Tag: Justice Department

Commentary: Another January 6 Falsehood: $30 Million in Damages to the Capitol

Michigan Star Staff

The U.S. Capitol Police on Monday morning conducted what it called a “routine” training exercise on the grounds of the Capitol. The stagecraft, almost five months to the day from the January 6 protest, involved emergency vehicles and helicopters. The agency warned area residents not to be “alarmed,” which of course was the exact reaction USCP wanted.

Call it insurrection theater. The USCP has acted as the Democratic Party’s stormtroopers since January 6, attacking peaceful Americans during the protest, lying about the death of officer Brian Sicknick, and now making officers available for embarrassing cable news hits where they share their hurt feelings and the permanent trauma they’ve suffered since enduring the supposedly harrowing ordeal. The distressed officers, however, seem just fine with the fact that a still-unidentified colleague shot and killed an unarmed woman, Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt.

Capitol-employed apparatchiks have played a key role in shaping the narrative about what happened on January 6, all in service to their Democratic paymasters.

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Trump Justice Department Had Previously Been Investigating House Democrats for Corruption: Report

Michigan Star Staff

Officials from President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice had reportedly been investigating House Democrats for possibly corruption, even going so far as to subpoena Apple for data from several members’ iPhones and other devices, as reported by ABC News.

The claim comes from an aide with the House Intelligence Committee, who anonymously told ABC that members of the committee had been notified of the subpoena by Apple last month. The request for metadata from their electronic devices had first been made back in February of 2018. Apple informed the members that, as of May of this year, the matter has been settled since President Trump is no longer in office.

Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the chairman of the committee, demanded on Thursday that an inspector general investigation be carried out to look into the claims. Schiff falsely claimed that “President Trump repeatedly and flagrantly demanded that the Department of Justice carry out his political will, and tried to use the Department as a cudgel against his political opponents and members of the media.” There is no evidence to support any of Schiff’s claims.

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Commentary: The Lethal Wages of Trump Derangement Madness

Michigan Star Staff
Trump protest

Think about it: For about five years, anything candidate, president-elect, and President Trump said or did, the media, the Left, and progressive popular culture opposed in Pavlovian fashion.

Anything that Trump touched was ridiculed or discredited—regardless of evidence, data, or cogency. The merits of a Trump policy, a Trump assessment, a Trump initiative were irrelevant—given the primordial hatred of the Left of all things Trump: the president, the person, the family. 

Under the reductionist malady of Trump Derangement Syndrome, facts and logic did not matter. Instead, anything not said or done in opposition to Trump empowered the supposed existential Trump threat. Ironically, some of the most deductive and reductionist Trump haters were supposedly professionals, the highly educated, and the self-proclaimed devotees of the Enlightenment. And yet in their uncontrolled aversion and detestation, they suspended all the rules of empiricism, logic, and rationality—and people died as a result.

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Commentary: Time to Confront the U.S. Capitol Police About Its January 6 Lies

Michigan Star Staff

The body of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick wasn’t even cold before his employer leveraged his untimely death to stoke more outrage about the events in the nation’s capital on January 6.

“At approximately 9:30 p.m. this evening . . . United States Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick passed away due to injuries sustained while on-duty,” read a press release issued January 7. “Officer Sicknick was responding to the riots [and] was injured while physically engaging with protesters.  He returned to his division office and collapsed.  He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The death of Officer Sicknick will be investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch, the USCP, and our federal partners.”

The agency intentionally included the word “homicide” to suggest Sicknick was killed by homicidal Trump supporters. The next day, the New York Times, citing two anonymous law enforcement officials, claimed “pro-Trump rioters . . . overpowered Mr. Sicknick, 42, and struck him in the head with a fire extinguisher.”

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Trump Antagonist Opposes Arizona Election Audit as Justice Department Official

Michigan Star Staff
Polling station sign

A foe of former President Donald Trump is leading the Biden Justice Department’s push to discredit or halt an election audit in Arizona’s largest county—an issue that is heating up this week. 

Pamela S. Karlan, principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, warned the leader of the Arizona state Senate that the audit of Maricopa County’s election results in November could run afoul of federal law regarding security of voter information and voter intimidation. 

President Joe Biden, who appointed Karlan, narrowly defeated Trump in Arizona, where Maricopa County was a crucial battleground. 

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Commentary: The Government Hiding January 6 Video Footage and Why

Michigan Star Staff
Jan. 6 capitol riot

Joe Biden calls it the worst attack since the Civil War. Attorney General Merrick Garland compares it to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The FBI is breaking down the doors of Iraq War veterans and small business owners who have no criminal records, and some are hauled off to rot in solitary confinement in a fetid D.C. jail, for their involvement in the alleged travesty.

The event, of course, is the roughly four-hour-long disturbance at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. As mostly nonviolent Americans dared to protest Congress’ certification of a clearly fraudulent presidential election in a place that once was considered “The People’s House,” lawmakers scurried for cover as reporters and photographers captured part of the ruckus on video and still shots to wield as political ammunition against Donald Trump and his supporters.

But have we seen a full and fair depiction of exactly what happened that day? The answer, as evidenced by an ongoing coverup by the U.S. Capitol Police and the Justice Department, clearly is no.

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Examiner Who Performed Andrew Brown Autopsy Previously Had License Suspended, Accused of Mishandling Prior Investigation

Michigan Star Staff

The forensic pathologist hired to perform an autopsy on Andrew Brown Jr., a black man sheriff’s deputies killed in North Carolina earlier this month, resigned under scrutiny as a county medical examiner in 2013 and had his medical license temporarily suspended in 2018, according to filings with the North Carolina state medical board.

Brent Hall, who runs an autopsy-for-hire company called Autopsy PC, said in his autopsy report that Brown was shot five times, including once in the back of the head.

Brown’s family members and their legal team, led by Benjamin Crump, hired Hall to perform a private autopsy on Brown. They cited the autopsy results as evidence that Brown was executed by police.

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Chuck Schumer’s 2017 Warning About the Intel Community Seems to Have Come True

Michigan Star Staff

Weeks before Donald Trump took office, Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer issued an ominous warning.

“You take on the intelligence community? They have six ways from Sunday of getting back at you,” the New York Democrat said in an interview with MSNBC on Jan. 3, 2017.

Schumer was responding to Trump’s criticism of an intelligence community assessment that said Russia interfered explicitly to help the Republican win the 2016 election.

“He’s being really dumb to do this,” Schumer said of Trump.

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Commentary: From ‘Insurrectionists’ to ‘Interruptionists’

Michigan Star Staff
Riot at U.S. Capitol

Well, this is a bummer for the sedition-baiting crowd.

The Biden Justice Department last week announced its first plea deal related to the January 6 protest on Capitol Hill: Jon Ryan Schaffer pleaded guilty to two charges—obstruction of an official proceeding and entering the Capitol with a dangerous or deadly weapon.

Schaffer, who has no criminal record, faced six counts of various trespassing and disorderly conduct offenses. (He did not plead guilty to any of the initial charges.)

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Commentary: Capitol Investigation Seeks to Criminalize Political Dissent

Michigan Star Staff

In the early hours of March 12, FBI agents in southwestern Florida barricaded a neighborhood to prepare to raid the home of one resident. Christopher Worrell of Cape Coral was arrested and charged with several counts related to the January 6 Capitol melee. Even though Worrell had been cooperating with the FBI for two months, the agency nonetheless unleashed a massive, and no doubt costly, display of force to take him into custody.

Law enforcement agents, according to one neighbor who spoke with a reporter, wore “whole outfits . . . like military and it was crazy. There was like six or seven . . . big black vehicles. They busted down the front door.” The raid included “armed men with helmets and a tanker truck” and was partially executed by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Worrell never entered the Capitol building on January 6; he isn’t accused of committing a violent crime. But a D.C. judge overturned a Florida judge’s ruling to release Worrell pending further review of his case. He remains in jail.

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Top DOJ Official’s Connection to Hunter Biden’s Lawyer Will Test Biden’s Commitment to Ethics, Expert Says

Michigan Star Staff

President Joe Biden’s commitment to ethics will be put to the test in how his Justice Department handles the connection one of its top officials shares with Hunter Biden’s lawyer, a government ethics expert told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Chris Clark, a partner at the law firm Latham & Watkins, is assisting Hunter Biden with the federal criminal investigation into his foreign business dealings. Clark had worked closely at the law firm with Nicholas McQuaid until the latter’s departure from the firm on Jan. 20 to lead the Justice Department criminal division, which is reportedly involved with the Hunter Biden investigation.

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Intel Chief Urges John Durham to Release Interim Report in Order to Protect Investigation

Michigan Star Staff

John Ratcliffe, the Director of National Intelligence, urged U.S. Attorney John Durham on Sunday to release an interim report on his investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, saying that the American public should have record of the investigation in case the Biden administration shuts it down.

“I think the American people should know what’s happening in a two-year investigation into this and I hope that that report will be forthcoming,” Ratcliffe said in an interview on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

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Justice Department Distributes Over $458 Million to Combat Violent Crime

Michigan Star Staff

The Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs announced Monday the distribution of over $458 million in grants to combat violent crime, according to a press release.

The funds are being distributed “to support state, local, and tribal law enforcement efforts to fight and prevent violent crime in jurisdictions across the United States,” according to the press release.

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Lindsey Graham Says He Will Be ‘Shocked’ if Durham Probe Doesn’t Lead to More Indictments

Michigan Star Staff

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday he will be “shocked” if a Justice Department probe into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation does not lead to more indictments.

In an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Graham also said that John Durham, the U.S. attorney leading the investigation, will release a report on his findings after the election.

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Justice Dept. Files Landmark Antitrust Case Against Google

The Associated Press

The Justice Department on Tuesday sued Google for antitrust violations, alleging that it abused its dominance in online search and advertising to stifle competition and harm consumers.

The lawsuit marks the government’s most significant attempt to protect competition since its groundbreaking case against Microsoft more than 20 years ago. It could be an opening salvo ahead of other major government antitrust actions, given ongoing investigations of major tech companies including Apple, Amazon and Facebook at both the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission.

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DOJ Identifies New York City, Portland, Seattle as Violent Anarchist Jurisdictions in Move to Revoke Federal Funding

Michigan Star Staff

The Department of Justice on Monday identified three cities—New York City, Portland, and Seattle—as jurisdictions that have permitted “violence and destruction of property,” thereby meeting President Trump’s criteria for withholding federal funding to those areas.

Earlier this month, the president issued a memorandum asking the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Secretary of Homeland Security, and Attorney General Barr to list the areas that “have permitted violence and the destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract these criminal activities.”

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DOJ Opens Criminal Investigation into John Bolton’s Book

Michigan Star Staff

The Justice Department is investigating whether former National Security Adviser John Bolton illegally disclosed classified information in his book about his tenure in the White House, according to reports.

Federal prosecutors issued grand jury subpoenas to Bolton’s publisher and his book agent, according to The Wall Street Journal and New York Times.

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McCabe’s Leak Denials Cast Suspicion on His Loyal Aide, Lisa Page

Michigan Star Staff

Andrew McCabe’s denials to his FBI colleagues that he was behind a media leak related to the Clinton Foundation investigation in October 2016 cast suspicion on his loyal aide, Lisa Page, former FBI Director James Comey said in an interview with the Justice Department’s inspector general.

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Commentary: Without President Trump’s Courage and Fortitude, the Deep State Coup Might Have Succeeded

Michigan Star Staff

President Donald Trump has been locked in an unprecedented struggle with intelligence agencies and a rogue Justice Department that sought to destroy him, his campaign and eventually his presidency, since before he was elected—an effort not only to disenfranchise then certainly but also demoralize the 63 million Americans who voted for him in 2016.

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Attorney General Barr Announces Federal Crackdown on Crime in Detroit, Other Major Cities

Anthony Gockowski

U.S. Attorney General William Barr recently spoke at a press conference in Detroit where he announced a new federal program that will “surge an unparalleled amount of federal backing” to the most dangerous cities in America.

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FBI’s Top Lawyer During Russia Probe ‘Distressed’ Over Scathing FISA Report: ‘Sloppiness Is Completely Unacceptable’

Michigan Star Staff

Former top FBI lawyer Jim Baker: “Sloppiness is completely unacceptable. That is not the way you operate in front of a federal court. I don’t know what word you want to use, it’s terrible, it’s unacceptable, it shouldn’t happen. That is not the way we should be filing matters in front of a federal court”

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EXCLUSIVE Kimberly Guilfoyle Commentary: Horowitz Didn’t Exonerate the FBI – He Eviscerated It

Admin

The recent congressional testimony of Justice Department Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz suggests there are only two possible explanations for the botched Russia collusion probe: either the FBI team responsible for the investigation were incompetent or they were corrupt.

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Jim Jordan Tears Into Comey: ‘Owes the Country an Apology’

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) said former FBI Director James Comey “owes the country an apology” following the release of an inspector general report that confirmed Comey leaked sensitive FBI materials to the media.

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22 MS-13 Members Charged in Murders of Seven People Hacked With Machetes

Admin

by Chuck Ross   The Justice Department charged 22 alleged members of MS-13 in connection with seven murders in the Los Angeles area, including one in which a rival gang member was dismembered with a machete. The indictment, which was unsealed Monday, focused on members of a Los Angeles-area subset…

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President Trump Puts Limit on Asylum Claims at Border

Admin

by Fred Lucas   While waiting for Congress to act on closing immigration loopholes, the Trump administration is imposing a new rule to limit asylum claims by requiring professed refugees to first seek asylum in another country closer to home. The Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security announced…

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Trump Administration Backs Off Census Citizenship Question After Supreme Court Defeat

Admin

by Kevin Daley   The Trump administration will not include a citizenship question on the 2020 census form, the Justice Department said Tuesday. The decision comes after the Supreme Court found Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross concealed his reasons for adding the citizenship question and cleared the way for further proceedings.…

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