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Judicial Watch Files Bar Complaint Against Lawyers for Christine Blasey Ford

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Government watchdog Judicial Watch has filed a complaint with the Board of Professional Responsibility in Washington D.C. against the Democrat operatives who legally represent Christine Blasey Ford. Ford is the woman who testified in front of Congress during Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination process.

The filing was made after it was revealed during testimony that Ford was never informed by her attorneys, Debra S. Katz, Lisa J. Banks and Michael R. Bromwich, that staffers for Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley were willing to fly to her home in California, or anywhere she chose, for a private interview instead of public questioning. The offer was made after Ford said she has a fear of flying, despite regularly taking flights across the country and the globe.

“By not informing their client Dr. Ford that Sen. Chuck Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee offered in a letter to ‘fly female staff investigators to meet Dr. Ford… in California, or anywhere else, to obtain (her) testimony, Katz, Banks, and Bromwich violated the following District of Columbia Rules of Professional Conduct,” Judicial Watch released Friday. “Rule l.4(a) – A lawyer shall keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter and promptly comply with reasonable requests for information [and] Rule 1.4(b) – A lawyer shall explain a matter to the extent reasonably necessary to permit the client to make informed decisions regarding the representation.”

During her testimony, Ford stated she did not know the offer was made by Grassley’s.

(Read more from “Judicial Watch Files Bar Complaint Against Lawyers for Christine Blasey Ford” HERE)

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Judicial Watch Sues State Department, USAID for Documents on Funding to Soros’ Foreign Campaigns

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Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development for records on funding awarded to George Soros’ Open Society Foundation-Albania, the conservative nonprofit watchdog announced Wednesday.

The suit was filed May 26 after both government agencies failed to respond to Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act requests.

The requests sought records related to contracts, grants, and any other funding that the State Department and USAID awarded to the Foundation Open Society-Albania. The requests also sought communications between the agencies and the foundation.

“This is our second FOIA lawsuit to uncover the truth about the scandal of Obama administration’s siphoning tax dollars to the Soros operations in Europe,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. “We hope and expect the Trump administration to finally let the sunlight in on this growing controversy.”

Six Republican senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson requesting that he investigate the relationship between USAID and the Soros foundations. The senators claim that the federal funds the Open Society Foundations has received have allowed the group to advocate progressive agendas in Macedonia and Albania. (Read more from “Judicial Watch Sues State Department, USAID for Documents on Funding to Soros’ Foreign Campaigns” HERE)

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Judicial Watch: Fast and Furious AK-47 Used in Phoenix Assault

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Government watchdog Judicial Watch said Thursday documents it obtained show an AK-47 rifle used in a gang-style assault in Phoenix last year was part of the Department of Justice’s botched Fast and Furious gunrunning operation.

In a statement, the group noted Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley and California Republican Rep. Darryl Issa wrote to Deputy Attorney General James Cole, blasting the department for not providing Congress or the public with any information about the weapon.

Grassley is the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, while Issa is the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

“Based on the serial number [1977DX1654] from the police report obtained by Judicial
Watch and documents obtained during our Fast and Furious investigation, we can
confirm that the assault rifle recovered in the vehicle on July 30, 2013, was purchased by
Sean Christopher Stewart,” the lawmakers wrote.

During the controversial operation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms allowed weapons from the United States to pass into the hands of gun smugglers so they could be traced to Mexican drug cartels. But instead, the release triggered violence that could be traced back to those weapons, critics charge.

Read more from this story HERE.

Fast and Furious: Phoenix Sued by Judicial Watch Over Federal Documents Related to Guns Used in Gang Shootout

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Photo Credit: TownHallGovernment watchdog Judicial Watch has sued the City of Phoenix Police Department over documents surrounding a 2013 gang-style assault on an apartment complex. Long-guns, a handgun, empty casings and buildings riddled with bullets were reported at the scene and two people were wounded in the incident. When the incident occurred and during investigation afterward, police worked with federal law enforcement agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Department of Homeland Security, FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency in the case, raising suspicions the assault wasn’t simply a typical, local gang shootout and prompted questions about the details of the people involved in the shooting in addition to where the weapons that were used came from. Suspects were arrested in the weeks following the incident.

Judicial Watch is seeking all records and communications between Phoenix police and the federal agencies involved. It is suspected the weapons used in the incident are connected to Operation Fast and Furious.

A. Complete copy (including supplements) of Phoenix Police Department report 201-3-01-344558 (621 N. 3Oth Pl., Phx. AZ on or around July 29, 2013). Including but, not limited to copies of crime scene photographs, impound property invoices, audio interviews, case status reports, booking slips, charging documents, and Maricopa County Attorney court /trial/case disposition records.

Read more from this story HERE.

Judicial Watch Sues DHS For Information Surrounding Release of 36,000 Criminal Aliens

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Photo Credit: TownHallBy Katie Pavlich.

Government watchdog Judicial Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security for information surrounding the release of 36,000 criminal aliens into American communities earlier this year. The lawsuit comes after DHS officials failed to respond to a May 15, 2014 FOIA request in the amount of time required by law.

In the lawsuit, Judicial Watch is seeking “Any and all records of communications including, but not limited to, emails and memoranda, to or from personnel in the office of the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (including its component offices, such as the Office of Public Affairs), from May 1 to May 15, 2014, concerning, regarding, or related to the report published by the Center for Immigrations Studies concerning the release of 36,000 criminal aliens.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: GettyGOP Chairman Touts Immigration For Economy, Sidelines Obama’s Amnesty

By Neil Munro.

Republican Party chairman Reince Priebus outlined a November immigration platform that emphasized the contribution of immigrants to economic growth, but downplayed opposition to President Barack Obama’s immigration-boosting actions.

“We need to make sure America remains a place where people aspire to work and dream and live,” Priebus said in a morning speech in Washington D.C. “Our country should be a welcoming place for those who want to come here and do it the right way,” he said in a speech that was intended to offer a GOP alternative to Obama’s policies.

But GOP populists pushed back, saying Priebus is not sufficiently anti-amnesty.

“The elephant in the room is amnesty for illegal immigrants, and if the Republicans fail to take a strong stand against it, they will squander an opportunity and continue to lose elections,” warned Jenny Beth Martin, head of the Tea Party Patriots, in a press statement.

“Americans oppose amnesty, and it is a winning issue for conservatives,” she said, and added a sharp warning to Priebus.

Read more from this story HERE.

‘Big Fat Lie’: Judicial Watch Strikes Back at Jay Carney’s Claim That Bombshell Emails Were ‘Not About Benghazi’

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton struck back Thursday at White House press secretary Jay Carney’s claim that newly released Benghazi emails, being labeled a “smoking gun” by some on the right, were “not about Benghazi.”

“These documents, first of all, weren’t voluntarily disclosed,” Fitton told TheBlaze TV’s Dana Loesch. “We had to go to court to get access to the information. We’ve been sitting around since October of 2012 waiting for it.”

He said purposefully: “We sued for documents about talking points given to [former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice] related to Benghazi. This document was produced to us in response to our lawsuit.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Judicial Watch Obtains Documents Revealing AG Holder Travel Expenses Exceeded $4 Million in Four Years

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Photo Credit: USDAgovJudicial Watch announced today that it has obtained documents from the Department of Justice (DOJ) revealing that between March 27, 2009, and August 24, 2012, Attorney General Eric Holder accrued $4,263,704.01 in total travel expenses. This included $697,525.20 in taxpayer-funded personal travel expenses. The documents were released to Judicial Watch in June in response to an August 2012 Freedom of Information Act request.

Altogether, Holder took 213 out-of-Washington trips during the 42 months for which Judicial Watch obtained records. His 31 personal trips during the time period included two trips to Martha’s Vineyard with a flight-only price tag of $95,184.50, as well as eight trips to Farmingdale, New York, at a flight cost of $118,553.71. On September 9, 2010, Holder took a one-day personal jaunt to Atlantic City that cost the taxpayers $7,408 in flight expenses alone.

Holder’s first taxpayer-funded trip noted in the documents was to an April 2009 “US/Mexico Arms Trafficking Strategy Meeting” (government cost “unavailable”) concerning gun-running between the US and Mexico, an issue in which the attorney general subsequently said he had no involvement. Among other controversial Holder travel expenditures:

In April, 2011, Holder charged taxpayers $15,452.50 for a speaking engagement at Al Sharpton’s National Action Network in New York City.

In June, 2012, Holder charged $38,108.18 in “business and personal” expenses to address LULAC, a liberal group that strongly supports amnesty for illegal aliens, in Orlando and New Orleans.

In July, 2012, Holder charged an additional $38,108.18, this time fully billed to the taxpayers, to speak before La Raza, another controversial pro-amnesty group, in Las Vegas.

Also in July, 2012, Holder flew on a Department of Defense plane, at unknown cost, to speak before the NAACP convention in Houston.

Read more from this story HERE.

$200,000 USDA Training: ‘Pilgrims Were Illegal Aliens’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: cliff1066™The department most associated with Thanksgiving–the U.S. Department of Agriculture–is training workers to refer to the Pilgrims who celebrated the first Thanksgiving as “illegal aliens.”

In a department “cultural sensitivity training” video uncovered and released by the public watchdog group Judicial Watch, a diversity trainer is shown saying: “I want you to say that America was founded by outsiders – say that – who are today’s insiders, who are very nervous about today’s outsiders. I want you to say, ‘The pilgrims were illegal aliens.’ Say, ‘The pilgrims never gave their passports to the Indians.”

Ag Department workers are heard loudly joining in.

The videos posted on Judicial Watch website show diversity instructor Samuel Betances urging USDA workers to think differently about illegals and minorities, who he calls “emerging majorities.”

According to Judicial Watch, “The sensitivity training sessions, described as ‘a huge expense’ by diversity awareness trainer and self-described ‘citizen of the world; Samuel Betances, were held on USDA premises. The diversity event is apparently part of what USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack described in a memo sent to all agency employees as a ‘new era of Civil Rights’ and ‘a broader effort towards cultural transformation at USDA.’ In 2011 and 2012, the USDA paid Betances and his firm nearly $200,000 for their part in the ‘cultural transformation’ program.'”

See video:

Read more from this story HERE.

Emails Expose Southern Poverty Law Center Collaboration With DOJ

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Judicial Watch (JW), a Washington D.C. based non-partisan educational foundation, released some two dozen pages of emails it obtained on Tuesday revealing connections between the Department of Justice Civil Rights and Tax divisions and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

According to JW, the e-mails reveal “questionable behavior by agency personnel while negotiating for Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) co-founder Morris Dees to appear as the featured speaker at a July 31, 2012, “Diversity Training Event.” Judicial Watch obtained the records pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) submitted to the DOJ on September 10, 2012:

The Judicial Watch FOIA request was prompted by an apparently politically motivated shooting at the Family Research Council (FRC) headquarters in August, 2012. At the time of the shooting, FRC president Tony Perkins accused the SPLC of sparking the shooting, saying the shooter “was given a license to shoot… by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center that have been reckless in labeling organizations as hate groups because they disagree with them on public policy.” On its website, the SPLC has depicted FRC as a hate group,” along with such mainstream conservative organizations as the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, and Coral Ridge Ministries.

The FOIA request specifically requested “any and all records concerning, regarding, or relating to the Sothern Poverty Law Center” between January 1 and August 31, 2012, including the Dees’ presentation sponsored by the Civil Rights and Tax divisions of the DOJ.

Read more from this story HERE.

Lawsuit forces Obama to reveal Michelle’s $83,000 luxury skiing weekend

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A February 2012 ski trip enjoyed by first lady Michelle Obama and her two daughters cost taxpayers at least $83,000, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch.

The total cost of the President’s Day weekend getaway was at least $83,182.99. The largest expense was $48,950.38 for Secret Service protection, which included accommodations at the Fasching Haus deluxe condominium and the Inn at Aspen.

The cost of transportation was also hefty. Using official Department of Defense hourly rates, Judicial Watch estimated that the flights cost $22,583.70. This didn’t include in-flight purchases costing $235.44. The cost of rental cars was $6,442.23.

Judicial Watch received the records after filing a May 31 lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force and Secret Service.

“No wonder we had to file a lawsuit in federal court and wait six months to get basic information on Michelle Obama’s luxury Aspen vacation,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The costs of the Obama family ski weekend are staggering. These high-priced luxury vacations, and the lack of transparency about them, are beginning to seem like an abuse of office.”

Read more from this story HERE.