Department of Justice

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Justice Department activates untested court for 'alien terrorist' deportations

The Trump administration has filed a first-ever petition to a secretive and dormant court created 30 years ago to consider government requests to deport so-called “alien terrorists” from the United States. Read More.

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Justice Department moves to drop case against ex-Olympian charged with damaging Reflecting Pool

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department moved Friday to dismiss a criminal case charging a former Olympian with deliberately damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying evidence prosecutors had recently received refuted the idea that vandals were to blame.

https://apnews.com/article/reflecting-pool-damage-olympian-hearn-trump-21d997b5b55e6adf01862d7c5292476d?

ps:Of course they had to, it was the biggest crock of bull manure!!!!!

🏛️ Reflecting Pool charges dropped

The Reflecting Pool is seen from the Washington Monument on July 30. Photo: Kevin Carter/Getty Images The Justice Department moved yesterday to dismiss a criminal case charging a former Olympian with deliberately damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying evidence prosecutors had recently received refuted the idea that vandals were to blame. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a 20-page court filing that additional documents provided by the Interior Department since the indictment of David Hearn show the damage was the result of a "botched installation and not vandalism." Hearn's lawyers said the dismissal doesn't "erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong. The government's approach was ready, fire, aim." Read the 20-page filing.

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DOJ went after protesters for felony assault, but juries, judges were unconvinced, AP analysis finds

The U.S. Justice Department failed to secure felony convictions against most of the 102 protesters arrested in four major cities last year on charges of assaulting federal authorities — a record far below the norm in federal assault prosecutions. Read More.

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📰 WSJ: DOJ reviewing Nixon treatment

Former President Nixon salutes during a 1968 campaign stop in El Paso. Photo: Bettmann/CORBIS/Bettmann Archive The Justice Department is "reviewing whether the special prosecutor's office that investigated the famed Watergate break-in committed misconduct," The Wall Street Journal reports. That comes after former Nixon aide Geoff Shepard "recently gave a two-hour presentation" at the DOJ on "his theory that the deep state took Nixon down," per the paper. 🧑‍⚖️ The WSJ reports: "Shepard has served as a sort of godfather for the Watergate revisionists." "His scholarship has unearthed a number of primary-source documents which he says show Nixon and his associates weren't treated fairly." A DOJ spokesperson tells Axios: "Given his expertise and scholarship on Watergate, [Shepard] was recently invited to give a presentation to [the Office of Professional Responsibility], but that presentation does not constitute an investigation." The big picture: Nixon is hot these days among some conservatives (especially "Nixonmaxxing" youth), who see parallels between his treatment and the investigations into President Trump. Gift link. ps:Just pathetic!!!!!

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Judge tosses ex-CIA head John Brennan's document preservation lawsuit against the Justice Department

A federal judge on Thursday rejected a lawsuit from John Brennan that sought to force the Justice Department to preserve investigative records so that the former CIA director can challenge any eventual criminal case against him as a selective and malicious prosecution. Read More.

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Last-minute Trump DOJ suit in California targeting noncitizen voters alarms advocates

After the U.S. Department of Justice sued California over its refusal to remove voters the federal government alleges are noncitizens, voting rights advocates fear the Trump administration is violating a court order blocking it from rooting out noncitizens with states’ voter data.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/10/18/repub/last-minute-trump-doj-suit-in-california-targeting-noncitizen-voters-alarms-advocates/?

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Justice Department charges more than 2 dozen in California sweep targeting alleged noncitizen voters Federal authorities charged 28 foreign nationals Monday in California as part of a sweep dubbed Operation Protect the Vote. The Justice Department said they are lawful permanent residents — but not U.S. citizens who are permitted to legally vote. Read more.

What to know: The 28 are charged with crimes that include making false statements on a naturalization application and submitting fraudulent voter registrations. “This causes real damage to real elections and real damage to American citizens,” Trent McCotter, the acting deputy attorney general at the Justice Department, said during a news conference in Los Angeles. The arrests are part of a Trump administration effort to root out noncitizen voting ahead of next month’s midterm elections, even though data shows that the problem is incredibly rare, difficult to prove and has not been shown to change the outcome of races.   Rob Bonta, California’s Democratic attorney general, said Monday that there is no widespread voter fraud in California and that he expects his state to prevail in the federal government’s lawsuit. The Republican administration “has provided us with no facts of any ineligible voters, just a conclusory statement with no evidence to back it,” he said.

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⚖️ DOJ probes Lewandowski

The Justice Department is investigating longtime Trump ally Corey Lewandowski over allegations that he profited personally while advising the Department of Homeland Security, The Wall Street Journal and N.Y. Times report.

• Why it matters: Lewandowski was President Trump's first campaign manager in 2016 and top aide to former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was fired in March. It's a rare instance of a Trump ally being investigated during his second term.

Trump told reporters yesterday when asked about the reported probe: "I don't know exactly what it is ... All I know is, I want my people to be honest. And if they're not going to be honest, they have to be prosecuted."

• A lawyer for Lewandowski, Adam Trigg, said Lewandowski "has not been contacted by the Justice Department regarding any investigation, and he denies any wrongdoing when he was proudly serving his country in a voluntary capacity."

Keep reading (NYT gift link).

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2 ex-FBI officials charged with lying about involvement in investigation into Hunter Biden’s laptop

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two former FBI officials were charged with lying to Congress about their involvement in investigating Hunter Biden’s laptop in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, the latest in a series of splashy and politically charged actions the Justice Department has undertaken ahead of next month’s midterm contests.

https://apnews.com/article/biden-laptop-fbi-official-charged-e41b7407f97c6dfc7c017875054c0c67?

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DOJ sues to delay Alaska results

Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images The Trump administration sued Alaska today to delay certification of next month's Senate election results if incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan narrowly loses, Axios' Avery Lotz reports. The race between incumbent Sullivan, Democrat Mary Peltola and retired teacher Dan Sullivan — which could determine Senate control — has been marked by controversy. 🤔 Republicans accuse Democrats of trying to confuse voters by planting a candidate with the same name as the incumbent. The retired teacher Sullivan will appear on the ballot as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. Alaska's use of ranked-choice voting complicates matters, eliminating candidates in rounds if no one gets 50% of the initial vote. The lawsuit, filed in Alaska District Court, says: "An election result may be impacted by voter confusion if: (1) Senator Sullivan does not win the election; and (2) had all votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan been cast instead for Senator Sullivan and Alaska's ranked-choice process played out accordingly, Senator Sullivan would have won the election." It requests a delay in certification until after an investigation determines "whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan." President Trump personally ordered the lawsuit to be filed, AP reports. 🗳️ The big picture: The Trump administration is pushing for greater control of state-run elections and casting doubt ahead of time on results that may favor Democrats. ✅ Reality check: Notre Dame law professor Derek Muller tells AP that the Alaska suit won't survive long, since the statute "simply doesn't let the Department of Justice enjoin certification." Go deeper.