Tag: Justice Department

Justice will ask Supreme Court to intervene, allow Trump administration to end DACA

The following article by Maria Sacchetti was posted on the Washington Post website January 16, 2018:

The Trump administration is appealing an injunction on the phaseout of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and asking the Supreme Court to get involved. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

The Justice Department on Tuesday said it would take the “rare step” of asking the Supreme Court to overturn a judge’s ruling and allow the Trump administration to dismantle a program that provides work permits to undocumented immigrants raised in the United States.

The Trump administration said it has appealed the judge’s injunction — which said the Obama-era program must continue for now — to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Continue reading “Justice will ask Supreme Court to intervene, allow Trump administration to end DACA”

Justice Department report blames immigrants for terrorism, but doesn’t have the data to prove it

The following article by Esther Yu Hsi Lee was posted on the ThinkProgress website January 16, 2018:

It’s the report about nothing.

WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 15: U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions holds a news conference at the Department of Justice on December 15, 2017 in Washington, DC. Sessions called the question-and-answer session with reporters to highlight his department’s fight to reduce violent crime. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security released a scary report claiming that three out of four individuals convicted of international terrorism or terrorism-related offenses were “immigrants.”

“This report reveals an indisputable sobering reality—our immigration system has undermined our national security and public safety,” U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a press statement.  “And the information in this report is only the tip of the iceberg: we currently have terrorism-related investigations against thousands of people in the United States, including hundreds of people who came here as refugees. Continue reading “Justice Department report blames immigrants for terrorism, but doesn’t have the data to prove it”

Sessions tries to impress Trump with moves at Justice. It hasn’t worked.

The following article by Josh Dawsey and Matt Zapotosky was posted on the Washington Post website January 11, 2018:

The relationship between President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has deteriorated in recent months. Here’s a look at how they got to this point. (Taylor Turner/The Washington Post)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is trying to find his way back into President Trump’s good graces.

For months, Sessions has asked senior White House aides to make sure the president knows what he is doing at the Justice Department, two White House advisers said, and has told allies he hopes policy decisions that garner news coverage will please Trump. Sessions’s team at Justice has crafted a public campaign to highlight the work it is doing to advance the president’s agenda. The department has also begun looking into matters that Trump has publicly complained are not being pursued. Continue reading “Sessions tries to impress Trump with moves at Justice. It hasn’t worked.”

Trump urges Justice Department to ‘act’ on Comey, suggests Huma Abedin should face jail time

In an interview with the New York Times last week, Trump asserted that he has the “absolute right to do what I want with the Justice Department.” (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

The following article by David Nakamura and Matt Zapotosky was posted on the Washington Post website January 2, 2017:

President Trump on Tuesday appeared to suggest that Huma Abedin, a former top aide to Hillary Clinton, should face jail time, days after the State Department posted emails found on her estranged husband’s computer that included confidential government information.

In a tweet, Trump also urged the Justice Department to act in prosecuting Abedin and former FBI director James B. Comey, whom the president fired in May amid the mounting investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election and contacts between Moscow and Trump’s campaign. Continue reading “Trump urges Justice Department to ‘act’ on Comey, suggests Huma Abedin should face jail time”

‘It’s grotesque’: Justice Dept. veterans recoil at idea of another special counsel

The following article by Devlin Barrett was posted on the Washington Post website November 14, 2017:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions answered questions about Russia, President Trump and Roy Moore at the House Judiciary committee hearing Nov. 14. (Photo: Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s public suggestion that he may appoint a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton has alarmed current and former Justice Department officials who fear he will further politicize the embattled agency.

Sessions said at a congressional hearing Tuesday that he will weigh recommendations from senior prosecutors on whether to appoint a special counsel over a 2010 uranium company deal and other issues, including donations to the Clinton Foundation. Continue reading “‘It’s grotesque’: Justice Dept. veterans recoil at idea of another special counsel”

Trump crosses another line

The following commentary by the Editorial Board of the Washington Post was posted on their site October 25, 2017:

© Getty Images

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S disdain for the integrity of the Justice Department may no longer surprise a weary public. But it is nevertheless shocking to learn that Mr. Trump has breached tradition to personally interview two candidates for U.S. attorney — both of whom would have the power to investigate him in the future.

Politico and CNN report that Mr. Trump met with Geoffrey Berman and Ed McNally, whom the administration is considering for the roles of U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Eastern District of New York, respectively. This isn’t the first time Mr. Trump has spoken directly to a U.S. attorney candidate. In March, he met with Jessie Liu, who has since been confirmed as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. Continue reading “Trump crosses another line”

The Justice Department goes out of its way to side against a gay couple

The following commentary by the Washington Post’s Editorial Board was posted on their website September 13, 2017:

Jack Phillips poses near a display of wedding cakes. Credit:  Matthew Staver/For The Washington Post

SHOULD A Colorado baker have the right to turn away a gay couple seeking a custom wedding cake if he disapproves of their upcoming marriage? According to the Justice Department, the answer is yes.

The Supreme Court will soon hear arguments over the conduct of this unwilling baker in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Though the federal government isn’t a party to the case, the Justice Department has made a point of weighing in on the side of Jack Phillips, the “cake artist” whose religious opposition to same-sex marriage led him to refuse to design a cake for a gay couple. (The pair eventually obtained a rainbow-layered cake.) Continue reading “The Justice Department goes out of its way to side against a gay couple”

Sessions says Justice Department will boost investigations of leaks, may pursue reporters

The following article by Joseph Tanfani was posted on the Los Angeles Times website August 4, 2017:

Credit:  John Locher/AP

Under pressure by President Trump to stanch unauthorized disclosures of classified information to the media, Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions on Friday announced new efforts to find and prosecute those responsible for what he called an “unprecedented rise in leaks” and threatened a more aggressive stance toward journalists.

Sessions revealed no new cases, but said the Department of Justice has tripled the number of leak investigations this year. The pace is so heavy, he said, that the FBI has increased resources for leak cases and has created a new counterintelligence squad to manage them.

He also said he was reconsidering policies put in place during the Obama administration that limited the information prosecutors could demand from reporters. Continue reading “Sessions says Justice Department will boost investigations of leaks, may pursue reporters”

Congress Investigates Possible Sessions-Kislyak Meeting

The following article by Damien Sharkov of Newsweek was posted on the National Memo website June 2, 2017:

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Congressional investigators are requesting more information from Attorney General Jeff Sessions, suspecting he may have had another undisclosed meeting with Russia’s ambassador, CNN reports.

Sources from both parties, but speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they are attempting to clarify whether or not Sessions met Ambassador Sergey Kislyak on April 27, 2016, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. The pair attended a VIP reception after one of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign events. Continue reading “Congress Investigates Possible Sessions-Kislyak Meeting”

A month after dismissing federal prosecutors, Justice Department does not have any U.S. attorneys in place

The following article by Sari Horwitz was posted on the Washington Post website April 18, 2017:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is making aggressive law enforcement a top priority, directing his federal prosecutors across the country to crack down on illegal immigrants and “use every tool” they have to go after violent criminals and drug traffickers.

But the attorney general does not have a single U.S. attorney in place to lead his tough-on-crime efforts across the country. Last month, Sessions abruptly told the dozens of remaining Obama administration U.S. attorneys to submit their resignations immediately — and none of them, or the 47 who had already left, have been replaced. Continue reading “A month after dismissing federal prosecutors, Justice Department does not have any U.S. attorneys in place”