WEATHER ALERT
Law enforcement leans on 3D-printer industry to help thwart machine gun conversion devices
Read full article: Law enforcement leans on 3D-printer industry to help thwart machine gun conversion devicesJustice Department officials are turning to the 3D-printing industry to help stop the proliferation of tiny pieces of plastic transforming semi-automatic weapons into illegal homemade machine guns on streets across America.
American company, Russian propaganda: New Kremlin tactic reveals escalating effort to sway US vote
Read full article: American company, Russian propaganda: New Kremlin tactic reveals escalating effort to sway US voteThis week's indictment of two Russian state media employees accused of paying a Tennessee company to create pro-Russian content is revealing Moscow's latest tactic for meddling in the November election.
Justice Department accuses RealPage of a scheme to help landlords hike rents in antitrust lawsuit
Read full article: Justice Department accuses RealPage of a scheme to help landlords hike rents in antitrust lawsuitThe Justice Department has filed an antitrust lawsuit against real estate software company RealPage, accusing it of an illegal scheme that allows landlords to coordinate to hike rental prices.
Justice Dept. says it's committed to sharing info about foreign election threats with tech companies
Read full article: Justice Dept. says it's committed to sharing info about foreign election threats with tech companiesThe Justice Department is committed to sharing with social media companies information that it picks up about efforts by foreign governments to influence this year’s elections.
Justice Department ramps up efforts to reduce violent crime with gun intel center, carjacking forces
Read full article: Justice Department ramps up efforts to reduce violent crime with gun intel center, carjacking forcesThe Justice Department is ramping up its efforts to reduce violent crime in the U.S., launching a specialized gun intelligence center in Chicago and expanding task forces to curb carjackings.
Ex-police officer convicted in sexual assault is the first to face tougher new penalty, DOJ says
Read full article: Ex-police officer convicted in sexual assault is the first to face tougher new penalty, DOJ saysThe Justice Department says a former Oklahoma police officer convicted in the sexual assault of a woman during a traffic stop will become the first to face a heftier penalty under the 2022 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
Attorney General Merrick Garland to undergo surgery, Justice Department says
Read full article: Attorney General Merrick Garland to undergo surgery, Justice Department saysAttorney General Merrick Garland will undergo back surgery this weekend and delegate his duties to the deputy attorney general during the procedure.
Justice Department announces charges against hundreds of alleged COVID-19 fraudsters
Read full article: Justice Department announces charges against hundreds of alleged COVID-19 fraudstersHundreds of people have been charged with the theft of more than $830 million in COVID-19 emergency aid following a nationwide operation conducted by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, the U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday.
US says price caps on Russia's oil are cutting revenue nearly in half and weakening its economy
Read full article: US says price caps on Russia's oil are cutting revenue nearly in half and weakening its economyWhen the Group of Seven nations, the European Union and Australia last year announced a plan to cap the price of Russian oil, U.S. officials said it would deliver a most effective blow to Russia’s economy, undermining its greatest revenue source.
US infiltrates big ransomware gang: 'We hacked the hackers'
Read full article: US infiltrates big ransomware gang: 'We hacked the hackers'Attorney General Merrick Garland and other U.S. officials say the FBI and international partners have at least temporarily disrupted the network of a prolific ransomware gang they infiltrated last year.
Justice Dept. charges Russian founder of cryptocurrency firm
Read full article: Justice Dept. charges Russian founder of cryptocurrency firmA Russian national who founded a cryptocurrency exchange the Justice Department says evaded U.S. regulations and became a haven for proceeds of criminal activity has been arrested.
Senators want answers in wake of AP’s prison investigations
Read full article: Senators want answers in wake of AP’s prison investigationsThe chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee says he plans to question the director of the federal Bureau of Prisons this week about why the agency continues to stand by a high-ranking official who beat Black inmates in the 1990s.
Garland: Justice Dept.'s civil rights work is key priority
Read full article: Garland: Justice Dept.'s civil rights work is key priorityU.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland says the early work of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division meant confronting white supremacists who were intimidating Black voters, and the division's work remains urgent 65 years later amid a surge of hate crimes.
White House hosts lawyers for discussion on abortion access
Read full article: White House hosts lawyers for discussion on abortion accessAttorney General Merrick Garland headlined a White House event bringing together pro bono lawyers, bar associations and public interest groups to discuss how best to offer legal services and protections for women seeking abortions.
US disrupts North Korean hackers that targeted hospitals
Read full article: US disrupts North Korean hackers that targeted hospitalsThe FBI and Justice Department recently disrupted the activities of a hacking group that was sponsored by the North Korean government and that targeted U.S. hospitals with ransomware.
Advocates push for release of women's prison abuse victims
Read full article: Advocates push for release of women's prison abuse victimsA prominent national criminal justice advocacy group is pushing the Justice Department to support the release of women who were sexually abused by staff at a federal women’s prison in California.
US charges Russian oligarch, dismantles cybercrime operation
Read full article: US charges Russian oligarch, dismantles cybercrime operationThe Justice Department has charged a Russian oligarch with sanctions violations and has taken down a cybercrime operation controlled by a Russian military intelligence agency.
Russian officials charged in years-old energy sector hacks
Read full article: Russian officials charged in years-old energy sector hacksThe Justice Department says four Russian government officials have been charged in hacks that targeted critical global infrastructure including the U.S. energy and aviation sectors between 2012 and 2018.
Justice Dept. names prosecutor to go after pandemic fraud
Read full article: Justice Dept. names prosecutor to go after pandemic fraudThe Justice Department has named a chief prosecutor for pandemic fraud, following through on President Joe Biden’s State of the Union promise to go after criminals who stole billions in relief money.
Senators push Garland to reform prisons after AP reporting
Read full article: Senators push Garland to reform prisons after AP reportingThe leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee are demanding Attorney General Merrick Garland take immediate action to reform the beleaguered federal Bureau of Prisons.
Justice Dept. announces $3.6B crypto seizure, 2 arrests
Read full article: Justice Dept. announces $3.6B crypto seizure, 2 arrestsThe Justice Department has announced its largest-ever financial seizure — more than $3.5 billion — and the arrests of a New York couple accused of conspiring to launder billions of dollars in cryptocurrency.
Jan. 6 committee subpoenas fake Trump electors in 7 states
Read full article: Jan. 6 committee subpoenas fake Trump electors in 7 statesThe House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection has subpoenaed more than a dozen individuals who it says falsely tried to declare Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 election.
Durbin: Prisons chief has 'no intention of reforming' system
Read full article: Durbin: Prisons chief has 'no intention of reforming' systemThe chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is lambasting the director of the beleaguered federal prison system, saying he has “no intention of reforming the institution.”.
Durbin calls for Garland to remove federal prisons director
Read full article: Durbin calls for Garland to remove federal prisons directorThe chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is demanding Attorney General Merrick Garland immediately fire the director of the beleaguered federal Bureau of Prisons.
Inside federal prisons, employees are committing the crimes
Read full article: Inside federal prisons, employees are committing the crimesAn Associated Press investigation has found that more than 100 federal Bureau of Prisons employees have been arrested, convicted or sentenced in criminal cases since the start of 2019.
US charges 2 suspected major ransomware operators
Read full article: US charges 2 suspected major ransomware operatorsA suspected Ukrainian hacker has been arrested and charged in the United States in connection with a string of costly ransomware attacks, including one that snarled businesses around the globe on the Fourth of July weekend.
150 people arrested in US-Europe darknet drug probe
Read full article: 150 people arrested in US-Europe darknet drug probeLaw enforcement officials in the U.S. and Europe have arrested 150 people and seized more than $31 million in an international drug trafficking investigation stemming from sales on the darknet.
US poised to sue contractors who don't report cyber breaches
Read full article: US poised to sue contractors who don't report cyber breachesThe Justice Department is poised to sue government contractors and other companies who receive U.S. government grants if they fail to report breaches of their cyber systems.
The jail where Jeffrey Epstein killed himself is crumbling
Read full article: The jail where Jeffrey Epstein killed himself is crumblingOnce hailed as a prototype for a new kind of federal jail and the most secure in the country, New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center has become a blighted wreck.
Justice Dept. curtails agents' use of 'no-knock' warrants
Read full article: Justice Dept. curtails agents' use of 'no-knock' warrantsThe Justice Department is curtailing federal agents’ use of “no-knock” warrants — which allow law enforcement agents to enter a home without announcing their presence — and would also prohibit its agents from using chokeholds in most circumstances.
US closing troubled NYC jail after slew of problems exposed following Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide
Read full article: US closing troubled NYC jail after slew of problems exposed following Jeffrey Epstein’s suicideThe U.S. government says it is shutting down an embattled federal jail in New York City after a slew of problems that came to light following Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide there two years ago.
Justice Dept. bolsters monitoring of federal inmate accounts
Read full article: Justice Dept. bolsters monitoring of federal inmate accountsThe Justice Department is directing the federal prison system implement new procedures to monitor government-run prison deposit accounts that have at times been used by inmates to shield themselves from paying debts and for suspicious or illegal activity.
AP source: Justice Dept secretly subpoenaed McGahn’s records
Read full article: AP source: Justice Dept secretly subpoenaed McGahn’s recordsApple informed former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn and his wife that the Justice Department had subpoenaed information about accounts that belonged to them in 2018.
Deputies who killed man had body cams, couldn’t use them
Read full article: Deputies who killed man had body cams, couldn’t use themThe two sheriff’s deputies who shot and killed a Black man while assigned to a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force had been told they could not use their body-worn cameras.
Pipeline CEO defends paying ransom amid cyberattack
Read full article: Pipeline CEO defends paying ransom amid cyberattackA pipeline company CEO is making no apologies for his decisions to abruptly halt fuel distribution for much of the East Coast and pay millions to a criminal gang in Russia as he faced down one of the most disruptive ransomware attacks in U.S. history.
US recovers most of ransom paid after Colonial Pipeline hack
Read full article: US recovers most of ransom paid after Colonial Pipeline hackThe Justice Department has recovered the majority of a multimillion-dollar ransom payment to hackers after a cyberattack that caused the operator of the nation’s largest fuel pipeline to halt its operations last month.
Latvian woman charged in US with role in cybercrime group
Read full article: Latvian woman charged in US with role in cybercrime groupA Latvian woman has been charged with developing malicious software used by a major cybercrime digital network that infected computers worldwide and looted bank accounts of millions of dollars.
Feds take down Medicare scams that preyed on virus fears
Read full article: Feds take down Medicare scams that preyed on virus fearsThe Justice Department is announcing criminal charges against more than a dozen people from Florida to California in a series of Medicare scams that exploited coronavirus fears to bill tens of millions of dollars in bogus claims.
US looking at how to weed out extremists in law enforcement
Read full article: US looking at how to weed out extremists in law enforcementAttorney General Merrick Garland says the Justice Department is looking into how it can weed out any extremists from within federal law enforcement following the arrest of current and former law enforcement officers involved in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Biden works to balance civil rights and criminal justice
Read full article: Biden works to balance civil rights and criminal justicePresident Joe Biden’s difficult balancing act on policing was put on vivid display over the course of a few hours as he tries to navigate criminal justice and civil rights.
Biden works to balance civil rights and criminal justice
Read full article: Biden works to balance civil rights and criminal justicePresident Joe Biden’s difficult balancing act on policing was put on vivid display over the course of a few hours Tuesday as he tries to navigate criminal justice and civil rights.
75 ex-top prosecutors endorse Biden’s pick for associate AG
Read full article: 75 ex-top prosecutors endorse Biden’s pick for associate AGFILE - In this Jan. 7, 2021 file photo, Associate Attorney General nominee Vanita Gupta speaks during an event with President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del. More than 75 former U.S. attorneys are throwing their support behind Gupta for associate attorney general and urging congressional leaders to quickly confirm her to the post. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)WASHINGTON – More than 75 former U.S. attorneys are throwing their support behind President Joe Biden’s nominee for associate attorney general and urging congressional leaders to quickly confirm her to the post. She was in charge of the Justice Department’s civil rights division in the Obama administration. The Senate has scheduled the confirmation hearing for Gupta and Lisa Monaco, Biden’s nominee for deputy attorney general, for March 9.
Biden marks nation's Covid grief before inauguration pomp
Read full article: Biden marks nation's Covid grief before inauguration pompPresident-elect Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden look out at lights during a COVID-19 memorial, with lights placed around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Washington. “To heal we must remember," the incoming president told the nation at a sunset ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial. “Between sundown and dusk, let us shine the lights into the darkness ... and remember all who we lost,” Biden said. Biden at his Delaware farewell, held at the National Guard/Reserve Center named after his late son Beau Biden, paid tribute to his home state. ___This story has been corrected to show that flags on the National Mall represent people who couldn't come, not COVID deaths.
Biden blames Trump for violence at Capitol that's shaken US
Read full article: Biden blames Trump for violence at Capitol that's shaken USPresident-elect Joe Biden speaks during an event at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021, to announce key nominees for the Justice Department. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden has denounced the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol as “domestic terrorists” and he blamed President Donald Trump for the violence that has shaken the nation's capital and beyond. It was chaos.”Those who massed on Capitol Hill intending to disrupt a joint session of Congress that was certifying Biden’s election victory over Trump “weren’t protesters. The remarks came during an event in Wilmington, Delaware, to introduce Biden's Justice Department team, to be led by federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland as attorney general. The Justice Department is expected to dramatically change course during the Biden administration, with a greater focus on civil rights issues and a review of policing policies.
Biden introduces Merrick Garland as attorney general pick
Read full article: Biden introduces Merrick Garland as attorney general pickAttorney General nominee Merrick Garland speaks during an event with President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. If confirmed by the Senate, which is likely, Garland would take over as the U.S. attorney general at a critical moment for the country and the agency. His confirmation prospects as attorney general were all but ensured when Democrats scored control of the Senate majority by winning both Georgia Senate seats. Biden also introduced three others for senior Justice Department leadership posts on Thursday, including Obama administration homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco as deputy attorney general and former Justice Department civil rights chief Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general, the No. Garland was selected over other finalists including former Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.
Biden to name Judge Merrick Garland as attorney general
Read full article: Biden to name Judge Merrick Garland as attorney generalPresident-elect Joe Biden is set to name Garland as Attorney General. Biden is expected to announce Garland’s appointment on Thursday, along with other senior leaders of the department, including former homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco as deputy attorney general and former Justice Department civil rights chief Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general, the No. Garland was selected over other finalists including former Alabama Sen. Doug Jones and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. At the time of the bombing, Garland was 42 and principal associate deputy attorney general, a top lieutenant to Attorney General Janet Reno. Eric Holder, President Barack Obama’s first attorney general, had also previously been a Superior Court judge in the District of Columbia.
Biden's attorney general search is focused on Jones, Garland
Read full article: Biden's attorney general search is focused on Jones, GarlandWASHINGTON – Alabama Sen. Doug Jones and federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland are emerging as the leading contenders to be nominated as President-elect Joe Biden’s attorney general, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. Biden's thinking was described by people with knowledge of the presidential transition's internal thinking who were not authorized to speak publicly. Jones, who is white, has had a long-standing personal relationship with Biden dating back to Biden’s first presidential campaign in 1988. Jones would not comment Tuesday on the possibility of a nomination as attorney general. The Biden team has also been considering a number of other potential candidates for the post, including former Justice Department official Lisa Monaco.
Barr's special counsel move could tie up his successor
Read full article: Barr's special counsel move could tie up his successorWASHINGTON – Outgoing Attorney General William Barr's decision to appoint a special counsel to investigate the handling of the Russia probe ensures his successor won't have an easy transition. But the maneuvering over the special counsel is especially significant because it saddles Democrats with an investigation that they've derided as tainted. A special counsel can only be dismissed for cause. The Biden transition did not respond to a request for comment on the special counsel appointment. But Barr's decision could influence whom the president-elect puts forth as a nominee for attorney general.