In James Comey memos, Donald Trump talks of jailed journalists and ‘hookers’
In a series of startlingly candid conversations, President Donald Trump told former FBI Director James Comey that he had serious concerns about the judgment of a top adviser, asked about the possibility of jailing journalists and described a boast from Vladimir Putin about Russian prostitutes, according to Comey’s notes of the talks obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday night. The 15 pages of documents contain new details about a series of interactions with Trump that Comey found so unnerving that he chose to document them in writing. Those seven encounters in the weeks and months before Comey’s May 2017 firing include a Trump Tower discussion about allegations involving Trump and prostitutes in Moscow; a White House dinner at which Comey says Trump asked him for his loyalty; and a private Oval Office discussion where the ex-FBI head says the president asked him to end an investigation into Michael Flynn, the former White House national security adviser. The documents had been eagerly anticipated since their existence was first revealed last year, especially since Comey’s interactions with Trump are a critical part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether the president sought to obstruct justice. Late Thursday night, Trump tweeted that the memos “show clearly that there was NO COLLUSION and NO OBSTRUCTION.” In a Friday morning tweet, Trump lamented that Flynn’s life has been “totally destroyed” after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador, “while Shadey (sic) James Comey can Leak and Lie and make lots of money from a third rate book (that should never have been written).” He added: “Is that really the way life in America is supposed to work? I don’t think so!” The president also has accused Comey of leaking classified information. The memos obtained by the AP were unclassified, though some portions were blacked out as classified. Details from Comey’s memos reported in news stories last year appear to come from the unclassified portions. In explaining the purpose of creating the memos, which have been provided to Mueller, Comey has said he “knew there might come a day when I would need a record of what had happened” to defend not only himself but the FBI as well. The memos cover the first three months of the Trump administration, a period of upheaval marked by staff turnover, a cascade of damaging headlines and revelations of an FBI investigation into potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. The documents reflect Trump’s uneasiness about that investigation, though not always in ways that Comey seemed to anticipate. In a February 2017 conversation, for instance, Trump told Comey how Putin told him, “we have some of the most beautiful hookers in the world” even as the president adamantly, and repeatedly, distanced himself from a salacious allegation concerning him and prostitutes in Moscow, according to one memo. In another memo, Comey recounts how Trump at a private White House dinner pointed his fingers at his head and complained that Flynn, his embattled national security adviser, “has serious judgment issues.” The president blamed Flynn for failing to alert him promptly to a congratulatory call from a world leader, causing a delay for Trump in returning a message to an official whose name is redacted in the documents. “I did not comment at any point during this topic and there was no mention or acknowledgment of any FBI interest in or contact with General Flynn,” Comey wrote. By that point, the FBI had already interviewed Flynn about his contacts with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, and the Justice Department had already warned White House officials that they were concerned Flynn was vulnerable to blackmail. Flynn was fired Feb. 13, 2017, after White House officials said he had misled them about his Russian contacts during the transition period by saying that he had not discussed sanctions. The following day, according to a separate memo, Comey says Trump cleared the Oval Office of other officials, encouraged him to let go of the investigation into Flynn and called him a good guy. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is now cooperating with Mueller’s investigation. The memos reveal that days before Flynn’s firing, then-White House chief of staff Reince Priebus asked Comey if Flynn’s communications were being monitored under a secret surveillance warrant. “Do you have a FISA order on Mike Flynn?” Priebus asked Comey, according to the memos, referring to an order under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Comey said he “paused for a few seconds and then said that I would answer here, but that this illustrated the kind of question that had to be asked and answered through established channels.” Comey’s response is redacted on the unclassified memos. The memos also show Trump’s continued distress at a dossier of allegations — compiled by a former British spy whose work was funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign — examining potential ties between him and his aides and the Kremlin. Comey writes how Trump repeatedly denied to him having been involved in an encounter with Russian prostitutes in a Moscow hotel. “The President said ‘the hookers thing’ is nonsense,” Comey writes, noting that Trump then related the conversation with Putin about the “most beautiful hookers.” Comey says Trump did not say when Putin had made the comment. The documents also include the president’s musings about pursuing leakers and imprisoning journalists. They also provide insight into Comey’s personal and professional opinions. He judges the administration’s travel ban to be legally valid, and he takes a swipe at former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, calling her predecessor, Eric Holder, “smarter and more sophisticated and smoother.” The memos were provided to Congress earlier Thursday as House Republicans escalated criticism of the Justice Department, threatening to subpoena the documents and questioning officials. In a letter sent to three Republican House committee chairmen Thursday evening, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote that the department was sending a classified version of the memos
Hillary Clinton lost, but Republicans still want to investigate her
Democrat Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election to President Donald Trump, but some Republicans in Congress are intensifying their calls to investigate her and other Obama administration officials. As investigations into Russian meddling and possible links to Trump’s campaign have escalated on both sides of the Capitol, some Republicans argue that the investigations should have a greater focus on Democrats. Democrats who have pushed the election probes “have started a war of investigative attrition,” said GOP Rep. Steve King of Iowa, a member of the House Judiciary Committee. Several officials from former President Barack Obama’s administration and Clinton’s campaign have appeared before or been interviewed by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees as part of the Russia investigation, along with Trump campaign officials. The GOP-led committees are investigating whether Trump’s campaign had any links to Russian interference in last year’s election. The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., has continued a separate investigation into whether Obama administration officials inappropriately made requests to “unmask” identities of Trump campaign officials in intelligence reports. The House Judiciary Committee, which has declined to investigate the Russian meddling, approved a resolution this past week to request documents related to the FBI’s now-closed investigation of Clinton’s emails. In addition, Republican on that committee wrote the Justice Department on Thursday and asked for a second special counsel, in addition to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, to investigate “unaddressed matters, some connected to the 2016 election and others, including many actions taken by Obama administration.” “The American public has a right to know the facts — all of them — surrounding the election and its aftermath,” the lawmakers wrote. Republicans want to investigate the unmasking issue and also Clinton’s email scandal that figured prominently in the campaign. They also frequently bring up former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony that she told him to call the Clinton email investigation a “matter” instead of an investigation during the campaign. Nunes wrote his own letter to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats last week, saying that his committee has learned that one Obama administration official had made “hundreds” of the unmasking requests. Even though he remains committee chairman, Nunes stepped back from the Russia investigation earlier this year after he was criticized for being too close to the White House. Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, took over the leading role. The committee has conducted bipartisan interviews of witnesses; Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner appeared on Tuesday, a day after talking to Senate staff. But partisan tensions have been evident. GOP Rep. Pete King of New York, who’s on the House Intelligence Committee, said after the Kushner interview that the committee investigation into Russian meddling is a “sham.” “To me there is nothing to this from the beginning,” he said of his committee’s own probe. “There is no collusion … it’s the phoniest investigation ever.” Both the Senate and House committees have interviewed or expressed interest in interviewing a series of Democratic witnesses, including Obama’s former national security adviser, Susan Rice, and former U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power — both of whom Republicans have said may be linked to the unmasking. Rice met with staff on the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this month, and Power met with the panel Friday. “Ambassador Power strongly supports any bipartisan effort to address the serious threat to our national security posed by Russia’s interference in our electoral process, and is eager to engage with the Senate and House committees on the timeline they have requested,” Power’s lawyer, David Pressman, said in a statement. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Senators squabble over Jeff Sessions record before AG confirmation hearing
Top senators are demanding more time to go over Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions’ record ahead of his confirmation hearings, which are set for Jan. 10 and Jan. 11 next year. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who is set to be the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee next year, said Tuesday that there is not enough time to go over the 150,000 pages of material Sessions sent to the committee. “This is more than 100 times what Attorney General [Loretta] Lynch produced (1,500 pages) and more than 29 times what [former] Attorney General [Eric] Holder produced (5,100 pages),” the senator said in a letter to Committee Chair Chuck Grassley. “I am sure you would agree that staff must have sufficient time to do the due diligence on any nominee for this vital position—and this due diligence will likely take longer than the review for recent, prior nominees who had less materials to analyze.” Feinstein also criticized the documents provided for not including some of unsavory parts of Sessions’ career, such as his failed 1986 bid for a federal judgeship and copies of speeches given in support of President-elect Donald Trump on the campaign trail. Grassley pointed out that many of the documents given to the committee have been publically available for years, and noted that Holder was allowed to add documents ahead of his confirmation without delaying his hearings. “Any suggestion that a nominee’s good faith efforts to locate and produce responsive material is cause for delay begins to look like a call for delay for delay’s sake, rather than a thorough review of a colleague’s character and qualifications,” Grassley said. Grassley also rebuffed Feinstein’s complain that Sessions didn’t include a list of political candidates and campaigns he has supported. “There can be no surprise that a sitting U.S. Senator is politically active,” he said.
Possible Election Day problems worry civil rights advocates
New ID requirements. Unfamiliar or distant polling places. Names missing from the voter rolls. Those are just some of the challenges that could disrupt voting across the country through Election Day. While most elections have their share of glitches, experts worry conditions are ripe this year for trouble at the nation’s polling places. This is the first presidential election year without a key enforcement provision of the federal Voting Rights Act, and 14 states have enacted new registration or voting restrictions. Adding to the uncertainty is a call by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for supporters to monitor the polls for voter fraud and concerns by the federal government that hackers could try to disrupt the voting process. All this has civil rights advocates on guard. “There is going to be a lot going on in this election that we are going to have to watch out for,” said Penda Hair, a civil rights lawyer who represented the North Carolina NAACP in its bid to overturn that state’s voter ID law. With no national standards for voting, rules vary widely across states and even counties. Voting experts and civil rights groups are encouraging voters to do their research before heading to the polls. That includes checking to ensure they are registered and finding their voting location, as well as understanding their rights if they face any problems. “People should not leave without casting a ballot,” said Wendy Weiser, head of the democracy program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU’s School of Law. “If you are an eligible voter, you should be able to have your vote counted no matter what anyone is saying.” Adding to the potential for confusion are new voter ID laws in nine states as well as reduced hours for early voting and changes to polling locations in some states. In North Carolina, at least two counties no longer offer Sunday voting. Deborah Dicks Maxwell, 60, said she is worried that — along with early voting hours largely limited to between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. — will make it harder for people to cast ballots in her home county of New Hanover. She said Sunday voting was popular during North Carolina’s primary in March. “With the short hours we have and the high turnout that generally occurs in a presidential election year, someone is going to be in line,” said Dicks Maxwell, president of the New Hanover County branch of the NAACP. “Why penalize the citizens when you could have extended the hours and made it easier for them?” State officials have said the county didn’t offer Sunday voting in 2012 and that the current plan represents an increase in evening hours available during early voting. Long lines led to frustration during Arizona’s March primary, when some voters in the Phoenix area waited hours to cast ballots after county election officials opened 60 polling stations — fewer than half what is typical. Melissa Dunmore, a 26-year-old social worker from Phoenix, still doesn’t know if her primary ballot was counted. She waited an hour to vote, only to be told she wasn’t registered despite checking her status before heading to her polling place. She said she won’t be deterred and plans to vote early this time. “If we stop voting every time it was hard or it was denied, women wouldn’t have the right to vote, black people wouldn’t have the right to vote,” Dunmore said. Meanwhile, some 33 states have accepted an offer from the federal government to check their voter databases and reporting systems for vulnerabilities after hackers attempted to breach systems in two states over the summer. Trump’s warning that the election might be rigged along with his call for supporters to monitor polling places has alarmed some advocacy groups who say such comments threaten to undermine voter confidence in the election. “We are deeply concerned about the chilling effect this call might have on the electorate and minority voters in particular,” said Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “And we are concerned about the disruption this will cause for election workers.” Clarke and others say Trump supporters at the polls could lead to intimidation at a time when the U.S. Department of Justice has had to make substantial changes to its federal election monitoring program following the 2013 Supreme Court decision that struck down a portion of the Voting Rights Act. For the 2012 election, more than 780 federal observers and Justice Department staff were sent to 51 jurisdictions in 23 states. Now federal election observers can be sent only to those locations where there is a court order, which exists for only a small number of places in five states. With fewer federal election observers on hand, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said last week that Justice Department employees will be sent instead to at least as many states as 2012. But she did not say how many officials will go and how much access they will have. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Liar. Lucifer. Lock her up. GOP denounces Hillary Clinton
Liar. Lucifer. Lock her up. Republicans may have mixed feelings about nominating Donald Trump for president, but one thing they can all rally around is a deep dislike for Democrat Hillary Clinton. Convention speakers have “prosecuted” Clinton at a mock trial, accused her of being a serial liar and even linked her to the Devil himself. Throughout the campaign, Trump has reveled in referring to his opponent as “Crooked Hillary.” The attacks are an echo of the 1990s when conservatives denounced President Bill Clinton as the chief executive dealt with scandal and impeachment. The most blistering assault at the GOP convention came Tuesday night when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took on the role of prosecutor and put Clinton on trial “for her performance and her character.” The audience responded with chants of “Lock her up! Lock her up!” But others have piled on. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the crowd scandal follows Clinton and former President Bill Clinton “like flies.” “She lied about her emails. She lied about her server. She lied about Benghazi. She even lied about sniper fire. Why, even she lied about why her parents named her Hillary,” McConnell said. And Wednesday, Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort said the airport meeting between former President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Loretta Lynch last month probably helped Clinton’s wife escape criminal charges over her use of a private email server. He told ABC that Lynch “probably” gave Bill Clinton special information that helped his wife. Manafort even tried to blame Clinton for the controversy over Melania Trump lifting passages of her convention remarks from a speech that Michelle Obama delivered in 2008. “For people to try and disparage that speech and say that it was something that it wasn’t is once again politics,” he told Fox News. “It’s Hillary Clinton once again feeling threatened by a woman and trying to destroy the woman and demean her as a way of positioning her own fate.” Perhaps the wildest attack on Tuesday came from former GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson, who told the crowd that one of Clinton’s “role models” — community activist Saul Alinsky — “acknowledges Lucifer” in a 1971 book. “So are we willing to elect someone as president who has as their role model somebody who acknowledges Lucifer?” Carson said. “Think about that.” Clinton wrote a college thesis about Alinsky and has said she agreed with some of his opinions on social change, but disagreed with his view that the system could only be changed from the outside. Some Republicans are wary of going too far. Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, one of the more prominent Trump skeptics, Tweeted late Tuesday: “@HillaryClinton now belongs in prison? C’mon. We can make the case that she shouldn’t be elected without jumping the shark.” But attacking Clinton may be the most effective tactic with polls showing high unfavorable ratings for both candidates. An Associated Press-GfK poll this month found that three-quarters of voters say their pick for president is motivated by a desire to cast their ballot against Clinton or Trump. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama Senators Jeff Sessions, Richard Shelby slam Obama proposal to house illegal minors in Baldwin County
A flood of 38,566 illegal alien juveniles who have entered into the United States from Mexico have been apprehended through May — a 69 percent increase from 2015, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The stat was quoted Wednesday by Alabama’s U.S. Senators Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby in a joint letter to three senior federal officials, stating “only a small fraction have been removed from the United States.” The letter, sent to Secretary Jeh Johnson of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Sylvia Burwell of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Attorney General Loretta Lynch of the U.S. Justice Department, states the Senators’ opposition to the Obama administration’s proposal to use two outlying airfields at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Baldwin County as a potential location to house purportedly unaccompanied illegal alien juveniles. It also expresses their concerns about the administration’s handling of the increasing number of illegal juveniles crossing our southern border. “Transporting some of these juveniles more than 900 miles away from our southern border to the state of Alabama, instead of expeditiously and humanely sending them back to their homes, will only make the situation worse,” the letter reads. “It rewards illegal conduct, and arguably renders the United States complicit in criminal conspiracies to violate our immigration laws.” To make matters worse, they said roughly 91 percent of the illegal youths are released to their family members, many of whom are also in the United States illegally. “According to the Government Accountability Office, between January 7, 2014, and April 17, 2015, ORR released illegal alien juveniles from its custody to a parent in 60 percent of all cases, an aunt or uncle in 13 percent, a sibling in 12 percent, an ‘other relative’ in 3 percent, a first cousin in 2 percent, and a grandparent in 1 percent of all cases. Thus, in roughly 91 percent of all cases, these juveniles are eventually released to the custody of a family member located in the United States,” said the letter. They continued, “However, this administration has failed to take any enforcement action against these family members — most of whom had some role to play in the juveniles’ illegal entry into the United States. And many of those family members are present in the United States unlawfully.” Both senators have been longtime critics of President Barack Obama‘s immigration policies “Strong leadership and a commitment to the faithful execution of the laws on the books would convey a clear message to the world that if you come to the United States illegally, you will be removed. Rather than improve the current situation, administration policies have only made the situation worse,” they added. Read the full text of their letter below: Dear Secretary Johnson, Secretary Burwell, and Attorney General Lynch: We write to express our opposition to the evaluation by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) of two outlying airfields at Naval Air Station Whiting Field as a potential location to house purportedly unaccompanied illegal alien juveniles, and to express our concerns about this Administration’s handling of the increasing number crossing our southern border. Just two years ago, President Obama sent a letter to Congress outlining his plans to handle the surge at our southern border. Two years later, it is clear that President Obama’s plans for handling the situation have failed. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 38,566 illegal alien juveniles have been apprehended through May – a 69 percent increase over last year, and a number surpassed only by the record number apprehended in FY 2014. Since the beginning of FY 2014, 147,077 have been apprehended, yet only a small fraction have been removed from the United States. Transporting some of these juveniles more than 900 miles away from our southern border to the State of Alabama, instead of expeditiously and humanely sending them back to their homes, will only make the situation worse. It rewards illegal conduct, and arguably renders the United States complicit in criminal conspiracies to violate our immigration laws. According to the Government Accountability Office, between January 7, 2014, and April 17, 2015, ORR released illegal alien juveniles from its custody to a parent in 60 percent of all cases, an aunt or uncle in 13 percent, a sibling in 12 percent, an “other relative” in 3 percent, a first cousin in 2 percent, and a grandparent in 1 percent of all cases. Thus, in roughly 91 percent of all cases, these juveniles are eventually released to the custody of a family member located in the United States. However, this Administration has failed to take any enforcement action against these family members – most of whom had some role to play in the juveniles’ illegal entry into the United States. And many of those family members are present in the United States unlawfully. The Administration continues to prevent the use of any of a number of commonsense tools to protect the integrity of our immigration system and the sovereignty of this nation. Moreover, the need for additional housing facilities is far from clear. Indeed, there seems to be some confusion on the part of the Administration as to whom the special processing procedures in the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA) apply. Indeed, under a plain reading of the Act, many of the illegal alien juveniles apprehended could be expeditiously and humanely sent back to their homes – because they do not meet the definition of an “unaccompanied alien child.” Pursuant to the TVPRA, an “unaccompanied alien child” who is apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security must be transferred to the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, which is then responsible for their care and custody. However, the TVPRA defines an “unaccompanied alien child” by cross-referencing section 462(g) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. § 279(g)), which defines an “unaccompanied alien child” as an individual who has no lawful immigration status in the United States, who is under 18, and with respect to whom “there is no parent or legal guardian in the
Richard Shelby to DOJ: Hillary Clinton is not above the law
Following FBI Director James Comey‘s decision not to recommend charges against Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server at the State Department, U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby sent a letter the Department of Justice Tuesday saying “it is now up to DOJ to ensure that Hillary Clinton is not treated as though she is above the law.” In the letter, Shelby urged U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to look further into the situation and “restore the trust of average Americans through a thorough review of the evidence and statutes.” If the DOJ follows the FBI’s recommendation not to bring charges, he said it “could set a dangerous precedent for not holding a public official accountable for reckless actions.” Shelby went on to say if a lower-level government employee was found to have mishandled the same information as Clinton, they would lose their job and “would rightly be charged with a crime.” Shelby concluded his letter invoking the words of former President John Adams saying, “ours is a ‘government of laws, and not of men.’ The nation is counting on your application of this principle.” Read Sen. Shelby’s full letter to AG Lynch below: Dear Attorney General Lynch: I write to you to express my serious concerns over recent events that have cast a shadow on the commitment of the Obama Administration to fairly and impartially execute the rule of law. The American people are rightly concerned about the direction of this country when they see senior government officials being treated differently than lower level officials without powerful, partisan friends. Even if there was no inappropriate discussion when you recently met with former Secretary Hillary Clinton’s husband in an exclusive section of the Sky Harbor International Airport, it is difficult to explain to American voters — who are purportedly equal under the law — just how they are supposed to exercise that equality should their spouse ever be accused of a crime. FBI Director James Comey, commenting on the investigation of Secretary Clinton’s use of her personal e-mail system on July 5, 2016, said that, of the 30,000 emails returned to the State Department, “110 e-mails in 52 e-mail chains have been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received. Eight of those chains contained information that was Top Secret at the time they were sent; 36 chains contained Secret information at the time; and eight contained Confidential information…Separate from those, about 2,000 additional e-mails were “up-classified” to make them Confidential.” These statements confirm that Secretary Clinton misled the American people and was extremely reckless in her handling of classified information both sent and received on her private e-mail server. If a lower-level government employee with access to classified information had behaved in this manner, including at the Top Secret level, they would lose their security clearance immediately and would almost certainly lose their job. If that same employee had previously established their own personal unsecured email server in their home for the purpose of evading government oversight, they would rightly be charged with a crime. While I appreciate and respect the hard work of the FBI, I strongly believe that all Americans should be held to the same standards and that your Department must restore the trust of average Americans through a thorough review of the evidence and statutes. Director Comey noted multiple infractions and patterns of violation of the laws and policies guiding national security information. The Obama Justice Department has pursued charges against reporters, mid-level employees, and members of the military when confronted with the mishandling of classified information. As you review the evidence, I expect you to hold Secretary Clinton to the same standard. The public knows that Secretary Clinton established a server in her home, that she conducted the public’s business on that server, and that she mishandled highly classified information. The public will reach its own conclusions as to why she did so and about how the rules are applied to those in positions of power and influence. I expect you and the Department to apply the rule of law fairly in deciding whether to bring charges in this case, as well as to fully explain the determination. Many in Alabama and America believe that some powerful public officials act as if rules and laws do not apply to them. As John Adams said, ours is a “government of laws, and not of men.” The nation is counting on your application of this principle. Sincerely, Richard C. Shelby
US to States: Make it easier for ex-prisoners to obtain IDs, vote
Attorney General Loretta Lynch is urging the nation’s governors to make it easier for convicted felons to obtain state-issued identification after they get out of prison, part of a broader plan being announced Monday to help smooth the path for state and federal inmates who are preparing to re-enter society. The announcement, on the first day of National Reentry Week, is aimed at helping the roughly 600,000 state and federal prisoners who return each year to American neighborhoods to better acclimate to society and remove some of the hurdles ex-convicts face in getting jobs, education and housing. “The long-term impact of a criminal record prevents many people from obtaining employment, housing, higher education and credit-and these barriers affect returning individuals even if they have turned their lives around and are unlikely to reoffend,” Lynch said in a seven-page policy titled “Roadmap to Reentry.” She planned to announce the policy change at an appearance in Philadelphia on Monday afternoon. The Justice Department initiative directs the federal Bureau of Prisons to prepare an individualized re-entry plan for each inmate that will take into account substance abuse, criminal history and education level. In addition, the agency will be reviewing its network of halfway houses and assessing its life skills, education and job training programs to ensure that they’re best serving the needs of inmates. A pilot program is also being launched at four BOP facilities for children of incarcerated parents. Lynch is separately calling on governors to allow federal inmates who are returning to their communities to exchange their prisoner identification card for state-issued identification, or to simply accept their BOP card as an identity document. Without identity documents, Americans leaving prison face challenges in getting jobs, housing or opening bank accounts, Lynch wrote in a sample letter to Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley. The topic of prisoner re-entry has attracted growing attention on the state and federal level. Last week, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe issued an executive order that would allow more than 200,000 convicted felons to cast ballots in November. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Hillary Clinton emails: GOP sues, senators press attorney general
Republican senators pressed for more information Wednesday about an FBI investigation into the potential mishandling of sensitive information that passed through former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton‘s private email server, and their party sued for copies of the messages. The Republican National Committee filed two lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Washington over access to electronic messages sent or received by the Democratic presidential candidate and her top aides during her time as the nation’s top diplomat. Both spring from Freedom of Information Act requests filed last year seeking copies of emails and text messages. In court filings, the GOP says it has not received any documents in response to the requests. The GOP litigation brings the total to at least 34 civil suits so far involving requests for federal records related to Clinton’s service as secretary of state between 2009 and 2013. The Associated Press is among those with a pending case at the Washington courthouse. “For too long the State Department has undermined the public and the media’s legitimate right to records under the Freedom of Information Act, and it’s time it complies with the law,” said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. The State Department has released more than 52,000 pages of Clinton’s work-related emails, but her private lawyers have withheld thousands more that they deemed to be personal communications unrelated to her job. Also left unresolved are questions about how Clinton and her closest aides handled classified information. The AP last year discovered Clinton’s use of the private email server, which had been set up in the basement of Clinton’s New York home by former State Department staffer Bryan Pagliano, for her to use exclusively for her work-related emails while she was secretary. The FBI for months has investigated whether sensitive information that flowed through Clinton’s email server was mishandled. The State Department has acknowledged that some emails included classified information, including at the top-secret level. Clinton has said she never sent or received anything that was marked classified at the time. The inspectors general at the State Department and for U.S. intelligence agencies are separately investigating whether rules or laws were broken. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Wednesday about media reports that the Justice Department had offered Pagliano immunity from criminal prosecution in exchange for his cooperation. Pagliano previously declined to testify before Congress, citing his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the committee chairman, asked Lynch whether Pagliano’s immunity offer carried over to congressional committees. Grassley, R-Iowa, wants to recall Pagliano to testify if he has received immunity. Lynch declined to answer the question. “We don’t go into details with the agreements that we have with any witness on any matter in ongoing investigations,” the attorney general said. “The consistency with which the department handles ongoing matters, whether they involve a famous last name (or not), is something that we take very seriously,” Lynch said. “We treat them the same, and that is how the public takes confidence in the investigations we conduct.” Lynch also said she had not discussed the email investigation with anyone at the White House and did not plan to do so. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
House members request federal probe into Mike Hubbard ethics trial
More than 35 Alabama legislators, both Republican and Democrat, have signed on to a letter urging U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama George Beck to open a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into aspects of House Speaker Mike Hubbard‘s ethics trial. According to the letter, Miles M. “Matt” Hart, an attorney in the office of Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange, has been allowed to “improperly use a grand jury” in efforts against Hubbard. Further, the letter claims that Hart has provided “selective information” commandeered through the grand jury to a political opponent of Hubbard. The letter lays out a twisted tale of corruption based on testimony from attorney Baron Coleman. Coleman was an organizer and consultant with the campaign of Sandy Toomer, who ran against Hubbard in 2014. According to Coleman, Hart provided him with “confidential grand jury information” to be used against Hubbard during that campaign. Coleman claims that he had between 50 and 100 conversations with Hart and used the information discussed therein to create a “whisper campaign” in Hubbard’s home district, Lee County. Coleman specifies that he was provided with the identities of persons appearing before the grand jury, assurances that the jury would indict Hubbard and that the Attorney General’s office had sufficient information to “counter any perceived prejudice or trouble inside the office.” The “assurances” occurred before the grand jury finished hearing testimony and Coleman claims that “each piece of information came from Matt Hart and was provided to the citizens of Lee County” by Coleman and others who believed the information to be factual. The letter goes on to say that Hart threatened to bring Coleman before a grand jury if he ever revealed that he had “a pipeline of information out of the Attorney General’s office.” Further, Coleman claims that when he was subpoenaed by Hubbard’s defense team Hart offered to work with him on answers to “potential questions regarding Speaker Hubbard, the grand jury proceedings” and more. The letter goes on to call into question the timing of Hubbard’s indictments, which occurred only two weeks before his re-election. “The timing of the indictments, coupled with Mr. Coleman’s sworn testimony and the statements if others … gives our members grave concerns that the Alabama Attorney General’s Office has used the power of its office in a coordinated effort to defeat Speaker Hubbard in his election,” the letter says. Though Strange has officially recused himself from “the matter regarding Speaker Hubbard,” and may not believe he has the power to “overrule, discipline, or investigate” Hart, the letter calls for an “unbiased investigation” to be made into the statements made by Coleman. “For the sake of all involved – including Speaker Hubbard, Mr. Hart, General Strange, and the citizens of Alabama – this matter and these claims should be thoroughly investigated by an unbiased body with the resources and experience to do so,” the letter states. “It is our hope that Attorney General Strange will join us in asking the Justice Department to conduct an investigation into these matters involving his office to ensure that the rights of Speaker Hubbard and all Alabama citizens, those rights guaranteed to us in the Constitution of the United States, are protected.” The Attorney General’s office did not immediately return requests for comment. Alabama Today has secured a copy of the letter sent to Lynch and Beck. Check out the full letter and affidavit below: Click to read full document and affidavit.
Governor Robert Bentley slams Terri Sewell for comments on ALEA budget cuts
The office of Gov. Robert Bentley issued a stern rebuke of Congresswoman Terri Sewell, who recently called for a federal Department of Justice investigation into the state’s recent decision to cut funding for 31 part-time Alabama driver’s license offices, which she says is an assault on the right to vote for rural, African-American and poor communities throughout the state. Sewell wrote to Attorney General Loretta Lynch earlier this week, requesting the DOJ begin a probe into the state’s affairs after a plan to cut the budget of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, which would have the effect of closing down dozens of offices where Alabamians must receive a driver’s license and other forms of identification. “My office sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch calling for a full, and thorough investigation into the decision to close 31 driver’s license offices across Alabama. This ill-conceived decision left 8 out of the 14 counties in my district – which is the only majority minority district in the state – without a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue an Alabama driver’s license,” wrote Sewell on Monday. “My constituents are the least able, and least likely to have access to transportation – either public or private – and thus travel across county lines for a driver’s license,” Sewell said. “The renewed assault on our sacred, constitutionally protected to vote must be stopped. I look forward to working with Attorney General Lynch to stop this latest assault on our voting rights.” Bentley shot back at Sewell’s move in a letter addressed to the Democratic House member from the state’s 7th Congressional district, calling her actions “impulsive” and “ill-informed.” “I believe your comments were impulsive, ill-informed, and based on irresponsible media reports concerning decisions to that were made to allocate limited resources of state government,” wrote Bentley, who sternly told Sewell he wished she would have spoken to him privately. “As you are aware from past experience, as your Governor and your friend, I am available to you and your office as often as needed. Had you contacted me regarding this issue, I would have been pleased to share with you the same facts we shared with the taxpayers of our state,” which Bentley went on to adumbrate. “The budget passed by the state legislature required many executive branch departments to make difficult decisions regarding how they will allocate their limited resources in Fiscal Year 2016. As Governor, I am obligated to provide a certain level of government services to the people of Alabama and to do that without political preference,” he began. “While we were able to prevent to closure of driver license offices, the resources used in some supplemental services” had to be reallocated, said Bentley. He went on to assure her that “No additional transportation burden is caused by the elimination of satellite offices with respect to an Alabama citizen obtaining a Voter ID or driver license.” “In all 67 counties a citizen will find an available office of the board of registrars. These offices are located in each county’s seat and are equipped to provide free photo identification so that no one has to pay in order to vote,” wrote Bentley, contrary to Sewell’s earlier claims that the closures were akin to a poll tax, used in many southern states to suppress the black vote until the mid-20th century. The issue has aroused the attention of Civil Rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, who came to Alabama to meet with state legislative Democrats on Wednesday. Sewell had invoked the struggles of the 1950s and ’60s in her letter to Attorney General Lynch. “I am particularly appalled by this decision in light of the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches and the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. Our nation should be moving forward in terms of expanding access to the vote. It’s utterly disappointing that my home state – the very state that launched the movement towards equality – is the same state that has become fertile ground for its demise,” wrote Sewell in her call to federal action.
Landmark settlement with BP over 2010 Gulf oil spill finalized
The Justice Department and five states have finalized a settlement worth more than $20 billion arising from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, federal officials announced Monday. The deal resolves all civil claims against BP and ends five years of legal fighting over the nearly 134 million-gallon spill. It requires the company to commit to a widespread cleanup project in the Gulf Coast area aimed at restoring wildlife, habitat, water quality and recreation. “BP is receiving the punishment it deserves, while also providing critical compensation for the injuries that it caused to the environment and the economy of the Gulf region,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said at a Justice Department news conference. “The steep penalty should inspire BP and its peers to take every measure necessary to ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again,” Lynch said. The settlement filed in federal court finalizes an agreement first announced in July. The next step is a 60-day public comment period. Among other requirements, BP will be forced to pay $5.5 billion in Clean Water Act penalties and nearly $5 billion to five Gulf states: Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. It also requires the company to pay $8.1 billion in natural resource damages, with funds going toward Gulf restoration projects such as support for coastal wetland and fish and birds. The spill followed the April 2010 explosion on an offshore rig that killed 11 workers. BP earlier settled with people and businesses harmed by the spill, a deal that’s so far resulted in $5.84 billion in payouts. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
