Commentary: Crafting a New Image for Justice in America

American flag behind barbed wire and fence

Were I of a more entrepreneurial bent, I might go into the statuary business. I would specialize in those statues of “Justice” one sees, or used to see, decorating the façades of courthouses. The old-fashioned, now deprecated models featured a berobed and blindfolded female figure holding aloft a pair of scales. The symbology, now on its way to the graveyard of discarded ideas, was simple but noble.  Justice was blindfolded because she was no respecter of persons.  Neither rank nor party nor sex nor ethnic origin would figure into her calculation of guilt or innocence.  She held scales to emphasize her devotion to impartiality.

Since those ideals have long since been superseded, my thought was to go into business producing new statues of Justice.  The figure could still be female, or at least identify as female, but it should probably be obese and sport dreadlocks. She—or “she”—should not be wearing a robe but rather a T-shirt and dungarees. Instead of a blindfold, this new figure of justice would sport a pride-flag pin and a WinBlue membership card. She would still brandish scales, but one side would be loaded down with affidavits, subpoenas, and indictments.

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Former Arizona Department of Public Safety Director Frank Milstead Enters Race for Maricopa County Sheriff

Frank Milstead

The Republican primary for Maricopa County Sheriff just became a lot more interesting, with a second heavy-hitter entering the race, former Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Frank Milstead. Jerry Sheridan, who served as chief deputy under former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, is already in the race, along with several lesser known candidates. Current Democratic Sheriff Paul Penzone is not running for reelection. 

Milstead told The Arizona Sun Times that the reason he is running is because as a police officer, he saw how bad the crime is in Maricopa County and felt he needed to do something about it. “I live by the rule that if I’m going to complain about something, I’d better step up and do something about it,” he said.

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Tennessee Secretary of State Says State Democrat Lawmakers are Trying to ‘Weaponize’ DOJ

TN DOJ

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett stated that state Democrat lawmakers are trying to “weaponize” the United States Department of Justice against the state.

“Tennesseans should not be surprised that some want to weaponize the Department of Justice against the state ranked number one in election integrity,” Hargett said in the statement obtained by The Tennessee Star on Friday.

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DOJ Announces ‘Disruption’ of Hacking Group That Targeted Fulton County, Georgia

Merrick Garland

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday announced the “disruption” of a Russia-based hacking and ransomware group that targeted Fulton County last month as the result of a joint operation that involved both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and “international law enforcement partners in London” to seize the group’s infrastructure.

In its press release, the DOJ announced “the disruption of the LockBit ransomware group, one of the most active ransomware groups in the world,” which came as the result of “seizing numerous public-facing websites used by LockBit to connect to the organization’s infrastructure and seizing control of servers used by LockBit administrators.”

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Biden DOJ Sues Tennessee over Enforcement of Law with Higher Penalties for Prostitutes with HIV

Kristen Clarke

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday launched a lawsuit against Tennessee over the enforcement of a 1991 law that increases prostitution penalties for individuals who knowingly engage in the illegal practice while testing positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

According to a press release by the DOJ, Tennessee’s law prohibiting aggravated prostitution violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by enforcing legislation “against people living with” HIV, citing their December letter that warned of forthcoming litigation unless Tennessee stopped enforcing its law.

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DOJ Advised DC Medical Examiner to Dispose of Aborted Baby Bodies, Lawyer Says

The Department of Justice reportedly advised the Washington, D.C. Medical Examiner to discard the remains of aborted preemie-sized babies, according to an attorney with the Thomas More Society.

Those baby remains are from an abortion clinic in Foggy Bottom, a neighborhood of D.C. Pro-life activists believe the baby bodies are evidence that a D.C. abortionist was performing illegal abortions, but for two years now, D.C. authorities have stonewalled any questions about the babies’ deaths.

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Pro-Life Activists Face 11 Years in Prison After Jury Hands Down Guilty Verdict

Six pro-life activists were found guilty of blocking access to an abortion clinic on Tuesday and could face a sentence of up to 11 years in prison, according to a press release from the Thomas More Society.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged 11 pro-life activists in October 2022 with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which “prohibits threats of force, obstruction and property damage intended to interfere with reproductive health care services,” for blocking the entrance of an abortion clinic in March 2021. A jury ruled that the six defendants were guilty after a six-day trial at the Fred D. Thompson U.S. Courthouse in Nashville, Tennessee, according to the press release.

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Commentary: The Beltway Judge Hearing Trump Cases and Her Anti-Trump, Anti-Kavanaugh Husband

Washington glitterati assembled at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in October to celebrate federal employees making a difference in government. Hosted by CNN anchor Kate Bolduan, the black-tie affair featured in-person appearances by top Biden White House officials including Chief of Staff Jeffrey Zients, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack.

Midway through the evening’s festivities, Max Stier, president of the group sponsoring the event – the Partnership for Public Service, a $24 million nonprofit based in Washington that recruits individuals to work in the civil service – took the stage to thank his high-profile guests. “Great leaders are the heart and soul of effective organizations,” Stier said, “which is why I am so thankful to see so many of our government’s amazing leaders here tonight.”

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Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes Frustrated Biden Justice Department Won’t Prosecute ‘Threats Against Election Administrators’

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) expressed “frustration” with the Biden administration during a Monday interview with Rolling Stone in which he claimed Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice should be targeting those who make “threats” to election workers and administrators.

Fontes called Garland a “cautious” person and asserted “he is being far too cautious here, when it comes to these investigations and prosecutions of threats against election administrators and election workers.”

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Biden DOJ Wants Former Trump Advisor Peter Navarro to Spend Six Months in Jail

Peter Navarro

The Department of Justice (DOJ) argued Thursday that Peter Navarro, previously a trade advisor to former President Donald Trump, should face six months in jail and pay $200,000 for failing to comply with a Jan. 6 select committee subpoena.

Prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo Thursday that Navarro “exacerbated” the “assault” on the rule of law that occurred on Jan. 6 by flouting the subpoena, stating that his “bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt deserves severe punishment.” Navarro was indicted on contempt of Congress charges in June 2022 after he declined to testify during his deposition and did not produce the documents requested by the select committee.

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DOJ Supreme Court Filing Reveals Details Inconsistent with DHS Narrative Blaming Texas for Migrant Drownings

CBP Help

A new Supreme Court filing by the Department of Justice (DOJ) raises new questions that could help exonerate the Texas Military Department after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) English) accuse the state agency of allowing the deaths of three migrants who drowned in Shelby Park last week.

Both the White House and Biden’s Department of Homeland Security blamed state officials after three migrants, including two children, drowned in the Shelby Park area.

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Prosecutor on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Team Shut Down FBI Investigation into the Clinton Foundation in 2016

Clinton Foundation

A top prosecutor on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team recommended that the FBI shut down an investigation into the Clinton Foundation in 2016, despite ample evidence of suspicious activity related to hundreds of thousands of dollars in foreign transactions, Fox News reported.

In his May 2023 report on the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation, Special Counsel John Durham identified Ray Hulser, the former chief of the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section (PIN), as the official who “declined prosecution” of the Clinton Foundation. Hulser now serves on Smith’s team currently prosecuting former President Donald Trump for alleged crimes related to January 6.

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Judges Skeptical that HHS Won’t Punish Religious Doctors for Refusing ‘Gender Affirming Care’

If the Biden administration doesn’t intend to punish medical professionals for refusing to participate in so-called gender affirming care, from using patients’ preferred pronouns to referring them for castration, it’s certainly not acting like it.

That was the impression of at least two of three judges on a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel hearing a pre-enforcement challenge to the feds’ reinterpretation of the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition on sex discrimination in Section 1557 as covering gender identity as well.

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Former Trump DOJ Official Jeffrey Clark Appeals Denial of Removal of Bar Disciplinary Trial to Federal Court

Jeffrey Clark, an attorney who served at high levels of the Department of Justice under former President Donald Trump, is undergoing both prosecution and bar disciplinary proceedings for his slight involvement with the 2020 election challenges. The District of Columbia Bar, its disciplinary panel, and the federal trial court judge refused to let Clark remove the disciplinary proceedings to federal court, despite the fact there is a federal law providing for removal when the actions in question involve a federal official, so Clark filed an appeal with the D.C. Court of Appeals on Thursday.

Clark is being disciplined and prosecuted for drafting a letter to Georgia election officials after the 2020 election advising them of options the Georgia Legislature could take to address the concerns about election illegalities. The letter was never sent or even circulated. 

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New Evidences Shows Monthly Payments to President Biden from Hunter Biden’s Business

House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., released evidence Monday of regular monthly payments from one of Hunter Biden’s business entities to his father, President Joe Biden.

Comer released bank records obtained via subpoena that allegedly show direct monthly payments from one of Hunter Biden’s business entities, Owasco PC, which is also under investigation by the Department of Justice tax-related charges.

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DOJ Joins ACLU In Attacking Tennessee over Law Meant to Stop Spread of HIV

Gay Couple

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday that the enforcement of a Tennessee law meant to prevent the knowing spread of HIV violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“Tennessee’s aggravated prostitution law is outdated, has no basis in science, discourages testing and further marginalizes people living with HIV,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, according to a DOJ press release. “People living with HIV should not be treated as violent sex offenders for the rest of their lives solely because of their HIV status. The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities are protected from discrimination.”

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Commentary: The Biden Family Grift and Hunter’s Fake Offer to Testify

Hunter Biden’s offer to testify before the House Oversight Committee is a clever evasion, nothing more. The president’s son says he will testify only if the hearing is publicly televised. Nice try. Subpoenaed witnesses don’t get to set the terms. The committee does.

Why make an offer that is bound to be rejected? For two reasons. The PR goal is for Hunter to appear willing to testify, when he actually wants desperately to avoid it. The legal goal is to prevent, or at least delay, the committee from enforcing its subpoena. Hunter and his hardball attorney, Abbe Lowell, probably figure the Biden administration’s Department of Justice won’t go to court and demand compliance. That’s not a bad bet. If the DOJ does refuse, the House will go to court itself, but that will take time and may not succeed.

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DOJ Announces New Resources to Help Memphis Fight Violent Crime

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it will provide more resources for Memphis, which is battling a wave of violent crime and has already broken its annual homicide record. 

“Violent crime deprives communities of a fundamental sense of security in their own homes and neighborhoods,” said Acting Assistant Attorney Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in a DOJ press release. “This violent crime initiative will bring additional tools and resources used to investigate and prosecute violent crime and apply those tools to gangs and groups who are harming and disrupting communities here in Memphis.”

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Chattanooga Trucking Companies Forced to Pay Fine for Asking Immigrant Applicants to Prove Legal Status

A Chattanooga trucking company will be forced to pay the federal government $700,000 for what the government says were discriminatory hiring practices. 

“The Justice Department announced today that it has secured a $700,000 agreement with Covenant Transport Inc. (Covenant), as well as the affiliated entity Transport Management Services LLC (Transport), two transportation logistics and long-haul trucking companies headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee,” said a press release from the Department of Justice. “The agreement resolves the department’s determination that the company violated the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by routinely discriminating against non-U.S. citizen workers when checking their permission to work in the United States.”

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Exclusive: Former TN GOP Candidate Stewart Parks, Sentenced to 8 Months on Jan. 6, 2021 Conviction, Claims Obama-Appointed Judge ‘Colluded’ with Prosecutors

Stewart Parks is now looking at eight months in federal prison for, among other things, being in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. He is marked by the Left as an “insurrectionist” on a conviction of five federal charges.

The 30-year-old Nashville man was sentenced on Wednesday by, according to Parks, a vindictive U.S. district court judge who helped the prosecution work out its case against him in the trial.

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FBI Won’t Comment on Whether Covenant Killer’s Manifesto Pages Constitute a Hate Crime

In the three pages released last week from Covenant Killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale’s manifesto and related writings, the hand-written notes were filled with racial and anti-LGBT slurs. Hale expressed at great length her hatred for white people, and in particular, her animus for the white children at the private Christian elementary school.

However, officials at the FBI won’t say whether or not they are handling the investigation of the March 27 school shootings as a hate crime.

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Commentary: Chaos in the Classified Documents Case

At one point during a contentious hearing in her Florida courtroom on Wednesday afternoon, U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon confronted the Department of Justice about its concurrent federal indictments against Donald Trump.

Cannon pressed Jay Bratt, the chief prosecutor on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case, to name another instance when the government brought charges against the same defendant on two different matters within a few months of each other. (Smith indicted the former president last June in the southern district of Florida for unlawfully keeping national defense information at Mar-a-Lago and obstruction of justice. Seven weeks later, Smith charged Trump in the District of Columbia with four counts related to the events of January 6.)

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Julie Kelly Commentary: Trump Wants Cameras in the Courtroom but the DOJ Does Not, and They Are Ready to Fight About It

For nearly three years, the American people have received media-filtered coverage of court proceedings for January 6 defendants in the nation’s capital.

Pandemic-era rules enabled the public to access hearings by telephone during the early stages of the Department of Justice’s prosecution of Capitol protesters. But as the first jury trials commenced in the spring of 2022, phone-in lines for most D.C. courtrooms were shut down. Now anyone, including reporters, interested in covering the district court in Washington—where jury trials, plea agreements, and sentencing decisions for January 6 defendants take place—must attend in person. Electronic devices are not permitted in the courtroom; media rooms are often full for high-profile cases.

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Arizona Police Arrest Man for Alleged Terrorist Threats Against School Buses, Hospitals

Local and federal police announced the arrest of Amir Safavi Farokhi in Tucson on Monday, and revealed Farokhi allegedly made violent threats against two Tucson hospitals, school buses in Arizona and Indiana, and a female employee of the Bloomington, Indiana Police Department.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) claimed Farokhi made phone calls from Tucson threatening to place pipe bombs on school buses in Indiana, and apparently while speaking to the Bloomington Police Department, threatened to “rape and murder a female employee,” specifically claiming he planned to “wait outside for her at the end of her shift.”

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Biden Admin Unveils Unprecedented A.I. Executive Order on Safety and ‘Equity’

President Joe Biden’s administration unveiled a broad executive order on artificial intelligence (AI) on Monday, according to a fact sheet released by the White House.

The order covers areas such as safety, security, privacy, innovation and “advancing equity,” according to the fact sheet. It is the first ever AI executive order and follows the White House securing “voluntary commitments” from leading technology companies in July to address the risks posed by AI.

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Commentary: Jack Smith’s Real-Life Bogeyman

One must wonder if Special Counsel Jack Smith checks under his bed every night to make sure a large man wearing an oversized blue suit, long red tie, and MAGA hat isn’t there.

Smith, the public has been assured, is a nerves-of-steel prosecutor who has taken on some of the world’s most dangerous criminals during his time at the U.S. Department of Justice and The Hague. Following Smith’s appointment in November 2022, one former colleague swooned to the New York Times how Smith “has a way about him of projecting calm” and that “people look to him for steady guidance.”

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Wisconsin U.S. Senator Ron Johnson Leads Efforts to Seek Records on Saudi Arabia’s Role In 9/11 Attacks

On this 22nd anniversary of 9/11, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) is demanding the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation turn over the complete, unredacted records of Saudi Arabia’s role in the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

Johnson, ranking member of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and subcommittee chairman Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), are seeking a full explanation of any ongoing need for classification of any portions of these records.

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Biden DOJ Sues SpaceX for Preferring American Citizens over Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Its Hiring Practices

On Thursday, the Biden Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against SpaceX, accusing the company of discrimination for preferring American citizens over asylum seekers and refugees in its hiring practices.

In its 13-page complaint, the Justice Dept. alleges that SpaceX “routinely discouraged asylees and refugees from applying and refused to hire or consider them, because of their citizenship status, in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).”  The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division seeks to force SpaceX to give “fair compensation” to non-citizens that were not hired.

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America First Legal Demands Answers After Biden DOJ Intervenes in Virginia School District’s Adoption of Youngkin Trans Policies

America First Legal is demanding answers after the Justice Department under President Joe Biden intervened in a Virginia school district’s adoption of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s policies that center parental rights in transgender issues.

“The Department of Justice seems to suggest that protecting the constitutional rights of parents and students will lead to ‘hate crimes,’” Ian Prior, senior adviser at America First Legal, told The Daily Signal in a written statement Monday. “Once again, we are witnessing the top law enforcement organization in the land come unglued from reality and unmoored from its core functions, all in the name of opposing anyone that doesn’t approve of its state-approved message.”

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Ohio Republican Senate Candidate Calls for Immediate Action Following ‘Bogus’ Trump Indictment

Bernie Moreno, who is running for an Ohio Senate seat, said Tuesday that another indictment against former President Donald Trump is completely “bogus” and called for House and Senate Republicans to take immediate action against President Joe Biden and his left-wing allies.

This follows a Georgia grand jury approving 10 indictments on Monday night in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ election probe, including Trump and 18 others.

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Appeals Court Says FDA Denunciations of Ivermectin Look Like ‘Command,’ not Advice

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)  is claiming in federal court that it never told doctors not to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID-19. Federal judges aren’t buying it, and state medical boards that rely heavily on FDA guidance continue to investigate doctors for such prescriptions.

Echoing a federal district judge nine months ago, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals pressed a Justice Department lawyer to reconcile the FDA’s repeated public denunciations of ivermectin as an off-label COVID treatment with its insistence that the agency is not liable for resulting investigations of doctors who prescribe or promote it.

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As Indictments Pile Up, Trump Running Even or Better with Biden in New Polls

Despite facing three criminal indictments, former President Donald Trump is crushing his GOP presidential nominee competitors and running neck and neck with President Joe Biden, according to the latest polls.

In battleground Arizona, a new Emerson College poll finds Trump leading Biden by 2 percentage points in a hypothetical rematch of the 2020 presidential election.

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‘See You in Court:’ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Responds to Biden’s Legal Threats Over Floating Border Barrier

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas sent a letter Monday to President Joe Biden, formally responding to threats of legal action from the Department of Justice (DOJ) over his states floating buoy barrier installed in the Rio Grande River.

Abbott defended his authority to have the floating buoy barrier built, accusing Biden of flouting U.S. immigration law with his border policies and violating the constitutional rights of states to protect themselves from an “invasion,” the letter read. The DOJ sent a letter Thursday to Abbott, accusing him of breaking the law, according to CNN.

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Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley Says IRS Whistleblower Testimony in Hunter Biden Probe Shows ‘Two-Track’ System of Justice

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley says Wednesday’s testimony from two Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers alleging political interference in the Hunter Biden criminal probe underscores the “two-track” system of justice in America.

Meanwhile, the Iowa senator is leading a group of Republican senators demanding the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation protect whistleblowers who disclosed records alleging a criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national.

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Ohio Senate Candidate Calls Potential Trump Indictment ‘Vile’

Ohio Republican politician and businessman Bernie Moreno says that another potential indictment against former President and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump is “nothing more than another vile attempt by Team Biden to target their leading political opponent.”

According to a statement from President Trump on Tuesday, he received a letter from the Department of Justice (DOJ) indicating he will be arrested and indicated for the events surrounding the January 6th, 2021 riot at the Capital.

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‘The Only Way to Get Rid of Donald Trump Is to Make Him President:’ McCabe

One America News reporter and former national political editor for The Star News Network Neil W. McCabe joined The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy Wednesday to discuss the state of the 2024 GOP nomination contest, the prosecution of Donald Trump and the realization he says the Establishment elites on both sides of the aisle may well come to as the election cycle plays out.

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MNPD Not Opposed to Release of Redacted Covenant Killer Manifesto Sought in Star News Network’s Lawsuit Against FBI

While the Federal Bureau of Investigation is fighting any release of the Covenant killer’s manifesto in federal court, an official with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department says the local law enforcement agency would not object to a redacted release of some of the documents.

The problem could be just how law enforcement officials define “redactions.” 

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GOP Senators Urge FBI, DOJ to Investigate Chinese Intel-Linked ‘Service Centers’ in U.S. Cities

Eight Republican senators urged the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday to immediately investigate a network of Chinese Communist Party-linked “service centers” operating in several U.S. cities.

A CCP “intelligence service” called the United Front Work Department (UFWD) runs so-called “Overseas Chinese Service Centers” (OCSCs) from within at least seven U.S. nonprofits, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation recently revealed. Launched between 2014 and 2017, the U.S. OCSCs are located in San Francisco, California; St. Paul, Minnesota; St. Louis, Missouri; Omaha, Nebraska; Charlotte, North Carolina; Houston, Texas and Salt Lake City, Utah, according to Chinese state-media reports.

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Former U.S. Attorney Braden Boucek: Leak of Audio Recording Used as Evidence in Trump Indictment Creates Potential Problems for DOJ Prosecution

Former U.S. Assistant Attorney and current Director of Litigation for the Southeastern Legal Foundation Braden Boucek joined The Tennessee Star Report’s Michael Patrick Leahy in studio Tuesday to discuss the how the widely-broadcast recording of former President Donald Trump made it’s way from Mar-a-Lago into the hands of the Department of Justice and then CNN.

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Biden DOJ Says Minneapolis Police Engaged in Unconstitutional, Racist Practices

The Department of Justice  (DOJ) announced the results of a years-long probe Friday finding that the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) repetitively violated the rights of residents prior to the death of George Floyd.

“The Department of Justice has reasonable cause to believe that the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of their rights under the Constitution and federal law,” the DOJ wrote in its report.

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Federal Judge: FBI Must Respond by July 3 in The Star News Network Lawsuit Demanding Agency Release Covenant Killer Manifesto

A federal judge has given the Federal Bureau of Investigation until July 3 to respond to The Star News Network’s lawsuit demanding the agency turn over the manifesto and related records of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the Covenant School killer.

The FBI had sought to delay the proceedings by another two weeks or a full month.

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