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Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed U.S. Attorney David
Weiss as special counsel to investigate Biden family finances.

Garland folded, stopped ignoring DOJ regulations, and finally
appointed a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden and
(indirectly) President Joe Biden for their corrupt family business
dealings.

But appointing U.S. Attorney Weiss as special counsel, a man who tried
to unethically slide Hunter’s corrupt plea deal past a federal
judge, is a sick joke. In fact, Mr. Weiss should be under
investigation for his dishonest statements to Congress and his
compromised, sweetheart plea deal for Hunter Biden.

Given the powerful and unrefuted testimony before Congress by senior
IRS investigators that the criminal investigation of Hunter was
obstructed by the Justice Department (when Weiss was nominally running
the investigation) in order to protect Joe Biden, Weiss is the last
person who should be special counsel.

Congress should speed up and escalate its investigations of Biden
corruption, as the Justice Department is ethically broken.

In the meantime, Judicial Watch will continue its leadership role in
investigating and exposing the worsening Biden corruption crisis
through numerous FOIA and other federal and state legal actions.

HEARING SET IN JUDICIAL WATCH LAWSUIT SEEKING VIDEOS AND EMAILS FROM
JANUARY 6 PROTEST AT CAPITOL

A congressional coverup is ongoing about January 6, but our lawsuit to
undo it is proceeding apace.

A federal court in Washington, DC, set
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a hearing in our lawsuit against the U.S. Capitol Police seeking
videos and emails concerning the protest at the U.S. Capitol on
January 6, 2021 (_Judicial Watch v. United States Capitol Police_
[about:blank] (No. 1:21-cv-00401)).

The hearing will be held before U.S District Court Judge Ana C. Reyes
on August 15 at 1:00 pm ET.

We filed our lawsuit [about:blank] under the common law right of
access to public records in February 2021 after the US Capitol Police
refused to provide any records in response to a January 21, 2021,
request seeking:

* Email communications between the U.S. Capitol Police Executive
Team and the Capitol Police Board concerning the security of the
Capitol on January 6, 2021. The timeframe of this request is from
January 1, 2021, through January 10, 2021.
* Email communications of the Capitol Police Board with the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security concerning the security of the Capitol
on January 6, 2021. The timeframe of this request is from January 1,
2021through January 10, 2021.
* All video footage from within the Capitol between 12 pm and 9 pm
on January 6, 2021.
Through its police department, Congress argues that the videos and
emails are not public records, there is no public interest in their
release, and that “sovereign immunity” prevents citizens from
suing for their release.

Through its police department, Congress argues that the videos and
emails are not public records, there is no public interest in their
release, and that “sovereign immunity” prevents citizens from
suing for their release.

In opposing the broad assertion of secrecy, we detail Supreme Court
and other precedents that uphold the public’s right to know what
“their government is up to:”

In ‘the courts of this country’ – including the federal courts
– the common law bestows upon the public a right of access to public
records and documents” … “the Supreme Court was unequivocal in
stating that there is a federal common law right of access ‘to
inspect and copy public records and documents.’” … “[T]he
general rule is that all three branches of government, legislative,
executive, and judicial, are subject to the common law right.” The
right of access is “a precious common law right. . . that predates
the Constitution itself.’

The Court of Appeals for this circuit has recognized that “openness
in government has always been thought crucial to ensuring that the
people remain in control of their government….

“Neither our elected nor our appointed representatives may abridge
the free flow of information simply to protect their own activities
from public scrutiny. An official policy of secrecy must be supported
by some legitimate justification that serves the interest of the
public office.”

The U.S. Capitol Police continues to hide these key January 6 videos
and emails from the American people. It is particularly frustrating
that the new House Republican leadership has allowed the Capitol
Police to continue to defend this secrecy, which was first pushed
under the Pelosi Congress in federal court.

JUDICIAL WATCH SUES NATIONAL ARCHIVES FOR RECORDS OF ITS ROLE IN TRUMP
RECORDS DISPUTE

The National Archives is hiding, in absolute violation of federal FOIA
law, the full truth about its selective, abusive targeting of
President Trump.

We filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit against the National
Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for records of the
Archives’ role in President Trump’s White House records
controversy; whether it offered Trump a secure storage location other
than the National Archives; and if the Archives consulted with the
Office of the Director of National Intelligence regarding the
classification or declassification procedures of any of the alleged
classified documents found at Trump’s Florida residence (_Judicial
Watch v. National Archives and Records Administration_
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(No.
1:23-cv-02267)).

We sued after the National Archives failed to substantively respond to
a June 15, 2023, FOIA request for:

> Policies, procedures, regulations, or other documents outlining NARA
> procedures assisting a U.S. President during transition from office.
> Records from January 1, 2009, to present.
>
> Coordination with the Department of Defense to assist with
> inventory, packing or transport of any records from the White House,
> from November 1, 2020, to December 1, 2021.
>
> Advice and assistance regarding “records” provided by NARA to
> former President Trump, his transition team, record custodians or
> representatives from May 1, 2020, to July 1, 2021.
>
> NARA employees assisting former President Trump and/or his
> representatives inventorying, reviewing, packing, or moving boxes at
> the White House from November 1, 2020, to April 1, 2021.
>
> Request for assistance from former President Trump or his
> representatives to assist with packing, inventorying, reviewing, or
> storing records from November 1, 2020, to February 1, 2022.
>
> NARA offering or providing a secure storage location other than the
> National Archives for records potentially being retained by former
> President Trump or his representatives from November 1, 2020, to
> December 31, 2021.
>
> NARA inserting placeholder pages in any of the 15 boxes obtained
> from former President Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago, FL, from
> November 1, 2020, to December 1, 2022.
>
> Consultations with the Office of the Director of National
> Intelligence (“ODNI”) concerning classification or
> declassification procedures of any of the alleged classified
> documents found in the 15 boxes recovered from former President
> Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago, FL, from January 21, 2021, to present.
In an April 2 letter
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to
Michael Turner (R-OH), Chairman of the House Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence, Trump attorney Timothy B. Parlatore said
the Archives “unfortunately has become overtly political and
declined to provide archival assistance to President Trump’s
transition team.”

We are in the forefront of the court battles for transparency
regarding Biden administration’s targeting of former President
Trump.

In June 2023, we obtained DOJ records
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that
showed top officials of the National Security Division discussing the
political implications of Trump allowing CNN to use closed-circuit TV
(CCTV) footage of the raid on his Mar-a-Lago home. The documents
confirmed that the Justice Department had asked that Mar-a-Lago CCTV
be turned off before the raid.

A separate Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit
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against the
National Archives and Records Administration resulted in the release
of records about the unprecedented document dispute between Archives
and President Trump. Click here
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or here
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to review the records.

In August 2022, we successful sued to unseal
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the search warrant affidavit
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used
to justify the unprecedented raid on the home of former President
Trump.

In September 2022, we filed
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lawsuits
against the DOJ for its records and the FBI’s records about the
Mar-a-Lago raid search warrant application and approval, as well as
communications about the warrant between the FBI, Executive Office of
the President and the Secret Service.

In October 2022, we sued
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the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) for all communications of the U.S. Secret
Service internally and with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
regarding the raid on Trump’s home and for any video or audio
recordings made during the raid.

In November 2022, we sued
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the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) for all communications between the Secret
Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regarding the search
warrant that precipitated the raid on former Trump’s Florida
residence at Mar-a-Lago.

As you can see, Judicial Watch will not slow down one bit on exposing
the unprecedented upending of the rule of law by the Biden
administration in its targeting of Trump and other innocents.

MEXICAN CARTELS GET AMMO, GUNS, MONEY FROM U.S.

We often report on the invasive trafficking of people, drugs and guns
into the United States from Mexico, but here’s a twist:
Transnational criminal organizations smuggle firearms _from_ the
United States into Mexico. And our government does very little to
thwart this reverse flow. Our _Corruption Chronicles_ blog has the
details
[[link removed]].
[[link removed]]


> While Mexican drug cartels seize unprecedented control
>
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of the
> southwest border, the frontline Homeland Security agency charged
> with safeguarding the U.S. fails to regularly conduct outbound
> inspections that could disrupt the Transnational Criminal
> Organizations (TCO). The checks for traffic departing the country at
> ports of entry (POE) would be detrimental to the illicit operations
> because they prevent illegal exportation of currency, firearms,
> explosives, ammunition, and narcotics. Nevertheless, Customs and
> Border Protection (CBP) does not consistently inspect outbound
> traffic, according to a federal audit
>
[[link removed]]
that
> reveals there is no structural outbound inspection with oversight
> from the agency’s Office of Field Operations (OFO).
>
> “TCOs require a steady supply of firearms and ammunition to assert
> control over the territory where they operate, eliminate rival
> criminal organizations, and resist government operations,” says
> the report, released this month by the Department of Homeland
> Security (DHS) Inspector General. “Further, bulk cash smuggling
> remains a favored means for TCOs to repatriate their illicit funds
> from or move funds into the United States to support their criminal
> operations. TCO networks on the Southwest border smuggle narcotics
> into the United States, while illegally exporting currency from drug
> proceeds and firearms into Mexico.” Operations are not limited to
> the Mexican border, the DHS watchdog writes, confirming that TCO
> networks also use the northern border to smuggle high-potency drugs
> and currency both into and out of the United States.
>
> Federal law authorizes CBP to seize illegally transported firearms,
> ammunition, explosives, narcotics, and currency out of the United
> States. Statistics provided in the report show that it is an
> effective way to disrupt TCO operations. For instance, between 2018
> and 2022, agents seized $58 million in illegal currency and 2,306
> firearms. It demonstrates the value of outbound inspections to
> CBP’s mission, which is to protect the American people, safeguard
> our borders and enhance the nation’s economic prosperity. However,
> agency policies do not require outbound inspections though officers
> at some land border crossings perform them on personal vehicles and
> pedestrians departing the U.S. In most locations CBP officers are
> not conducting outbound inspections, the DHS watchdog found,
> determining that the agency is “missing opportunities to stop
> currency, firearm, explosives, ammunition, and narcotics from
> reaching TCOs that perpetrate cross-border violence.”
>
> CBP is responsible for 167 land crossings along the U.S.-Mexico
> border, which stretches nearly 2,000 miles and Canada, the world’s
> longest international border with 5,525 miles. Investigators from
> the DHS IG’s office visited 108 of them during their probe. “We
> found the frequency of outbound inspections, inspection techniques,
> technology, and infrastructure in outbound inspection areas varied
> significantly between the two borders and among land border
> crossings,” they write in their report. “These inconsistencies
> occurred because there is no structured outbound inspection program
> with oversight from OFO headquarters.” Additionally, the agency
> does not have performance metrics to measure the impact of
> widespread outbound inspections or a comprehensive outbound
> inspection policy.
>
> The report comes just weeks after congressional testimony from
> federal sources in counterterrorism, intelligence and drug
> enforcement exposed how the Biden administration’s reckless open
> border policies have greatly facilitated the business model of TCOs.
> Mexican drug cartels have seized unprecedented control of the
> nation’s southwest border, the congressional hearing determined.
> Days earlier at a separate and equally alarming congressional
> hearing
>
[[link removed]],
> another group of law enforcement sources confirmed that Mexican TCOs
> are successfully smuggling mass quantities of deadly illicit
> fentanyl past Border Patrol agents and CBP officers into the U.S.
> Federal authorities can hardly afford to miss opportunities, such as
> conducting outbound inspections, that can disrupt cartel operations.

Until next week,





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