Biden gives farewell remarks: ‘We’re not leaving the fight’

(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration succeeded in blocking a plea deal for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed after a federal court issued an administrative stay of a hearing set for Friday.

The alleged 9/11 mastermind was expected to plead guilty as part of a plea agreement worked out by military prosecutors that would have removed the death penalty as a possibility in his case.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — A top government watchdog raised concerns Tuesday over the handling of leak investigations during the first Trump administration that targeted members of Congress and the media despite finding no evidence that the inquiries were politically motivated, according to a newly released report.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz initiated the investigation after public reports that prosecutors, during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term, had obtained warrants to access communications records for members of Congress, congressional staffers and reporters at CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post to identify sources of apparent leaks of classified information.

The investigations were not publicly disclosed until after Trump left office, in part because prosecutors had secured court orders that prevented lawmakers, their staff and media members from learning about the searches.

The report, which comes as Trump has threatened to take action against his political rivals and the media through the DOJ and FBI, reveals the scope of the leak investigations into members of Congress and their staff was much broader than previous reports suggested.

While Rep. Eric Swalwell and now-Sen. Adam Schiff, both California Democrats, previously revealed their records had been seized as part of the investigation, Horowitz’s report revealed prosecutors also searched the records of 43 others who were congressional staffers at the time the leaked information was published.

But Horowitz’s report noted that the partisan affiliation of the staffers was not imbalanced — 21 staffers whose records were searched were Democrats, 20 were Republicans, and two worked in nonpartisan positions. The inspector general investigation determined the basis for the staffers’ records being searched was entirely due to their known ability to access the materials that were found to be leaked to the press, while the investigations into Schiff, then a congressman, and Swalwell were initially bolstered by information given to the department by an unidentified committee staffer who suspected them of leaking — but provided no evidence to support the claims.

While his name is not mentioned directly in the report, Kash Patel, Trump’s pick for FBI director, was among the 43 people who were congressional staffers at the time of the Trump-era leak probe whose records were searched, a source familiar with the investigation confirmed.

Patel has also said publicly on multiple occasions that he was subject to investigation by Trump’s DOJ and was also informed by Google that the DOJ had sought information on his personal accounts.

Horowitz’s report expressed concerns regarding the congressional leak investigations largely related to a lack of existing policies at the DOJ to provide senior-level oversight over such investigations that implicate the separation of powers. Records reviewed by Horowitz said the inquiries into members of Congress were conducted by career prosecutors almost entirely without senior-level supervision or notification and that there was no evidence they were pressured to carry out the inquiries despite Trump and other Republicans repeatedly singling out Schiff and Swalwell as possible leakers.

According to Horowitz, that the department was able to carry out its sweeping investigation of the members of Congress and their staff solely on the basis of them having had access to the leaked information “risks chilling Congress’s ability to conduct oversight of the executive branch because it exposes congressional officials to having their records reviewed by the Department solely for conducting Congress’s constitutionally authorized oversight duties.”

As for the Trump-era leak investigations of reporters from CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post, Horowitz found that officials in the department violated several policies that existed at the time then-Attorney General William Barr authorized the investigations. Prosecutors failed to convene a News Media Review Committee that would normally be consulted in the process of investigations of leaks to members of the media and, in one of the investigations, failed to obtain approval from the director of national intelligence, according to the report.

Upon disclosure of the news media leak investigations in 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland convened several meetings with newsroom leaders across Washington, D.C., and ultimately implemented new DOJ policy that bars prosecutors from securing search warrants for reporters’ records to obtain information about their sources.

The future of that policy, however, remains very much in question — given public comments by Trump and his top allies suggesting they fully intend to use the powers of the DOJ and the FBI to target political enemies and even possibly members of the media during his second term. While Horowitz’s report offered up several recommendations for internal policy fixes to the issued identified in the report, all of which were accepted by the Biden DOJ, it will be up to leadership in the incoming Trump DOJ to determine whether those recommendations will be implemented.

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(NEW YORK) — On the same day that former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general, Trump announced that former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is his second choice to fill that role in his administration.

Bondi, 59, has remained in Trump’s inner circle for years and has continued to advise him on legal matters. She was one of the lawyers who defended Trump during his first Senate impeachment trial.

“I have known Pam for many years — She is smart and tough, and is an AMERICA FIRST Fighter, who will do a terrific job as Attorney General!” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

Bondi’s nomination must be confirmed by the Senate. She did not immediately comment on Trump’s announcement.

For more than a decade, Bondi has been a key Trump supporter and has been involved in some controversies — including the “big lie,” pushed by Trump in 2020. She publicly espoused the false claim that he rightfully won the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

In 2013, the Trump Foundation sent a $25,000 donation to Bondi’s fundraising committee for her attorney general reelection campaign.

Around the same time, Bondi’s office had on its desk a lawsuit that probed both Trump himself and Trump University, but it ultimately did not join the suit.

Bondi and Trump both denied allegations that the donation led to her decision to not join the lawsuit, which had been filed by the New York attorney general’s office.

She endorsed Trump for his presidential run and spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention, leading a “lock her up chant” against then-Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.

She also served as a co-chair of Trump’s reelection bid and spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2020.

Bondi was elected attorney general in 2010 and was reelected in 2014. She left the office after reaching her two-term limit in 2019.

A year later, she was selected as part of Trump’s defense team for his first impeachment trial. He was acquitted in the Senate.

Bondi has also been a registered lobbyist since 2019 at Brian Ballard’s firm, Ballard Partners. Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is also a lobbyist with the firm.

Bondi’s most recent clients include the Florida Sheriffs’ Association, the Florida Sheriffs’ Risk Management Fund and the Major County Sheriffs of America. Her quarterly retainer fees range from $20,000 to $50,000, federal lobbying disclosures show.

She has previously represented investment firms and corporate clients like Amazon, General Motors, the MLB, Fidelity, Uber and the GEO Group, which is a private prison company, according to filings.

In 2019 and 2020, Bondi was engaged in consulting and advocacy services on behalf of the Embassy of the State of Qatar regarding “matters involving anti-human trafficking,” foreign lobbying disclosures filed by Ballard Partners show. Bondi registered as a foreign agent for the government of Qatar as part of her lobbying work.

After his impeachment trial, Bondi remained with Trump’s legal team while he campaigned in 2020 and repeatedly made false claims about voter fraud when he lost to Joe Biden.

Recently, she has been a member of the conservative think tank America First Policy Institute, which was formed by former Trump administration officials. She serves as AFPI’s chair for the Center for Litigation, and co-chair of the Center for Law and Justice, according to the think tank’s website.

Bondi and AFPI attorneys were involved in preemptive election lawsuits in battleground states during this year’s election.

Trump has previously named his other personal attorneys to senior roles in the Department of Justice, including Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and D. John Sauer.

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