Tag: doj

DOJ fires at least 4 prosecutors involved in FACE Act cases during Biden administration

The Justice Department has fired at least four prosecutors who were involved in prosecutions under the FACE Act during the Biden administration, a government official familiar with the firings told CBS News.

Among those fired Monday is Sanjay Patel, a longtime federal prosecutor in the Civil Rights Division’s criminal section who was placed on administrative leave last month, sources told CBS News at the time. The terminations occurred at about the same time a report on the FACE Act and the Biden Justice Department was being finalized. 

Congress passed the FACE Act in 1994 to address rising concerns about threats and intimidation that women were facing at reproductive health clinics. Nonviolent and first-time offenses of the law are misdemeanors, while repeat offenses or violations that result in bodily injury or death can be treated as felonies.

The FACE Act report is being drafted by the Justice Department’s “weaponization working group,” established in the first days of former Attorney General Pam Bondi’s tenure. 

Tuesday’s firings mark the latest in a purge that started last year of Justice Department employees, many of whom worked on criminal or civil cases opposed by the Trump administration or President Trump’s allies.

A Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement that the department “has terminated the employment of personnel responsible for weaponizing the FACE Act who still remained at the department.”

Stacey Young, a former Civil Rights Division lawyer who founded and leads the nonprofit Justice Connection, said in a statement, “Congress passed the FACE Act with bipartisan support more than 30 years ago, and courts have consistently upheld the constitutionality of its provisions that ensure safe access to reproductive health services.”

She added, “Firing DOJ attorneys for zealously enforcing the law is unconscionable — it politicizes the department’s enforcement actions and punishes dedicated civil servants for doing their jobs.”

The Trump administration has repeatedly alleged without citing evidence that the Civil Rights Division under former Attorney General Merrick Garland used the Act to intentionally target conservative Christians who are morally opposed to abortion.

Although the Justice Department also pursued criminal charges against abortion rights activists who were accused of trying to scare volunteers and workers at a crisis pregnancy clinic that counseled on alternatives to abortion, excerpts of a draft the report reviewed by CBS News said the total number of such cases were minimal compared to those targeting conservative anti-abortion Christians.

Early in his second term, Mr. Trump pardoned many of the FACE Act defendants convicted during the Biden administration. The Justice Department also dismissed several other FACE Act cases and ordered prosecutors to put the brakes on future FACE Act investigations.

At the same time, however, the current Justice Department has allowed the remaining FACE Act cases involving abortion rights activists to proceed without interference, with one Florida-based defendant receiving a 120-day prison term in March 2025.

Many of the other former federal prosecutors who handled FACE Act cases have since left the Justice Department.

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DOJ Sues Connecticut, City of New Haven Over Sanctuary Policies

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Connecticut and the City of New Haven on April 13 over policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

The DOJ challenged Connecticut’s Trust Act and an executive order issued by New Haven’s mayor, arguing that they conflicted with federal immigration law and the Constitution. Specifically, the DOJ alleged violations of the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which says federal law takes precedence over state and local laws.

“For years, Connecticut communities have paid the price of these misguided sanctuary policies,” Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the DOJ’s Civil Division said in an emailed statement. “This lawsuit seeks to end such open defiance of federal law.”

The department named Connecticut, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, Connecticut Attorney General Tong, the City of New Haven, and New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker as defendants.

The Trust Act, which was amended in 2025, limits when law enforcement officers can detain individuals based on civil immigration detainers. It directs officers not to hold someone solely on such a detainer unless certain conditions are met, such as the existence of a judicial warrant or a prior conviction for specific serious offenses, including certain crimes including murder, manslaughter, burglary, or sexual assault. The law also applies in cases where an individual has been flagged in federal security databases.

That has hindered cooperation between state and local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities in enforcing immigration laws, the DOJ argued.The DOJ also stated that the law prohibits law enforcement officers from using resources to communicate with federal immigration authorities regarding the custody or release of an individual targeted by a civil immigration detainer.

The law also forbids law enforcement officers from arresting or detaining an individual based on an administrative warrant, according to the lawsuit.

Another issue that the DOJ raised was a 2020 executive order issued by New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker. That order limited the disclosure of personal information—including immigration status—without an individual’s consent and restricts local officials from inquiring about a person’s immigration status in most situations. The DOJ claimed those provisions obstruct federal enforcement efforts.Connecticut and New Haven’s sanctuary policies “threaten and harm the United States’ sovereign interest in the supremacy and enforcement of federal law,” especially the Immigration and Nationality Act, according to the Justice Department.

The lawsuit stated that the sanctuary policies are “an active and deliberate effort to obstruct federal immigration enforcement by, among other things, impeding the communication between federal, state, and local law enforcement officials, and the safe apprehension and detention of [those] unlawfully present.”

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Justice Department Fires Four Prosecutors Who Weaponized FACE Act Under Merrick Garland and Jailed Christians Praying at Abortion Clinic

At least four prosecutors who weaponized the FACE Act under Merrick Garland and jailed Christians for praying at abortion clinics have been fired.

Nearly two dozen pro-life activists were charged with the FACE Act for praying at an abortion clinic in October 2020.

In one of the more egregious acts of abuse, the Biden DOJ convicted Paula Harlow last year of federal conspiracy against rights and FACE offenses for peacefully protesting an abortion clinic in DC back in 2020.

US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton appointee, sentenced Harlow to 24 months in prison.

She was the tenth defendant to be sentenced by the Biden Regime related to the peaceful abortion protest.

Paulette Harlow, who was 75 years old at the time, participated in a peaceful protest at an abortion clinic in 2020 and didn’t hurt anyone.

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‘Major legal victory’: Pro-lifer arrested by Biden SWAT team wins huge settlement

A Catholic father who was targeted by Joe Biden’s abortion-pushing ideologues in government has won a huge settlement for his arrest by SWAT team agents.

Of course the American taxpayer is the one who ultimately must pay as the lawsuit by Mark Houck against the Biden administration actions actually named the Department of Justice as defendant.

Houck’s home and family were “assaulted” by armed federal agents who raided him after he intervened during a pro-life protest to protect his young son from an aggressive and violent abortion escort outside a Planned Parenthood facility.

He later was acquitted of all charges.

According to a report at Lifenews, it is a “major legal victory against blatant targeting and discrimination from former President Joe Biden’s administration.”

The result is a “seven-figure settlement,” although the exact specifications of the deal weren’t released.

Houck’s arrest was made under the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances law, threatening him with up to 11 years in prison, even though the incident triggering the federal assault was unrelated.

The report explained his ordeal began when he stepped in to shield his son from harassment by an abortion escort.

Local police said there was no crime, but for Biden’s abortion-pushing bureaucrats, that wasn’t good enough.

Prosecutors then pursued the high-profile federal counts.

The Biden agenda was blocked when in 2023 a federal jury acquitted him of all counts.

He then sued the DOJ for wrongful prosecution, excessive forces and violation of constitutional rights.

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Department of Justice Launches Investigation Into the NFL: Report

The Department of Justice has reportedly launched an investigation into the National Football League over anticompetitive tactics that could harm the public.

NBC News reported Thursday that the federal government is investigating whether the NFL is charging consumers too much, now that games are broadcast across multiple streaming platforms that require paid subscriptions.

The story cited two unnamed sources who are “familiar with the investigation.”

The Justice Department’s investigation into the NFL is “about affordability for consumers and creating an even playing field for providers,” one government official told the outlet.

Regulators, lawmakers, and media outlets have voiced concerns over the past several years about how difficult it has become for consumers to watch their preferred sports games as a result of these new rights deals.

In early March, Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah sent a letter to Acting Assistant Attorney General Omeed A. Assefi and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson about “a new trend in televised sports that may harm American sports fans.”

“To watch every NFL game during this past season, football fans spent almost $1,000 on cable and streaming subscriptions,” Lee wrote.

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Leaked DOJ report finds Biden admin colluded with abortionists to target pro-lifers

A nearly 60-page report form the Trump Department of Justice (DOJ) containing “damning evidence of collusion and unethical behavior” between the Biden-era DOJ and pro-abortion entities, including the National Abortion Federation (NAF), has been leaked the leftist news outlet MS Now.

“Upon assuming office, the Biden DOJ shattered the public’s trust by weaponizing the FACE Act to advance a pro-abortion agenda, and DOJ’s Civil Rights Division was at the forefront of this weaponization,” says the draft, according to MS Now.

Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue who has seen the evidence on which the report was based, spoke to LifeSiteNews after the leak of the document. According to MS Now, the document is likely to be publicly released as early as next week. Terry told LifeSiteNews that he and Terrisa Bukovinac, founder of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), were granted access to the unredacted records on March 4, 2026. Bukovinac and Terry met with DOJ officials in Washington, D.C., because the documents reference Terry by name and Bukovinac’s organization.

Terry said the report contains clear evidence of unethical coordination between Biden lead prosecutor Sanjay Patel and pro-abortion groups, including the NAF, while more than 70 attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers in the months after Roe v. Wade was overturned went largely uninvestigated and unprosecuted.

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Obama-Appointed Judge DISMISSES DOJ Lawsuit to Obtain Massachusetts’ Unredacted Voter Rolls

Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin has dismissed the Trump DOJ’s lawsuit demanding the Commonwealth’s full, unredacted statewide voter registration list.

The case, United States v. William Francis Galvin, was part of the Department of Justice’s aggressive nationwide crackdown to force states to turn over their voter rolls under Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 to root out dead voters, non-citizens illegally registered, duplicates, and other irregularities that threaten the integrity of our elections.

But in Massachusetts, Democrat Secretary of State William Francis Galvin refused to hand over the data. The DOJ sued. And now, an Obama judge has let him off the hook on a technicality.

According to the 13-page order issued Thursday, Judge Sorokin ruled that the DOJ’s demand letter failed to include a proper “statement of the basis” for requesting the records, as required by the 1960 law.

The judge wrote that the Attorney General’s August 14, 2025, letter stated the purpose (to check compliance with NVRA and HAVA list maintenance rules) but offered zero factual basis, no specific concerns, no anomalies, no complaints, just a blanket demand for Massachusetts’ entire computerized voter list.

The court slammed the demand as “facially deficient” and tossed the entire complaint and motion to compel. Motions to dismiss from Galvin and intervenors were declared moot.

This marks the fourth loss for the DOJ, with zero wins, out of 30 active cases.

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Fraud Task Force, DOJ Prosecute Half-a-Billion Dollars in Health Care, COVID Schemes

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced three separate criminal and civil actions on April 7 seeking to hold two individuals and two companies accountable for schemes to steal more than $500 million from taxpayer-funded programs.

The defendants are two companies implicated in an Affordable Care Act (ACA) fraud scheme, a California man pleading guilty to medication reimbursement fraud, and a Nevada woman sentenced to prison for COVID-19 tax credit fraud, the department said in an April 7 statement.

The DOJ said its efforts support President Donald Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, chaired by Vice President JD Vance, which aims to clean up federal benefit programs.

“Thanks to the leadership of President Donald Trump, the Department, working closely with the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, is supercharging efforts to take down every fraudster and bring them to justice,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.

“In one day, the Department prosecuted the theft of a half-billion in taxpayer dollars. All those ripping off the American people are on notice.”

Obamacare Scheme

One case involves insurance brokerage company AP of South Florida LLC (APSF), which is accused of fraudulently enrolling thousands of vulnerable people into fully federally subsidized ACA plans, also known as Obamacare. The scheme resulted in the federal government paying $141.5 million in unwarranted subsidies.

APSF targeted vulnerable, low-income people who were unemployed, homeless, or experiencing mental health and substance abuse disorders. Most of them did not meet the minimum eligibility requirements for ACA subsidies.

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FBI Arrests Former Army Special Operations Employee For Leaking Classified National Defense Information to Media

The FBI arrested a former Special Operations Command employee for leaking classified national defense information to the media.

Courtney Williams, 40, of Wagram, North Carolina, allegedly transmitted classified material to individuals not authorized to see it, including a journalist, the DOJ said.

She was arrested on Tuesday and indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday.

Per FBI Director Kash Patel:

FBI and our partners have arrested a former SOCOM employee, who supported our top-level military warfighters, for allegedly transmitting classified information to a member of the media.

Outstanding work by FBI Charlotte and the FBI Counterintelligence & Espionage Division – as well as our DOJ partners.

Let this serve as a message to any would-be leakers: we’re working these cases, and we’re making arrests. This FBI will not tolerate those who seek to betray our country and put Americans in harm’s way.

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Justice Department Counters Russian Military Intelligence Unit Attack On US Targets

The Justice Department and FBI on Tuesday revealed they have conducted a court-approved technical operation to neutralize part of a network of small office and home office routers in the United States that become commandeered by a unit of Russia’s military intelligence.

Russian Military Unit 26165—also known as APT28, Sofacy Group, Forest Blizzard, Pawn Storm, Fancy Bear, and Sednit—is part of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff and has compromised routers to execute malicious Domain Name System (DNS) hijacking operations across the planet.

They targeted individual U.S. military members, the U.S. government, and critical infrastructure in which the Russian government expected to gain intelligence.

U.S. Attorney David Metcalf for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said critical data had been commandeered.

“In the face of continued aggression by our nation-state adversaries, the U.S. government will respond just as aggressively,” Metcalf said. “Working with the FBI—and our partners around the world—we are committed to disrupting and exposing such threats to our nation’s cybersecurity.”

Assistant Director Brett Leatherman of FBI’s Cyber Division said U.S. and global routers had been compromised and that the FBI will continue to use its authorities to identify and impose costs on state-sponsored actors who target the American people.

“Given the scale of this threat, sounding the alarm wasn’t enough,” Leathernan said. “The FBI conducted a court-authorized operation to harden compromised routers across the United States.”

The FBI operation, called Operation Masquerade, is the most recent U.S. action to undermine continuous Russian state-sponsored cyber threats that exploit everyday consumer devices.

Since 2024, GRU actors have attacked known vulnerabilities in TP-Link routers worldwide to steal administrative credentials. They then obtained unauthorized access to devices and changed their settings to redirect DNS queries to GRU-controlled malicious resolvers.

The actors set up automated filters to identify high-value traffic before intercepting it. The malicious resolvers returned fraudulent DNS records that appeared to be legitimate services, including Microsoft Outlook Web Access.

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