A federal appeals court panel has ruled in favor of the Justice Department’s use of an obstruction charge against hundreds of defendants arrested in connection with the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The ruling affirms the department’s use of the charge and reverses a decision by a Trump appointee, but questions remain about the future of the statute and its impact on the defendants.
Posts tagged as “The Justice Department”
The US Department of Justice has reached an agreement in principle to settle a lawsuit over the 2017 mass shooting at a Sutherland Springs, Texas church, providing victims and their families with more than $144 million from the US Treasury’s Judgment Fund. The settlement, which does not require congressional approval, is subject to approval by the US District Court for the Western District of Texas and would be the largest ever paid out of the Judgment Fund and the largest settlement ever paid in a mass shooting case.
Donald Trump has filed an appeal against a court ruling that would force several of his former aides to testify before a grand jury as part of a criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The appeal was filed with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and the Justice Department has not commented on the appeal. This is one of several defeats the former president has suffered in his efforts to use executive privilege claims to block the testimony of former aides and allies.
Mike Pence has signaled that he may drop efforts to avoid testifying in the Justice Department's criminal probe into former President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election. A federal judge ruled that Pence must comply with a subpoena and testify before the federal grand jury, and Pence has stated that he will obey the law. His testimony could provide important insight into the events of Jan. 6.
A federal judge has ruled that former Vice President Mike Pence must testify before a grand jury in the Justice Department's investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Pence will not have to answer questions about his actions on Jan. 6, when a mob of Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol, but he will have to testify about other matters. The subpoena for Pence's testimony was issued by special counsel Jack Smith in February, but it is unclear when he will be required to testify.
President Joe Biden is expected to address the Nashville Christian school shooting on Monday and reiterate his call on Congress to take legislative action to address the gun violence epidemic. Biden has already taken executive action and signed legislation, but White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said more must be done. At least three children and three adults were killed in the shooting, and Jean-Pierre said that “schools should be safe spaces for our kids to grow and learn.”
Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, a Russian intelligence officer, has been charged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for acting as an illegal agent of a Russian intelligence service. He had been living in the US under the alias Victor Muller Ferreira since 2018, and was gathering information on U.S. foreign policy before his cover was blown. The Justice Department has warned that foreign intelligence services are increasingly targeting the U.S. and its allies.
A federal appeals court has ordered a lawyer for former President Donald Trump to turn over documents to prosecutors in the investigation into the former president's retention of classified documents at his Florida estate. The Justice Department has evidence that Trump may have committed a crime, and the documents could be significant in the obstruction probe being pursued by special counsel Jack Smith's team. It is unclear what the documents will reveal or how they will affect the investigation.