Judicial Watch Sues DOJ for Records on Biden FISA Spying on
President Trump
We’re looking to uncover more
details of the Biden administration’s misuse of government agencies to
target and perhaps spy on President Trump.
Judicial Watch filed a
FOIA lawsuit
against the U.S. Department of Justice for all records regarding Biden era
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) subpoenas, warrants, court
orders and other authorizations obtained to surveil President Trump (Judicial
Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No.
1:25-cv-01969)).
In July 2018, a Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit forced
the release of the FISA warrant applications targeting Carter Page, who
had been a Trump campaign adviser. This was the first
time in history that such FISA records were publicly released. (The
following month, the Justice Department admitted in a
court filing that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court held no
hearings on the FISA spy warrant applications targeting Page.)
Our
legal team sued after the Justice Department failed to respond to a May 2,
2025, FOIA request for:
Copies of proposed and/or final
subpoenas, warrants, court orders (including but not limited to any grand
jury, state or federal court, FISA and FISC), or other
authorizations obtained to surveil Donald Trump, or any other person or
entity in any investigation where Donald Trump was the target of the
investigation from January 20, 2021, through January 20, 2025. This
includes but is not limited to surveillance of electronics, cloud-based
accounts, phone records, and wiretaps.
Copies of all responses to the
above-mentioned applications in which the authorizing body (court or grand
jury, etc.) notified the FBI or Justice Department that it would not grant
the proposed applications or recommended changes. If any such responses
were provided orally, rather than in writing, please provide copies of FBI
or Justice Department records memorializing or otherwise referencing the
relevant responses.
Copies of all orders relating to the
above-mentioned applications, whether granting or denying the applications
and certifications, denying the orders, modifying the orders, granting the
orders, or
other types of orders.
I have zero doubt – every
reason to believe – the Biden gang was spying on Trump and his team. The
Justice Department should follow federal FOIA law and release all documents
about such abuse as soon as possible.
We have several FOIA lawsuits
related to the unprecedented prosecutorial abuse and weaponization
targeting Trump.
In March 2025, we sued
the Justice Department for details of any investigations, inquiries, or
referrals concerning potential misconduct of any person working for Special
Counsel Jack Smith (Judicial
Watch Inc. v U.S. Department of Justice (No.
1:25-cv-00801)).
In March 2025, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis
was
ordered to
turn over 212 pages of records to a state court judge. The court also
ordered Willis to detail how the records were found and the reason for
withholding them from the public. The records were belatedly found in
response to a Judicial Watch request and lawsuit for communications with
Special Counsel Jack Smith and the House January 6 Committee. Previously,
the Superior Court in Fulton County, GA, issued an
order granting $21,578 “attorney’s fees and costs” in the open
records lawsuit for communications Willis had with Special Counsel Jack
Smith and the House January 6 Committee. We received
payment (Judicial
Watch Inc. v. Fani Willis et al. (No.
24-CV-002805)).
In February 2025, federal court ordered
the Justice Department to provide information on communications between
Special Counsel Jack Smith and District Attorney Fani Willis regarding the
prosecution of then-former President Donald Trump. The U.S. Justice
Department had continued to object to providing any information even after
its prosecutions against Trump were shut down (Judicial
Watch v U.S. Department of Justice (No. 23-cv-03110).
In
February 2024, the Justice Department asked
a federal court to allow the agency to keep secret the names of top
staffers working in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office that is targeting
former
President Donald Trump and other Americans (Judicial
Watch Inc. v U.S. Department of Justice (No.
1:23-cv-01485)).
Through the New York Freedom of Information Law, in
July 2023, Judicial Watch received the engagement
letter
showing New York County District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg paid $900 per hour
for partners and $500 per hour for associates to the Gibson, Dunn &
Crutcher law firm for the purpose of suing Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) in an
effort to shut down the House Judiciary Committee’s oversight
investigation into Bragg’s unprecedented indictment of former President
Donald Trump.
Did State Department Compile
Dossiers on Trump Team!
Joe Biden’s censorship operation
was compiling files on his political enemies from the Trump world. We’re
suing to reveal the details.
Judicial Watch filed a FOIA lawsuit
against the U.S. State Department for all records that allege President
Trump or any current or former member of his cabinet are “purveyors of
disinformation” (Judicial
Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No.
1:25-cv-01978)).
Our
complaint states:
According to media reports on April 30,
2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the State Department labeled
a member of President Trump’s cabinet as a purveyor of disinformation,
compiling a dossier of social media posts from the unnamed cabinet member.
See, e.g., “Rubio says State had dossier accusing Trump Cabinet member of
disinformation,” The Hill, April 30, 2025 (available at https://thehill.com/video/rubio-says-state-had-dossier-accusingtrump-cabinet-member-of-disinformation/10674871/
)
We sued
after State failed to respond to a May 1, 2025, FOIA request for records,
including those of the Global Engagement Center (GEC), about social media
posts of any current or former member of President Donald Trump’s
cabinet, to include Trump himself, alleged to constitute misinformation,
disinformation, or malign influence. We also asked for any guidance or
policy documents.
During the April 30, 2025, cabinet
meeting, Rubio said: “We had an
office in the Department of State whose job it was to censor
Americans.”
Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI), chairman of the House
Foreign Affairs South and Central Asia Subcommittee, said at a hearing
in April about the center: “The GEC [Global Engagement Center] was
initially authorized for the statutory purpose of countering foreign
propaganda and disinformation efforts. Despite that mandate, for years the
GEC instead deployed its shadowy network of grantees and sub-grantees to
facilitate the censorship of
American voices …”
In March, we filed a petition for a writ
of certiorari to
the Supreme Court of the United States concerning our lawsuit asserting
that the California Secretary of State retaliated against us because of an
accurate election integrity video posted to YouTube just before the 2020
Election (Judicial
Watch, Inc. v. Shirley Weber, in her official capacity as
Secretary of State of the State of California (No.
2:22-cv-06894)). The California Secretary of State used its
well-established working relationship with Big Tech to have YouTube remove
and censor our video.
This is not our first challenge of government
censorship.
One Judicial Watch lawsuit has uncovered numerous records
showing the government working with outside groups to censor free
speech:
- In November 2024, we uncovered
records from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revealing
an extensive effort by government and non-government entities to monitor
and censor
social media posts on fraud during the 2020 election.
- In June,
Homeland Security records
from this case showed state election officials in the days before and after
the 2020 election flagging online content deemed “misinformation” and
sending it to the Center for Internet Security (CIS), a DHS-funded
nonprofit, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA),
which is a division of DHS, the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP), which
was created to flag online election content for censorship and
suppression.
- In December 2023, Homeland Security records
showed a close collaboration between CISA and the leftist EIP to engage in
“real-time narrative tracking” on all major social media platforms in
the days leading up to the 2020 election.
- In November 2023,
additional Homeland Security records
showed government involvement in the EIP pressure on Google, Twitter,
Facebook,
TikTok, Pinterest, Reddit and other platforms to censor
“disinformation.” (Judicial
Watch Inc. vs. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No.
1:22-cv-03560 )).
In August 2024, we received records
from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
(CISA) revealing that it was trolling on social media and reporting on
alleged “domestic violent extremism”
(DVE).
Judicial Watch Sues for Collusion Documents
of Arizona AG and Jack Smith
We continue to dig into the
lawfare against President Trump.
Judicial Watch just filed a lawsuit
against Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes for her communications with
former Special Counsel Jack Smith (Judicial
Watch v. Kristin Mayes and Arizona Department of Law (CV
2025-020674).
We are alleging:
On January 13, 2025
several media outlets reported that Attorney General Mayes had formally
requested case documents from U.S. Department of Justice special counsel
Jack Smith's criminal investigation into President Donald Trump regarding
the 2020 presidential election.
12News reported that “Mayes said
the documents could ensure defendants in Arizona's fake electors case would
be held accountable.” https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/arizona/arizona-attomey-general-requests-jack-smiths-case-documents-on-trump/75-0d415bb9-42a2-4e55-86c4-086db68ecd75
We
filed the Arizona Public Records Law complaint in the Superior Court of
Arizona after the attorney general failed to respond to a January 13, 2025,
request for:
Any communications and/or documents with
Jack Smith and/or the DOJ Special Counsel group/team from January 1, 2022,
to the completion of this
request.
Collusion against President Trump by Democratic
politicians with Jack Smith and the weaponized Biden Justice Department are
of great public interest. Attorney General Mayes is acting as if she has
something to hide.
In April we filed a lawsuit
against Mayes, who seemed to have used her office for political purposes in
threatening a prosecution of President Trump on the eve of the 2024
presidential election. Only one document was found (and kept secret)
relating to a criminal investigation, while dozens of media-related documents
were revealed (Judicial
Watch Inc. v. Kris Mayes et al (No.
CV 2025 00675)).
In March we sued
the Justice Department for details of any investigations, inquiries, or
referrals concerning potential misconduct of any person working for Special
Counsel Jack Smith (Judicial
Watch Inc. v U.S. Department of Justice (No.
1:25-cv-00801)).
In March Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis was
ordered to turn over 212 pages of records to a state court judge. The
court also ordered Willis to detail how the records were found and the
reason for withholding them
from the public. The records were belatedly disclosed in response to a
Judicial Watch request and lawsuit for communications with Special Counsel
Jack Smith and the House January 6 Committee. In January we were awarded $21,578
for “attorney’s fees and costs” incurred in the case. The court
previously found Willis in default
and
stated: “The Court finds Defendant [Willis, in her official capacity] is
in default and has been since 11 April 2024” (Judicial
Watch Inc. v. Fani Willis et al. (No.
24-CV-002805)).
In January, a
federal court ordered the Justice Department to provide us with
information on
communications between Smith and Willis regarding the prosecution of
then-former President Donald Trump. In May, the Justice Department was
directed to search text messages from the Special Counsel’s Office for
responsive records (Judicial
Watch v U.S. Department of Justice (No.
23-cv-03110).
Illegals at Meat Processing Plant
with Stolen IDs Screened with E-Verify
Illegal immigration
is not a victimless crime. Our Corruption Chronicles blog exposes
the cost to legal Americans from abuse of a broken federal vetting
system.
Years after Judicial Watch reported
that the government’s system to verify if employees are authorized to
work legally in the United States approved hundreds of thousands of
illegal immigrants, federal authorities have uncovered widespread identity
theft at a meat processing plant that used the defective tool to screen
100% of its staff. A recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
worksite enforcement operation at Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha, Nebraska
busted over 70 illegal aliens who were using stolen Social Security numbers
and identities to unlawfully obtain wages, health benefits and employment
authorization, according to the agency. The criminal identity theft scheme
left “more than 100 real victims to face devastating financial, emotional
and legal consequences,” ICE writes in its announcement
of the operation.
Incredibly, Glenn Valley Foods was reportedly 100%
compliant with E-Verify,
a costly government database launched nearly three decades ago that screens
new employees using records from various agencies to confirm
candidates are in the country legally. The web-based system claims to match
information provided by new hires against Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) and Social Security Administration (SSA) records. U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services (USCIS) operates it because the agency is
responsible for administering the nation’s lawful immigration system. The
program is available to employers in every state as well as the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Commonwealth of
Northern Mariana Islands. For private businesses it is voluntary but
federal contractors and subcontractors must use it to vet workers. The
government has for years claimed that E-Verify is “the best means
available to electronically confirm employment eligibility.”
The
Republican congressman (Don Bacon) who represents Omaha in the U.S. House,
confirms that Glenn Valley Foods “complied
with E-Verify 100%” and therefore the company is also a “victim.”
Other casualties of the Omaha identity fraud ring include a Californian who
has been working for nearly 15 years to restore their identity and repair
financial damage caused by the identity theft of one of the illegal
immigrants; A disabled
person in Texas, who was unable to work, and could not collect Social
Security disability payments because an illegal alien was fraudulently
using their identity and earning wages at Glenn Valley Foods; A Colorado
resident ordered by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to repay over $5,000
after their income was falsely increased by the illegal immigrant’s
identity theft; A full-time nursing student from Missouri who lost their
college tuition assistance because it was fraudulently reported that they
earned too much money after an illegal alien used their Social Security
number for employment at Glenn Valley Foods.
Expressing frustration
over the left’s narrative condemning recent immigration operations, the
Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge of the Glenn
Valley Foods case points out that individuals have gone on the record
referring to the identity thieves arrested by his agents as “good,
hardworking, and
honest.” The reality is that “these so-called honest workers have
caused an immeasurable amount of financial and emotional hardship for
innocent Americans,” said the supervisory agent, Mark Zito. “If
pretending to be someone you aren’t in order to steal their lives isn’t
blatant, criminal dishonesty, I don’t know what is.” The DHS official
goes on to confirm that the criminals who stole these identities did not
just break the law, they upended lives. “These victims aren’t faceless
statistics,” special agent Zito said. “They’re real people who are
being denied healthcare and have lost educational opportunities.” Zito
also revealed that the investigation is ongoing.
If in fact Glenn
Valley Foods screened every single employee with E-Verify it clearly
demonstrates that the system’s widely reported flaws, identified in
federal audits for years, have not been corrected. Just a few years ago, a
DHS Inspector General report
blasted USCIS, exposing “deficiencies” that illustrate the program
needs “additional capabilities” to effectively confirm that individuals
are eligible for employment in the United States. At the time the DHS
watchdog found that E-Verify authorized employment for about 280,000
non-U.S. citizens without using the photo-matching process to confirm their
identities and that 613,000 individuals were approved without meeting
USCIS’s own verification requirements. Those are considered illegal
immigrants, the demographic the system is supposed to prevent from
unlawfully obtaining wages in the
U.S.
Until next week,
