All articles tagged with #justice department
The Justice Department and Michael Flynn have reached an undisclosed settlement in Flynn’s 2023 lawsuit alleging malicious prosecution and political targeting in the 2017 case. Flynn had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in 2017, later withdrew the plea and was pardoned by Trump; the parties informed a Florida judge that a deal had been reached, with no amount disclosed.
The Justice Department reached a settlement with former Trump adviser Michael Flynn, dropping his $50 million wrongful-prosecution lawsuit and providing Flynn settlement funds—reported to be over $1 million—with terms not disclosed, following Flynn’s 2017 FBI case and his subsequent presidential pardon.
The Justice Department has requested records from the House Intelligence Committee on former CIA Director John Brennan. The committee voted to forward several classified Brennan hearing transcripts to DOJ at the department’s request, signaling ongoing scrutiny tied to the Trump-era Russia inquiry. Brennan’s lawyers have said prosecutors indicated he is a target of a grand jury investigation related to a 2017 intelligence assessment, while Republican lawmakers argue the move serves accountability in investigations.
Chief Judge Renee Bumb appointed Robert Frazer as US attorney for New Jersey, ending a weeks-long leadership clash after rulings found the office’s leadership structure unlawful. The DOJ worked with the court on Frazer’s appointment, a move that should resume prosecutions that had been delayed by the dispute and could guide similar arrangements in other districts.
New Jersey judges appointed Robert Frazer, a long-time federal prosecutor, as acting U.S. attorney, ending a months-long clash between the courts and the Justice Department over leadership of the office; Frazer replaces a rotating slate of interim appoinments after court rulings found earlier arrangements unlawful and signals that prosecutions can resume with DOJ backing.
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Harvard University, alleging its leadership failed to address antisemitism on campus and seeking to freeze federal grants and recover funds already paid.
A New Jersey federal judge ejected a prosecutor from a sentencing hearing and ordered the three leaders of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey to testify about who runs the office, illustrating a broader clash between the DOJ and federal judges over office leadership and operational control.
A DOJ probe into the Fed’s headquarters renovations, led by Jeanine Pirro, complicates Kevin Warsh’s bid to become Fed chair as Jerome Powell’s investigation continues, prompting Republican hesitancy and Democratic resistance in the Senate and underscoring tensions between political influence and Fed independence as Powell’s term nears its end.
A federal judge quashed subpoenas tied to the Justice Department’s investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, marking a setback for the DOJ’s probe into the Fed leader.
The Trump administration, in partnership with the Justice Department, announced a plan to empower VA attorneys to pursue legal guardianships for homeless or incapacitated veterans who cannot make medical decisions, potentially moving them into involuntary or long-term care; a pilot called Project Safe Harbor will test the approach in five VA hubs, reflecting a broader push to use guardianship tools to compel treatment for mental illness and addiction, a shift critics warn risks civil liberties while supporters argue it could provide structured care; guardianships are broader and longer-lasting than civil commitments, and their implementation will require coordination across agencies. There are about 33,000 homeless veterans in the U.S., including roughly 14,000 who are unsheltered.
A bipartisan group of senators has asked the Government Accountability Office to review how the Justice Department has handled Epstein-related files, citing concerns that the department may not have redacted victims’ names and photos as required by law.
The Justice Department has formed a working group to examine bringing federal charges against Cuban government officials or entities, signaling a hard-line push toward Havana and potentially leading to indictments as part of the Trump administration’s Cuba policy.
The House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify in a closed-door deposition about the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein investigation and compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, amid criticism over deadlines, redactions, and missing documents; the DOJ has defended its release efforts, while lawmakers cite thousands of missing or offline files and scrutiny over the White House and Trump-related material in the public archive.
The Justice Department told four large law firms—Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr; Perkins Coie; Jenner & Block; and Susman Godfrey—that it would drop lawsuits against them, only to reverse hours later and say it would continue pursuing the appeals over Trump-era executive orders restricting the firms’ access and activities. The back-and-forth follows anger from Trump and aides and underscores a broader fight over whether firms tied to Democrats can push back in court, even as the firms had won lower-court challenges and as critics condemn the reversal as political retaliation.
The Justice Department said it will drop defending Trump-era executive orders that targeted several law firms, voluntarily dismissing appeals after federal judges ruled the measures unconstitutional and unenforceable; none of the orders took effect, but the DOJ had struck pro bono deals with other firms, and the move comes amid hundreds of related lawsuits—including challenges by the American Bar Association—against various aspects of Trump’s agenda.