Judicial Watch Court Victory!



[INSIDE JW]

JUDICIAL WATCH VICTORY: COURT REJECTS BIDEN DOJ EFFORT TO KEEP TRUMP
WARRANT AFFIDAVIT COMPLETELY SEALED

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We are aggressively fighting the Department of Justice to uncover
_all_ the details of the unprecedented August 8, 2022, raid on the
home of former President Trump.

In a vindication of our efforts, Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart
issued a decision
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that rejected the out-of-hand Justice Department’s brazen play to
keep the whole document secret. The Biden administration’s
unprecedented and abusive raid on Trump’s home has created a crisis
in the rule of law that can only be alleviated with transparency and
accountability. We’re thrilled that Americans will get more of both
with today’s court decision, finding that at least some more
information about this terrible raid should be released.

Magistrate Reinhart had called for a hearing
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in West Palm Beach, FL, at which James Moon of the Meland Budwick,
P.A. law firm in Miami, argued on our behalf. After the hearing the
court issued an order
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that stated:

As I ruled from the bench at the conclusion of the hearing, I find
that on the present record the Government has not met its burden of
showing that the entire affidavit should remain sealed. It is ORDERED
that by noon EST on Thursday, August 25, 2022, the Government shall
file under seal its proposed redactions along with a legal memorandum
setting forth the justification for the proposed redactions.
The court also ordered the release of other documents
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concerning the warrant.

Here’s what led up to this decision.

On August 9, we filed
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a motion asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
Florida to unseal the search warrant materials used by the FBI to raid
President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida (_U.S. v. Sealed Search
Warrant_
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(Case No. 9:22-mj-08332)).

On August 11, the DOJ filed a motion
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offering to unseal certain warrant materials.

On August 12, we filed
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President Trump’s public statement with the court, in which he made
it clear that he would not oppose the release of documents related to
the raid. Later that day, the DOJ made a partial release
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of the Trump raid warrant materials.

Initially, the _Albany Times Union
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and the _New York Times
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joined us in filing for the unsealing of the warrant by filing an
amicus letter and motion respectively. Other interests later joined in
the effort.

Magistrate Reinhart ordered
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the Justice Department to respond by August 15 to our Motion to Unseal
the warrant and supporting materials behind the FBI raid. In its
filing
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the Justice Department alleged that releasing the affidavit would
“cause significant and irreparable damage” to its ongoing criminal
investigation.

On August 17, we submitted our reply
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to the DOJ’s effort
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to keep under
seal the affidavit used to justify the raid.

The “criminal investigation” the Biden administration is covering
up reeks of corruption and dishonesty – and is based on a
reinvention of law about presidential records that is at odds with the
U.S. Constitution, court rulings, federal statutes, and prior
government legal positions and practice. No administration should be
able to raid the home of a former president and putative presidential
candidate based on ‘secret’ reasons.

We’re pleased that our legal pressure forced the partial release of
warrant materials. The U.S. Constitution and federal law give
unreviewable authority to President Trump to take whatever records he
wishes at the end of his presidency. The Biden administration’s
dishonest depiction of personal records of President Trump it
illicitly seized during the raid as “classified” is further
demonstration that the raid was a brazen act of raw political abuse.

The battle for transparency and accountable will continue and require
much heavy lifting by your Judicial Watch legal team. If this current
crisis doesn’t convince you of the need for Judicial Watch, I’m
not sure what will! I encourage to join our cause and support our work
directly here
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In the meantime, we will keep you abreast of breaking developments in
the Biden administration’s attack on President Trump and the rule of
law.

WHISTLEBLOWER: HUNDREDS OF AFGHANS ON TERROR WATCHLIST RELEASED IN
U.S.

Our southern border isn’t our only security vulnerability. The Biden
administration is also abdicating its duty to protect America when it
comes to vetting so-called refugees from Afghanistan. According to a
Defense Department whistleblower, political appointees in the national
security bureaucracy are the problem. Our _Corruption Chronicles_ blog
reports
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Hundreds of unvetted Afghan refugees released in the United States by
the Biden administration are on a Department of Defense (DOD)
watchlist of suspected and known terrorists, according to a Pentagon
whistleblower. The database is known as Biometrically Enabled
Watchlist (BEWL), and it identifies individuals whose unique physical
characteristics have been flagged by analysts to be national security
threats. Some 324 Afghan evacuees who appear in the system were freed
in the U.S., the DOD whistleblower says. The information has sparked
outrage among some members of Congress who assert known suspected
terrorists were let into the U.S. last year
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“ after the administration’s botched withdrawal from
Afghanistan.”

At least two U.S. Senators are demanding and immediate investigation
by the DOD Inspector General. In a letter
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to the Pentagon
watchdog, the lawmakers, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ron Johnson of
Wisconsin, write that the whistleblower’s information may show the
Biden administration’s failure to vet those evacuated from
Afghanistan was even worse than the public was led to believe. The
whistleblower also alleges that political appointees at the National
Security Council (NSC) and DOD instructed agency personnel to cut
corners when processing evacuees in Afghanistan and at staging bases
in Europe, the lawmakers write. Rather than administer fingerprint
tests on all ten fingers, personnel were told to abbreviate tests to
promote the rushed evacuation from Afghanistan. “Finally, it is
alleged that personnel at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
who work on vetting Afghan evacuees have been authorized to delete old
biometric data, whenever they personally believed that such
information is out of date,” the senators write. “This is a
troubling development that could threaten national security and public
safety.”

The legislators want the DOD IG to investigate how many BEWL matches
were generated by biometric submissions from Afghan evacuees, how many
of those individuals were denied entry in the U.S., how many were
admitted and how many are currently in the country. They also want to
know the number of BEWL matches generated by evacuees after their
arrival in the U.S. and what steps have been taken to identify, vet
and deport the individuals who appeared on the watchlist or if the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has investigated any of them.
The probe also needs to reveal if political appointees at the NSC or
DOD instructed personnel to administer abbreviated fingerprint tests
to Afghan evacuees, according to the senators, and under what
conditions may agency personnel delete biometric information. They
specifically want to know if any biometric information associated with
Afghan evacuees been deleted.

The disturbing security lapses exposed by the whistleblower come on
the heels of a federal audit
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confirming that dozens of Afghan refugees released in the U.S. were
flagged by the Pentagon for “potentially significant security
concerns.” In that probe the DOD IG found that the agency
responsible for clearing the Afghans by conducting thorough background
checks is not doing its job, creating serious national security
issues, and undoubtedly threatening the safety of Americans. The
agency is known as the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) and it
functions under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence
(ODNI). It was launched in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks
by consolidating intel gathered by the FBI, Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA), DHS, and the DOD. Besides missing the significant DOD
security concerns of at least 50 refugees, the nation’s lead
counterterrorism intelligence entity also failed to stop at least four
dozen Afghans with “derogatory information” in their record, the
watchdog found.

Under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome (OAW),
approximately 80,000 “displaced persons from Afghanistan” have
been admitted into the country under a special immigrant visa (SIV) or
humanitarian parole. The president directed the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) to lead the chaotic plan to resettle the Afghans and
the administration assured Americans the refugees would be thoroughly
screened. That has not materialized and for months media reports have
exposed crimes, including child molestation, assault and domestic
violence committed by Afghans housed at military bases throughout the
U.S.
Until next week …


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