All posts tagged "jamie raskin"

'Merry band of looters' at Trump DOJ accused of paying millions to 'disgraced' FBI agents

The top-ranking Democrat in the House Judiciary Committee published a letter on Tuesday accusing Trump's Department of Justice of forcing the FBI to pay a "merry band of looters" and disgraced agents, including white nationalist allies and a Jan. 6 participant.

"It has come to our attention that you have used your office to improperly shower government cash on Donald Trump's political operatives and sycophants," Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) wrote in a letter to Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.

According to Raskin's seven-page letter, Blanche oversaw a DOJ office that ordered the FBI to "pay millions of dollars" to nearly a dozen "disgraced" agents accused of "criminal activity" and "major breaches of national security."

One such agent had their clearance suspended and then revoked because of "his presence within the restricted area of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021," referring to the violent riots that infamous day.

"The agent provided false and misleading information to investigators," Raskin wrote. "Despite this damning evidence, DOJ Office of the Deputy Attorney General agreed to make a lump sum payment of $63,500 to him and backpay amounting to hundreds of thousands of additional dollars."

Special agent Steven Friend was similarly reinstated despite his illegally recording FBI conversations, downloading classified FBI documents, and participating in "unsanctioned media interviews with Russian state media outlets," Raskin wrote.

The DOJ Office of the Deputy Attorney General again ordered the FBI to pay Friend more than $61,000 and "give him hundreds of thousands of dollars in back pay."

The same DOJ office directed the FBI to reinstate an FBI agent who refused to investigate "a violent white nationalist group, Patriot Front," and procured prostitutes while on assignment.

Raskin pointed out in his letter that the DOJ official negotiating the payments to these disgraced agents is Vance Day, who is known for "hanging up a picture of Adolf Hitler in his chambers" and "refusing to marry same-sex couples as an Oregon state court judge."

He added that the senior-most current staffers for Senator Grassley "explicitly instructed DOJ to issue these payments." Raskin called Grassley and the DOJ Office of the Deputy Attorney General a "merry band of looters."

In a Tuesday article, Politico reached out to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and his office framed the payments as whistleblower settlements.

"This seven-page screed is a disgusting and defamatory attempt to smear legitimate whistleblowers while protecting their Biden administration retaliators," Grassley's spokesperson Clare Slattery told Politico. "Senator Grassley stands by his efforts to defend and protect all whistleblowers."

Jamie Raskin unleashes major prediction about Trump accountability: 'Work of a generation'

Rep. Jamie Raskin laid out an ambitious agenda for Democratic reforms if the party regains control of Congress, describing the Trump administration's dismantling of DOJ functions as so extensive that restoring the department will require years of sustained effort.

Appearing on MS NOW, the Maryland Democrat and constitutional expert outlined the scale of what he characterized as institutional destruction. "We need a sweeping de-Trumpification of the Department of Justice. There are huge parts of the DOJ that have just been dismantled," Raskin said.

Raskin detailed specific capabilities the Justice Department has abandoned under Trump:

"When they started off, they said they're no longer going to enforce the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. They've stopped monitoring foreign subversion of American elections. In other words, they want to facilitate all of that," he explained, suggesting the administration has actively worked to enable foreign interference rather than prevent it.

He also highlighted the politicization of the pardon process. "The pardon office was dismantled so it could become a totally political operation run out of the White House and Donald Trump's brain and the political operatives," Raskin stated.

When asked whether Democrats should prioritize impeaching Trump if they retake the House, Raskin aligned with Democratic leadership in rejecting that approach as a distraction.

"Our problem isn't Trump anymore. Our problem is Trumpism and the whole MAGA domination of the government and the conversion of the government into an instrument of money making and profit taking for the corporations and the people who surround Donald Trump," Raskin said.

He acknowledged that while "almost daily impeachable offenses" are occurring, Democrats cannot waste political capital on impeachment when Republicans control Congress. "It doesn't make sense to talk about something right now that we couldn't accomplish, because obviously the Republicans control the house and the senate," he explained.

Raskin framed the Democratic mission as far more expansive than holding Trump personally accountable. "We need to deTrumpify this government and restore it as an instrument for the common good and for American constitutional democracy, rather than the private self enrichment of one guy and his family," he said.

Most strikingly, Raskin characterized the restoration work as generational in scope. "That's the work of a generation. That's not going to happen in three months or six months when we get the House, the Senate and the White House back," he said, tempering expectations about how quickly institutional damage can be repaired.

Raskin emphasized that Democrats are currently winning electoral battles in states like Virginia, New Jersey, California, and Texas, suggesting momentum exists for a broader reclamation effort. "We are in a mass movement to reclaim American government and to defend and rehabilitate our constitution against these people," he concluded.

'People can't find him': Kash Patel put on notice as lawmaker decries MIA FBI chief

WASHINGTON — Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) had a serious response on Thursday to reporting involving allegations of FBI Director Kash Patel's conduct and excessive drinking.

In an exclusive interview with Raw Story, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee described what could come after midterms if Democrats take control of Congress.

"It's going to look pretty good from my vantage point because, you know, we've been trying to investigate so many of the corrupt schemes that we see taking place, and a lot of the incompetence that we see taking place and just the mismanagement," Raskin told Raw Story. "And it comes out this week in The Atlantic magazine that the director of the FBI is passing out drunk; people can't find him. We already knew that he was abusing a lot of the resources of office in terms of the jets and the airplanes. We know that he's been working to cover up the Epstein files. And now it turns out that there's this major drinking problem, which is why we sent him a letter saying he needs to come clean."

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee this week called on 46-year-old Patel to take an alcohol-abuse test or testify under oath after The Atlantic published a deeply sourced report on his alleged excessive drinking. Raskin sent him a letter seeking a sworn statement statement authenticating the accuracy of his answers.

Patel has since filed a lawsuit following The Atlantic story, denying the accusations.

"He's suing The Atlantic magazine, but it's not just between him and a magazine," Raskin added. "It's between him and the whole country. And we need to know whether or not the director of the FBI has a serious drinking problem that's interfering with his ability to successfully execute the duties of his office."

Pam Bondi hearing erupts into shouting: 'She's embarrassing you!'

A hearing with lawmakers and Attorney General Pam Bondi erupted into an explosive shouting match Wednesday.

Bondi was testifying before lawmakers at a House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Capitol Hill when the tensions heightened, as she started shouting insults, name-calling and interrupting congressional members asking her questions under oath. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) pushed Bondi to respond to the Department of Justice's investigation of late convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and argued that the she and the DOJ had not apologized or acknowledged the survivors whose personal information was unredacted.

"Your'e obsessed with Donald Trump. You have Trump derangement syndrome," Bondi claimed.

Raskin pushed back on Bondi's statement and focused again on Epstein survivors and brought up that Bondi was avoiding responding to lawmakers' questions and not adhering to committee rules.

"I want the whole country to look at this, because this is the attorney general of the United States whose job is law enforcement," Raskin said. "We've never had a witness who has misunderstood our rules and been unable to conform his or her conduct to our rules before. We have only five minutes. And so we use our time to ask you specific questions."

"How long are you giving me to answer?" Bondi interrupted.

"Excuse me? I'm not yielding to you right now," Raskin said. "I'd like that second restored to. So, Miss Bondi, the way it works is we ask you a question and you answer it. And if you go off on a wild goose chase, another tangent. You start reading statistics or you start talking about stuff going on our district. And by the way, I invite you to my district, come to my district. But that's not what we're here to do today. OK. So and you do that, then we're allowed to say we reclaim our time. At that point, you have to be quiet. You have no choice. You have to be quiet."

Raskin demanded a joint task force to investigate the crimes against survivors of Epstein. That's when Bondi started discussing another topic and interrupting again.

Raskin responded to Bondi's remarks and directed his comments to chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).

"This is your committee, and she is embarrassing you," Raskin said.

Lawmaker rips Pam Bondi in scathing opening: 'You're running a massive Epstein cover-up'

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) Wednesday delivered a scathing opening statement and directly criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi, accusing her of deliberately blocking the investigation into late financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Raskin, a ranking member, was one of several lawmakers questioning Bondi during a House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Capitol Hill. In a fiery speech, he demanded answers from Bondi about the Epstein files and investigation, and recent Department of Justice actions — reminding her that her clients are the American people — not President Donald Trump.

"But to promote justice for the people, you've got to listen to the victims like the women seated behind you today," Raskin said. "Those are just some of the hundreds of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's global sex trafficking ring who are demanding that the truth be told and are demanding accountability for the abusers who trafficked and raped them you still haven't met with these survivors."

Raskin named several survivors and family members in the room and described his concern that Bondi and the DOJ have not met with them or taken interest to hear their stories. He accused her of standing on the wrong side of history.

"Now, you're not showing a lot of interest in the victims, madam attorney general, whether it's Epstein's human trafficking ring or the homicidal governmental violence against citizens in Minneapolis, as attorney general, you're siding with the perpetrators and you're ignoring the victims that will be your legacy unless you act quickly to change course," Raskin said.

"You're running a massive Epstein coverup right out of the Department of Justice," Raskin said. "You've been ordered by subpoena and by Congress to turn over 6 million documents, photographs and videos in the Epstein files but you've turned over only 3 million."

Raskin called Bondi out for redacting names of abusers, enablers and accomplices in the Epstein files and not redacting the names of survivors, which she was required to do by Congress.

"Some of the victims had come forward publicly, but many had not," Raskin said. "Many had kept their torment private even from family and friends. But you published their names, their identities their images on thousands of pages for the world to see. So you ignored the law. And even with over 100,000 employees at your disposal, you acted with some mixture of staggering incompetence cold indifference, and jaded cruelty towards more than 1,000 victims raped abused and trafficked. This performance screams cover up."

He criticized the DOJ's move to move Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's co-conspirator, to a Texas minimum security camp where she has "five start treatment, including catered meals, private gym time and access to a therapy puppy."

Raskin then described the ongoing attacks on protesters, the killings of two American citizens in Minneapolis under ICE and the DOJ's response.

"There's no sign of any movement at the Department of Justice," Raskin said. "You even launched a criminal investigation into Renee Good's grieving widow. How sick is that? But it's even worse. You've turned the people's Department of Justice into Trump's instrument of revenge. Trump orders up prosecutions like pizza, and you deliver every time."

His last comment was a stark warning for Bondi.

"So we ask you politely but firmly, madam attorney general please do not waste one second of our precious time by evading questions, by changing the subject, or engaging in personal attacks against members of Congress. We saw your performance in the Senate, and we're not going to accept that this isn't a game," Raskin said. "The Senate you brought something with, you called a burn book, a binder of smears to attack members personally for doing the people's work of oversight please set the burn book aside and answer our questions."

Yelling erupts in Jack Smith's hearing as lawmakers clash: 'I yield in disgust'

Shouting broke out between lawmakers during former Special Counsel Jack Smith's first public testimony on Thursday.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) got into a yelling match during the House Judiciary Committee hearing over Smith's investigations into President Donald Trump. Issa was questioning Smith, who was attempting to answer the lawmaker's questions over seeking phone records following the Jan. 6, 2021 Insurrection probe, when the lawmakers started to interrupt each other — and Smith.

"My office didn't spy on anyone," Smith said.

"Wait a second. I, the question I asked you, Mr. Smith, was pretty straightforward," Issa said.

"We complied with the department," Smith responded, when Issa elevated his voice and interrupted him.

Raskin then interjected, calling Issa out for not letting Smith respond. Issa attempted to question Smith again.

"Mr. Smith, I asked you a question and you were not responsive to it and I want you to be responsive to it. Did you, whether you think it was legal or not, whether you think it was right or not, did you withhold the name of Kevin McCarthy, speaker of the House, when you were seeking records on Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the House or Jim Jordan, the chairman of the committee."

Then Issa's time expired. He tried to argue that he wanted his time back.

"We did not provide that information to the judge when we requested a non-disclosure order, consistent with the law and consistent with the department policy," Smith said.

More shouting erupted among the committee.

"We have the evidence... with that I yield back in disgust of this witness," Issa said.

Smith was speaking on his decision to prosecute Trump on a series of federal crimes in 2023. He wasted no time declaring that Trump "broke the law" at a congressional hearing Thursday.

Smith, a career federal prosecutor, was appointed as a special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 to investigate Trump's handling of classified documents and his role in the events surrounding the Insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.

Smith led high-profile criminal investigations and prosecutions against Trump on multiple counts, including obstruction of justice and violations of the Espionage Act related to classified materials at Mar-a-Lago, though the cases faced significant legal challenges and delays, with Trump ultimately avoiding trial on these charges following his 2024 election victory.

'Like a giant manbaby': UK right-winger gets into screaming match with Dem Jamie Raskin

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) got into a screaming match with controversial UK right-winger Nigel Farage during a presentation about free speech, Politico reported.

Raskin was in London as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation led by House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) to discuss the free speech implications of the UK's new Online Safety Act. Republican lawmakers argue the law "violates free speech and unfairly targets U.S. tech companies," according to the report.

In an interview with Politico, Raskin said he had begun talking about the history of free speech in the United States when he brought up "current threats posed by President Donald Trump."

That's when Farage, a Trump supporter, interrupted, exclaiming, "We’re not here to talk about Donald Trump,” Raskin said, adding, “[Farage] said that I am a guest here, and I should act like a guest. And I told him that he was a host, and he should act like a host.”

The leader of the right-wing Reform UK Party then accused Raskin of being “the most pig-headed person he’d ever met,” causing Raskin to retort, “This is why we had a revolution against you guys.”

Politico said the story was confirmed by Democratic reps Lou Correa (CA), Jasmine Crockett (TX) and Eric Swalwell (CA). "All called Farage’s eruption ironic for happening at the tail end of what had been a respectful discussion on free speech," the report stated.

Swalwell remarked, "Farage just looked unhinged and like a giant manbaby."

"Raskin said the outburst was the 'explosive reaction of one British politician who obviously didn’t want any challenge to his view that he’s a free speech victim,' a reference to Farage saying he’d been locked out of banking services and threatened online over his political speech," according to the report.

Read the Politico story here.

'Clearly not an emergency': Jamie Raskin puts Trump on notice over war powers

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) put President Donald Trump on notice Friday, saying Congress should decide whether to strike Iran, not him alone.

Raskin told CNN's Boris Sanchez that he was co-sponsoring a war powers resolution, as he always does, "when it looks like military hostilities might begin."

"The Constitution is very clear in Article One that it is Congress which has the power to declare war," Raskin said. "That is the sole and exclusive power of Congress."

Raskin conceded that presidents have taken swift action in emergency situations.

"But obviously, if Donald Trump has said, 'Well, nobody knows what I'm going to do. I might do it, I might not. Now I'm going to take two weeks to think it over.' It's clearly not an emergency."

Raskin added that it's up to Congress to consider "all of the complicated policy factors" that enter into a decision to stage a military strike on a foreign country.

When asked if he would support a "regime change," Raskin said he supports it "all over the world where people don't have democracy, where you've got a theocratic regime, an autocratic regime, a dictatorial regime. But, generally, the way that has worked is through Democratic struggle within the particular society itself."

Sanchez then asked if Raskin thought Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "exaggerating claims of Iran's proximity to a nuclear weapon in order to try and drag the U.S. into war."

"I just have no factual basis upon which to render that judgment," Raskin said. "And that's why the Constitution and the framers of the Constitution designed the process in such a way that the country is never hurtling into war, but rather considering it in a serious way. And I think that there's a bipartisan commitment to do that."

Watch the clip below via CNN.

Trump has 'unleashed his own army': former GOP lawmaker

Donald Trump has successfully "unleashed his own army" that's ready to take up arms whenever he gives the word, according to a former GOP lawmaker.

Former Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) told MSNBC Thursday that pardoning members of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and other extremists who participated in the J6 riots was akin to readying the troops.

"Culturally, and within the country, we have some very dark movements," Jolly said. "The Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers are far-right organizations that ultimately would like to take down our own government. They are dangerous and they will remain dangerous."

Trump addressed the Proud Boys directly during a presidential debate in 2020 when asked by moderator Chris Wallace, "Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups, and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities..?"

Trump answered, "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But I'll tell you what, somebody's got to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem, this is a left-wing."

ALSO READ: Inside the parade of right-wing world leaders flocking to D.C. for Trump's inauguration

The Proud Boys themselves believed Trump was issuing a call to action, with one member posting at the time, "Proud Boys Shout at the Presidential Debate! President Trump told the proud boys to stand by because someone needs to deal with ANTIFA...well sir! we're ready!!"

Ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes were just two of the violent criminals released from custody when Trump pardoned 1,500 J6 insurrectionists this week.

Jolly continued, "I think that is what is so unsettling about the pardons is Donald Trump did this almost out of vengeance. This is not just about the 70-year-old grandmother who got caught up in going into the Capitol, and maybe she acknowledges her wrongdoing, and mercy is due. This is not the case. Many of these people got out and said, 'Where are we going now? Where's the next fight? I'm going to buy a gun.' And for Donald Trump, I mean, he just unleashed his own army here."

Jolly concluded, "If you're an undocumented immigrant who assaults a cop, you go away, you go to prison, or you get deported immediately. But what Donald Trump says is, 'If you assault a cop in my name and in a spirit of white nationalism, I'll pardon you. you get out of jail.'"

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) echoed Jolly's concerns, posting to social media that Trump has created "a reserve battalion of violent political shock troops" that will be disastrous "for public safety and democracy."

Watch the video below or at this link.

GOP serving 'broligarchs' and doing 'nothing to bring down grocery prices': Jamie Raskin

Rep Jamie Raskin (D-MD) unleashed on the GOP for pandering to tech "broligarchs" and using immigration as a smokescreen to distract from President Trump's actions since he took the oath of office Monday.

In his statement during Wednesday's hearing on immigration enforcement, Raskin slammed the House GOP for enabling Trump's stunts by promoting "tiny little messaging bills" that accomplished nothing.

Raskin began, "All these fine speeches and all these fancy parties with billionaires and congressmen in tuxedos, all these executive orders for big oil and the tech 'broligarchs,' and these pardons for Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and violent extremists who chanted, 'Hang Mike Pence!' and smashed and wounded our police officers in this building with steel poles, baseball bats and confederate flags. All this sound and fury on day one and week one, but nothing to bring down grocery prices or nothing to bring down the cost of rent as they promised, nothing to improve our health care system or build on our success in the last Congress in reducing prescription drug prices, nothing to get health insurance coverage for millions of people who don't have it, nothing to bring down the cost of housing or build new housing, nothing to combat the nightmare of climate change other than the full-scale retreat of withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, nothing to address the real problems faced by the American people."

ALSO READ: Inside the parade of right-wing world leaders flocking to D.C. for Trump's inauguration

Raskin then addressed the matter at hand, having to do with immigration enforcement.

"So, today they want to change the subject from the indelible and shocking public safety disaster of the president releasing hundreds of convicted felons, specifically violent cop-beating felons caught on tape in the act whom he incited January 6, 2021, back into the population with no plan for protecting the American people or the public safety. So, what do they want to talk about today in their wisdom? Public safety and immigration!"

Raskin went on to describe Republican-backed bills proposed to solve the immigration problem, "tiny little messaging bills that move a few words around, but don't fundamentally change anything."

Watch the video below or at this link.