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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 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 (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 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 (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 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 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 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 or here to review the records.
In August 2022, we successful sued to
unseal the search
warrant affidavit used to justify the unprecedented raid on
the home of former President Trump.
In September 2022, we filed 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 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 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.
While Mexican drug cartels seize unprecedented control 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 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,
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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