New York A.G. Arraigned in Alexandria
As Criticism Grows Over Prosecutions
New York Attorney General Letitia James is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in federal court in Alexandria as pushback grows over criminal charges filed against President Donald Trump’s high-profile critics.
James told supporters at a political rally last week, “"I will not bow. I will not break. I will not bend." She is being prosecuted on mortgage fraud charges.
A watchdog group called the Democracy Defenders Fund is asking the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate the political nature of the charges against James and former FBI director James Comey. The group consists largely of former Republican and Democratic ethics officials from previous presidential administrations.
Former national security adviser John Bolton was added to the list last week after being indicted for mishandling classified documents. He says his criticisms of Trump are the real issue. He pleaded not guilty in federal court in Greenbelt, Md.
Democracy Defenders Fund describes the charges against Trump’s critics as an assault on democracy.
“A president should never order prosecutions of his enemies,” the letter says. “That happens in Putin's Russia, and it has happened in other dictatorships, but not here – until now."
Comey testified to the Senate five years ago about allegations of collusion between the Russians and the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. He is charged with making false statements and obstruction of Congress for allegedly lying to the Senate.
James filed a lawsuit against the Trump Organization that led to a multi-million dollar civil judgment against the president last year for falsifying business records. The mortgage fraud charge against her involves a house she bought in Virginia.
Trump told the U.S. attorney general in a social media post last month that he wanted to see both of them criminally prosecuted. Days later, Interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan indicted both Comey and James.
The Washington-based Democracy Defenders Fund sent its letter to Acting Justice Department Inspector General William Blier. Some of its harshest criticism was directed at Halligan.
The letter said that "Ms. Halligan pursued these indictments to fulfill President Donald J. Trump's longstanding personal vendetta against Mr. Comey and Ms. James…”
As a result, the letter said that “we are facing a turning point in our democracy and some of the most egregious examples of vindictive and meritless prosecution that our nation has ever seen."
For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: tramstack@gmail.com or phone: 202-479-7240.
Prosecutor Who Investigated Trump
Faces Inquiry for Legal Ethics Breaches
The special prosecutor who investigated President Donald Trump's role in the Jan. 6 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol and his alleged mishandling of classified documents is facing risks of disbarment.
Former special prosecutor Jack Smith is being investigated by the Justice Department for potential breaches of his ethical duties as a lawyer.
He was referred to the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility by congressional Republicans who accuse him of illegally obtaining phone metadata on nine lawmakers.
FBI agents working under Smith’s supervision reportedly sought data on the numbers the lawmakers called, call times and duration, and general location, but not the content of the calls.
The Republicans allege the data search targeted Trump supporters but also violated the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution, which is supposed to protect lawmakers from arrest and questioning for their actions in the legislative process.
It also raises concerns about the separation of powers and the appearance of political retaliation by Smith on behalf of the Biden administration, according to the letter the Republicans sent to the U.S. attorney general.
As the Justice Department begins its investigation, the chairmen of the House and Senate judiciary committees are demanding answers on whether Smith targeted the president and his supporters in Congress with a criminal investigation as part of a political vendetta.
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Smith asking him to testify at a congressional hearing. The letter gave him until Oct. 28 to schedule his testimony.
The letter from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, accused Smith of leading the Justice Department’s “partisan and politically motivated prosecutions of President Donald J. Trump and his co-defendants.”
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is asking telecommunications companies to turn over information on the phone metadata Smith obtained through a warrant.
The backlash by Republicans makes Smith the fourth former high-level government official in weeks to face Justice Department scrutiny in what some Democrats say are acts of vengeance by Trump. The others are former FBI director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and former national security adviser John Bolton.
Smith hit back against the accusations he faces by saying his investigations were untainted by political favoritism. He resigned from the Justice Department in January.
He warned during an interview at University College London Faculty of Laws of severe consequences from what he described as “attacks on public servants, particularly nonpartisan public servants.”
“I think it has a cost for our country that is incalculable,” Smith said. “It’s hard to communicate to folks how much that is going to cost us.”
The White House responded to Smith’s comments with a statement saying, “The Trump Administration will continue to deliver the truth to the American people while restoring integrity and accountability to our justice system.”
Trump has frequently made Smith a target of his name-calling. He has at times called Smith "deranged," a "thug," and a "scoundrel."
For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: tramstack@gmail.com or phone: 202-479-7240.
White House Budget Chief Announces
Plan to Close Watchdog Financial Agency
White House budget chief Russell Vought is saying the Trump administration plans to close down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as soon as this year.
The agency is supposed to protect consumers against predatory lenders and other abusive financial schemes.
It was created by Congress in 2011 after banks were allowed to ease credit restrictions in a way that created an economic crash.
Under the Trump administration plan, consumers still would have rights to file lawsuits but it would not be done with assistance from a government agency.
Vought made the announcement last week during a White House podcast of The Charlie Kirk Show.
As a result of previous Trump administration layoffs, few Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) employees remain at its Washington, D.C., headquarters "while we close down the agency," Vought said. "So we want to put it out and we will be successful probably within the next two or three months."
Closing down the CFPB would be part of a larger cost-cutting move by President Donald Trump that his staff says is likely to lead to an additional 10,000 federal layoffs during the government shutdown that started Oct. 1.
“We want to be very aggressive where we can be in shuttering the bureaucracy, not just the funding,” Vought said.
On the same day Vought announced plans to close the CFPB, court documents show the agency reached a settlement with online lender MoneyLion over allegations it imposed excessive fees on military members and their families.
In one of its most high-profile cases, the CFPB won a $366 million court judgment last year against Libre by Nexus, a company that provided bond services to immigrants in federal detention centers. The CFPB accused the company of engaging in a predatory scheme by charging high upfront fees and monthly payments, while misrepresenting its services as loans.
Trump announced plans to close the CFPB in February. On the day the Department of Government Efficiency sent investigators into the agency’s headquarters to review its operations, Elon Musk wrote on his social media platform X, "CFPB RIP." RIP means “rest in peace.”
A group of CFPB workers and their union sued to stop the layoffs, saying they were not given due process to challenge the job losses. They won an initial injunction but it was invalidated by a July 8 Supreme Court ruling saying government employee layoffs are a matter of the president’s discretion in advancing policy goals.
The Supreme Court said its ruling was not a final judgment but a preliminary decision that allows the layoffs to continue while lawsuits against them play out in lower courts.
Among the lawsuits is one by the CFPB’s labor union and by consumer advocacy groups. They argue that Trump lacks the authority to shut down an agency that was created by Congress.
The consumer advocacy group Americans for Financial Reform issued a statement Wednesday saying, “For nearly fifteen years, the [Consumer Financial Protection] Bureau has worked to make sure financial firms don’t get away with ripping people off. It created rules to prevent fraud and abuse, and it has returned over $20 billion to people who had been swindled by predatory finance. By shutting down the CFPB, Vought is just inviting big banks, predatory lenders, and Big Tech to nickel and dime working families, who are already struggling to make ends meet under Trumpflation.”
For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: tramstack@gmail.com or phone: 202-479-7240.
D.C. Proposal Against Truancy
Intended to Reduce Youth Crime
The District of Columbia Council is considering a campaign against school truancy that also is intended to reduce youth crime.
It seeks to close gaps in the city’s effort to investigate truancy cases and the underlying problems.
D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) has introduced a bill that would shift truancy investigations from the Child and Family Services Agency to the Department of Human Services. He says the change is needed because Child and Family Services has neglected thousands of truancy cases that should have been investigated for possible “educational neglect” referral.
The referrals can lead to legal action against the parents or children if the truancy involves child abuse or crime. Truancy refers to children between 5 years old and 13 years old who miss 10 or more days of school without an excuse.
Although truancy is not always tied to crime, it has been documented by D.C.’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council as a contributing factor.
One example that gained local notoriety was in 2023 when five truant teenaged girls beat a 64-year-old man to death.
Parker’s bill would take advantage of existing Department of Human Services programs that serve young people. One of them provides truant high school students with counseling and other assistance to get them back in school. Its history of success convinced the D.C. Council to continue funding it this year.
If the bill passes, it would significantly expand operations of the Department of Human Services. Much of the department’s effort now is directed at providing public benefits for underprivileged persons and helping the homeless.
Six other D.C. Council members are giving signals of support for Parker’s bill.
“Chronic absenteeism is an urgent issue that we must address,” Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) said in a statement. “Our kids need to be in school and stay in class.”
For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: tramstack@gmail.com or phone: 202-479-7240.
U.S. Attorney Pirro Urges Change
In D.C. Law Against Pedophiles
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro is urging a revision of local law on sex offender residency rights after announcing a law enforcement crackdown in Washington, D.C.
Pirro said 25 sex offenders were arrested last week for improper registration or failing to register at all. Some of them were living close to schools and playgrounds.
Pirro said eight of the 25 had convictions for sexually assaulting children.
Local laws in Washington fail to provide adequate restrictions that would prevent sex offenders from living or coming close to children, Pirro said.
“When children are known to be in an area, we know that pedophiles make it their business to be in the same area,” Pirro said at a press conference.
The arrests resulted from a seven-week enforcement effort by the U.S. Marshals Service and the D.C. Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency. They reviewed the compliance of more than 800 people required to register with the District of Columbia’s sex offender registry.
A failure to register by a convicted sex offender is a crime under D.C. law. A first violation is considered a misdemeanor. A second violation could be a felony.
“Of utmost concern to me is that D.C. does not require that pedophiles, and sex offenders in general, are not mandated by any law to live away from a rec center, school, or children’s hospital,” Pirro said.
The website for frequently asked questions of the D.C. Police Department’s Sex Offender Registration says, “The Metropolitan Police Department does not have the authority to direct where a sex offender may live, work, or attend school. Unless the Courts have placed specific restrictions on the offender’s release, he/she has a right to live wherever he/she chooses.”
For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: tramstack@gmail.com or phone: 202-479-7240.