DOJ Announces Twin Cities Violent Crimes Task Force In Response to ‘Extraordinary Spike’ in Violence

The Department of Justice announced the formation of a new Twin Cities Violent Crimes Task Force Wednesday in response to an “extraordinary spike in gun violence and violent crimes.”

Erica MacDonald, U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, said the task force will bring together federal and state resources to assist local law enforcement in investigating, arresting, and prosecuting individuals responsible for gun violence.

Read More

Three More Charged with Arson in Connection to Twin Cities Riots

Three more Minnesotans are facing federal arson charges in connection to the late May riots in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Both Matthew Scott White, 31, and Mohamed Hussein Abdi, 19, were arrested on June 29 and charged with one count of arson.

Read More

Three More Charged with Arson in Connection to Twin Cities Riots

Three more Minnesotans are facing federal arson charges in connection to the late May riots in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Both Matthew Scott White, 31, and Mohamed Hussein Abdi, 19, were arrested on June 29 and charged with one count of arson.

Read More

State Senators to Hold Oversight Hearings on Handling of Minneapolis Riots, Ask DOJ to Investigate Police

Three Republican state senators called on U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr and the Department of Justice to investigate the Minneapolis Police Department and its response to recent unrest in the city.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-East Gull Lake) announced plans to hold a series of legislative oversight hearings beginning July 1 on state and local responses to the riots.

Read More

ANALYSIS: DOJ Investigators Involved in Antitrust Probe Don’t Appear to be Scrutinizing Claims of Bias in Google’s Search

by Peter Hasson and Chris White   Department of Justice investigators who are conducting an antitrust probe targeting Google do not appear to be scrutinizing claims that the tech giant manipulates its search function, leaks about the probe and a source familiar with it indicate. Google critics argue that Google…

Read More

Judge Sullivan Defends Delay, Says Justice Department Reversal in Flynn Case ‘Unusual’

A federal judge on Monday defended his decision not to quickly approve the Justice Department’s request to dismiss its own criminal case against former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn, saying that the department’s reversal was unusual and he wanted to consider the request carefully before ruling on it.

Read More

Justice Department Says George Floyd Investigation ‘Top Priority,’ Trump Briefed

The U.S. Department of Justice promised a “robust criminal investigation” into the death of George Floyd in a statement released Thursday.

A joint statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, and the FBI’s Minneapolis Field Office said the investigation into the fatal Monday night incident is “a top priority.”

Read More

Immigration Hearings Across US Postponed Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

The Department of Justice has ordered all initial immigration courtroom hearings in the month ahead to be postponed, following outcry from an unlikely coalition of immigration prosecutors, attorneys, and judges.

In a public statement issued on Twitter, the Justice Department’s Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) announced late Sunday night that all master calendar hearings scheduled between Monday and April 10 would be put on hold. The announcement marked one of the latest decisions to halt procedures due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

Read More

Commentary: Will We Have a Justice Department or a ‘Just Us’ Department?

The news Friday that the Department of Justice had decided not to charge former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe got me thinking once again about the legend chiseled into the façade of the Supreme Court: “Equal Justice Under Law.”

Read More

Minnesota Woman Facing Federal Charges for Faking Robberies to Obtain U-Visas for Illegal Immigrants

An Eden Prairie woman has been sentenced to three years of probation and faces a federal indictment for faking armed robberies in order to obtain U visas for illegal immigrants.

Read More

Commentary: With Mike Flynn, the Bad Guys Won and Made a Mockery the Justice System

America’s eyes turned to Iraq and Iran over the past few days as President Trump made a bold decision to take out one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists and faced down the Iranian government and their proxies at MSNBC, CNN, the Democratic Congress and Hollywood.

Read More

What to Expect in the Justice Department’s FISA Report

Michael Horowitz

The Justice Department’s watchdog will release a much-anticipated report Monday scrutinizing the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign in 2016.

Republicans have eagerly awaited the report, believing it will reveal that the FBI abused the foreign surveillance court process in order to spy on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Democrats hope the report will show that the FBI had a sound basis to investigate the Trump campaign.

Read More

Commentary: Christopher Wray Has Some Explaining to Do

Article 35 of the constitution of the People’s Republic of China guarantees “freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, and of demonstration.” Article 36 guarantees religious freedom including the right to believe in any religion. Article 37 prohibits illegal arrests and unlawful searches of Chinese citizens. Article 40 guarantees a Chinese citizen’s right to privacy of correspondence. Article 126 guarantees judicial independence without interference by any administrative organ, public organization, or individual.

Read More

DOJ Inspector General Has Complete FISA Abuse Probe, Says Top House Republican

The Justice Department’s inspector general told Attorney General William Barr on Friday that he completed his investigation into possible FBI abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act during the Trump-Russia probe, according to the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.

Read More

House Republicans Want Nellie Ohr’s Oppo Research of Trump’s Family: Report

by Chuck Ross   House Republicans are reportedly seeking documents from former Fusion GPS contractor Nellie Ohr related to her research into President Donald Trump’s family, including his wife and children. During a congressional interview Oct. 19, 2018, Ohr said while she worked for Fusion GPS, the firm behind the infamous Steele…

Read More

Decision to Vacate DOJ’s Wire Act Reinterpretation a Big Win for Online Poker

by Johnny Kampis   A U.S. District Court ruling that said the Wire Act only applies to sports betting not only staves off a Department of Justice effort to end interstate online poker efforts,  it will also help facilitate the growth of poker gaming across the country. Earlier this month, U.S.…

Read More

Report: Trump’s DOJ Prepares an Antitrust Investigation into Google’s Business Practice

by Chris White   The Department of Justice is preparing an antitrust probe against Google’s search engine and business model, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday night, citing people familiar with the issue. It would be the first such investigation since the Federal Trade Commission conducted a probe of Google…

Read More

Commentary: The FISA Footnote that Could Doom Collusion Hoaxsters

James Comey, Andrew McCabe

by Julie Kelly   It is the controversial footnote to the most infamous application in American political history: The application submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for approval to wiretap Trump campaign aide Carter Page. And it could lead to the downfall of the Trump-Russia collusion schemers, as it…

Read More

William Barr Made a Major Disclosure in His Senate Hearing That Hardly Anyone Noticed

by Chuck Ross   In a little-noticed exchange during his Senate hearing Wednesday, Attorney General William Barr made a surprising disclosure that could allow the public and press to obtain sensitive details about the origins of the Trump-Russia probe. During a back-and-forth with Democratic Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, Barr identified…

Read More

Long-Awaited Resignation of Deputy AG Rosenstein Finalized, May 11 Last Day

Reuters   U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller in May 2017 to investigate links between the Russian government and President Donald Trump’s campaign, said on Monday he was resigning from his post. Rosenstein’s departure, effective May 11, was not a surprise. He had been…

Read More

Committee on Foreign Investment May Not Be Able to Handle Its Exploding Caseload

by Riley Walters   The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is often compared to a black box. Investors may be aware of what it does, but few know what really goes on inside. The nine members of the committee, drawn from various federal agencies, are in charge of…

Read More

Commentary: Pursue Those Indictments!

by Roger Kimball   Last month, Chris Buskirk wrote a column for the Spectator USA describing Representative Devin Nunes as “a hero of the Republic.” It was well-deserved praise. Nunes, a Republican Congressman from a rural district in California was, until January, chairman of the House Permanent Special Committee on Intelligence (he…

Read More

Trump: FBI and DOJ to Review Smollett Case

President Donald Trump says the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice will review the case of Jussie Smollett, after Chicago police dropped charges against the television actor who was accused of falsely reporting being a target of a hate crime. Writing on Twitter, Trump called the case “outrageous”…

Read More

Commentary: Eight Historic Cases That Show the FBI and CIA Were Out of Control Long Before Russiagate

by Jon Miltimore and Carey Wedler   Conservatives tend to have two bad habits. First, they’re prone to viewing the past through a nostalgic lens. Second, they tend to instinctively give law enforcement the benefit of the doubt. These tendencies help explain why conservatives for decades have been able to…

Read More

Commentary: A Tight and Tangled ‘Collusion’ Web

by Roger Kimball   Most people reading this will know Sir Walter Scott’s famous couplet (from the narrative poem Marmion): Oh, what a tangled web we weave When first we practise to deceive! Less well known, but undeservedly so, is the excellent completing couplet by J. R. Pope, published under the…

Read More

Whitaker, Former Acting US Attorney General, Leaves Justice Dept.

Matthew Whitaker, whose brief tenure as acting U.S. attorney general was marred by accusations he might try to interfere in a probe of President Donald Trump’s campaign, left his Justice Department job over the weekend, a department spokeswoman confirmed on Monday. Whitaker’s last day at the department was on Saturday,…

Read More

Confirmed: William Barr Is Now the Attorney General of the United States

by Kevin Daley   The Senate confirmed William Barr as the new attorney general Thursday afternoon, returning Barr for a second tour atop the Department of Justice. The confirmation vote largely followed party lines — GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voted against confirmation given Barr’s views on domestic surveillance…

Read More

Commentary: Sharyl Attkisson Continues to Fight Bad Actors at Department of Justice

by CHQ Staff   We Americans like to believe we live in a free country with the right to use the justice system to ensure that government abuses are stopped or redressed. Award-winning investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson has learned that’s far from the truth, and it’s an awful thing to…

Read More

Dr. Carol M. Swain Commentary: Trump’s Heroic Efforts to Fulfill His ‘Make America Great Again’ Promises

by Dr. Carol M. Swain   With President Donald Trump about to begin his third year in office, it’s fitting to discuss what he has accomplished since his election. Although the news is currently dominated by the federal government shutdown and the conflict between Trump and Democratic leaders over the…

Read More

AG Nominee Lambasted Mueller Tactics in Private Memo to Rosenstein

by Kevin Daley   Attorney General nominee William Barr sent a memo to the Department of Justice criticizing special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, particularly those aspects of the probe relating to obstruction of justice in June. The unsolicited document, whose existence was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, argues…

Read More

Is the Mueller Special Counsel Probe All About Protecting Rod Rosenstein’s Reputation?

by Robert Romano   The key facts to remember in the whole investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, not into Russian interference in the election, but into the firing of former FBI Director James Comey, are these: 1) Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein recommended to Attorney General Jeff Sessions that Comey…

Read More

Gowdy: Russia Docs Are ‘Embarrassing’ For John Brennan, DOJ And FBI

by Chuck Ross   South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy said the information in a batch of Russia investigation documents that President Donald Trump was considering for declassification will prove “embarrassing” for the Department of Justice, FBI and former CIA Director John Brennan. Gowdy made the remarks in an interview…

Read More

Steve Scalise Supports Impeachment Of Rod Rosenstein: ‘Has Not Done His Job’

Steve Scalise

by Nick Givas   Republican Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana threw his support behind the GOP effort to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Fox News Thursday. Scalise praised the efforts of Republican Reps. Devin Nunes of California, Jim Jordan of Ohio and Mark Meadows of North Carolina for trying…

Read More

House Republicans Move to Impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein

Rod Rosenstein

Eleven House Republicans have introduced articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference and President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. The Republicans who introduced the resolution have criticized Rosenstein for not being responsive enough to their requests for documents…

Read More

President Of Judicial Watch Tom Fitton Trashes DOJ And FBI For Abusing ‘Awesome Powers’ Without Accountability

Tom Fitton

by Nick Givas   Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton trashed the FBI and Department of Justice for abuse of power on “Fox & Friends First” Tuesday and said they are not being held accountable for their actions. Fitton’s group sued under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain surveillance warrant documents related…

Read More

FBI Official Peter Strzok Testifies About Anti-Trump Text Messages

Peter Strzok

by Masood Farivar   A top FBI official at the center of controversy over alleged political bias at the bureau said on Thursday that his private views about President Donald Trump did not influence his actions as the lead investigator on the Hillary Clinton email investigation team. Testifying publicly for the…

Read More

SHOCK: DOJ Agrees Not To Prosecute Imran Awan For House Cybersecurity and Theft, But Questions Remain

Imran Awan - House IT scandal

by Luke Rosiak   An assistant US attorney said Tuesday he would not prosecute Imran Awan, a former systems administrator for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other Democrats, for any crimes on Capitol Hill in a plea agreement that had him plead guilty to one count of bank fraud. Only…

Read More