#Department of Justice corruption

[trumpamerica]

[jangillman]

[simply-ivanka]

Is the Biden-Harris regime 'tapping' Trump's wires again?

The FBI is reportedly investigating a claim that former president Trump made a phone call to the Israeli PM.

Last night state-supported media reporter Judy Woodruff made an unsubstantiated claim Trump asked Netanyahu to delay any ceasefire agreement until AFTER the election.

Now we learn the FBI is investigating. Is the Department of Justice 'tapping Trump's wires' again, as they did in 2016 under direction and authority of then President Obama?

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

New details have emerged of plans by Trump allies to dismantle democracy under a second Trump administration by packing the Department of Justice with Trump loyalists and shrinking the independent scope of the FBI. The plans, as detailed by Reuters, seek to craft a DOJ to advance conservative agendas, heavily curtail civil liberties, and impede investigations into corruption by Trump and his allies.

The plans laid out by Trump allies to convert the FBI into a politically charged conservative attack dog come from the authoritarian aspirations of Project 2025, a sprawling network led by conservative think tanks that comb through existing law to find loopholes and precedent for Trump—or any conservative president—to enact extreme right-wing policies and consolidate power at a moment’s notice.

Trump allies plan to nuke consent decrees, a sort of contractual oversight agreement between the Department of Justice and local police departments, to curb civil rights abuses. They also want to downgrade the FBI’s access to the attorney general, instead making the FBI head report to two politically installed assistant attorneys general.

Steve Bradbury, who served as transportation secretary under Trump and who spoke with Reuters about these plans, claimed in backward fashion that the DOJ acting independently from the president’s wishes poses a “recipe for abuse of power.”

“Whenever you have power centers ... that have enormous resources, coercive power and investigative tools at their disposal, and they are presumed to be independent of any control down the chain of command from the president, that is a recipe for abuse of power,” Bradbury told Reuters.

Conservatives have long called to dismantle the FBI following investigations into Russian collusion with Trump’s 2016 campaign and indictments by the DOJ of participants in the January 6 Capitol riot. Trump allies want to reduce the scope of the FBI’s investigative authority, leaving the department to focus solely on “large-scale crimes and threats to national security,” from which insurrection and sedition by conservatives are, naturally, excluded. A January report by the National Institute of Justice found far-right extremism has continued to outpace all other forms of domestic terrorism since 1990.

Plans to dramatically alter the DOJ to act as an extension of conservative ambitions rather than an independent agency follow a similar pattern to Trump’s overhaul of the Supreme Court and packing conservative judges throughout the federal circuit as president—changes that led to the overturning of Roe after Trump left office and a continuation of attacks on LGBTQ+ freedoms and civil rights today. If reelected, Trump’s allies would replicate that process at the Department of Justice.

[tomorrowusa]

Donald Trump may have gotten an illegal campaign contribution from an Egyptian dictator. Trump's attorney general derailed an investigation into this illicit cash transfer.

And it really was CASH. The Washington Post reports on this bizarre scene at an Egyptian bank.

Five days before Donald Trump became president in January 2017, a manager at a bank branch in Cairo received an unusual letter from an organization linked to the Egyptian intelligence service. It asked the bank to “kindly withdraw” nearly $10 million from the organization’s account — all in cash. Inside the state-run National Bank of Egypt, employees were soon busy placing bundles of $100 bills into two large bags, according to records from the bank. Four men arrived and carried away the bags, which U.S. officials later described in sealed court filings as weighing a combined 200 pounds and containing what was then a sizable share of Egypt’s reserve of U.S. currency.

Now we know that $10 million in US cash weighs 200 lbs./90.7 kg.

Trump loves dictators because they can give him money from national banks without a free press or pesky opposition squawking about it.

Trump is corrupt to the core. And when a president is getting emoluments from other countries then US foreign policy is being influenced in a way which Americans are in the dark about.

The attorney general who derailed the investigation is the creepy Trump apologist Bill Barr. He is the poster boy for why there should be more independence for investigators looking into wrongdoing at the highest levels of government – including Supreme Court justices.

[commonsensecommentary]

“Politicians can (and do) lie as part of their jobs; prosecutors and police cannot be permitted to do so. When the cops become the criminals, the checks and balances of our Constitutional system of government crash and burn.”

[agentfascinateur]

The Gaza children's holocaust, still not a "major" operation say the US...

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A post shared by Mohammed abo mostafa (@mohammed_fayq)

The racism is showing, majorly.

[calixcasual]

https://chng.it/kWQDkJhDnf

[william-r-melich]

Trump Gagged? No Way! - 04/03/2024

The New York supreme court judge Juan Merchan in Trump's "hush money" case has expanded on his earlier gag order which tried to restrict what Trump could publicly say about the case. The order came late yesterday which gags the former president from speaking in public about Manhattan D.A. Alvin Brag's family members and all others named including jurors, potential jurors, counsel, court staff, witnesses, and their families. The judge wrote, “This pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose, it merely injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings that not only they, but their family members as well, are ‘fair game,’ for Defendant’s vitriol.” He further wrote that courts are "understandably concerned" on restricting defendants' free speech, especially for those who are publicly notable. He further wrote, “The circumstances of the instant matter, however, are different. The conventional ‘David vs. Goliath’ roles are no longer in play as demonstrated by the singular power defendant’s words have on countless others.” In his ruling arguments he cited from the prosecution, “multiple potential witnesses have already raised grave concerns [...] about their own safety and that of their family members should they appear as witnesses against the defendant.” On those fears he wrote that they would "undoubtedly interfere" with the proceedings, and he continued. “The average observer, must now, after hearing defendant’s recent attacks, draw the conclusion that if they become involved in these proceedings, even tangentially, they should worry not only for themselves, but for their loved ones as well.” State prosecutor Matthew Colangelo wrote, “Defendant’s dangerous, violent, and reprehensible rhetoric fundamentally threatens the integrity of these proceedings and is intended to intimidate witnesses and trial participants alike—including this Court.” The state attorney's office was referencing Trump's remarks about the judge's daughter.

This judge, Juan Merchan, is compromised with a serious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, and Trump's lawyers think he should recuse himself from the case because his daughter, Loren Merchan who owns a Democrat political consulting firm, heavily profited from her fundraisers dedicated to hurt and remove Trump from the political scene. The judge's wife, Lara Merchan, used to work for New York Attorney General Letitia James, who prosecuted Trump for a victimless crime of "over valuating" his property to get a more favorable loan, and to which he paid back fully with interest that made Duetsche Bank (no complaints) a lot of money. Another ridiculous, unconstitutionally brought case, which, like all the others, is nothing more than political persecution. Judge Juan Merchan's profile picture on X was of Donald Trump behind bars. I think it's fair to say that this judge is compromised, or as Trump would say, "by a lot!"

Of course, the mainstream media's talking point's echoe-chamber put out that Trump made threatening remarks about the judge's daughter, when in fact he did no such thing. One of his Truth Social posts reads, “Judge Juan Merchan, a very distinguished looking man, is nevertheless a true and certified Trump Hater who suffers from a very serious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. In other words, he hates me! His daughter is a senior executive at a Super Liberal Democrat firm that works for Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, the Democrat National Committee, Senate Majority PAC, and even Crooked Joe Biden.”

As I have said before, I think all of these cases against Trump should be dismissed and thrown out, as they are obviously political witch hunts directed by Biden's crooked administration and their weaponized justice department. So, Trump appropriately calls them the "Biden trials." The left thinks they can stop him from coming back to DC, and this judge thinks he can silence him, to keep him from pointing out all of the obvious corruption in that's clearly in plain sight for anyone with a functioning brain to see; --No Way! No Way! - will they ever silence or stop him, and No Way! - will they ever silence or stop us, we the people. Trump is right when he declares these trials as being "election interference," and that they should never, ever take place in the United States of America: abso-futting-lutely; -- No Way!

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Christopher F. Rufo

Published: Jun 6, 2024

A few years ago, Texas Children’s Hospital made no secret of its support for transgender medicine. Its doctors proudly administered puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and other medical interventions to children who self-identified as “trans.”

Then the tone shifted. In the face of public pressure, CEO Mark Wallace announced that he was shutting down the child gender clinic. But doctors at the hospital, including Richard Ogden Roberts, David Paul, and Kristy Rialon, never stopped.

The public would not have known if not for a courageous surgeon, Eithan Haim, who felt morally obligated to expose the subterfuge. He contacted me about how the hospital had lied about terminating the transgender medicine program, and that doctors were, in fact, continuing to perform sex-change procedures on children as young as 11.

The story rocketed across the world. The hospital immediately went on the defensive. Within a week, Texas legislators passed a bill confirming that transgender medical procedures for minors were illegal.

But the story also attracted attention from another powerful source: federal prosecutors. The Department of Justice has not shied from targeting political opponents of the Biden administration: former President Trump; conservative school board protesters; persons praying outside of abortion clinics; and now, doctors who dissent from transgender ideology.

On the morning in June 2023 that Haim was to graduate from Texas Children Hospital’s residency program, federal agents knocked on his door. They had identified him as a potential “leaker,” presumably through forensic examination of the hospital’s computer systems. Shortly thereafter, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tina Ansari began threatening Haim with prosecution.

Now, Ansari has made good on those threats. Earlier this week, U.S. marshals appeared at Haim’s home and summoned him to court to face an indictment on four felony counts of violating HIPAA. His initial appearance is next Monday, where he will learn more about the charges against him.

According to one of Haim’s attorneys, Marcella Burke, he is anxious to get to trial to get his side of the story told; she is confident that this will result in the correct decision being made. (For my own part, I can confirm that nothing in the information provided to me identified any individual; all the documents were, in fact, carefully redacted.) Nonetheless, the prosecutor has pressed forward, hoping, at the least, to intimidate other medical professionals who would consider blowing the whistle on the barbarism of “transgender medicine.”

Despite the threat to his livelihood and freedom, Haim is undeterred. He plans to mount a vigorous defense in court and is soliciting public support.

The Haim case marks an inflection point in the debate on “gender-affirming care.” If Haim prevails, other courageous doctors and medical professionals will follow his lead and speak out. We will need all their voices if we are to succeed in shutting down the child sex-change business in the United States.

--

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower_protection_in_the_United_States

A whistleblower is a person who exposes any kind of information or activity that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct within an organization that is either private or public. The Whistleblower Protection Act was made into federal law in the United States in 1989.

Whistleblower protection laws and regulations guarantee freedom of speech for workers and contractors in certain situations. Whistleblowers are protected from retaliation for disclosing information that the employee or applicant reasonably believes provides evidence of a violation of any law, rule, regulation, gross mismanagement, gross waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.

[nodynasty4us]

Opinion writer Jonathan Turley says that by carefully limiting charges against Hunter Biden to tax and gun matters, the Department of Justice has avoided prying into possible corruption involving his father.

[little-grey-dowitcher]

I’ve been seeing more and more posts recently about the way legislators in red states are currently talking about and treating kids/teens and I really need everyone to know that this is NOT a new phenomenon. This has been going on for who knows how long and I’ve seen it get worse with my own eyes.

In my home state of Georgia, teens in the Juvenile Justice system are regularly subjected to this type of treatment, where they’re expected to act like an adult but are also not given the same protections as adults. For adults, a violation of probation typically means they’ve committed another crime, missed a court appearance, left the state when they weren’t supposed to, had a weapon they weren’t supposed to have, failed a drug/alcohol screening, failed to keep their job, etc. (personally I think a lot of these are incredibly unjust things to send someone to jail for but that’s a discussion for another time). For teens, something as simple as raising their voice at their parents or failing a single assignment in school can result them being charged with violation of probation. In some cases, their parents are allowed to set the terms of their probation, making behavior that their parents deem “unruly” or “disrespectful” a criminal offense punishable by a court of law.

Because any behavior deemed “unruly” or “disrespectful” by a parent can be deemed a crime, this system allows parents to treat their teen’s probation officers as co-parents who dole out punishments on their behalf with little to no pushback. Sometimes, these punishments are incredibly cruel, and I’m not even entirely sure some of them are legal.

A common punishment for minor probation violations is “jury duty,” though that’s putting it in generous terms. The teens of the jury aren’t there to determine whether or not the defendant is guilty, because that’s already been decided before anyone sets foot in the courtroom. Instead, the defendant is just there to receive a sentence that is decided by a group of their own peers instead of a judge, while the local mock trial club feigns advocating for stricter or more lenient sentencing. It’s the perfect scare tactic, for both the defendant and the jury. The defendant must stand and face condemnation from their peers, while those who decide their fate are painfully aware that they could end up in the defendant’s chair if they step even slightly out of line.

A minor probation violation (which, again, can be something as trivial as raising their voice at their parent) can result in the teen being forced to spend up to 6 hours on a Saturday sitting in solitary confinement in the back of a courthouse. They’re allowed to bring a book and a jacket, and a soggy ham and cheese sandwich with a bottle of water will be provided for lunch. If they need to use the toilet, they’ll be put into handcuffs and taken to a restroom, then right back to the cell.

A more major/repeated probation violation can result in a weekend of manual labor for a private family farm that contracts with the local governments of several nearby counties, ensuring they have a full team of teenagers there every single weekend to do farm work for them. Essentially, free labor for a private entity disguised as community service.

Alternatively, the sentence for a major/repeated violation could be foster care. If you know anything about the foster system in America, you know that this could quite literally turn into a death sentence. Teens as young as 13 can be sentenced this way. Cases that involve sending a “delinquent” child into foster care are almost always domestic violence cases, and almost always it is framed as protecting the parent from the child, when it usually should be the other way around.

And yes, jail time is always on the table for these cases. Regional Juvenile Detention Centers for anyone aged 16 and under, the local county jail for anyone 17 and up.

I’ve been in the DJJ system of Georgia. All of the examples I listed above have happened to me or people I know. There’s almost certainly horrific things happening in the Juvenile Justice System that I haven’t addressed here because, due to the nature of the cases they handle, there’s simply not a lot of publicly available information. These systems are corrupt through and through and the people claiming to “protect the kids” will NEVER address them, because they don’t actually want to protect kids, and the sooner we call them on it, the sooner we can actually prevent kids from being exploited by these systems.

I say this is the case in Georgia, because I know that for a fact to be true, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find out this is happening all across the country.

I personally don’t have a concrete answer for how to solve these issues, but I do know that putting pressure on legislators to address the topic is a good way to get the gears of change to start turning. So if you actually want to protect kids, then yes, you should still protest against anti-LGBTQ bills that affect queer youth, and yes, you should still stand up against these “parents rights” bills that take away the autonomy of teens, and yes, you should still speak out against bills that exploit child labor or allow child marriage, but you should also start rallying against injustice in the way kids and teens are sentenced in the Juvenile Justice System, and you should also start fighting to protect kids in the foster care system because oh my god I can’t even begin to touch on how corrupt it is without turning this post into a 20 page essay. Protecting the kids means protecting ALL of the kids.

[jangillman]

[simply-ivanka]

Jim Jordan slaps AG Merrick Garland with subpoena over alleged DOJ surveillance of Congress https://nypost.com/2023/12/19/news/jordan-slaps-ag-garland-with-subpoena-over-alleged-doj-surveillance-of-congress/

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A federal judge on Monday dismissed the classified documents case against Donald Trump, a shock ruling that clears away one of the major legal challenges facing the former president.

In a 93-page ruling, District Judge Aileen Cannon said the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith violated the Constitution. She did not rule on whether Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents was proper or not.

“In the end, it seems the Executive’s growing comfort in appointing ‘regulatory’ special counsels in the more recent era has followed an ad hoc pattern with little judicial scrutiny,” Cannon wrote.

The ruling by Cannon, a judge Trump appointed in 2020, comes on the first day of the Republican National Convention. Even though a trial before the presidential election was considered highly unlikely, many legal experts had viewed the classified documents case as the strongest one of the four cases that were pending against the former president.

The White House referred requests for comment to the Justice Department. Smith’s office has not responded to a call for comment.

Smith had charged Trump last year with taking classified documents from the White House and resisting the government’s attempts to retrieve the materials. He pleaded not guilty.

In a separate criminal case brought by Smith against Trump in Washington, DC, the special counsel was pursuing federal charges stemming from Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump also faces a state-level election subversion case in Georgia and he was convicted of state crimes in New York earlier this year for his role in a hush money payment scheme before the 2016 election.

Trump’s efforts to dismiss the case under the appointments clause was seen as a long shot, as several special counsels – even during his own presidential administration – were run the same way.

But the fringe argument gained steam when Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas threw his support behind the theory, writing in a footnote in the high court’s presidential immunity decision that there are “serious questions whether the Attorney General has violated that structure by creating an office of the Special Counsel that has not been established by law. Those questions must be answered before this prosecution can proceed.”

Still, Cannon held a hearing on the issue several weeks ago, pushing attorneys to explain exactly how Smith’s investigation into Trump was being funded. The judge’s questions were so pointed that special counsel attorney James Pearce argued that, even if Cannon were to throw out the case due to an appointments clause issue, the Justice Department was “prepared” to fund Smith’s cases through trial if necessary.

Cannon said in her order that the special counsel’s position “effectively usurps” Congress’ “important legislative authority” by giving it to the head of a department – DOJ, in this case – to appoint such an official.

“If the political branches wish to grant the Attorney General power to appoint Special Counsel Smith to investigate and prosecute this action with the full powers of a United States Attorney, there is a valid means by which to do so,” she wrote.

COULD CASE BE REVIVED?

Cannon said in her ruling Monday that the Justice Department “could reallocate funds to finance the continued operation of Special Counsel Smith’s office,” but said it’s not yet clear whether a newly-brought case would pass legal muster.

“For more than 18 months, Special Counsel Smith’s investigation and prosecution has been financed by substantial funds drawn from the Treasury without statutory authorization, and to try to rewrite history at this point seems near impossible,” Cannon wrote. “The Court has difficulty seeing how a remedy short of dismissal would cure this substantial separation-of-powers violation, but the answers are not entirely self-evident, and the caselaw is not well developed.”

She noted in her ruling that Smith’s team “suggested” at a court hearing on the matter that they could restructure the office’s funding to satisfy her concerns.

[anthonybialy]

The Courage of Hunter Biden’s Convictions

The case is cracked.  Rock cocaine aficionado Hunter Biden put Delaware on the map by engaging in the family business.  The real victim is the commander-in-chief’s aggrieved child who never got his sweetheart deal because kvetchers pointed out that evading discipline resembled impropriety.  Does this mean the laptop’s real?

Democrats are thrilled they can pretend to care about law and order.  Using an the president’s shameful offspring as evidence of their unflinching willingness to prosecute wrongdoers neglects how he’s the only one.  You need three for a trend.  But that’s a start.  The sacrifice of a trial is for the party’s benefit, which the example surely appreciates.

The jury inadvertently voted to facilitate moral equivalency.  Emboldened unhinged Biden defenders can smugly gesture to their enemy after noting someone on their side has to face a judge following being found naughty.  The difference between Donald Trump and Hunter is that the latter actually committed a crime.  I’m reliably informed that his father’s foe paying off his side piece porn star from the wrong pile is the worst transgression possible.

Aside from facts, the situations are identical.  Patient observers must keep explaining the distinction to Democrats just like we must once again review that gun crimes occur uncannily frequently in places that restrict ownership of same devices.

As for a violator of the party’s preferred restrictions on shooties, Hunter’s offensive gun offense upset authorities just like how his side wants.  Ignoring the rules in order to acquire a sentient crime-causing weapon of hate stands in direct defiance of their belief that laws stop criminals, which is his real infraction.

The simultaneous condemnation of Democratic policy shows why they don’t trust anyone with firearms.  Subjecting him to his beloved party’s own stringent restrictions is only fair.  I’d love for the Second Amendment to be absolute as intended, but I respect the wishes of the Party of Biden in the name of bipartisanship.

The party of projection thinks you’re a guilty schmuck.  Democrats presume everyone else also disregards troublesome statutes like they’re basic economics.  Yet some dissidents insist upon obeying laws while creating value.  Such blatant mockery of exploiting power for personal gain is very embarrassing for the incumbent.

How was he supposed to make money: work?  Hunter sets a dangerous precedent for fellow faction members who think the only way to get rich is by grifting.  Uselessness isn’t bad enough on its own: the Bidens figure productive humans are the same, too.  Thinking anyone else doing okay must’ve exploited their way to wealth is why Democrats are singularly devoted to taxing the stuffing out of success.

The Bidens are not a typical crime family: they can’t run a company.  Every real account and fictional depiction of relatives in rackets features managerial competence.  The government faced trouble prosecuting mafia families who cannily employed thriving pizzerias as fronts.  Mafiosi should feel ashamed of embodying two stereotypes.  Irish Joe strives to break them.

Impugn genetics or upbringing.  Either way, Joe fails.  A descendant may not necessarily embody parentage.  Guardians can strive to raise children right and still see them go astray.  But nobody can see how the patriarch conducts himself on days he remembers who he is and think he taught his contemptuous adult brat the right lessons.  Go ahead and judge: the judge did.

It’s easy to spot unfortunate trends over generations.  A particularly lousy president’s scoundrel kid bypasses statues for which he doesn’t care in the same way Dad buys votes by making taxpayers fund sociology degrees.

The felon is hooked on helping.  If that’s a violation, then convict away.  The shady nefariousness that envelops the First Son certainly doesn’t conceal the family scheme, which is terrific news for those who feared all those right-wing Twitter account holders were perceptive.  They’re the same conspiracists who risibly claim the economy’s bad just because nobody can afford anything.

The Bidens embody selflessness if you count the one who got caught.  As punishment for not founding the company, Hunter acted as the front man so the chief wouldn’t have to get his hands dirty.  Like the rest of this presidency, there’s no greater priority than spreading attribution.

The verdict is satisfying even though it isn’t.  Hunter’s passionate dedication to dodging taxes is an even bigger display of liberal hypocrisy.  Prosecutors hope you’re satisfied enough about the verdict on the least appalling thing the defendant did to overlook how they thought soliciting bribes wasn’t even worse.  No one is above the law, claim liberals referring to the president’s son facing justice for the least of his misdeeds.

It’s not a crime to turn people against Ukraine by treating a war against an invading brute as an opportunity to fill a political slush fund, but it is a feat in its own appalling way.  The bagman by birth certainly wouldn’t send a vig from untoward shady global contributions to the boss who happens to share an identical last name, so escort such cynical thoughts from your mind.

Sure, the president is corrupt.  But at least everything’s awful.  It’s not like we get a scumbag scammer executive who manages to force prosperity in existence.  The trains are certainly not running on time.

This term is an Intervention episode.  The president struggles to read his letter.  It’s tough to feel compassion for a criminal crackhead who justifies his passion for consumption on wanting to have endless heedless fun while lawbreaking.  Hunter thanks those blaming his appalling disdain for the law and decency on addiction.  A true embodiment of privilege can use all the excuses enablers can muster.  You know you’ve really misbehaved if you’re prosecuted for a token sin during the Biden era.