last week to pursue the charges, OIG spokesman Jeffrey Lagda said Wednesday. The decision by the Troyer’s office means that no one will be prosecuted as a result of the OIG’s investigation into the incident.

The decision by the FBI and the Department of Justice not to pursue charges against Hillary Clinton has thrown both federal agencies into a tailspin. James Comey and Loretta Lynch can spin all they want, but average people know they gave Hillary Clinton special treatment, including those average people who work beneath the directors. FOX News reports:
FBI, DOJ roiled by Comey, Lynch decision to let Clinton slide by on emails, says insider The decision to let Hillary Clinton off the hook for mishandling classified information has roiled the FBI and Department of Justice, with one person closely involved in the year-long probe telling FoxNews.com that career agents and attorneys on the case unanimously believed the Democratic presidential nominee should have been charged.

On the day before early voting began in Arizona, Obama's Department of Justice decided to pursue charges against Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a widely known opponent of illegal immigration. This is nothing short of stunning. The Associated Press reports, via NBC News:
Feds to Pursue Contempt Charges Against Sheriff Joe Arpaio Prosecutors said Tuesday they will charge Sheriff Joe Arpaio with criminal contempt-of-court for defying a judge's orders to end his signature immigration patrols in Arizona, exposing the 84-year-old lawman to the possibility of jail time and clouding his political future as he seeks a seventh term.

Remember the Bill Clinton, Loretta Lynch "tarmac summit" and its gross appearance of impropriety?  That gross appearance of impropriety cloud hangs heavy over Hillary and her emails yet again.  WikiLeaks has released, among the Podesta emails, a tidbit showing Team Hillary coordinating with the DOJ regarding an ongoing open records lawsuit regarding Hillary's email scandal. The Hill reports:
An official within Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign appeared to have discussions with sources inside the Department of Justice (DOJ) about ongoing open records lawsuits regarding the former secretary of State’s emails, according to an email released on Tuesday. The information about an upcoming court event would have been public knowledge and open for all to attend. And it’s unclear whether the people Fallon spoke to at the Justice Department were officials who regularly communicate with the public.

America's police are facing unprecedented scrutiny amid relentless criticism; it has become so intense that the Wall Street Journal calls it a "crisis" and calls are made to "overhaul" our law enforcement system.  One solution, offered by the abhorrent Al Sharpton, is to nationalize America's police forces and to place them under the purview of the Justice Department. Enter the United States Department of Justice.  The DOJ released a report on "Advancing Diversity in Law Enforcement" (embedded below), and it includes some rather . . . interesting proposals. Among them, suggestions that criminal background checks are inherently racist and allowances should be made to convicted criminals wishing to join a police department in certain circumstances.

It. Never. Ends. Judicial Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch after the committee discovered that a few "side agreements" the FBI gave Hillary Clinton aides during its email investigation included destroying their laptops. Goodlatte asked for in camera reviews of these "side agreements" after the committee discovered them while reviewing the immunity agreements the DOJ gave to a few people, including aides Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson.

In 2013, Florida's Attorney General, Pam Bondi, solicited a $25,000 donation from the Trump Foundation.  Coincidentally, this was the same period during which Bondi's office was purportedly investigating Trump University and determining whether or not to join New York's suit against Trump U.  Democrats jumped at the chance to point fingers and make accusations of pay-to-play / influence peddling. The Tampa Bay Times reports:
"I never, nor was my office, investigating him. Never. I would never lie. I would never take money. I've been obviously devastated over this," Bondi said in a voicemail message to a Times/Herald reporter. In a separate statement, Bondi called Monday's Associated Press report on the Trump University issue "misleading," adding: "No one in my office ever opened an investigation of Trump University, nor was there a basis for doing so." The AP account said Bondi "nixed" suing Trump, but it did not say that she had opened an investigation.

The Department of Justice has released a transgender training video for police, giving them guidance on how to handle situations they may come across with transgender people. The DOJ said:
“Transgender Americans, like all Americans, deserve to be treated with courtesy and respect by law enforcement officers,” said Acting Director Paul Monteiro of CRS [DOJ Community Relations Service]. “The information provided in this video will help strengthen the relationship between police and the transgender community, allowing for more effective investigations and safer encounters for officers and citizens alike.”

The State Department has confirmed the U.S. used the $400 million payment to Iran as leverage for the prisoners they released in January. From The New York Post:
State Department spokesman John Kirby was asked at Thursday’s press briefing: “In basic English, you’re saying you wouldn’t give them $400 million in cash until the prisoners were released, correct?” “That’s correct,” Kirby replied.

According to The Daily Caller and CNN, the FBI and several U.S. Attorney offices have opened an investigation into the Clinton Foundation even though the Department of Justice objected to one. The officials met several months ago about the possibility of a case:
At the time, three field offices were in agreement an investigation should be launched after the FBI received notification from a bank of suspicious activity from a foreigner who had donated to the Clinton Foundation, according to the official.

The Department of Justice did not want the Obama administration to send $400 million as Iran released four Americans due to the image it may portray. The administration struck down the request:
The timing and manner of the payment raised alarms at the Justice Department, according to those familiar with the discussions. “People knew what it was going to look like, and there was concern the Iranians probably did consider it a ransom payment,’’ said one of the people.

FBI Director James Comey delivered the verdict on Hillary Clinton today - not guilty by reason of ... of ... of .... There are a lot of details on why this was a miscarriage of justice. The best starting place is Andy McCarthy's column at National Review, FBI Rewrites Federal Law to Let Hillary Off the Hook. But those are mere details. Important details, critical details, details worth writing about -- but not the big picture. Noah Rothman at Commentary wrote:
No amount of cynicism could have prepared Americans for what they witnessed on Tuesday morning, and 2016 has not been short on cynicism.
Getting closer. The best truly big picture view I saw was from Karol Markowicz, a columnist for the NY Post and an ex-Soviet who moved the the United States as a child. In response to the Comey verdict, Markowicz tweeted out a statement as to how others who came from the USSR expected no other result:

The FBI kept in Omar Mateen's pledge to the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in the 911 transcript, but omitted the terrorist group's name. Mateen called 911 before he murdered 49 people at Pulse, a popular gay club in Orlando, FL. From the FBI news release:
Orlando Police Dispatcher (OD) Shooter (OM) OD: Emergency 911, this is being recorded. OM: In the name of God the Merciful, the beneficial [in Arabic] OD: What? OM: Praise be to God, and prayers as well as peace be upon the prophet of God [in Arabic]. I let you know, I’m in Orlando and I did the shootings. OD: What’s your name? OM: My name is I pledge of allegiance to [omitted]. OD: Ok, What’s your name? OM: I pledge allegiance to [omitted] may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of [omitted]. OD: Alright, where are you at? OM: In Orlando. OD: Where in Orlando? [End of call.]

I opposed the confirmation of Loretta Lynch to be Attorney General because her confirmation hearing testimony led me to believe that she would be too political in her handling of the job, just as Eric Holder had been. On the Sunday morning shows today Lynch demonstrated, once again, a troubling politicization of the function of the Department of Justice. Lynch announced that the audio of the 911 calls from Orlando terrorist Omar Mateen will not be released, and the transcripts will remove the portion where he pledged allegiance to ISIS. Real Clear Politics reports, Lynch: "Partial Transcript" Of Orlando 911 Calls Will Have References To Islamic Terrorism RemovedShare Video:

We've been covering the Hillary Clinton email scandal here at LI, and now it seems that the Obama administration is actively working to prevent her deposition. The Hill reports:
The Obama administration is trying to prevent former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from being deposed in an ongoing open records case connected to her use of a private email server. Late Thursday evening, the Justice Department filed a court motion opposing the Clinton deposition request from conservative legal watchdog Judicial Watch, claiming that the organization was trying to dramatically expand the scope of the lawsuit.
Judicial Watch is “seeking instead to transform these proceedings into a wide-ranging inquiry into matters beyond the scope of the court’s order and unrelated to the FOIA request at issue in this case,” government lawyers wrote in their filing, referring to the Freedom of Information Act. The Hill continues:
The lawyers wrote that the request to interview Clinton “is wholly inappropriate” before depositions are finished in a separate case also concerning the email server.

Virginia's Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe is in a bit of hot water. Monday, CNN was the first to report McAuliffe was under the FBI and Justice Department microscope. At the center of the investigation -- whether certain donations to his election campaign were extra-legal. McAuliffe served as a board member for former President Clinton's Clinton Global Initiative. His time there is also part of the federal investigation.

National Review's David French suggests that states should reject federal funding if they wish to remain free from executive actions such as the Obama administration's directive on school bathrooms [emphasis mine]:
Without an act of Congress, without a ruling from the Supreme Court, and without even going through the motions of the regulatory rule-making process, the administration issued a letter drafting every single public educational institution in the country to implement the extreme edge of the sexual revolution... ...We must fix our education system or slowly but surely lose our culture. Indeed, virtually every other conservative endeavor — whether it’s winning elections, transforming media, or infiltrating pop culture — will fail if the entire edifice of public education is arrayed against us. The system, however, can’t be reformed from within: It’s stacked top-to-bottom with progressive activists even in red states.

Following through with a threat made last week, a group of hackers released data pertaining to as many as 30,000 federal government employees. Hacktivists released the information in two waves via a Twitter account by the name of @DotGovs. The data was posted on the encrypted text-sharing website by the name of Cryptobank. The first release took place place shortly after kickoff on Super Bowl Sunday and included a directory of names, job titles, and contact information of 9,355 employees of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The second directory was released on Monday and contained subsequent information on 20,000 employees of the FBI. This is more than half of FBI personnel. Tweets from the @DotGovs account were filled with pro-Palestine hashtags. One tweet was directed towards the U. S., saying the hackers would not stop "until they cut relations with Israel."