Tag Archives: DOJ

The Associated Press reports: San Angelo’s former longtime police chief has been indicted on bribery and fraud counts accusing him of taking $134,000 in bribes to help a radio communications vendor obtain $11 million in city contracts. Timothy Ray Vasquez made an initial court appearance in federal court in San Angelo. He had served as police chief from 2004 until …

Law & Crime reports: The Department of Justice on Friday evening released 176 pages of notes from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s interviews with key witnesses during his office’s investigation into Russian election interference. But the records, produced under a federal court order resulting from dual Freedom of Information Act (FIOA) lawsuits filed by CNN and BuzzFeed, conspicuously withheld all …

The New York Times reports: Federal prosecutors in Washington are investigating a years-old leak of classified information about a Russian intelligence document, and they appear to be focusing on whether the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey illegally provided details to reporters, according to people familiar with the inquiry. The case is the second time the Justice Department has investigated …

Law & Crime reports: U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Monday said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would have to meet more rigorous standards before opening any future counterintelligence investigations into presidential campaigns. The more stringent protocols will require campaign probes to be approved by the top leaders at the Bureau and the Department of Justice (DOJ), currently FBI …

ABC News reports: The U.S. Justice Department has charged a former Virginia college student with calling in fake emergencies to prompt law enforcement responses, in coordination with a group the FBI labelled as sympathetic to neo-Nazi ideology. John William Kirby Kelley, 19, was charged last week with conspiracy to make threats. He’s accused of being part of a network that …

The Washington Post reports: A Justice Department inquiry launched more than two years ago to mollify conservatives clamoring for more investigations of Hillary Clinton has effectively ended with no tangible results, and current and former law enforcement officials said they never expected the effort to produce much of anything. John Huber, the U.S. attorney in Utah, was tapped in November …

Bloomberg News reports: The New York City Bar Association has asked Congress to investigate U.S. Attorney General William Barr, saying his recent actions and statements have positioned the Justice Department and its prosecutors as “political partisans willing to use the levers of government to empower certain groups over others.” The request disclosed on Thursday appears to be the first time …

ABC News reports: The Department of Justice announced charges Thursday against 10 former NFL players over an alleged scheme to defraud millions of dollars from the league’s health care benefits program. Prosecutors allege that the players submitted false and fraudulent claims for high-cost medical equipment to the league’s Gene Upshaw Health Reimbursement Account Plan for retired players between June of …

NPR reports: The Justice Department’s Inspector General Michael Horowitz is testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday about his report on the origins of the FBI’s probe into the 2016 Trump campaign’s possible ties with Russia. The 434-page report found that the bureau’s decision to open an investigation “was in compliance with Department and FBI policies, and we did …

NBC News reports: Attorney General William Barr said he still believes the FBI may have operated out of “bad faith” when it investigated whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, and he contends the FBI acted improperly by continuing the investigation after Donald Trump took office. In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Barr essentially dismissed the findings of the …

The New York Times reports: Attorney General William P. Barr sharply criticized on Monday the F.B.I.’s decision to open the Russia investigation, undercutting a major finding in a long-awaited watchdog report and at the same time showing his willingness to act as President Trump’s vocal defender. The report, by the Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, found that the …

CNBC reports: The Department of Justice’s internal watchdog on Monday released its long-awaited report on the FBI’s decision to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, including its surveillance of a then-Trump campaign aide. Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that there was a proper legal basis for the FBI to seek a surveillance warrant against Carter Page, a former …

Politico reports: A federal judge has turned down the Justice Department’s bid to keep secret several financial disclosure forms ex-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker submitted before his filings were formally accepted by ethics officials. Acting on a Freedom of Information Act suit brought by BuzzFeed, U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden ruled Wednesday that the draft financial disclosures are not …

The Washington Post reports: Speaking to a roomful of police officers and prosecutors on Tuesday, Attorney General William P. Barr drew a parallel between protests against soldiers during the Vietnam War and demonstrations against law enforcement today. But this time, he suggested, those who don’t show “respect” to authority could lose access to police services. “Today, the American people have …

The Washington Post reports: Attorney General William P. Barr has told associates he disagrees with the Justice Department’s inspector general on one of the key findings in an upcoming report — that the FBI had enough information in July 2016 to justify launching an investigation into members of the Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. The Justice …

The New York Times reports: The Justice Department’s inspector general found no evidence that the F.B.I. attempted to place undercover agents or informants inside Donald J. Trump’s campaign in 2016 as agents investigated whether his associates conspired with Russia’s election interference operation, people familiar with a draft of the inspector general’s report said. The determination by the inspector general, Michael …

The Washington Post reports: When Rudolph W. Giuliani went to Madrid in August to confer with a top aide to the Ukrainian president and press for political investigations sought by President Trump, he also met with a previously unidentified client with very different interests. While in Spain, Giuliani stayed at a historic estate belonging to Venezuelan energy executive Alejandro Betancourt …

The New York Times reports: A highly anticipated report by the Justice Department’s inspector general is expected to sharply criticize lower-level F.B.I. officials as well as bureau leaders involved in the early stages of the Trump-Russia investigation, but to absolve the top ranks of abusing their powers out of bias against President Trump, according to people briefed on a draft. …

The Associated Press reports: Attorney General William Barr said he initially had his own suspicions about financier Jeffrey Epstein’s death while behind bars at one of the most secure jails in America but came to conclude that his suicide was the result of “a perfect storm of screw-ups.” Barr said his concerns were prompted by the numerous irregularities at the …

The New York Times reports: Two federal workers who were on duty the night Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail were expected to be taken into custody on Tuesday morning on federal charges related to their alleged failure to check on him, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The two federal Bureau of Prisons employees …