Lawsuit Over Pentagon Attack on Tucker Carlson

[INSIDE JW]

JUDICIAL WATCH SUES FOR PENTAGON COMMUNICATIONS ABOUT TUCKER CARLSON,
FOX NEWS

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As Joe Biden and his handlers remake the federal government in their
own image they are clumsily tripping over the U.S. Constitution.
Consider the Pentagon and Tucker Carlson of Fox News.

In the March 9, 2021, broadcast of “Tucker Carlson
Tonight,” Carlson said
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in criticizing a “woke” public relations push by the military:

So we’ve got new hairstyles and maternity flight suits. Pregnant
women are going to fight our wars. It’s a mockery of the U.S.
military. Well, China’s military becomes more masculine as it’s
assembled the world’s largest navy…. It’s a mockery of the U.S.
military.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that Defense Secretary Austin
was “revulsed
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by Carlson’s comments. Official military Twitter accounts were also
used to attack
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Carlson’s
views.

What was going on behind the scenes at the Pentagon? To find out we
filed a FOIA suit against the Department of Defense seeking
communications between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other top
military officials regarding Fox News and Carlson, whose recent
commentary on the U.S. military was attacked by top Pentagon
officials (_Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Department of
Defense_
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(No.
1:21-cv-01225)).

We sued here in federal court after the Department of Defense failed
to reply to our March 16, 2021, request for:

All emails sent between Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and email
accounts ending in .gov and/or .mil containing the terms “Tucker
Carlson” and/or “Fox News.”

All emails sent between Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen.
Mark Milley and email accounts ending in .gov and/or .mil containing
the terms “Tucker Carlson” and/or “Fox News.”

All emails sent between Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Gen. John Hyten and email accounts ending in .gov and/or .mil
containing the terms “Tucker Carlson” and/or “Fox News.”
We’re asking for emails sent between March 1, 2021, and March 16,
2021.

On his March 11 show, Carlson accused the Pentagon
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of
declaring “war on a domestic news operation:”

Since when does the Pentagon declare war on a domestic news operation?
We can’t remember that ever happening. But we’re going to pass on
that, because this is bigger than a feud with some flack at the
Pentagon. This is genuinely worrisome.
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz sent a letter
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to Defense
Secretary Austin demanding a meeting with the Commandant of the Marine
Corps to account for the attacks on Carlson and “a plan to prevent
other military units from being similarly mobilized against the speech
of American citizens.”

In the letter, Sen. Cruz wrote:

I am deeply troubled that the comments you made, and the military’s
broader obligation to avoid political endorsements and controversy,
are being systematically undermined for the sake of leftwing ideology
and political expediency. The last week has witnessed the Pentagon
mobilize systematic, public attacks against television host Tucker
Carlson that in substance, tone, and political resonance are
inexplicably inappropriate.
The Department of Defense has rules about how members of the U.S.
military can participate in politics. Active military members may
express a personal opinion on political candidates and issues, but
they cannot
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express
opinions on behalf of or as a representative of the U.S. military.

We are deeply disturbed over the Pentagon’s illicit secrecy about
its coordinated attacks on the First Amendment-protected speech of
Tucker Carlson.

To sum up, we asked the Pentagon to search two weeks’ worth of
email, in three accounts, using two search terms. And they
stonewalled.

The fact that we must take the Pentagon to federal court for these
documents suggests the agency has something to hide.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION OVERWHELMS SHERIFFS; FAMILIES EXPOSED TO GANG
VIOLENCE

As the corrupt media is focused on promoting the anti-Trump politician
Liz Cheney, the deadly dangerous Biden border crisis continues
unabated. But sheriffs of many counties across the country are making
a stand for the rule of law, our sovereignty, and the rule of law --
as our _Corruption Chronicles_ blog reports
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Local law enforcement agencies nationwide are overwhelmed with
criminal activity linked to a huge increase in illegal immigration,
and families are being exposed to violence associated with drug
trafficking and transnational gangs, according to hundreds of sheriffs
across the United States. In a letter
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to
President Joe Biden, the law enforcement officials in more than two
dozen states blast the administration’s “reckless and
irresponsible” open border policies that are exposing innocent
citizens to illegal alien violence. Titled, “Help America’s
Sheriffs Keep Our Neighborhoods and Communities Safe by Halting
Illegal Immigration,” the document asserts that the crisis began
when Biden was vice president.

“In a myriad of ways, you and your administration are encouraging
and sanctioning lawlessness and the victimization of the people of the
United States of America, all in the name of mass illegal
immigration,” the sheriffs write. “What is most troubling to
America’s Sheriffs is that you and your administration were well
aware that this crisis would happen when you ceased construction of
the border wall and changed border security policies.” The law
enforcement officials continue: “Sheriffs were talking with the
Obama/Biden administration about these same concerns that we were
experiencing at the time based on the lax policies then being
implemented. In fact, America’s Sheriffs attended meetings in
Washington with then-Undersecretary of Homeland Security (DHS)
Alejandro Mayorkas, who is now your Secretary of Homeland Security.
You and he are fully aware of what illegal immigration does to our
citizens, legal residents and our communities.”

Among the letter’s signatories are sheriffs in Alabama, Arizona,
Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan,
Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, and Texas to name a few. Even
sheriffs, who are typically elected to head county law enforcement
agencies, in states that broadly offer illegal immigrants sanctuary
signed the letter. They include several in California, Colorado,
Massachusetts, Oregon, New Jersey, Illinois, Oregon, and Vermont.
“You may imagine how violated America’s Sheriffs feel that you
unleashed a predictable crisis upon our nation that puts those we
promised to protect at risk of grave danger,” the cops write to the
commander-in-chief. “America’s Sheriffs will not defy our oaths.
We will not join with those who suggest that we ignore existing laws
in collusion with those elected officials who arbitrarily feel that
they should be excused from being accountable and required to follow
our laws. To do so would violate the promise of America’s Sheriffs
to those who bestowed upon us the honor and privilege to represent
their safety and security concerns.”

The officials continue by writing that Americans expect them to uphold
and enforce the rule of law and assure that they will uphold the oath
to do so. “In the interests of ending the undermining of our laws
and the increased risks to the safety and security of the people of
the United States of America, we respectfully request that you
immediately reverse course on your pro-illegal immigration policies,
resume the border wall construction, and embrace the common-sense,
public-safety-supporting border policies of the previous
administration.” The Obama and Trump administrations “recognized
the threats and dangers presented by illegal immigration,” the law
enforcement officials write, adding that it is “critically
important” that Biden see it as well.

The sheriff who wrote the letter, Thomas M. Hodgson in Bristol County,
Massachusetts, sent it to his counterparts throughout the U.S. and 275
sheriffs in 39 states quickly signed it. Hodgson authored it after
government figures revealed a record number of illegal immigrant
minors entered the country from Mexico. Around the same time, the U.S.
Border Patrol disclosed that it arrested more than twice as many
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criminal
migrants in the first six months of fiscal year 2021 than it did in
all of 2020. In the first half of this fiscal year, the Border Patrol
apprehended 5,018 “criminal aliens
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compared
to 2,438 in all of fiscal year 2020. The agency defines criminal
aliens as individuals who have been convicted of one or more crimes,
whether in the U.S. or abroad, prior to interdiction by federal
agents.

MAXINE WATERS AND CONGRESSIONAL SPECIAL SECURITY DEMANDS PUTS
AMERICANS AT RISK

Reasonable security for congressmen and other public officials is
necessary, but it shouldn’t come at the direct expense of the safety
and protection of Americans. But that’s exactly what is happening.
Here are the shocking details
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from our _Corruption Chronicles_ blog.

Federal Air Marshals (FAM) were yanked from a high-risk flight so
Congresswoman Maxine Waters could have extra security during a recent
trip to Minnesota, though she was already covered by a four-man detail
consisting of two Capitol Police officers and two Secret Service
agents, according to multiple law enforcement sources interviewed by
Judicial Watch. The veteran FAM sources say the California Democrat
had two air marshals reassigned to a plane that would otherwise not
qualify because it was not considered high-risk. The transfer forced
the high-risk flight to complete its trip without the two air marshals
originally assigned to it, said Sonya Hightower-LaBosco, a retired FAM
who serves as executive director of the Air Marshal National Council.
The union represents thousands of air marshals nationwide. “Two air
marshals were pulled off a high-risk flight so Maxine Waters’
aircraft could have six armed agents,” Hightower-LaBosco said,
adding that two additional armed agents met the congresswoman on the
ground.

FAMs are federal law enforcement officers whose primary function is
to protect commercial passenger flights
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by deterring and countering
the risk of terrorist activity, aircraft piracy and other crimes to
protect the nation’s transportation infrastructure. However, a
special “VIP” program launched about a year ago allows members of
Congress to get extra protection even though they often already travel
with plenty of security on flights that do not meet the threat
criteria, usually determined by the FBI, for air marshals. The program
“has left a glaring hole in America’s aviation security,”
according to a whistleblower complaint filed this year by the Air
Marshal National Council with the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) Inspector General. “Recently, the Federal Air Marshal service
has assigned a full-time position at the Capitol in Washington D.C. to
take requests from Congressional members for Federal Air Marshal
coverage of flights these Congressional members are on,” the
document, which is also addressed to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas,
states. “The FAMS are now taking agents off of regularly scheduled
high risk flights to put them on flights with members of Congress,
that in most cases have their own armed federal security details
onboard already. It has become akin to a type of extremely expensive
concierge service for Congressional members.” The document cites the
recent Waters request as an example, confirming what other sources
told Judicial Watch, that “FAMS were pulled off of a scheduled
high-risk flight to cover” the congresswoman’s plane.

Waters received the extra security while traveling to Minnesota in
mid-April to support protestors in Brooklyn Center, a Minneapolis
suburb, after police shot and killed a black man with an open warrant
related to an aggravated armed robbery
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The
Derek Chauvin trial was wrapping up around 10 miles away and the
82-year-old lawmaker incited the crowd, encouraging protestors
to “get more confrontational
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if
the former Minneapolis cop was not convicted of murder for George
Floyd’s death. “We gotta stay on the street, we’ve got to get
more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational, we’ve got to
make sure that they know that we mean business,” Waters said ahead
of closing arguments in Chauvin’s trial. The former officer was
convicted and the judge presiding over the trial called the
congresswoman’s comments “abhorrent
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Judicial Watch is investigating Waters’ special security arrangement
and has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with DHS for
documents associated with the April 17 Delta Airlines flight from
Washington D.C.’s Dulles International Airport to
Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport. In the public-record
request, Judicial Watch writes that Waters raised the potential for
violence, directed lawlessness, and may have interfered with a
co-equal branch of government. Furthermore, Judicial Watch points out
that it is still not known what authorized official government
business the congresswoman, who represents Los Angeles in the House,
was attending in Minnesota and the appearance is her travel was for
personal gain. “How do you go out and promote defunding the police
then call for more police protection,” said Hightower-LaBosco, a
former police officer who served 12 years as an air marshal.
Hightower-Bosco says the estimated cost of Waters’ security detail
is about $10,000 for each leg.
Until next week,





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