Washington DC, Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith will plead guilty to making a false statement in the first criminal case arising from U.S. Attorney John Durham’s review of the investigation into links between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign, two sources close to the matter tell Fox News.
Clinesmith was referred for potential prosecution by the Justice Department’s inspector general’s office, which conducted its own review of the Russia investigation.
Specifically, the inspector general accused Clinesmith, though not by name, of altering an email about former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page to say that he was “not a source” for another government agency. Page has said he was a source for the CIA. The DOJ relied on that assertion as it submitted a third and final renewal application in 2017 to eavesdrop on Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
To be clear, as soon as this FISA surveillance warrant was granted, the FBI, under the control of President Barack Obama, had access to the entire Trump campaign.
President Trump said on Twitter, “Kevin Clinesmith, “a corrupt FBI attorney who falsified FISA warrants” in James Comey’s FBI, is expected to plead guilty.”
New Haven Ct, The Department of Justice today notified Yale University of its findings that Yale illegally discriminates against Asian American and white applicants in its undergraduate admissions process in violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The findings are the result of a two-year investigation in response to a complaint by Asian American groups concerning Yale’s conduct.
Linwood NJ, A conservative in the New Jersey Republican Primary for the U.S. Senate seat has filed an official complaint with the Department of Justice against New Jersey’s Attorney General for attempting to violate his First and Fourth Amendment Rights by intimidating him and his election campaign.
Hirsh Singh, after consulting with county clerks on the state law, had sent out a mailer informing voters that they could request duplicate ballots if they had wrongly marked them. In response, the New Jersey Attorney General’s office sent a cease-and-desist letter to Hirsh Singh’s campaign claiming that Hirsh Singh’s mailer was against the law and voters could not request another ballot.
Washington DC, For more than a month, there has been a sustained assault on American civilians, law enforcement officers, public and private property, and national treasures such as the Lincoln Memorial. These attacks aren’t the actions of peaceful protesters—they are the violent criminal acts of rioters, arsonists, anarchists, and left-wing extremists.
Ridgewood NJ, To help limit the spread of the Coronavirus, many states are requiring people to wear face coverings in places open to the public. But there are cards circulating online and on social media that say the holder has a disability that prevents them from wearing a mask, and that it’s illegal for any business to ask them to disclose their condition. Variations of the card include the seal of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), one of the federal agencies responsible for enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Washington DC, during remarks given by Attorney General William P. Barr’s Remarks on Mr. George Floyd and Civil Unrest, the Attorney General said ,” evidence that Antifa and other similar extremist groups, as well as actors of a variety of different political persuasions, have been involved in instigating and participating in the violent activity. We are also seeing foreign actors playing all sides to exacerbate the violence.”
Washington DC, Attorney General William P. Barr has issued the following statement:
“The video images of the incident that ended with the death of Mr. Floyd, while in custody of Minneapolis police officers, were harrowing to watch and deeply disturbing. The state prosecutor has been in the process of determining whether any criminal charges are appropriate under state law. On a separate and parallel track, the Department of Justice, including the FBI, are conducting an independent investigation to determine whether any federal civil rights laws were violated. Both state and federal officers are working diligently and collaboratively to ensure that any available evidence relevant to these decisions is obtained as quickly as possible. Under our system, charging decisions must be, and will be, based on the law and facts. This process is proceeding quickly. As is the typical practice, the state’s charging decisions will be made first. I am confident justice will be served.”
Hundreds of Domains Disrupted Through Public and Private Sector Cooperative Efforts
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Washington DC, Federal authorities announced today that an ongoing cooperative effort between law enforcement and a number of private-sector companies, including multiple internet domain providers and registrars, has disrupted hundreds of internet domains used to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic to commit fraud and other crimes.
Washington DC, Judicial Watch today announced that U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth granted Judicial Watch’s request to depose former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about her emails and Benghazi attack documents. The court also ordered the deposition of Clinton’s former Chief of Staff, Cheryl Mills and two other State Department officials.
Additionally, the court granted Judicial Watch’s request to subpoena Google for relevant documents and records associated with Clinton’s emails during her tenure at the State Department.
Mahwah NJ, The Department of Justice today filed a Statement of Interest in U.S. District Court in New Jersey supporting claims by the Ramapough Mountain Indians (Ramapough) that the Township of Mahwah, New Jersey, violated the tribe’s rights under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Person’s Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) by interfering with religious assembly on tribal property known as “Sweet Water.”
“RLUIPA protects the rights of all religious communities to worship on their land free from discriminatory barriers and unlawful burdens,” New Jersey U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. “Our office will continue to vigorously enforce the rights guaranteed by RLUIPA and take steps to ensure that it is applied correctly in our District.”
Trenton NJ, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal today wrote the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) expressing New Jersey’s objection to a recently-issued legal opinion that federal criminal law could apply to the state-sanctioned online gambling that has taken place for years in New Jersey and across the U.S.
NEWARK NJ, Two Essex County men were charged today for their alleged roles in a conspiracy that used stolen personal identifying information to open credit cards and defraud a victim bank out of approximately $600,000, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Akintunde Adeyemi, a/k/a “AK,” 33, of East Orange, New Jersey, and Duluth, Georgia, and Oluwaseun Jato, 29, of Newark, are charged by complaint with one count each of bank fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. Jato was arrested this morning in Atlanta and will appear today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Justin S. Anand in Atlanta federal court. Adeyemi is still at large.
According to the complaint:
Between July 2016 and May 2017, Adeyemi, Jato and others conspired to use stolen personal identifying information to fraudulently apply for credit card accounts with an entity referred to in the complaint as “Victim Bank 1.” As part of the conspiracy, Adeyemi obtained the stolen personal information from other conspirators and used it to create the fraudulent credit card accounts.
After establishing the accounts, the conspirators contacted Victim Bank 1 to change the addresses associated with the accounts so that Victim Bank 1 would send the credit cards to addresses controlled by members of the conspiracy, including locations near Adeyemi and Jato’s residences in New Jersey and Georgia. Jato and other conspirators then used the cards at retail stores in New Jersey and Georgia, among other places, to purchase smartphones, tablets, and other high-value items, which were later sold for profit. Overall, the conspirators defrauded Victim Bank 1 of approximately $600,000.
The bank fraud conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The aggravated identity theft charge carries a mandatory sentence of two years in prison, which must run consecutive to any other term imposed.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Acting Inspector in Charge Judy Ramos, and special agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Brian Michael in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s charges
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas P. Grippo of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit and David M. Eskew, Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Health Care and Government Fraud Unit in Newark.
The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty
Washington DC, The Department of Justice has released documents used by the government to justify the FISA surveillance warrant against Carter Page, a former campaign adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump.
The materials released by the DOJ include an October 2016 application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to wiretap Page as well as several renewal applications.
It is highly unusual for documents related to FISA wiretap applications to be released.
Though heavily redacted, the documents show that the infamous and fake Steele Dossier was a major component of the 2016 surveillance warrant. The Steele Dossier, has been exposed as opposition research funded by the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign, contains salacious but totally false allegations against Donald Trump. It was also a major component used to justify subsequent renewals.
Security experts claim that the poor grammar of the report and shaky spelling plus the author’s use of KGB-style intelligence reporting, do not fit the image of a high-end London security company run by highly connected former British intelligence figures.
The report gives a fly-on-the-wall account of just about every conceivable event associated with Donald Trump’s Russian connections. It claims to know more than is knowable as it recounts sordid tales of prostitutes, “golden showers,” bribes, squabbles in Putin’s inner circle, and who controls the dossiers of kompromat (compromising information). It is well know the President Trump is a germaphobe and “golden showers ” seem immediately unrealistic which casted doubt on the rest of the report from the start.
Much of the story makes no sense. In 2011, when the courtship with Russia purportedly begins, Trump was a TV personality and beauty pageant impresario. Neither in the U.S. or Russia would anyone of authority anticipate that Trump would one day become the presidential candidate of a major U.S. political party, making him the target of Russian intelligence.
Woodcliff Lake NJ, The Trump administration through the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the Borough of Woodcliff Lake, alleging that the borough and its zoning board violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) when it denied zoning approval to allow an Orthodox Jewish congregation to build a house of worship on its property and took steps to keep it from building a house of worship anywhere else in the borough.
The congregation’s troubles with the borough, the lawsuit claim, began in the early 2000s, when borough officials expressed concerns that the town would soon resemble nearby Monsey, New York, which has a large Orthodox Jewish community. Monsey is about seven miles from Woodcliff Lake.
A borough official, the lawsuit alleges, asked Valley Chabad’s chief rabbi to write a letter explaining how the congregation would differ from the Jewish community in Monsey.
According to the complaint, Valley Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish congregation located in Woodcliff Lake, spent nine years searching for a property within the area suitable to construct a house of worship. However, when Valley Chabad attempted to buy three different sites between 2005 and 2013, the borough thwarted those attempts in various ways, including expressing interest in rezoning or acquiring those properties through eminent domain after Valley Chabad entered contracts to purchase them. The borough ultimately acquired two of the properties and rezoned the third.
Unable to purchase a new property in the area that was suitable for their needs, Valley Chabad submitted a variance application to the Woodcliff Lake zoning board to construct a larger house of worship at its current location in the borough. After two years, 18 hearings, and substantial revisions by Valley Chabad to address size and transportation concerns, the zoning board denied the application.
The zoning board cited aesthetic concerns, the adverse impact on the “residential character of the neighborhood,” and safety issues that were undermined by the testimony of the zoning board’s own experts. The board also noted parking limitations that were the result of a 2016 ordinance enacted well after Valley Chabad submitted its variance application in 2014. In addition, when citing concerns that Valley Chabad would not adhere to the occupancy limits proposed in the application, the zoning board falsely characterized testimony from a Valley Chabad rabbi about prior attempts to control crowds.
“Federal law protects all religious communities from discrimination and unlawful barriers when they seek to build a place of worship,” said U.S. Attorney Carpenito. “According to the complaint, the Borough of Woodcliff Lake imposed a substantial burden on Valley Chabad’s religious freedom by repeatedly meddling in its attempts to purchase property in the area and citing subjective and misleading reasons to justify denying its zoning application.”
“The right to use land for religious exercise, free from unduly burdensome or discriminatory restrictions, is a fundamental constitutional right,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice remains vigilant in its enforcement of federal civil rights laws protecting religious groups’ ability to establish places of worship without improper interference.”
RLUIPA is a federal law that protects religious institutions from unduly burdensome or discriminatory land use regulations. Specifically, RLUIPA bars land use regulations that impose a substantial burden on religious exercise without a compelling justification, requires governments to treat houses of worship as favorably as nonreligious assemblies, and bars governments from discriminating among religions and from totally or unreasonably excluding houses of worship.
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