Tag: U.S. Department of Justice

Department of Justice Reports ‘Division-Wide System Outage’ as Tennessee Star Requests Release of Covenant Killer Manifesto

Tom Pappert
FBI HQ at dusk

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) this week acknowledged a “division-wide system outage” impacted the DOJ’s Civil Division last weekend through a Monday court filing.

Both Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM), which owns and operates The Tennessee Star, and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy are currently waiting for a response from the DOJ after inviting the FBI to drop its opposition to the release of the complete written works left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale before the transition of government to President-elect Donald Trump.

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Reporter Steve Baker Enters Guilty Plea in January 6 Case to ‘Avoid Shaming Exercise of a Trial’

Tom Pappert
Journalist Steve Baker

Reporter and January 6 defendant Steve Baker entered an Alford plea on Tuesday, acknowledging the state has enough evidence to convict him without admitting guilt, in what he later called a move to avoid the “shaming exercise of a trial.”

Then working as an independent journalist, Baker was inside restricted parts of the U.S. Capitol complex on January 6, 2021. Three years after the protest, he was charged by the Biden-Harris Department of Justice for attempting to obstruct Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory with his presence.

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Legal Expert Phill Kline: DOJ’s ‘Radical’ Election Interference Operation on Full Display in Virginia Case

Kaitlin Housler

Phill Kline, former Kansas Attorney General and current law professor at Liberty University School of Law, said the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) “radical” election interference operation is on full display following Wednesday’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that allows Virginia to remove individuals identified as noncitizens from its voter rolls.

Earlier this month, the DOJ sued Virginia over removing non-citizens from its rolls ahead of the November 5 general election.

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Legal Expert Phill Kline: ‘Deeply Concerning’ DOJ Publicly Released Letter Written by Second Would-Be Trump Assassin

Kaitlin Housler
MPL and Kline

Phill Kline, former Kansas Attorney General and current law professor at Liberty University School of Law, described the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) release of a hand-written letter by Ryan Routh, the man accused of attempting to assassinate former President Trump on September 15, as “deeply concerning.”

In the letter, which the DOJ publicly released on Monday, Routh confirmed his intent to assassinate the former president and offered a $150,000 bounty to whoever could “complete the job.”

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Department of Justice to Investigate Abuse and Violence at Trousdale Turner

The Center Square
Trousdale Turner Correctional Center

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating conditions at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center outside of Nashville, the state’s largest prison.

The facility, operated by management company CoreCivic, has shown dangerous understaffing since it opened in 2016 and the investigation will look at whether it protects inmates from physical violence and sexual abuse.

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10 More States Join Federal Lawsuit Led by Tennessee Against Ticketmaster’s Parent Company

Kaitlin Housler

Ten additional states have joined a lawsuit led by Tennessee and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) against Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., which owns Ticketmaster. The lawsuit alleges that the company has “illegally monopolized the live entertainment industry.”

In May, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and the DOJ filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, alleging that the company holds venues “hostage” through “restrictive long-term, exclusive agreements and threats,” “forces artists to select Live Nation as a promoter instead of its rivals” through leverage of its extensive network of amphitheaters, and “harms” fans through “higher fees, lack of transparency, fewer consumer choices, and stifling innovation.”

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UAW President Shawn Fain Under Investigation by Federal Court-Appointed Monitor

Just the News
Auto Workers President Shawn Fain

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain is currently under investigation by a federal court-appointed watchdog, according to a court filing released on Monday.

Neil Barofsky is leading the investigation into whether Fain abused his power as head of the union in violation of a 2020 consent decree between the UAW and the U.S. Department of Justice that prevented a full federal takeover of the union.

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Several GOP-Led States Ban DOJ Election Monitors From Polling Sites in 2024 Presidential Election

Just the News
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft

Several Republican-led states said that they are banning U.S. Department of Justice election monitors from entering polling sites in the November general election after the agency sent observers to various states in the 2022 midterms.

When the DOJ announced that it was sending election monitors to polling sites in multiple states for the 2022 midterm elections, Florida and Missouri said that the department employees would not be permitted to observe the polls. Now, eight other states have said that they will also not allow DOJ election monitors to enter polling sites during the election this November, with some saying that banning them prevents federal interference in elections.

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GOP Secretaries of State, Legislators Fight Against ‘Bidenbucks,’ Federalization of GOTV Efforts

Just the News
West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner with Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson (composite image)

Republican secretaries of state and state legislators are pushing back against “Bidenbucks,” what call the federalization of voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts, claiming that the executive order is unlawful.

West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner and Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson, along with Republicans in the Pennsylvania legislature, are fighting President Biden’s Executive Order 14019 from March 2021, which turns federal agencies into “Get Out The Vote” (GOTV) centers across all states.

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DOJ Creates New Center to Help Local Officials Apply ‘Red Flag’ Laws Against Certain Gun Owners

Admin
Merrick Garland

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Saturday the creation of a new entity to train state and local officials on procedures to apply “red flag” laws that temporarily prevent certain individuals from owning a firearm.

The National Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Resource Center is an entity created under the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) that will both educate and assist local officials when they initiate legal proceedings to obtain “red flag” orders that rescind an individual’s right to bear arms based on the belief that they pose a risk of harm to themselves or others, according to the DOJ’s press release. The individuals to be trained are “law enforcement officials, prosecutors, attorneys, judges, clinicians, victim service and social service providers, community organizations, and behavioral health professionals.”

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Clinton Airport Director Dies After Shootout with Federal Agents Investigating Gun Sales

Matthew Giffin
Bryan Malinowski

The executive director of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport died Thursday after a shootout with federal agents who were investigating the potentially illegal sale of firearms.

Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) attempted to serve a warrant at the Little Rock home of Bryan Malinowski, 53, at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, ATF and Arkansas State Police told NBC. Malinowski’s family has sought legal counsel and claims the ATF’s actions were not justified.

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State Court Postpones Trial of Police Officers Charged with Killing Tyre Nichols Until Federal Trial Concludes: Report

Matthew Giffin

A Memphis judge on Friday postponed the state court trial of four former Memphis police officers charged in the killing of Tyre Nichols until a federal trial against them concludes, the Associated Press reported.

The delay comes after the former officers’ attorneys requested the judge postpone the state trial so as not to “hinder the officers’ rights to defend themselves in both cases,” the outlet continued. The federal trial is set for September 9, 2024.

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Republicans Blast National Archives’ Taxpayer-Funded Equity Policies, Trainings

The Center Square

The federal archive agency that helped spark former President Donald Trump’s first federal indictment has come under fire from Republicans after reporting showed the agency has embraced far-left diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

Republicans blasted the National Archives and Records Administration after The Center Square reported that the agency’s latest 2022 DEI plan pledges to double down on equity training for employees.

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Senator Marsha Blackburn Calls Hunter Biden’s Guilty Plea on Federal Charges ‘No Coincidence’

Kaitlin Housler

Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) released a statement Tuesday after President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, was federally charged with two violations of failure to pay income tax and one violation of unlawful firearm possession.

Blackburn said, “It’s no coincidence that less than a week after President Trump is arraigned, Hunter Biden is pleading guilty to a sweetheart deal with no jail time. The DOJ is going for the low-hanging fruit by charging Hunter Biden with a gun felony and two tax misdemeanors, after years of slow walking their investigation.”

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Norfolk Southern Seeks to Dismiss Lawsuit Over East Palestine Train Derailment

Hannah Poling

Norfolk Southern Railway seeks to dismiss a mass class action lawsuit against it following the catastrophic train derailment that occurred in East Palestine, Ohio earlier this year.

The class action lawsuit, filed in federal court in Youngstown, is a collection of 31 separate lawsuits that residents and businesses from East Palestine and the surrounding areas brought against the railroad corporation. Earlier this year U.S. District Judge Benita Pearson ordered that all 31 cases be consolidated to streamline proceedings.

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Ohio Attorney General Updates Statewide Sex Offender Registry Technology

Hannah Poling

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Monday that all 88 county sheriffs in the state received new cameras to improve the routine registration procedure for convicted sexual offenders.

“Ohio’s sex offender registration system plays a critical role in holding convicted offenders accountable, and in the hands of our county sheriffs, these tools ensure that photographs are clear and uniform across the state. Our job is to support local law enforcement, and that’s exactly what we’re doing with this grant,” Yost said.

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Special Counsel Subpoenas Secretary of State Raffensperger in Investigation of Efforts to Block Certifying 2020 Election

Eric Burk

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has been subpoenaed by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into efforts to interfere with certifying the 2020 election on January 6, 2021, or to interfere with the lawful transfer of power.

The subpoena, obtained by The Washington Post, orders Raffensperger to produce any communications dating June 2020 through January 20, 2021, with former President Donald Trump, his campaign, and allies including some lawyers. Similar subpoenas were sent to officials in other 2020 battleground states, according to The Post.

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Home Labs in Northeast Ohio Found to be Making Fentanyl-Laced Fake Prescription Pills

Hannah Poling

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Northeast Ohio found that individuals are setting up labs with pill presses to produce fentanyl pills inside their homes.

According to the DEA, generally in a lot of cases, cartels produced the pills  in Mexico and then distributed them in the United States but now say they are finding a concerning trend where individuals are producing these dangerous drugs from local home laboratories.

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Special Counsel Investigating Trump Was Key Figure in IRS Targeting Scandal

Admin

Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate former president Donald Trump’s possession of classified information, was a key figure in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)’s infamous targeting of conservative non-profits, according to a 2014 report by Republicans on the House Oversight Committee.

On Oct. 8, 2010, Smith, then-Chief of the DOJ Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section at the time, called a meeting with former IRS official Lois Lerner “to discuss how the IRS could assist in the criminal enforcement of campaign-finance laws against politically active nonprofits,” according to testimony from Richard Pilger, then director of the section’s Election Crimes Branch and subordinate of Smith’s, to the Oversight Committee. Lerner eventually resigned from the IRS in 2015 following criticism of her targeting of conservative groups when denying or delaying tax-exempt status.

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Funds in Connecticut Will Assist Sexual Assault Probes

The Center Square

Helping Connecticut process sexual assault evidence kits in a more timely manner is the focus of new federal funding.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced it will award $1.2 million to Connecticut that will be used at the state’s Forensic Laboratory for adding personnel, supplies, and equipment to aid ongoing efforts in sexual assault investigations, Gov. Ned Lamont said.

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‘25,000 Dead Registrants’: Why Legal Nonprofit Is Suing Soros-Backed Michigan Elections Chief

Admin

Following a recent win in his legal battle to compel Michigan Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to purge 25,000 deceased voters from her state’s rolls, Public Interest Legal Foundation President J. Christian Adams explained his suit on the “Just the News, Not Noise” television show on Friday.

After the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan last week denied Benson’s bid to dismiss the legal nonprofit’s suit against her, Adams decried the George Soros-backed election official’s unwillingness to update her rolls despite PILF’s documentation of the dead voters.

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Before FBI Seized Privileged Trump Memos, DOJ Filter Teams Already Tainted by Legal Controversy

Admin

The Justice Department’s admission Monday it improperly collected attorney-client privileged documents during a court-ordered search of Donald Trump’s Florida estate was quickly followed by assurances it was no big deal because the department has a process to segregate privileged material.

But that process — known as filter teams or “taint” teams — has itself been tainted by a string of recent legal controversies over the seizure of attorney-client privilege protected materials in other cases.

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FBI Likely Briefed White House Before Mar-a-Lago Raid, Ex-FBI Agents Say

Admin

The top levels of the Biden administration, including the White House and officials leading the Department of Justice (DOJ), were likely aware of the Mar-a-Lago raid and may have even moved the warrant forward, two retired FBI agents told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Former President Donald Trump announced Monday night that the FBI raided his Florida home, while the Department of Justice (DOJ) had an ongoing investigation into the possible mishandling of classified documents after 15 boxes of White House documents ended up at Mar-a-Lago, according to The Washington Post.

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Report: Alzheimer’s Drug Manufacturer Under Federal Investigation for Allegedly Falsifying Research

Admin

Pharmaceutical company Cassava Sciences is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for allegedly falsifying research, according to Reuters.

The DOJ began investigating the company after it allegedly potentially manipulated the clinical trial data, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters. The sources did not provide specific information on the focus of the department’s probe and whether the department was investigating any individuals.

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Commentary: Justice Department Colludes with Congress to Bolster the ‘Insurrection’ Narrative

Admin

This week produced yet another example of the shameless collaboration between the U.S. Department of Justice, the Democratic Party, and the national news media to destroy Donald Trump and everyone around him. The ink was barely dry on the not guilty verdict for Michael Sussmann, just one of many figures who acted as a pass-through between Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and the FBI to manufacture the Russia collusion hoax, before the same players were up to their old tricks.

Members of the January 6 select committee blanketed the Sunday news programs last weekend promising bombshell revelations would shake the nation during a primetime hearing Thursday night. Representative Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) told CBS News’ Robert Costa the committee would present findings to show an “extremely broad . . . extremely well-organized” conspiracy to overthrow the government that day. What the committee uncovered related to the alleged conspiracy, Cheney warned, is “really chilling.’

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Federal Judge Blasts DOJ for False Account of Kamala Harris’ Whereabouts on January 6

Admin

A D.C. District Court judge overseeing numerous Capitol protest cases today accused the Justice Department of repeatedly falsifying the location of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris during the afternoon of January 6, 2021.

Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, openly doubted the validity of trespassing charges against Nicholas Rodean, indicted last March on several counts for his participation in the protest on Capitol Hill.

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Authorities Charge Chinese Telecom Company with Stealing Trade Secrets

Admin

Federal authorities charged China-based telecommunications firm Hytera Communications with conspiring to steal trade secrets from a U.S. company, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Monday.

Hytera allegedly recruited employees from U.S. telecommunications company Motorola to steal digital mobile radio (DMR) technology, according to an indictment unsealed Monday. The Chinese company then allegedly used Motorola’s technology to accelerate the development of its own DMR products, the DOJ announced.

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Steve Bannon Files Motion to Make Public All Documents in Contempt Case

Admin

Steve Bannon is pushing for documents related to his current contempt-of-Congress case to be released publicly, according to a new report.

The 67-year-old former Trump adviser’s attorneys have filed an opposition to the U.S. district court’s protective order for discovery, which would prevent both the defense and the prosecution from releasing evidence or documents to the public.

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Three Tennessee Towns Receive $785,000 in Justice Department Grants to Advance Community Policing

Morgan Nicole Veysey

The United States Department of Justice awarded three cities in Tennessee a total of $785,370 out of a total of $139 million in the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) COPS Hiring Program (CHP). The program, which was designed to provide funding directly to law enforcement agencies to hire and/or rehire additional career law enforcement officers in an effort to increase their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts.

The three Tennessee cities were Lenoir, Ripley, and Gordonsville. Lenoir was awarded $375,000, Ripley $316,620, and Gordonsville $93,750. Both Lenoir and Ripley will be able to hire three new officers with the money, and Gordonsville will be able to hire one. 

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Feds Urge Circuit Court to Reject Florida Request for Hold on Vaccine Rule

Casey Owens

Federal attorneys for the Biden administration filed a document Friday evening requesting the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeal to reject a potential hold on the rule issued by Biden that would mandate employees of businesses of 100 or more people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine or be regularly tested and forced to wear a mask.

The hold on Biden’s employee vaccine rule was requested by Florida, Alabama, and Georgia who argue that the rule, established under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), oversteps its authority and would result in thousands of people losing their jobs.

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Commentary: Christopher Steele Is a Product of Corrupt FBI

Admin

Just as the special counsel’s investigation into the origins of Crossfire Hurricane—the FBI counterintelligence probe launched in the summer of 2016 to sabotage Donald Trump’s presidential campaign—is showing signs of life, one of the central figures in the hoax is attempting to burnish his sullied image.

ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos has produced a documentary featuring Christopher Steele, the man responsible for the so-called dossier bearing his name. “Out of the Shadows: The Man Behind the Steele Dossier,” streamed on Hulu Monday night; promotional clips hinted that, far from a hard-hitting interview exposing Steele for the charlatan he is, Stephanopoulos gave Steele a chance to spin his story ahead of possible new indictments related to John Durham’s inquiry into the Trump-Russia election collusion hoax.

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Biden Administration Has Lost Track of 45,000 Unaccompanied Minors Who Entered Illegally

Admin

The Biden-Harris administration has lost track of at least 45,000 unaccompanied minors who were brought across the southern border illegally — and President Joe Biden has yet to issue a statement about it.

So far this year, unaccompanied minors arriving at the border have hit record numbers. In June, there were 15,234 encounters with unaccompanied children, in July, 18,958 encounters, and in August, there were 18,847 encounters, according to Customs and Border Patrol data.

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Department of Justice Issues Stinging Rebuke of Biden’s Hope of Capitol Riot Prosecutions

Admin

The U.S. Department of Justice this week issued a rare and pointed clapback against President Joe Biden after the latter expressed a desire to see prosecutions in connection with the Jan. 6 congressional investigation.

Asked on Friday what should happen to individuals who defy the subpoenas of the Jan. 6 commission, Biden said, “I hope that the committee goes after them and holds them accountable criminally.”

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Two Executives Plead Guilty in Georgia Court to Large-Scale Visa Fraud Employment Scheme

Chris Butler

Two Florida business executives pleaded guilty this week in the Southern District of Georgia to charges related to their roles in a scheme to recruit and hire foreign nationals who were not authorized to work in the United States. The executives did this to fill temporary housekeeping and food service positions and commit various other criminal immigration offenses for profit.

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Commentary: The Media Doesn’t Accurately Cover Defensive Gun Usage in America

RealClearWire

While Americans know that guns take many innocent lives every year, many don’t know that firearms also save them.

On May 15, an attacker at an apartment complex in Fort Smith, Ark., fatally shot a woman and then fired 93 rounds at other people before a man killed him with a bolt-action rifle. Police said he “likely saved a number of lives in the process.”

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Federal Judge Denies Motion to Block Governor DeSantis’ Ban on Mask Mandates in Schools

Casey Owens

Judge K. Michael Moore of the First U.S. District Court of Florida, decided Wednesday to deny a motion requested by a group of south Florida parents with disabled children, to block Governor DeSantis’ ban on mandating masks in schools.

Filed in Miami, the lawsuit alleges that Executive Order 21-175 (EO 21-175) violates the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as other laws that are meant to assure the rights for students with disabilities.

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Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger Wants U.S. Justice Department to Release Contacts with Stacey Abrams and Other Left-Wing Activists

Chris Butler

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Wednesday he has filed a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) with the U.S. Department of Justice to release any records of contact with Stacey Abrams. Raffensperger said in a press release that he also wants records of contact with Abrams’ Fair Fight Action and 60 other liberal activist organizations.

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Gov. Abbott, Attorney General Merrick Face off over Feds Handling of COVID-Positive Migrants

The Center Square

A legal battle and war of words between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the federal government over COVID-positive migrants being released into Texas communities escalated over the weekend.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued the state of Texas Friday over an executive order Abbott issued restricting the transport of infected immigrants who entered the country illegally being released into the general population.

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Michigan Representatives Ask Justice Department to Explain Why it Dropped Probe into Nursing Home Deaths

The Center Square

Three members of Congress from Michigan are asking the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a formal inquiry as to why the department dropped its investigation of nursing home deaths in the state.

The DOJ announced July 22 it would cease an investigation into Michigan nursing home deaths from COVID-19 and whether those deaths were a result of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s policies. The investigation was begun during the administration of former President Donald Trump.

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Georgia Officials File Motion to Dismiss U.S. Department of Justice’s Lawsuit Against SB 202

Chris Butler

Georgia officials have filed a motion to dismiss the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) lawsuit against the state’s new voter integrity law, Senate Bill 202. Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr this week released a statement and called the lawsuit “politically-charged” and said it seeks “to intrude into the State of Georgia’s constitutional authority to regulate the time, place, and manner of its elections.”

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