Department of Justice
August 26, 2022 — John Hinderaker
A redacted version of the Affidavit that was the basis for DOJ’s Mar-a-Lago raid was made public today. In my judgment, it adds little to our knowledge of the case. The Affidavit recites various statutes and recounts the history of 15 boxes of documents that were removed from the White House to Mar-a-Lago and subsequently sent to the National Archives by President Trump. It says that those boxes included some
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August 12, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Yesterday Merrick Garland delivered a brief press statement, apparently feeling heat with regard to DOJ’s Mar-a-Lago raid. Garland’s unimpressive performance did nothing to quell concerns about apparent political overreach by the DOJ and the FBI, so the Biden administration tried to invest the raid with seriousness by leaking to its favorite media outlets that the raid resulted from concerns about “nuclear documents.” This upped the ante somewhat from prior leaks
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October 28, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Yesterday Paul posted the video of Senator Tom Cotton ripping Attorney General Merrick Garland in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Another notable exchange in yesterday’s hearing featured Senator Josh Hawley, whose assault on Garland was epic. You shouldn’t miss it: I will hazard a guess that Garland’s tenure as Attorney General will not be a long one.
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October 21, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Today Attorney General Merrick Garland testified before the House Judiciary Committee. The testimony lasted for more than five hours, and I haven’t had time to watch any significant part of it. But here are a couple of excerpts. The first is Rep. Jim Jordan, excoriating the Biden administration and the Obama administration that preceded it for their many violations of Americans’ civil rights. I think it is quite well done:
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February 18, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
The other day, I suggested that Andrew Cuomo and/or members of his staff may have violated up to three federal criminal statutes in connection with a Justice Department request for information about nursing home deaths from the Wuhan coronavirus in New York. Now comes word that the FBI and the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York have opened an investigation into Cuomo’s handling of nursing homes and
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January 7, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Joe Biden has decided to nominate Merrick Garland for Attorney General. Biden’s media allies are portraying Judge Garland as a moderate and his nomination as evidence of the president-elect’s moderation. Don’t buy it. Biden’s move is a clever attempt to appear moderate while radicalizing both the Justice Department and the D.C. Court of Appeals on which Garland presently serves. First, don’t accept the view that Garland is a moderate. His
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December 17, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
President-elect Biden still hasn’t named a nominee for Attorney General. According to this report from CNN, the two leading contenders are Judge Merrick Garland and outgoing Senator Doug Jones. Sally Yates, whom I expected to be the frontrunner, and Deval ( “just words”) Patrick reportedly may still be in contention, but seem to be on the outside looking in. Until I read the CNN article, I couldn’t understand why Jones
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December 3, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
The answer is lots of bad stuff and mischief on all fronts. On “civil rights” alone, the Biden DOJ will reverse course on race-based preferences, backing discrimination against Whites and Asians by colleges, employers, etc. And it will back attacks on religious liberty, for example in the context of coronvirus restrictions on worship (if they remain in effect) and in cases where LGBT agenda items clash with religious freedom. The
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November 9, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Paul wrote a little while ago that the Senate should investigate the 2020 election to determine how susceptible our electoral systems are to fraud, and to recommend improvements. I agree. A reader offers another suggestion: why doesn’t Attorney General Barr appoint a Special Counsel to investigate voter fraud in the election, and bring criminal charges where appropriate? The nation is coming out of another close election and the air is
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September 17, 2020 — John Hinderaker
I have been in DC (Northern Virginia, actually) for the last two days, in connection with Hillsdale College’s Constitution Day event. Last night, Attorney General William Barr spoke at dinner. The main subject of his speech was the rule of law, and how the rule of law is advanced by the fact that in federal agencies, final decisions are up to the senior, political appointees. In the Department of Justice,
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August 12, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Judicial Watch has obtained the FBI’s “302” forms summarizing agents’ conversations with former associate deputy attorney general Bruce Ohr. You can read the reports here, and I have also embedded them at the bottom of this post. The 302 forms relate to a considerable number of interviews that the FBI conducted with Ohr between December 19, 2016, and May 16, 2017. The reports can be viewed in two ways: you
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May 8, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Jeffrey Epstein was indicted for having sex with dozens of underage girls. His practice was to lure girls ages 13 to 16 to his mansion for a “massage.” He would molest them, paying extra for oral sex and intercourse, and offering more money to bring him new girls. In addition, Epstein reportedly had these underage girls engage in sex with his friends and associates. He would also induce them into
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March 12, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Jessie Liu is President Trump’s nominee for Associate Attorney General. This job is prestigious but usually not highly consequential. Liu likely has more impact in her current position as U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C. Liu is well qualified to be Associate Attorney General. However, in this post I raised a concern over her role as Vice President of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) at a time that NAWL
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March 7, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The Trump administration has nominated Jessie Liu to be Associate Attorney General. This is the number three position at the Justice Department, behind the Attorney General (William Barr) and the Deputy Attorney General (Jeffrey Rosen). On paper, Liu seems well-qualified for the job. Currently, she’s the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. She has held important positions at Main Justice and the Treasury Department. But there is at least
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February 26, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said yesterday that the Justice Department should not reveal information about people it does not charge with a crime. The Washington Post views this as “an ominous sign for those hoping the department will soon disclose the closely held details of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of President Trump and his campaign.” In reality, Rosenstein is unlikely to have any say about what the Justice
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February 7, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The Department of Justice has opened an investigation into Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta’s role in negotiating a disgraceful plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein, who has been accused of molesting dozens of underage girls. Thanks to Acosta, then the U.S. attorney in South Florida, Epstein, who could have faced life imprisonment for sex trafficking, managed to plead to only two state prostitution charges. Epstein served served just 13 months in
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January 31, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
When he was a U.S. Attorney in South Florida, Alex Acosta, now President Trump’s Secretary of Labor, gave pedophile Jeffrey Epstein the deal of a lifetime. According to the Miami Herald, a federal investigation revealed 36 underage victims of Epstein (the Herald apparently found dozens of additional ones). Yet, through a plea agreement with then-U.S. Attorney Acosta, Epstein managed to plead to only two state prostitution charges. Epstein served just
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