Tag: doj

Utah man federally charged after allegedly making threats online to ‘blow up’ a synagogue

A Utah man who allegedly posted “I wanna blow up a synagogue” online has been indicted on federal charges after investigators recovered six pipe bombs, two rifles, and ammunition from his home, according to the Department of Justice.

Skyler AJ Rose, 22, of Ogden, was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Salt Lake City. The charges include attempting to commit a hate crime, possession of an unregistered destructive device, and threatening to kill and injure people and destroy a building with an explosive, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

According to court documents, Rose made multiple threatening social media posts on December 23, 2025, including the threat to bomb a synagogue. Investigators traced the posts to an IP address associated with the home where he lived.

The FBI contacted the Ogden City Police Department for assistance visiting the residence, and investigators confirmed that the social media handle belonged to Rose, authorities said.

During a search of the home, law enforcement allegedly recovered six improvised explosive pipe bombs, one inert device, and materials and components that could be used to build additional pipe bombs. Investigators also seized two rifles with accompanying magazines and ammunition, along with a Samsung cellphone.

A subsequent search of the phone allegedly revealed that Rose had searched online for a synagogue near him in November 2025, a month before the threatening posts. Authorities also alleged that the phone contained hundreds of cached images and screenshots depicting child sexual abuse material.

“Today’s indictment stops in its tracks an alleged plan to carry out a violent attack on a synagogue,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice will take decisive action to protect American worshippers from violent threats, no matter where they occur.”

US Attorney Melissa Holyoak credited federal investigators and local police with stopping the alleged threats before anyone was harmed.

“Let these charges serve as a clear warning: if you attack or attempt to attack a place of worship, you will face the full force of the federal government,” Holyoak said.

Rose’s initial appearance is scheduled for Friday, October 23, at 1:30 pm at the Orrin G. Hatch US Courthouse in Salt Lake City.

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AOC Claims the FBI and DOJ That Democrats Used to Investigate Trump Are Now Corrupt and Must be Investigated

AOC of New York was recently in Maine campaigning for Troy Jackson.

During her remarks, she went off on a tangent about the FBI and the DOJ, suggesting that both agencies are corrupt and must be investigated.

Why? Because they’re going after her good friend Ilhan Omar.

AOC had no problem with the FBI or the DOJ when Democrats were using them to investigate Donald Trump, because that was just different.

Transcript via Real Clear Politics:

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): First and foremost, everything that we are seeing unfold right now is an absolute weaponization of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigations, point blank period. And I want to zoom out, you know, if you’re having a conversation with someone that isn’t sure about the details of what’s happening in the news and whatnot, just know that it has been standing practice in order to protect the integrity of our elections that the FBI and the DOJ do not take actions like these within a certain time frame of an election, regardless of what is happening in any circumstance of an investigation.

And so the very fact that this is happening in October and September tells you, period, that these agencies have been weaponized and compromised. So what we have to do, whether it’s this, whether it’s the corruption that we’ve seen with crypto and the ballroom and all of these things, is that we’ve known that Kash Patel has purged the FBI of many serious investigators. We’ve known that the Department of Justice has also been weaponized in its absolute groundless indictments of everyone from Tish James to Jerome Powell and so on and so forth.

Day one, we need to be opening investigations into the heads of every single one of these agencies, and we need to hold them accountable. I’m talking subpoenas. I’m talking investigations.

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Trump DOJ Takes California to Task After State Admits in Court They Have No Way of Verifying Citizenship Beyond What Voters Attest – Newsom’s Office Responds

California admitted in federal court that the state has no way of verifying citizenship beyond what voters attest.

First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli took California to task on Tuesday afternoon following the damning admission.

Via Bill Essayli: Massive concession: Los Angeles election officials just told a federal court they have no independent way to verify citizenship beyond what voters attest. (They simply take their word for it.) Under federal law, only citizens may vote in federal elections. Yet California has not acted on the list of 20,000 suspected noncitizens or agreed to set aside their ballots. American citizens’ votes are being diluted in California.

Newsom’s office responded to Bill Essayli and mocked his position as the First Assistant US Attorney.

Bill Essayli hit back at Newsom’s office by citing federal law.

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DOJ Sends Soros-Backed Philly DA Larry Krasner Grand Jury Subpoenas in Federal Criminal Investigation After Judge Accused Him of Obstruction and Lying to the Court

The Department of Justice has sent grand jury subpoenas to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner as part of a probe into obstruction of justice by his office.

Fox News reports that the investigation relates to Krasner’s handling of cases before a federal judge who referred him to the DOJ.

As The Gateway Pundit reported last month, U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond referred Krasner to the Department of Justice for potential conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges after he and his top deputy lied to the court to overturn a murder conviction.

Krassner and his deputy, Matthew Stiegler, are accused of making false statements and suborning perjury in a bid to overturn a conviction for Dennis Johnson.

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DOJ Takes Emergency Action Against California in Fight to Stop State from Counting 20,000 Ballots Given to Non-Citizens

The Justice Department on Monday asked the Court for an emergency restraining order against California, requiring the state to immediately set aside the 20,000 ballots sent to non-citizens.

On Friday, the DOJ put California on notice and vowed to prosecute election officials who tabulate unlawful ballots.

“California on Notice: Federal agencies identified over 20,000 suspected noncitizens registered to vote in California who have already been mailed ballots,” First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said on Friday.

“Under 18 U.S.C. §§ 611 and 2, officials who knowingly tabulate unlawful ballots risk aiding and abetting a federal offense. The Justice Department urges the County and the Secretary of State to temporarily segregate the flagged ballots pending citizenship verification or face legal consequences,” Bill Essayli said.

On Monday, the DOJ requested a restraining order to immediately separate the 20,000 ballots.

“Once illegally cast ballots are counted and commingled with lawful votes, the resulting harm may be impossible to remedy. The urgency is heightened because of the fundamental right to vote and to have one’s lawful vote counted without dilution,” the DOJ said in its request for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO), according to Fox News.

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Justice Department Vows to Prosecute California Election Officials Who Tabulate Unlawful Ballots

The Department of Justice has warned California election officials that they could face criminal prosecution if they knowingly count ballots cast by non-citizens, escalating a dispute over voter eligibility ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

In an October 16 letter, Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter warned Los Angeles County officials that knowingly facilitating unlawful voting on Election Day, November 3, could expose election workers to federal criminal liability, according to The Associated Press, which obtained the letter. The warning followed a lawsuit the DOJ filed on October 15 seeking to block California from counting ballots associated with approximately 20,000 people whom federal authorities have identified as non-citizens.

“If persons knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens, they risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime,” the DOJ warned.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli reiterated the demand on October 16, urging California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County officials to segregate the flagged ballots pending citizenship verification. President Donald Trump backed the DOJ’s warning on Truth Social, writing, “They will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!”

The DOJ’s lawsuit requests a federal judge to prevent California from tabulating the disputed ballots until federal officials verify the voters’ citizenship. According to the complaint, federal agencies compared voter-registration records with citizenship information to stop resident aliens from illegally voting in the midterms.

California’s automatic mail-ballot system facilitates unlawful voting by sending ballots to registered voters who may be ineligible to participate in federal elections.

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In Rare Move, DOJ Files Statement of Interest in Michigan Trial Court — Tells Judge Poll Book Data Are Federal Election Records Jocelyn Benson Must Preserve

The U.S. Department of Justice has taken the highly unusual step of filing a Statement of Interest in a Michigan trial-court case — telling the Court of Claims that electronic poll book data, including all metadata, are federal election records and that Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is responsible for preserving them.

Statements of Interest from the Justice Department in pure state-court cases are rare. It is even rarer for DOJ to intervene at the trial-court level rather than on appeal. It is rare for the department to appear in a state trial court at all. The only recent election example is a 2022 Wisconsin circuit court case over absentee ballot witness addresses.

The filing lands in the middle of Bridgewater Township Clerk Michelle McQueer’s lawsuit challenging Benson’s rule that forces clerks to delete electronic poll book files just seven days after an election is certified.

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Justice Department Opens Civil Rights Investigation Into New Jersey Township Over Gun Permit Delays

The Department of Justice unfortunately has no shortage of work when it comes to going after blue state officials suppressing Americans’ Second Amendment rights.

According to a Justice Department news release from Wednesday, the agency has opened an investigation into Pennsauken, New Jersey, to determine whether the process for acquiring a firearms license is unjustifiably lengthy and difficult.

The focus is on the Pennsauken Township Police’s permitting system.

The DOJ said the system “deprives citizens of their right to bear arms through egregious and unjust delays in issuing firearm licenses.”

The Daily Caller News Foundation noted some of the specific obstacles of obtaining a permit.

An applicant for concealed carry needs four references, an address history for the last 10 years, and fingerprints.

That’s quite a lot for a right given by God, and recognized by the Constitution, to defend oneself.

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DOJ Gives California 48 Hours to Check Noncitizen Names on Voter Rolls or Face Emergency Action Before Midterms

The Justice Department has given California 48 hours to review a federal list of people it believes are noncitizens who were mailed ballots for the November 3 midterms, or face emergency legal action.

Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter sent letters Tuesday to Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan.

The department handed over a password-protected thumb drive listing individuals federal officials “believe are likely noncitizens” who received vote-by-mail ballots.

California began mailing ballots to more than 20 million registered voters on October 5.

The letters demand that officials review the list within 48 hours.

For anyone whose citizenship cannot be independently confirmed, the DOJ wants the state and county to segregate returned ballots, not cancel them, and refrain from verifying signatures or tabulating them until citizenship is determined.

Officials are told to withhold ballots for anyone on the list who has not yet been sent one.

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DOJ Issues Grand Jury Subpoenas in Federal Criminal Investigation Into Ilhan Omar

Grand Jury subpoenas have been issued in the federal criminal investigation into Ilhan Omar, according to The New York Times.

As previously reported, federal agents raided the DC-area residence of far-left Democrat Muslima Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) early Monday morning as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into her immigration paperwork.

Federal HSI agents arrived at Ilhan Omar’s home at 6 am and removed boxes of evidence.

The Justice Department secured a search warrant for Ilhan Omar’s home amid a years-long investigation into her immigration fraud.

Federal investigators have been probing the immigration paperwork filed by Ilhan Omar’s father.

However, the scope of the federal criminal investigation is much wider than previously reported.

On Monday, the Associated Press and NBC News reported that according to sources, federal investigators were also probing Ilhan Omar’s financial records.

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