All articles tagged with #doj
The U.S. Department of Justice has added 30 defendants to an ongoing case stemming from an anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church, bringing the total charged to 39. The indictment accuses the group of conspiring to interfere with religious freedom at a place of worship and engaging in oppression and threats during a January service. Don Lemon was among those previously charged and has pleaded not guilty.
Paramount’s bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery is still under heavy regulatory scrutiny from U.S. and European authorities, with state attorneys general and lawmakers weighing antitrust concerns and market concentration in streaming and media, leaving a clear path to closing uncertain despite the deal’s competitive bid.
The Justice Department added 30 more defendants to the civil-rights case stemming from a January anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, bringing the total charged to 39 with violations of two FACE Act provisions (a misdemeanor) and conspiracy to interfere with religious rights. No new charges were added beyond those two civil-rights provisions. Don Lemon and another journalist are among those charged, and all original defendants have pleaded not guilty. The case raises questions about applying the FACE Act to houses of worship and involves grand-jury secrecy and transcript-disclosure disputes.
The Department of Justice filed five new lawsuits against Utah, Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia, and New Jersey to obtain unredacted voter-roll data, including private identifiers, as part of a broader federal effort to access state election records. The suits—bringing the total to over two dozen—face state pushback over privacy and constitutional authority, amid a tense national debate on federal involvement in elections.
The Justice Department says it's reviewing whether FBI file material with allegations against President Trump was improperly withheld in the Epstein investigation, after it emerged three interview summaries from a Trump accuser were missing from the released records.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyers ask a Tennessee federal judge to dismiss his human-smuggling charges, arguing the case is vindictive punishment tied to the Trump administration after his reversal and return to the U.S.; the hearing also centers on whether DOJ officials’ motives and internal emails must be disclosed, with a prior ruling suggesting the decision to prosecute may have involved more than the lead prosecutor.
Former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot Gerald Brown, 65, was arrested in Indiana on charges he conspired with a Chinese national to train Chinese Air Force pilots without the required State Department license. Brown, who had a 24-year Air Force career and later trained pilots for defense contractors on the A-10 and F-35, allegedly began negotiating in August 2023 with Stephen Su Bin and traveled to China in December 2023 to start the training job before returning to the U.S. recently, according to the DOJ and FBI.
Federal agents executed a court-authorized search at LAUSD’s downtown headquarters and at Superintendent Alberto Carvalho’s home; the Justice Department has not disclosed the reason for the investigation, and the district says it is cooperating while the underlying affidavit remains sealed. There is no confirmed link to prior disputes with the Trump administration, and officials provided limited details as the inquiry proceeds.
In the wake of Trump’s pledge to wage a “war on fraud,” career federal prosecutor Colin McDonald was named to head a new DOJ division aimed at rooting out fraud. At his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, McDonald said he would follow the evidence and the law, but Democrats warned the role could be politicized and questioned the need for a separate unit. The administration cites Minnesota’s alleged $9 billion fraud as a focal point, while McDonald emphasized that his office would be complementary to existing DOJ fraud divisions and would report to Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Supporters say the plan would bolster anti-fraud efforts; critics worry about political interference and duplication across the department.
House lawmakers press to turn the Epstein fallout into accountability, preparing to depose Bill and Hillary Clinton about their ties to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell; despite subpoenas and a wave of documents, no charges have been filed, and investigators face limited cooperation and complex timelines as both parties seek visible prosecutions and answers from the DOJ files.
Fulton County officials allege an FBI agent misled a federal judge to obtain the warrant that led to the seizure of more than 650 boxes of election records, including original ballots, during the 2020 election probe. They’re pressing for the agent, Hugh Evans, to testify in a hearing ordered by a Trump-appointed judge, amid revelations that the affidavit relied on debunked election‑denier claims and may have failed to establish probable cause; a clerk holding the records, Che Alexander, has joined the lawsuit to recover the materials and challenges to the warrant’s execution and the seizure’s legality under the Fourth Amendment.
DOJ-era Epstein files publicly released by the FBI/DOJ omit three FBI interview summaries and the underlying notes related to a woman who accused Donald Trump of sexual assault decades ago; only one of four summaries was released, and more than 50 pages appear missing, raising questions about transparency and redactions. The DOJ cites privilege, duplicates, or ongoing investigations for withholding; lawmakers, including Rep. Robert Garcia, say unredacted materials are being withheld and plan additional oversight. A 2025 memo mentions the Trump allegation but offers no credibility assessment.
Rep. Robert Garcia claims the DOJ appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with a survivor who accused Trump of sexual misconduct in connection with Jeffrey Epstein, with the records not viewable in the DOJ’s Epstein files database released after a disclosure law. Oversight Democrats say they will pursue a parallel inquiry and demand the records be shared with Congress and the public.
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers launched an online, state-by-state tracker that maps controversial or failed DOJ prosecutions in the first year of Trump's second term, highlighting grand jury rejections and other cases to help defense lawyers monitor nationwide trends and access key filings.
A federal judge in Minnesota held an Army lawyer in civil contempt for failing to relay a court order to ICE in the case of Rigoberto Soto Jimenez, then condemned the DOJ's handling of immigration habeas cases as overwhelmed by staffing and processing gaps, warning that such delays have real consequences on real human beings; after the government promptly returned Soto Jimenez's documents, the contempt was lifted with no fines, but the judge urged prompt reporting of potential violations going forward.