All posts tagged "justice department"

Another Senate embarrassment looms for embattled Trump prosecutor: reports

Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was expected to get another round of embarrassment from Senate Democrats, according to reports Friday.

President Donald Trump's former attorney and pick for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia has continued her role — despite calls for her to resign — while the Trump administration has pushed forward her nomination in the Senate, according to The Daily Beast.

Two Virginia senators were expected to block Halligan "using internal veto power by refusing to return a blue slip that indicates support for a home-state judicial nominee," Semafor reported.

Virginia Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner have not said they would block her specifically, but Warner told Semafor it would be "very hard" for her to get approved.

A judge ruled in November that Halligan was never officially appointed to her position, ultimately dismissing the DOJ cases against former FBI director James Comey and Letitia James after finding her appointment was invalid. Trump's Justice Department tried again to indict James for a second time and failed Thursday after a grand jury in Virginia refused to return a fraud indictment against James.

Last week, three judges slammed Trump's Justice Department for keeping Lindsey Halligan's name on court documents. A district court judge and two magistrate judges in Alexandria, Virginia, said in an open court to prosecutors that they didn't think Halligan's name should be on any of the new criminal case filings, including guilty plea documents or indictments, following a decision last week that stated she is not the U.S. attorney.

'The ham sandwich wins': Trump admin shamed over another failure to indict Trump foe

Amused observers weighed in Thursday after President Donald Trump's Justice Department failed again to prosecute New York Attorney General Letitia James and suffered yet another embarrassing attempt.

A grand jury in Virginia refused to return a fraud indictment against James — who Trump has called an enemy — the second time this has happened since the original case against her was thrown out.

Social media observers applauded the news.

"Good!" former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega wrote on X.

"Man @realDonaldTrump is 0-4 against @TishJames. That's a series Sweep!" Comedia Hal for NY wrote on X.

"Again! The ham sandwich wins," Attorney and legal analyst Jeffrey Evan Gold wrote on X.

"Bondi has just failed for the 2nd time in a week to re-indict Leticia (sic) James. We have never had such feckless, incompetent, partisan AG in US history," Rutgers professor James Tepper wrote on X.

"Third time will be a charm," journalist Sam Stein mocked on X.

"The GJ are waking up. Good luck getting indictments. Let's move on to Comey that won't bode well either," attorney and former judge Tracey Gallagher wrote on X.

"Trump’s got nothing on her. His only performing for the bloodthirsty and cruelty aroused MAGA cult. AG James is winning because she’s innocent," veteran and banker Evaristus Odinikaeze wrote on X.

Trump filing 'infused with disdain' seeks to keep Jack Smith's final report secret

President Donald Trump wants to keep former special counsel Jack Smith’s final report classified, according to a new court filing Tuesday.

In the filing from his personal lawyer, the president told U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon — a judge he appointed and his first direct request of her — to continue an extension on an 11-month order to block the Justice Department from sharing the report, Politico reported.

Smith submitted it just before Trump's second inauguration and reportedly tells the story of the criminal case against the president after he hoarded classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home, including in a bathroom.

"Trump’s request is a break from the Justice Department’s handling of all special counsel reports in recent decades. Typically, those reports are provided to Congress and made public, even when they have included damaging findings about the incumbent administration. DOJ released another report Smith compiled detailing his findings about Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 election shortly before President Joe Biden left office," according to Politico.

"The filing is infused with the typical disdain Trump has expressed for his former prosecutors, labeling Smith a 'so-called special counsel' and saying the case was 'marred by numerous deficiencies and repeated abuses of office,'" the outlet reported.

‘Stunning curveball’: Reporter gobsmacked as FBI turns tables on Republican attack plans

The FBI turned the tables on a California realtor and Republican congressional candidate who was planning to drop an attack on a Democratic lawmaker but instead was grilled about her communication with Federal Housing Agency Director Bill Pulte and DOJ official Ed Martin, according to reports.

Christine Bish thought she was heading to Greenbelt, Maryland, to testify to a grand jury about Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and mortgage fraud allegations — but instead had an unexpected meeting, MS NOW anchor Ana Cabrera said Friday. The grand jury was hearing allegations that Pulte and Martin illegally shared sensitive information in the administration's mortgage fraud probes of Democratic figures and Trump enemies.

"...There is another stunning curveball at the DOJ. Two Trump allies who have spearheaded investigations into Trump's political adversaries, Bill Pulte and Ed Martin, are now themselves under investigation for their handling of those cases, according to two people familiar with the probe," Cabrera reported.

MS NOW justice and intel reporter Ken Dilanian, part of the team that broke the story, described the shock over the move and other potential allegations that have surfaced, especially the questions over Martin's involvement.

"[Martin is] basically spearheading many of the DOJ's inquiries into Donald Trump's political opponents. He's a darling of Donald Trump. Now, his own Justice Department is investigating him," Dilanian said.

Dilanian talked to Bish on Thursday after her surprise chat.

"She was summoned to the grand jury, subpoenaed, and she showed up yesterday in Greenbelt, Maryland," Dilanian reported. "Instead of testifying before the grand jury, she had an interview with a prosecutor, an FBI agent and others, and she told me that she thought she would be telling them about her take on Adam Schiff's mortgage. But instead, they were grilling her about her communications with Pulte, with Martin, and with two other men who she said spoke to her about these allegations, who don't actually work for the government. And so this is a huge deal. It's amazing to all of us who cover the Justice Department that Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, and Pam Bondi, the attorney general, have allowed this investigation to germinate from the Maryland grand jury."

The investigation is ongoing.

"It'll be interesting to see whether it persists now that it's become public. And Donald Trump surely is aware of it," Dilanian said.

Bondi and Blanche are also aware of the updates to this investigation, and that "nothing of this level at the Justice Department happens without the senior people at least being briefed on it. This is a huge deal. They know that. They knew that if it got out, it would be a massive, massive story. I mean, where else have we seen anything like this? One legal scholar, commenting on our reporting yesterday called this an extraordinary sign of life for the rule of law. We'll have to see whether that remains the case."

Trump accused of 'shaking down' his own government by judiciary member

A House Judiciary Committee member accused President Donald Trump on Tuesday of "shaking down" his own government and called on GOP lawmakers to stand up.

Trump reportedly demanded that his Justice Department pay him $230 million in taxpayer dollars as compensation for past actions that he disagreed with. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) shared his reaction to Trump's latest move with CNN anchor Kasie Hunt.

"We are combining the weaponization of the Department of Justice by him putting his political lackeys there — with his grift and corruption — to make money off of the presidency. It is completely absurd. Donald Trump would have been convicted at trial in both of those cases. The only reason they went away is because he won the election, and a president cannot be tried," Goldman said.

"And the notion that there was anything wrong with those investigations is preposterous," he added. "But even more so, to then demand of his own Justice Department and his own appointees that they pay him $200 million — for who knows what — is a shakedown... of his own government, where he is literally just digging into the coffers of his own government and saying, let's just put $230 million into my own pocket. When are the Republicans going to stand up for anything?"

'Foolish': Congress dressed down for giving a 'garbage human being' leverage over them

Former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori did not mince words Tuesday on CNN when asked about Ghislane Maxwell's demands for immunity before she considers testifying on Capitol Hill.

Maxwell, who was the girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, is serving 20 years in federal prison for sex trafficking.

In a letter to House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY), Maxwell's attorneys wrote that their client would invoke her Fifth Amendment rights to remain silent unless they complied with her demands.

"I have to say to the folks in Congress who helped to create this — this is what happens when you give a criminal — an all-around garbage human being — leverage over you," Khardori told CNN's Brianna Keilar.

"They start creating lists of demands that make you look foolish if you accede to them; they should never have gone down this path. The Justice Department should not be working with her. She has no credibility. She's in prison for 20 years on heinous charges, and she has a whole host of incentives to lie or shade the truth. If I were still in government, I would not trust this woman and I would not touch her with a 10-foot pole."

Keilar asked why Khardori called Maxwell "garbage."

"Because what she did was heinous and awful, and she traumatized many, many young women, and they're going to live with that trauma for the rest of their lives."

Khardori continued, "One of the particularly offensive elements of the Justice Department entertaining this — Republicans in Congress entertaining this — is that she has victims, and those victims have to watch all of this unfold and have to watch them pretending like this woman has some credibility and potentially some information that may be valuable."

President Donald Trump has not ruled out pardoning Maxwell. He has called questions about his association with Epstein, a convicted sex trafficker, a "hoax" and a "scam" perpetuated by Democrats.

Watch the clip below via CNN.

'Thumbing their nose': Judges warn of 'serious' crackdown as White House lawyers irritate

A new report in The Wall Street Journal says federal judges are facing "increasing irritation" when dealing with Trump administration lawyers because they're unsure of the accuracy of the information they're getting before making important rulings.

The consequences of the government's waning credibility "could be serious—both for the administration, which might see its odds of prevailing on close questions diminish before judges who lack confidence in government representations, and for the judiciary, should lip service to court orders become an acceptable norm," the report said.

Correspondent Jess Bravin wrote that the latest test is expected this week during a hearing on whether the White House is openly disregarding U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson's orders to stop dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The paper quoted Judge Jackson saying, “There is reason to believe that officials 'are thumbing their nose at both this Court and the Court of Appeals.'"

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The Journal piece explained that the appellate court upheld most of Jackson's orders "to preserve the CFPB’s existence while an employee-union’s lawsuit against the layoffs proceeds."

Although the government lawyers have claimed they're complying "even with judicial orders they think are egregiously wrong, while pursuing expedited appeals to higher courts," some judges hearing the myriad cases Trump has lined up thanks to his "aggressive assertions of executive power" are dubious, the report said.

The piece quotes Charles Cooper, a former assistant attorney general who has represented Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

According to the piece, "Cooper said he didn’t know if there was merit to courts’ complaints about administration conduct, but judges are human.' If a lawyer misleads you, he said, 'you deal with that lawyer in a different way than you have been.'"

Read The Wall Street Journal story here.

'Americans are growing impatient': GOP pollster warns Trump may have misread 'mandate'

Listen to President Donald Trump and his spokespeople long enough and you'll hear them talk of the "mandate" he's been given by the American people to disrupt the federal government.

In an unprecedented speech at the Justice Department last week, Trump said the voters have “given us a mandate” for “a far-reaching investigation ... into the corruption of our system” by Democrats. Trump has also claimed that his “massive landslide victory” gave him a “historic mandate” to reshape policy "with respect to taxation, federal social spending, immigration, energy production, family values, defense and other areas."

Republican pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson wrote in Monday's New York Times that Trump "seems to view his job differently than many voters, which is one reason for his falling poll numbers. He strongly believes that he was elected to return to Washington as a disrupter, this time with significantly more experience and effectiveness than in his first term...he believes he has the latitude to go big and bold, to create some turbulence and cause some prices to rise in the short term as he asserts himself in Washington and around the globe."

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But, Anderson wrote, "As I dug into Mr. Trump’s polling data, it looked increasingly that American voters’ mandate to the president was more narrow than he sees it."

At the top of the list: "There is increasing evidence in public opinion data that Americans are growing impatient to get the primary thing they feel they were promised: a more stable economy where the cost of living is more affordable," Anderson wrote.

"Presidents have misread their mandates in the past, seeing what they want to see rather than what the voters have plainly told them," Anderson wrote. "The best argument for Mr. Trump’s belief that he was elected with a broad mandate to bring about aggressive change is that he never pretended he’d do otherwise."

In other words, "Voters had plenty of foreknowledge of what Mr. Trump might do in a second term, and they voted for him anyway."

Read The New York Times opinion piece here.

Senator 'concerned' after speaking with Trump's attorney general pick Pam Bondi

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said he was "concerned" after meeting with Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be attorney general.

Bondi, a staunch Trump loyalist, is making the rounds in Congress, hoping to garner support before her two-day confirmation hearing, scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 15, and Thursday, Jan. 16.

Durbin posted on X, "I just met with Pam Bondi, Donald Trump’s attorney general pick. Given her responses to my questions, I remain concerned about her ability to serve as an Attorney General who will put her oath to the Constitution ahead of her fealty to Donald Trump."

Bondi served as Florida's attorney general from 2011 to 2019 and as Trump’s personal lawyer during his first impeachment trial in 2020. Trump nominated her for attorney general after his first choice, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), dropped out of consideration in November over ethics concerns.

Durbin also released a longer statement through the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling Bondi a "leader in the effort to overturn the 2020 election," and wrote that she has "echoed the President-elect’s calls for prosecuting his political opponents. In addition, Ms. Bondi has a long track record of opposing fundamental civil rights, including reproductive rights, voting rights, and LGBTQ+ rights."

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Durbin said he's hoping to learn more about Bondi and her "vision for the Department of Justice" when she comes before the Judiciary Committee next week.

“The American people deserve an Attorney General who will protect their fundamental rights, demonstrate independence and integrity, and remain faithful to the Constitution, the country, and the rule of law above all," Durbin wrote.

When nominating Bondi, Trump posted to social media, "For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans - Not anymore. Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again.”

A bipartisan group of 110 senior Justice Department officials who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations, wrote a letter of recommendation to the Senate Judiciary Committee urging Bondi's confirmation," Fox News Digital reported. They cited her "commitment to the rule of law and her track record as Florida’s former attorney general that they said makes her uniquely qualified for the role."