All posts tagged "justice department"

'Foolish': Congress dressed down for giving a 'garbage human being' leverage over them

Former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori did not mince words Tuesday on CNN when asked about Ghislane Maxwell's demands for immunity before she considers testifying on Capitol Hill.

Maxwell, who was the girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, is serving 20 years in federal prison for sex trafficking.

In a letter to House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY), Maxwell's attorneys wrote that their client would invoke her Fifth Amendment rights to remain silent unless they complied with her demands.

"I have to say to the folks in Congress who helped to create this — this is what happens when you give a criminal — an all-around garbage human being — leverage over you," Khardori told CNN's Brianna Keilar.

"They start creating lists of demands that make you look foolish if you accede to them; they should never have gone down this path. The Justice Department should not be working with her. She has no credibility. She's in prison for 20 years on heinous charges, and she has a whole host of incentives to lie or shade the truth. If I were still in government, I would not trust this woman and I would not touch her with a 10-foot pole."

Keilar asked why Khardori called Maxwell "garbage."

"Because what she did was heinous and awful, and she traumatized many, many young women, and they're going to live with that trauma for the rest of their lives."

Khardori continued, "One of the particularly offensive elements of the Justice Department entertaining this — Republicans in Congress entertaining this — is that she has victims, and those victims have to watch all of this unfold and have to watch them pretending like this woman has some credibility and potentially some information that may be valuable."

President Donald Trump has not ruled out pardoning Maxwell. He has called questions about his association with Epstein, a convicted sex trafficker, a "hoax" and a "scam" perpetuated by Democrats.

Watch the clip below via CNN.

'Thumbing their nose': Judges warn of 'serious' crackdown as White House lawyers irritate

A new report in The Wall Street Journal says federal judges are facing "increasing irritation" when dealing with Trump administration lawyers because they're unsure of the accuracy of the information they're getting before making important rulings.

The consequences of the government's waning credibility "could be serious—both for the administration, which might see its odds of prevailing on close questions diminish before judges who lack confidence in government representations, and for the judiciary, should lip service to court orders become an acceptable norm," the report said.

Correspondent Jess Bravin wrote that the latest test is expected this week during a hearing on whether the White House is openly disregarding U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson's orders to stop dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The paper quoted Judge Jackson saying, “There is reason to believe that officials 'are thumbing their nose at both this Court and the Court of Appeals.'"

Also read: 'This is our shot': Dems believe MTG's new job gives 'golden opportunity' to destroy GOP

The Journal piece explained that the appellate court upheld most of Jackson's orders "to preserve the CFPB’s existence while an employee-union’s lawsuit against the layoffs proceeds."

Although the government lawyers have claimed they're complying "even with judicial orders they think are egregiously wrong, while pursuing expedited appeals to higher courts," some judges hearing the myriad cases Trump has lined up thanks to his "aggressive assertions of executive power" are dubious, the report said.

The piece quotes Charles Cooper, a former assistant attorney general who has represented Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

According to the piece, "Cooper said he didn’t know if there was merit to courts’ complaints about administration conduct, but judges are human.' If a lawyer misleads you, he said, 'you deal with that lawyer in a different way than you have been.'"

Read The Wall Street Journal story here.

'Americans are growing impatient': GOP pollster warns Trump may have misread 'mandate'

Listen to President Donald Trump and his spokespeople long enough and you'll hear them talk of the "mandate" he's been given by the American people to disrupt the federal government.

In an unprecedented speech at the Justice Department last week, Trump said the voters have “given us a mandate” for “a far-reaching investigation ... into the corruption of our system” by Democrats. Trump has also claimed that his “massive landslide victory” gave him a “historic mandate” to reshape policy "with respect to taxation, federal social spending, immigration, energy production, family values, defense and other areas."

Republican pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson wrote in Monday's New York Times that Trump "seems to view his job differently than many voters, which is one reason for his falling poll numbers. He strongly believes that he was elected to return to Washington as a disrupter, this time with significantly more experience and effectiveness than in his first term...he believes he has the latitude to go big and bold, to create some turbulence and cause some prices to rise in the short term as he asserts himself in Washington and around the globe."

ALSO READ: The new guy in charge of USAID doesn't believe in foreign aid

But, Anderson wrote, "As I dug into Mr. Trump’s polling data, it looked increasingly that American voters’ mandate to the president was more narrow than he sees it."

At the top of the list: "There is increasing evidence in public opinion data that Americans are growing impatient to get the primary thing they feel they were promised: a more stable economy where the cost of living is more affordable," Anderson wrote.

"Presidents have misread their mandates in the past, seeing what they want to see rather than what the voters have plainly told them," Anderson wrote. "The best argument for Mr. Trump’s belief that he was elected with a broad mandate to bring about aggressive change is that he never pretended he’d do otherwise."

In other words, "Voters had plenty of foreknowledge of what Mr. Trump might do in a second term, and they voted for him anyway."

Read The New York Times opinion piece here.

Senator 'concerned' after speaking with Trump's attorney general pick Pam Bondi

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said he was "concerned" after meeting with Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be attorney general.

Bondi, a staunch Trump loyalist, is making the rounds in Congress, hoping to garner support before her two-day confirmation hearing, scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 15, and Thursday, Jan. 16.

Durbin posted on X, "I just met with Pam Bondi, Donald Trump’s attorney general pick. Given her responses to my questions, I remain concerned about her ability to serve as an Attorney General who will put her oath to the Constitution ahead of her fealty to Donald Trump."

Bondi served as Florida's attorney general from 2011 to 2019 and as Trump’s personal lawyer during his first impeachment trial in 2020. Trump nominated her for attorney general after his first choice, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), dropped out of consideration in November over ethics concerns.

Durbin also released a longer statement through the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling Bondi a "leader in the effort to overturn the 2020 election," and wrote that she has "echoed the President-elect’s calls for prosecuting his political opponents. In addition, Ms. Bondi has a long track record of opposing fundamental civil rights, including reproductive rights, voting rights, and LGBTQ+ rights."

ALSO READ: Trump intel advisor Devin Nunes still dismisses Russian election meddling as a 'hoax'

Durbin said he's hoping to learn more about Bondi and her "vision for the Department of Justice" when she comes before the Judiciary Committee next week.

“The American people deserve an Attorney General who will protect their fundamental rights, demonstrate independence and integrity, and remain faithful to the Constitution, the country, and the rule of law above all," Durbin wrote.

When nominating Bondi, Trump posted to social media, "For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans - Not anymore. Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again.”

A bipartisan group of 110 senior Justice Department officials who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations, wrote a letter of recommendation to the Senate Judiciary Committee urging Bondi's confirmation," Fox News Digital reported. They cited her "commitment to the rule of law and her track record as Florida’s former attorney general that they said makes her uniquely qualified for the role."

New Jan. 6 video shows U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls in tense Capitol standoff

This article was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

WASHINGTON — New, harrowing video of the Jan. 6 insurrection features U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls in the House chamber, flanked by a Capitol security guard aiming his pistol at rioters on the other side of a door trying to break through.

The video was released Friday by the Justice Department after a request by NBC News ahead of the third anniversary of the deadly riot. The Richmond Republican is seen shouting through shattered window panes.

ALSO READ: Telemarketing ‘scam PAC’ tycoon bemoans his ‘inconceivable’ jail conditions

“I’ve been in law enforcement in Texas for 30 years, and I’ve never had people act this way,” Nehls said to the rioters. “I’m ashamed!” Nehls was wearing a mask with a Texas flag, as masks were mandatory in the chambers at the time.

“We’re coming in one way or another,” a rioter in the video says.

In the midst of the attack, Nehls posted on social media a picture of himself helping barricade the door as he condemned the violence.

“What I’m witnessing is a disgrace. We’re better than this. Violence is NEVER the answer,” he wrote.

But in the two years since, Nehls — who did not respond to request for comment — has downplayed the significance of the historic attack and defended many of the rioters who have since been prosecuted. He has remained a staunch apologist for former President Donald Trump, parroting false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

“I was at the doors on January 6, face to face with protestors, and I know firsthand there was NO INSURRECTION,” Nehls posted on social media in October.

Nehls has denied that Trump bears any responsibility for the attack, asserting instead that it was a failure of U.S. Capitol Police to prevent rioters from entering the building. He has blasted a House investigation into Trump’s role in inciting the attack as partisan and plans to defend the former president in a case disqualifying Trump from the 2024 ballot for his role on Jan. 6.

Nehls has also offered qualified defense of many of the rioters in the months after the attack. He said Ashli Babbitt, a rioter who died after being shot by Capitol Police, was murdered and demanded an investigation into USCP’s role in her death. He told Texas Monthly in 2022 that “a majority of the people in the Capitol that day had no intention to turn into criminals or insurrectionists.”

On Jan. 6, 2021, protesters, seeking to stop the certification of the 2020 election results, stormed the Capitol after rallying with Trump blocks away from the building. For weeks, Trump had spread misinformation that the 2020 election had been stolen from him. During the rally that day, Trump told attendees: "If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."

Trump’s critics argue the sentence is a smoking gun, showing Trump knowingly incited a riot. His defenders, however, point out that he called on rally attendees to go to the Capitol “peacefully and patriotically.”

The House impeached Trump for his role in the attack, with 10 Republicans joining all Democrats in the move. No Texas Republicans voted for impeachment. Almost all voted to object to the election results just after the Capitol attack, including Nehls.

Trump is currently under criminal indictment for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which culminated in the attack on the Capitol. His actions led to the Colorado Supreme Court deeming him ineligible for the presidency under the 14th Amendment, which bars from office those who “engaged in insurrection” after taking an oath to protect the Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court plans to rule on the state court’s decision.

Nehls has spoken publicly about his efforts to stop the rioters that day, joining with fellow Texas Republicans Pat Fallon, Ronny Jackson and Tony Gonzales to hold the doors shut with Capitol Police. He posted on social media at the time that he was “proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Capitol police barricading entrance to our sacred House chamber, while trying to calm the situation talking to protestors.”

But he also lambasted the House committee investigating the attack as a “weapon against President Trump” and blamed then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not securing the Capitol. He urged the committee to instead “investigate the negligent leadership of the Capitol Police.”

Then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had nominated Nehls to serve on the committee, but pulled his Republican choices from the panel after Pelosi objected to two of them. Nehls was not one of the Republican members Pelosi opposed, but he became an outspoken critic of the committee’s work afterward.

Nehls wrote a book about Jan. 6, claiming the election and impeachment were rigged to damage Trump. Trump said in a review that the book was “Must Read for All Americans.”

Nehls’ support for Trump goes beyond many House Republicans. He often goes out of his way to praise the former president and herald him as the “leader of our party.” During the fraught search for a new House Speaker following McCarthy’s October ouster, Nehls proposed Trump as the only person who could unified the fractured party and become speaker.

“Donald Trump can do things that are impossible and turn them into reality,” Nehls said in October during the speaker election.

Disclosure: Texas Monthly has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

MAGA Republicans are once again trying to intimidate the DOJ against Jan. 6 indictments: report

The Department of Justice was intimidated into delaying investigations into the larger conspiracy allegations connected to the Jan. 6 insurrection attempt, and now MAGA Republicans are trying the same tactic now that the probe is finally ramping up, Vice reported.

Vice noted a recent Washington Post report, which found that the "DOJ avoided even investigating Trump and his lieutenants in the coup plot for over a year, even while public evidence mounted that Jan. 6 was not just a spontaneous riot, but the culmination of a planned coup."

The delay appears to track back to claims of bias, and how such an investigation might look, according to Vice.

"In those days of 2021 and early 2022, before dual Special Counsel investigations and grand juries, there was widespread worry that bad-faith claims of DOJ bias by the Trumpist GOP had cowed AG Merrick Garland into inaction. Now we know that’s exactly what happened!" according to the Friday report. "Read all about it. The Jan. 6 committee’s emerging evidence of criminal activity made the public ask, repeatedly, where was DOJ? Privately, the revelations embarrassed DOJ officials. "

Since it worked the first time, MAGA Republicans are reportedly trying the tactic again.

"Trumpist Republicans know their propaganda worked, at least for a while. It’s precisely why, now that the law is coming down on Trump, they’ve launched a full-on blitz against DOJ and any other agents of accountability in sight," the report states. "Censuring leaders of Trump’s impeachment? Check. Moving to actually expunge impeachment? Check. Pretending tax and gun violations by Hunter Biden deserve the exact same charges as mishandling dozens of national security secrets, obstruction and false statements? Sure. Pledging to impeach Joe Biden? Definitely, though for exactly what, no one knows. Attacks on Jack Smith and his family? You betcha. All this week."

Vice adds:

"The MAGA GOP are trying their hardest to further intimidate DOJ, or at least lay the political groundwork for corrupt pardons or interference later."