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DOJ Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 10, 2017 26 Comments
People who tell the truth don't need to remember which story to tell. Loretta Lynch apparently needed to remember which story to tell about her secret tarmac meeting with Bill Clinton, whose wife was under investigation for possible violations of national security laws relating to handling of classified information. Lynch was the only DOJ official present with Clinton. (Lynch's husband also apparently was on the plane, though it's unclear whether he participated in all of the conversation.) That meeting preceded by just a few days the FBI clearing Hillary Clinton.

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 07, 2017 35 Comments
While his city is spiraling out of control, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice over threats to cut funding to sanctuary cities. The Chicago Tribune reported:
“Chicago will not let our police officers become political pawns in a debate,” Emanuel said. “Chicago will not let our residents have their fundamental rights isolated and violated. And Chicago will never relinquish our status as a welcoming city.”

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on August 05, 2017 48 Comments
When former President Bill Clinton met with then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch at an Arizona airport, the gross impropriety of the "tarmac summit" was immediately evident.  Clinton's wife and 2016 Democrat presidential hopeful was then under FBI investigation for her server and email scandals.  The impropriety was pooh-poohed away by a defensive AG, a disinterested media, a complicit FBI, and the corrupt Clinton clan. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) has released 413 pages of memos obtained from the DOJ that show the "tarmac summit" was planned and that the media was working with the Obama-Lynch DOJ to downplay and bury the entire incident.

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 04, 2017 44 Comments
Earlier today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions held a press conference to announce that four people face charges for leaking classified information while other investigations have intensified. From Fox News:
Session [sic] said criminals who have leaked classified information are “being investigated and will be prosecuted.” He added that four people have already been charged with leaking classified material and related counts, and investigations have tripled.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 21, 2017 1 Comment
The FBI and Dutch authorities have successfully shut down AlphaBay and Hansa, two of the largest marketplaces on the dark web, which sold drugs, firearms, malware, and forged documents. AlphaBay, which the FBI seized, "allegedly serviced some 200,000 users and 40,000 vendors." It disappeared earlier this month with Attorney General Jeff Sessions describing the seizure as "one of the most important criminal investigations of the year."

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 21, 2017 12 Comments
The Department of Justice decided to eliminate the $3 million fine that Harley-Davidson received from President Barack Obama's administration to fight pollution. The money was supposed to go "to an American Lung Association project promoting cleaner-burning cook stoves." The company reached an agreement with the government last August to pay that fine along with a $12 million fine for the "manufacture and sale of around 340,000 illegal motorcycle tuners."

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 19, 2017 41 Comments
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has kept his word. The Department of Justice has expanded its asset forfeiture program that will allow authorities to seize a citizen's property even if they have not been charged with a crime. The DOJ's program can even apply in the fourteen states that have banned civil asset forfeiture without a criminal conviction.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 18, 2017 23 Comments
Just as states have finally taken steps to stop civil asset forfeiture, Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants to take the federal government a few steps back. In a speech to the National District Attorneys Association, Sessions announced that this week the Department of Justice hopes to issue "policies to increase forfeitures."

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on June 09, 2017 39 Comments
Under Eric Holder, the DOJ established a scheme by which the Executive could bypass Congress' power of the purse and funnel money to Obama's political allies. Companies targeted by the DOJ would agree to settlements, and part of the financial settlement was then ordered to be paid to left-wing interest groups such as La Raza. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has a put a stop to this "slush fund." Writing in 2015, the Wall Street Journal explained the slush fund scheme.
Republicans talk often about using the “power of the purse” to rein in a lawless Obama administration. If they mean it, they ought to use their year-end spending bill to stop a textbook case of outrageous executive overreach.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 08, 2017 24 Comments
The House Oversight Committee lashed out at former President  Obama and former Attorney General Eric Holder for obstruction over the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. A cartel member used a gun from the ATF and DOJ's Operation Fast and Furious to kill Terry in December 2010. From Fox News:
The House Oversight Committee also Wednesday released a scathing, nearly 300-page report that found Holder’s Justice Department tried to hide the facts from the loved ones of slain Border Patrol Brian Terry – seeing his family as more of a “nuisance” than one deserving straight answers – and slamming Obama's assertion of executive privilege to deny Congress access to records pertaining to Fast and Furious.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on May 27, 2017 20 Comments
In a move that is sure to go uncelebrated on the regressive left and to leave many Trump supporters scratching their heads, the State Department has lifted the limit on the number of refugees admitted to the U. S.   This change will result in almost twice as many refugees flooding into our country each day. It is not clear at this time if President Trump is aware of or has approved this change of policy, though it seems highly unlikely he would be unaware of such a substantive change.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 17, 2017 30 Comments
The Department of Justice has appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller III as special counsel to its investigation into possible Russian interference in our presidential election. The Wall Street Journal reported:
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the appointment because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from any investigation related to the 2016 race. Mr. Rosenstein said in a statement that “I determined that it is in the public interest for me to exercise my authority and appoint a Special Counsel to assume responsibility of this matter.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 12, 2017 10 Comments
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has issued a memo to all 94 U.S. attorneys to advise them of a new charging and sentencing policy within the Department of Justice. This policy demands that the federal prosecutors "charge defendants with the most serious crime possible." He wrote:
First, it is a core principle that prosecutors should charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense. " This policy affirms our responsibility to enforce the law, is moral and just, and produces consistency. This policy utilizes the tools Congress has given us. By definition, the most serious offenses are those that carry the most substantial guidelines sentence, including mandatory minimum sentences.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 11, 2017 19 Comments
I was a guest on the Crane Durham Nothing But Truth  radio show on Wednesday night, May 10, 2017, talking about the firing of James Comey the prior Tuesday. My interview is almost 30 minutes, and is embedded at the bottom of this post. In the day since the interview there have been further developments which support many of the points I made. In particular, Donald Trump has been interviewed on NBC and focused heavily on Comey's media presence: "He’s a showboat, he’s a grandstander." That's a point I made in the interview in similar (but not identical) terms.

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 24, 2017 17 Comments
The Iranian Nuclear Deal included many pieces, but one of the least reported items of the deal has been the prisoner swap. Iran agreed to release four Americans while we handed over seven prisoners and dropped charges and investigations against 14 others. Professor Jacobson profiled these prisoners after the exchange occurred. But a Politico investigation has revealed the anger and frustration within former President Barack Obama's administration over the release of these men:
“They didn’t just dismiss a bunch of innocent business guys,” said one former federal law enforcement supervisor centrally involved in the hunt for Iranian arms traffickers and nuclear smugglers. “And then they didn’t give a full story of it.”

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 23, 2017 3 Comments
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions made a stop in my hometown on Friday. During the visit, he urged cities and other government jurisdictions with sanctuary policies to reconsider and work with federal law enforcement to identify criminals who should be deported.

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 21, 2017 13 Comments
The House Intelligence Committee has invited some former President Barack Obama's administration officials to testify in a closed hearing over the panel's investigation into possible Russian interference in our presidential election. The committee included former acting Attorney General Sally Yates who President Donald Trump fired when she instructed Department of Justice "lawyers not to make legal arguments defending" Trump's executive order on immigration back in January.

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 21, 2017 14 Comments
Sources have disclosed to the media that federal prosecutors have started to consider pressing changes against Julian Assange and other members of WikiLeaks. The case against the whistleblowing organization spans all the way back to 2010 when it published "diplomatic cables and military documents" to present day when it published the CIA's hacking operations in March. The other day, officials told CBS News that the FBI and CIA have started an investigation into those leaks in March.
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