Free Republic

**SNIP** "All of our sources high up are telling us... that this investigation is far more advanced than we the public knows," Scarborough said, before asking the panelists what information they're getting. "Well, there are three things that people are keying off of. First of all, there are a lot of chatter amongst FBI agents, many of whom have never been big fans of the Clintons. But a lot of FBI agents seem to be saying something is happening here," Bloomberg News analyst Mark Halperin said. "Second is from a legal point of view, you look at the recent developments...

The Clinton investigation has been the elephant in the room during the Democratic presidential primary process, with audiences wondering if the former first lady could be charged with misconduct. Despite a declaration from Clinton's closest rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders - in a nationally televised debate - that Americans are 'sick and tired of reading about your damn emails' - the cloud of prosecution has hung over Clinton's campaign since early last year. 'It does give pause to Democrats who are concerned that there may be another shoe to drop down the road,' Andrew Smith, a political scientist at the University...

When a big corporation is charged with antitrust or regulatory violations, and fined billions of dollars, have you ever wondered where that money goes? You might assume that it is deposited in the United States Treasury, for general purposes, or that it goes to victims of the companies’ misconduct. In some cases, you’d be right, but it turns out an awful lot of that money is being funneled straight into progressive non-profits, at the express direction of the Department of Justice. According to an exposé in the Wall Street Journal, the DOJ often mandates as part of settlements that the...

The White House announced Friday afternoon that it is launching an inter-agency task force to counter the sharp growth in violent extremism in America, according to an announcement. As senior members of the Obama administration's national security team meet with technology leaders in Silicon Valley, the White House’s National Security Council announced that the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security would team up to launch a Countering Violent Extremism Task Force, according to the announcement. The White House background document accompanying the announcement does contain any specific reference to the types of "violent extremism" the administration seeks to counter. The...

Federal authorities and officials in Alaska are closing their cases on the Exxon Valdez disaster, nearly 26 years after the grounded supertanker unleashed what was then the worst US oil spill. The Justice Department and its Alaskan counterpart had been seeking additional cleanup funds from ExxonMobil after a decline in harlequin ducks and sea otters in oil-stricken Prince William Sound. The drop in populations had been blamed on buried oil that remained long after the 1989 disaster, but the Justice Department said those species have since rebounded to pre-spill levels and that the lingering oil "is no longer biologically significant...

He attacks Obama's co-opting of the DOJ for the advancement of leftism, not justice. Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey delivered a sharp criticism of the Obama Justice Department, particularly the DOJ Voting Section, in a speech republished in Hillsdale College’s Imprimis . In a broadside aimed at the Obama-era DOJ, Mukasey hits the department’s biased and partisan law enforcement policies. Mukasey’s speech should be required reading for every presidential campaign. Mukasey revisits the dismissal of the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party by Eric Holder and other political appointees shortly after the 2009 inauguration: During the 2008...

If you're Hillary Clinton or one of her supporters, this should make your blood run cold. On today's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough said that the unequivocally pro-Biden statement from Obama spox Josh Earnest yesterday not only sent "a strong, strong message to Hillary" but, echoing the Wall Street Journal, "you wonder whether they're sending a message to the Justice Department as well." Has there ever been anything quite like this in the history of American politics? It's one thing for a president to encourage his veep's presidential ambitions. It's entirely another for a president to put his 800-lb. thumb on...

In recent decades, there have been many ways to make money and one virtually infallible formula for losing it: running an airline. At times, it might have made more sense for the major carriers to set up bonfires of cash on tarmacs rather than actually transport people. Lately, though, they have figured out how to avoid squandering huge sums. Hint: It involves charging more for their services than it costs to provide them. This strange development has set off alarms among people in Congress who think aviation should be a charitable activity. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., recently charged, "Consumers are...

According to data released by the U.S. Justice Department, 41.7 percent of the federal criminal cases that U.S. attorneys filed in U.S. district courts in fiscal 2014 were in the five U.S. attorneys' districts that sit along the U.S.-Mexico border. In fact, the five districts that sit along the border -- those for Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Western Texas and Southern Texas -- were the top five in the country for criminal cases filed in U.S. district courts. The office of the U.S. attorney for Western Texas led the nation last year in filing criminal cases in U.S. district...

Facts did not matter much when the race-activist community held a press conference outside of the McKinney Police Station earlier today. This was in response to the now infamous pool party that took place last weekend in the suburban Craig Ranch subdivision of a Dallas suburb. Tempers flared, feelings frayed, and one speaker was compelled to threaten the Texas city with bringing in the Nation of Islam’s volatile spiritual leader Louis Farrakhan as a solution. The general demand list was that the group wanted 10-year police veteran Eric Casebolt fired and criminally charged. Executive Director of Justice Seekers, Rev. Ronald...

It should come to no one’s surprise that we have way too many federal laws. It’s to the point where–on average–we break at least three of them every day without ever knowing it. Conservatives may complain about out tax code–and they should–but our criminal code is also out of control. At the recent conference on justice reform hosted by FreedomWorks in June, our criminal code was subject to a prolonged discussion regarding how outrageous it has become There are at least 5,000 federal criminal laws, with 10,000-300,000 regulations that can be enforced criminally. In fact, our entire criminal code has...

Loretta Lynch's DOJ looks to further federal control of elections in ways that benefit the Democrats. The Obama Justice Department has quietly launched an effort to erode traditional state powers over elections. In the first instance, Attorney General Loretta Lynch has drafted and sent a bill to Congress which would force state election officials to turn over power to tribal governments to determine the location and number of polling places on Indian reservations in state-run elections. In the second instance, the DOJ is seeking to erode the power of states to prohibit the mentally incompetent from voting, as long as...

The Justice Department yesterday announced a simultaneous lawsuit and settlement with the Cleveland police department. The settlement will impose significant federal mandates on the police. This comes after a Cleveland police officer was acquitted of wrongdoing by a court after the officer shot a suspect at the conclusion of a 100 mph car chase. The agreement imposes a ten-member “community police commission” who will watch over the police, only three of whom have any law enforcement perspective. The remaining seven are sure to include individuals either actively involved in the racialist anti-police efforts or one degree of separation from the...

This lunacy is mainstream thought at the Department of Justice. Vanita Gupta, head of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, has told a lawyers group in Colorado that slavery and Jim Crow helped fuel the Ferguson and Baltimore riots. The last few days have seen a number of fanciful stories with the Obama administration seemingly questioning the authority of local police. I’ve long maintained that the administration is nakedly seeking to federalize policing standards — but get rid of local police? No way, that sounds like something broadcast from a shortwave station in Austin, Texas. But then up steps...

A lawyer who came to prominence for his full-throated defense of a subsequently convicted terrorist was quietly promoted to the No. 3 slot at the Department of Justice last month, a post that puts him in charge of the administration’s policy regarding Guantanamo Bay detainees. The move has raised red flags on Capitol Hill and elsewhere among national security stalwarts who argue that the promotion could imperil the country’s longstanding war on terrorism.

An alliance of free-market conservatives is building support for a bill that would thwart the Obama administration's bid to make foreign computers, servers and data farms subject to Justice Department search and seizure.The alliance stepped up its pressure on Capitol Hill with the release of its May 1 “coalition letter” to Sen. Charles “Chuck” Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte (R.-Va.), the two men who chair the judiciary committees in their chamber. The letter calls on the chairmen to move forward on the Law Enforcement Access to Data Stored Abroad Act.To put things in perspective, in 1995 the email...

Hold your breath forever waiting for Obama’s Justice Department to take action or even make mention of this hate group urging to kill white babies. Can you fathom what would happen if the colors were reversed here?It’s easy to call these hateful ignoramus’ but I think the important factor here is that they’ve become emboldened by the fact that their racist and violent actions and words in the past have been met with no resistance from this White House. Our guy Joe Newby has the story: In a video posted at Breitbart.com on Tuesday, a New Black Panther Leader identified...

The latest example of cellphone video vindicating someone from false charges is a doozy. It comes from Washington Parish, La., and WWL TV. One of the worst days of Douglas Dendinger’s life began with him handing an envelope to a police officer. In order to help out his family and earn a quick $50, Dendinger agreed to act as a process server, giving a brutality lawsuit filed by his nephew to Chad Cassard as the former Bogalusa police officer exited the Washington Parish Courthouse. The handoff went smoothly, but Dendinger said the reaction from Cassard, and a group of officers...

WASHINGTON—The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to move Loretta Lynch, President Barack Obama ’s nominee for attorney general, to the Senate floor for a final confirmation vote. The committee approved the nomination of Ms. Lynch, currently Brooklyn’s U.S. Attorney, by a vote of 12 to 8. Republican Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Orrin Hatch of Utah joined all of the committee’s Democrats in voting yes. Ms. Lynch has so far generated little animosity from Republican senators, even those who ended up voting against her. Many praised her work as a prosecutor and some said...

The Justice Department has been, to say no more, unhelpful regarding attempts to fully investigate and properly punish the politicization and corruption of the Internal Revenue Service. Given the department’s seeming complicity in the coverup, would it not be appropriate to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS practice of suppressing the political activity of conservative groups? Civil forfeiture — the seizure of property suspected of being produced by, or involved with, crime — has become a lucrative business for lawless law enforcement. Civil forfeiture treats citizens worse than criminals, seizing the property of people neither convicted of nor...