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U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa acquitted three former Backpage executives of myriad counts against them last week—more evidence of how empty so much of the federal case against them is. Humetewa ruled that there was insufficient evidence to uphold 50 of the counts* against journalist and Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey, 10 of the counts against former Executive Vice President Scott Spear, and 18 of the counts against former Chief Financial Officer Jed Brunst. From the beginning, this prosecution has been premised on a bogus rationale (authorities yammer on about sex trafficking though none of the defendants are charged with sex...

Several Republican-led states said that they are banning U.S. Department of Justice election monitors from entering polling sites in the November general election after the agency sent observers to various states in the 2022 midterms. When the DOJ announced that it was sending election monitors to polling sites in multiple states for the 2022 midterm elections, Florida and Missouri said that the department employees would not be permitted to observe the polls. Now, eight other states have said that they will also not allow DOJ election monitors to enter polling sites during the election this November, with some saying that...

🚨🚨🚨 I just filed an official ethics complaint against Jack Smith with the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility for his illegal election interference. It’s obvious to any reasonable observer that Jack Smith is trying to interfere with the 2024 election and stop the American people from electing Donald Trump. At every turn, he has sought to accelerate his illegal prosecution of President Trump for the clear (if unstated) purpose of trying him before the November election. The Justice Department’s own policies clearly prohibit Smith from doing so, and as a DOJ employee he is bound by those policies....

Judge Aileen Cannon unsealed an unredacted version of the FBI’s affidavit used to obtain a Mar-a-Lago search warrant. In August 2022 the Biden Justice Department released a highly redacted Trump raid affidavit. Media organizations asked to unseal the affidavit in support of the search warrant. Only a redacted version was previously unsealed. Last year Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart approved new aspects of the Trump Mar-a-Lago search warrant to be unsealed, however “the government agreed that a redacted version of the Response could be unsealed without compromising legitimate governmental interests,” Bruce Reinhart wrote in his order on motion to unseal. The...

Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 @julie_kelly2 Newly unredacted FBI interview btw FBI and unidentified Mar-a-Lago employee from Jan 2023 shows agents trying to get information about the personal life of Walt Nauta, Trump's close personal aide DOJ wanted to flip.

The Justice Department notified Congress on Thursday that it will not comply with a subpoena for audio recordings of President Biden’s interview with former Special Counsel Robert Hur. In an 11-page letter, Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte rejected claims from House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) that the recordings contain information relevant to the Republican-led impeachment inquiry into the 81-year-old president. Jordan and Comer have threatened to launch contempt proceedings against Attorney General Merrick Garland if the DOJ does comply with the subpoena. Uriarte argued that the DOJ has complied, by releasing transcripts of...

The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments Thursday on whether former President Donald Trump can be criminally prosecuted over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. The justices have taken up the monumental question of if, and if so to what extent, former presidents enjoy immunity for conduct alleged to involve official acts during their time in office. The high court's decision will determine if Trump stands trial before the November election on four charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith, including conspiracy to defraud the United States. Throughout arguments, multiple of the justices made clear they were looking...

Newly unsealed court filings on Monday in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case reveal emails exchanged between officials from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Biden White House, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding former President Donald Trump’s presidential records. The newly unsealed filings also disclosed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) referred to its investigation into President Trump’s presidential records under the code name “[Redacted] Plasmic Echo.” A key exhibit included with a motion to compel filed in January was an FBI case file labeled “[Redacted] PLASMIC ECHO; Mishandling of Classified or National Defense Information.” This...

Opening statements were underway in President Trump’s ‘hush payment’ trial in New York City on Monday morning. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s top prosecutor lied during his opening statement and claimed Trump “orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election” when he paid porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their alleged affair. Trump has denied the affair. Bragg’s top prosecutor who gave the opening statement on Monday – Matthew Colangelo – previously worked in the Justice Department (Biden appointee) and is a lifelong left-wing activist. “The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016...

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Eva Edl turned 10 years old in a World War II-era death camp. She believes she may die in a United States prison. Charged by President Joe Biden’s Justice Department with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, Edl faces up to 11 years in prison and $350,000 fines. She is about to turn 89 years old. “When I was indicted, I began to prepare to die there,” she said thoughtfully in a phone interview with The Daily Signal. “Right now, I am ambivalent. … I’m doing the best I can to get...

President Trump is swarmed by supporters at fast food restaurants and bodegas where he spends a long time talking to them and reporters, as happened last Tuesday evening in Harlem.In contrast, 81 million vote getter Joe Biden stopped by a Sheetz gas station in Pittsburgh Wednesday afternoon and was greeted by total silence, save for one supporter who met him at the door with a hug.

During oral arguments on Tuesday, Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito exposed the Biden administration’s inexcusable practice of selective prosecution of protesters and rioters. The case, Fischer v. United States, involved the contention by Pennsylvanian Joseph Fischer that the charges of “obstruct[ion of] … any official proceeding,” based on 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c), should not apply to his actions during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Fischer, who also was charged with assaulting police officers, is hardly a sympathetic figure. His claims that he wasn’t trying to obstruct or “impede” official (and important) congressional business, in the ordinary (nonlegal)...

Once one of Donald Trump’s fiercest critics, convicted attorney Michael Avenatti has been discussing possibly testifying on behalf of the former president in his hush money trial after he unleashed a tirade of criticism against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. In X posts from his Los Angeles federal prison cell and in news media interviews, Avenatti has questioned the legitimacy of Bragg’s prosecution against Trump, even suggesting it was an interference in the 2024 election. “There’s no question it is politically motivated because they’re concerned that he (Trump) may be re-elected,” Avenatti told The New York Post in an interview...

Former Attorney General Bill Barr said Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom” that he will support Donald Trump in November. Barr said, “The real threat to liberty, the real threat to our system, are the excesses of the progressive left. They are perverting the system of justice and that’s where the danger lies. The corruption and subversion of our institutions by the left.” Co-host Bill Hemmer said, “I heard you call this hush money case outrageous. I also know you’ve been asked many times and had disagreements with the former president. He is the presumptive nominee and we assume...

2024’s “known wolves” carry badges and/or act under the color of law. “It needs to be said, and it needs to be said loudly, the FBI is the 2024 equivalent of the 1984 Soviet-era KGB, now FSB.” — Sundance at The Conservative Treehouse American Thinker and The Conservative Treehouse share many of the same readers, so you may well be familiar with Sundance’s meticulous work over the years, documenting our known-knowns and our known-unknowns. He’s not much for the flights of fancy attendant to unknown-unknowns, so that’s a big part of what makes him such compelling reading. He’s a connect-the-dots...

by Julie KellyAs I noted yesterday, Elizabeth Prelogar totally misrepresented (lied?) how DOJ routinely handles sentencing requests for those convicted of 1512c2. Under questioning from Kavanaugh about prison sentences, Prelogar tried to make it sound like 1512c2 defendants with other nonviolent offenses (common misdemeanors) only get about 24 months in jail. She quickly mentioned the "Brock" case--referring to Larry Brock, a man from Texas convicted at bench trial of 1512c2 and 5 misdemeanors--and the "enhancement" recently overturned by DC appellate court in 1512c2 convictions. So what did DOJ ask for in Brock case? Not 24-26 months as Prelogar attempted to...

The Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday morning in the case of Fischer v. United States, one of the many criminal cases arising out of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Like defendants in a large subset of those cases, Joseph Fischer was charged, among other offenses, with obstruction of an official proceeding under 18 U.S.C. 1512(c)(2). Fischer’s case in the Supreme Court challenges whether the events of that day can be prosecuted using this obstruction statute. Most of the justices seemed dubious, or at a minimum concerned, about the Department of Justice’s very broad interpretation of the...

MINNEAPOLIS — The nation's highest court has rejected an appeal from MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. The U.S. Supreme Court has declined Lindell's appeal over the FBI's seizure of his phone. It was taken in 2022 while Lindell was at a Hardee's drive-thru window in Mankato. The U.S. government was investigating accusations of Lindell sharing sensitive voting system information. The case is just one of several recent legal battles for Lindell. In March, a judge evicted MyPillow from a facility in Shakopee after the landlord filed a lawsuit claiming the company was at least $200,000 behind on rent payments. A month...

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments in Fischer v. United States and at issue is statute 18 USC §1512(c)(2): Whoever corruptly— (1) alters, destroys, mutilates, or conceals a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding; or (2) otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision on Fischer v United...

The Department of Injustice (DOJ) is using a statute called “obstructed a Congressional proceeding” to prosecute hundreds of these protesters simply for exercising their First Amendment rights. This statute is a serious felony with the potential of 20 years behind bars. CNN notes that this case also has implications for President Donald Trump, who was charged by corrupt special counsel Jack Smith for exercising his First Amendment rights on that fateful day. Justice Neil Gorsuch stole the show this morning by blowing up the foundation of the DOJ’s case against the nonviolent J6 protesters. While the Trump supporters simply exercised...