DOJ Report: Trump’s Appalling Family Separation Policy Was Political

“Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions and top Justice Department officials moved forward with a “zero tolerance” immigration policy in 2018 aware that it would forcibly split up families and were unprepared for the impact, according to a new report by the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General.

Sessions’ office was a ‘driving force’ in pushing for the Department of Homeland Security to begin referring adults who entered the U.S. illegally with children to be prosecuted by the Justice Department, according to the report. The Trump administration policy, which lasted from April to June 2018, resulted in the separation of more than 5,000 families — with hundreds that still have not been reunited.”

— “Jeff Sessions’ DOJ was ‘driving force’ behind family separation policy, IG report finds,” Sabrina Rodríguez, Politico

More:

“Justice Department Knew 2018 Border Policy Would Separate Children From Families,” Dustin Jones, NPR News

“Senior U.S. Justice officials pushed family separations, watchdog finds,” Mimi Dwyer, Reuters

“Justice officials respond to report on family separation by blaming Trump, expressing regret,” Julia Ainsley and Jacob Soboroff, NBC News

Update:

“The Justice Department Has Rescinded Trump’s “Zero Tolerance” Border Policy That Led To Families Being Separated,” Adolfo Flores, BuzzFeed News

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Donald Trump, Banana Republican

On Monday President Trump attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions for the Federal indictments of two sitting Republican congressmen, both strong Trump supporters:

Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff……

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2018

Republican Senator Ben Sasse, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, responded: to the President’s partisan attack on the rule of law:

“The United States is not some banana republic with a two-tiered system of justice – one for the majority party and one for the minority party. These two men have been charged with crimes because of evidence, not because of who the President was when the investigations began. Instead of commenting on ongoing investigations and prosecutions, the job of the President of the United States is to defend the Constitution and protect the impartial administration of justice.”

“This is not the conduct of a President committed to defending and upholding the constitution,” tweeted Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake, “but rather a President looking to use the Department of Justice to settle political scores.”

Contrary to Mr. Trump’s tweet, at least one of the investigations began during his own administration. Rep. Christopher Collins (R, NY-27) is charged with participating in an insider trading scheme, and phoned insider stock tips while picnicking on the White House lawn in June 2017. He has denied wrongdoing but is not seeking re-election. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R, CA-50) and his wife were indicted for allegedly using campaign funds to pay for personal expenses. Mr. Hunter is still on the midterm ballot.

More:

“Trump Twitter attack on Sessions and Justice is most serious impeachment fodder yet,” Chris Truax, USA Today

“Trump’s Attacks on Jeff Sessions and the DOJ Are Reaching Absurd New Levels,” Ryan Bort, Rolling Stone

“Trump sets up rule-of-law crisis,” Jonathan Swan, Axios

“The Proud Corruption of Donald Trump,” David A. Graham, The Atlantic

“Sorry, Mr. Trump, the Attorney General Is America’s Lawyer,” New York Times editors

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Dieselgate: Bosch Was a Co-Conspirator

As we surmised, Volkswagen could not have installed emissions-test-cheating software on its 11 million diesel vehicles without the connivance of electrical engineering and manufacturing firm Robert Bosch GmbH. VW’s lawyers are claiming Bosch involvement in Dieselgate, and the Feds are investigating. Despite Bosch denials, there’s evidence the firm knew about the illegal VW cheat but didn’t alert German government regulators (or did they?). Bosch even demanded legal cover from VeeDub but the auto giant said “Nein.”

So we’ve got a mess that will cost billions to remedy, and two huge German corporations blaming each other for it. Bosch even wants people to call the scandal “VW-Gate” instead of “Dieselgate”. How do you say “Nice try!” in German?

More:

“Bosch worked ‘hand-in-glove’ with VW in emissions fraud: lawyers,” David Shepardson and Joel Schectman, Reuters

“Volkswagen Supplier Played Key Role in Cheating, Court Papers Say,” Jack Ewing, New York Times

“Bosch Knew VW Might Get Nailed For Diesel Cheating, Demanded Indemnification: Report,” Patrick George, Jalopnik

Update:

“Volkswagen engineer pleads guilty in emissions scandal,”Megan Geuss, Ars Technica

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Dieselgate: VW & Bosch

11 million Volkswagen diesel cars have emissions-test-cheating software that allows them to produce lower emissions when tested by regulators and higher-performance dirty exhaust while they’re actually on the road. Volkswagen engineers were certainly involved in this scam, but the Wolfsburg firm may not be the only one snared in the Dieselgate probe. VW electronic equipment and software is built by Robert Bosch GmbH, and Reuters is reporting that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the Bosch involvement:

Senate Confirms Loretta Lynch

After symbolically stonewalling for 161 days, the U.S. Senate finally confirmed the appointment of federal prosecutor Loretta Lynch as Attorney General of the United States on Thursday by a vote of 56 to 43, with 10 Republicans voting “Aye.” Maybe those 10 GOP senators wanted a tough prosecutor running DOJ or were anxious to see the back of incumbent AG Eric Holder, but several may have thought they were voting for country singer Loretta Lynn.

Not country music fan Ted Cruz, though. The Texas Tea Party senator skipped the vote, the only senator to do so. He was too busy raising campaign money in Dallas for his presidential crusade.

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Cellphone Spies in the Sky

The Wall Street Journal reports that, for the last seven years, the U.S. Marshals Service has flown Cessna aircraft over America’s cities, collecting cellphone location data from thousands of people with “dirtbox” devices that mimic cellular towers. The Marshals Service, a unit of the Department of Justice, predominately searches for federal fugitives, but its Special Operations Group conducts “tactical operations for sensitive and classified missions involving homeland security, national emergencies, domestic crises and the intelligence community.” Flying spying and data harvesting on such a broad scale raises serious Fourth Amendment questions.

More:

“Report: Secret government program uses aircraft for mass cellphone surveillance,” Gail Sullivan, Washington Post

“WSJ: A Secret U.S. Spy Program Is Using Planes to Target Cell Phones,” Kate Knibbs, Gizmodo

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Image (“Flying Phone Spy, after a 1964 comic book”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com 

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Can the Feds Hear Your Phone Calls?

Did the government eavesdrop on Associated Press reporters? No. G-men subpoenaed the records of phone calls, the numbers of calls to and from AP reporters. Unsavory, but entirely legal. 

But is the Federal government capable of recording and listening to all your phone calls, or are we talking through our tinfoil hat? It’s your call:

“Are all telephone calls recorded and accessible to the US government?” Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian

“Is the U.S. Government Recording and Saving All Domestic Telephone Calls?” Bruce Schneier, Schneier on Security

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Constitution, Cheney-Style

Like her Constitution-redacting Dad, Liz Cheney would deny counsel to Gitmo defendants and tar and feather any lawyers who try to represent them. The Cheneys would brobably throw John Adams in jail for defending Boston’s Redcoats if that lousy, traitorous Founding Father hadn’t conveniently died (the socialist coward!).

Sixth Amendment? What “Sixth Amendment?”

Having trouble reading the Cheney version of the Constitution (above)? Here’s Liz’s handy cheat sheet: