Durham Report Update!

Durham Report Documents Worst Government Corruption in American History
Judicial Watch Client, Decorated Veteran and FBI Analyst Whistleblower Testifies to Congress on Weaponization of Government
Pentagon Inspector General Concludes Naval Academy Superintendent Made False Statements to End Midshipman’s Career
HHS Earmarks Millions for Illegal Immigrant Minors’ Long Term Foster Care

Durham Report Documents Worst Government Corruption in American History

Special Counsel John Durham released his long-awaited report on intelligence agency activities in the 2016 presidential election, and it is damning.

According to the Durham Report, President Obama’s CIA Director John Brennan, then-Vice President Joe Biden, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and the infamous former Director of the FBI James Comey were briefed in August 2016 about the plan by Hillary Clinton and the DNC to create a false narrative linking President Trump to Russia.

The FBI knew the Steele dossier was a sack of lies, and yet they still pushed false allegations in the nefarious FISA warrant applications against Carter Page. They made it a point to try to crush Trump and those around him. It was a purely political, banana republic effort to change the course of a presidential election and presidency.

Many key Durham report findings were already disclosed thanks to Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) investigations and litigation.

Durham let down the American people with few and failed prosecutions. Never in American history has so much government corruption faced so little accountability. Let me be clear, the FBI and Justice Department – and their political masters in the Obama White House – are responsible for the worst government corruption in American history. President Trump is a crime victim who was targeted by a seditious conspiracy by Obama, Biden, Clinton and their Deep State allies.

Judicial Watch Client, Decorated Veteran and FBI Analyst Whistleblower Testifies to Congress on Weaponization of Government

Marcus Allen, a decorated veteran, FBI analyst and Judicial Watch client, testified this week at a House Judiciary Committee’s Select Subcommittee hearing titled “Hearing on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.”

We represent Allen in a lawsuit against FBI Director Christopher Wray for violating Allen’s constitutional rights by falsely accusing him of holding “conspiratorial views,” stripping his security clearance, and suspending him from duty without pay (Marcus O. Allen v Christopher Wray (No. 22-cv-04536)). Allen is also represented by Tristan Leavitt and Jason Foster of Empower Oversight (https://empowr.us/).

The FBI revoked Allen’s security clearance because apparently, the FBI believes that any views contrary to its own regarding what occurred on January 6 constitutes as disloyalty to the United States.

The lawsuit details Allen’s outstanding military and FBI service:

Because of his outstanding military service, [Allen] was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. In 2004, [Allen] was designated the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity Runner-Up for Intelligence NCO of the Year.

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In 2015, [Allen] joined the FBI as a staff operations specialist. Among other tasks, he has provided ad hoc all-source analytical support to the FBI Charlotte Field Office Joint Terrorism Task Force. He has consistently been rated “Exceeds Fully Successful” on his FBI performance evaluations. He received the FBI Charlotte Field Office Employee of the Year Award in 2019.

[Allen] first received a Top Secret security clearance in early 2001.

Despite Allen’s exemplary service, in a January 10, 2022, letter the FBI asserted:

The Security Division has learned you have espoused conspiratorial views both orally and in writing and promoted unreliable information which indicates support for the events of January 6th. These allegations raise sufficient concerns about your allegiance to the United States and your judgment to warrant a suspension of your clearance pending further investigation.

In a February 17, 2022, letter the FBI further notified Allen that he was being placed on administrative leave without pay due to the suspension of his security clearance.

The lawsuit states:

[Allen’s] allegiance is to the United States, as he has demonstrated during his years of exemplary military and law enforcement service to his country.

[Allen] was not involved in the events of January 6 and did not support them in any material way. The FBI has made no allegation or offered any evidence to the contrary.

[Allen] has expressed no view that could be reasonably interpreted as personally expressing support or sympathy for any unlawful activity that occurred on January 6.

The FBI has not identified any specific statements or actions supporting its contention that Plaintiff has done otherwise.

We contend that the FBI did not give Allen a chance to clear himself, despite his repeated inquiries. In early May 2022, however, the FBI requested that Allen appear for an interview. He promptly complied. The interview request came only days after FBI Director Wray was confronted by members of Congress over concerns that the FBI was weaponizing the security clearance process to target politically conservative employees. Since that time, Allen has received no further word on the status of the FBI’s investigation.

On June 7, 2022, Rep. Jim Jordan, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Wray regarding the firing of FBI employees, noting that, “Multiple whistleblowers have called it a ‘purge’ of FBI employees holding conservative views.”

Pentagon Inspector General Concludes Naval Academy Superintendent Made False Statements to End Midshipman’s Career

We received 19-pages of records from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) consisting of an internal report by its Inspector General titled “Report of Investigation of Vice Admiral (VADM) Sean L. Buck, U.S. Navy, Superintendent, U.S. Naval Academy,” which concluded that Buck made false statements in discussions with senior Navy officials during disenrollment proceedings against a midshipman for perceived inappropriate tweets.

We uncovered the internal report, dated September 2022, thanks to our March 2023 FOIA lawsuit (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Defense, No. 1:23-cv-00566). We sued after the Department of Defense’s Office of Inspector General (“DODIG”) failed to respond to a December 2022 FOIA request for all records related to an investigation conducted by the DODIG, which it publicly referenced in its most recent annual report to Congress. The reference is on page 54 of the Report to Congress. In the report, DODIG informed Congress of the following incident:

The DOD OIG investigated allegations that a Navy vice admiral made false official statements to senior Navy officials on three occasions. We did not substantiate the allegations. We concluded that the vice admiral did not make a false official statement, as defined by Article 107 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, on any of the three occasions. The DOD OIG initiated this investigation based on complaints filed with the DOD Hotline.

The report we just uncovered details that following Vice Admiral Buck’s interview with the midshipman at issue (whose name is redacted), Buck made false statements internally to other Navy officials on three separate occasions when he “asserted that [the midshipman] said he would use military force against civilians.” The report also notes that Buck used these false statements to support his recommendation that the midshipman be disenrolled from the Academy and be required to reimburse the Navy $174,753 for his tuition. (The DODIG’s Whistleblower Reprisal Investigations Directorate, which produced the report on Buck, “investigates allegations of whistleblower reprisals made by members of the armed services and employees, contractors, and grantees of DOD and the DOD intelligence community.”)

In a November 12, 2020, memo, Buck recommended to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Manpower and Reserve Affairs that the midshipman be disenrolled from the United States Naval Academy after Buck claimed he had lost confidence in the midshipman.

Based on Buck’s recommendation, the Secretary of Navy disenrolled the midshipman from the Naval Academy. However, after the midshipman sued, the Navy ultimately allowed him back into the Academy to complete his remaining credits, “graduate from the USNA, receive a commission as an ensign on May 28, 2021, and enter active duty.” A news report by The Stars and Stripes suggests the midshipman in question may have been Chase Standage.

The report concludes:

We concluded by a preponderance of the evidence that [Vice Admiral] Buck did not make a false official statement, as defined by Article 107 of the [Uniform Code of Military Justice] … However, we found that VADM Buck made a statement that was false during both the conference call with [redacted] on February 18, 2021, and the office visit with [redacted] on February 24, 2021. We further found that VADM Buck knew that his statements were false, but we could not determine by a preponderance of the evidence that VADM Buck intended to make those false statements on either occasion to deceive [redacted] or [redacted]. Separately, we concluded that VADM Buck did not make a false official statement to former Secretary Braithwaite.

The IG made “no recommendation” regarding Buck.

The documents show how Pentagon leaders let a vice admiral – the head of the US Naval Academy – off the hook for knowingly making false statements to justify his recommendation to end the career of a young midshipman over tweets. It is disturbing that it took a federal FOIA lawsuit to uncover how this senior officer made a series of false statements as part of his unusual effort to destroy this midshipman.

HHS Earmarks Millions for Illegal Immigrant Minors’ Long Term Foster Care

Children pouring across the border without parents are becoming wards of the state – on your dime. Our Corruption Chronicles blog explains.

It is not enough that American taxpayers spend billions of dollars annually to “temporarily” care for the onslaught of illegal immigrant minors that cross into the U.S. through the Mexican border until they get released to relatives or sponsors. Now the Biden administration is quietly doling out tens of millions more for long-term foster care through fiscal year 2024. The money will go to providers that will give Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) with no family in the U.S. continuing “quality care in a community setting.” The accommodations will focus on migrants up to 17 years of age, including pregnant and parenting teens and those who are “especially vulnerable or with other special needs,” according to the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency distributing the money. The allocation comes just weeks after Judicial Watch reported that the government is spending $50 million on “post-release” services for the never-ending influx of migrant youths.

HHS is responsible for underage migrants and the agency, through its handsomely funded Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), has spent a fortune to care for the mobs of mostly Central American youths that have crossed into the U.S. through the Mexican border in the last few years. Because those under 18 are welcomed with open arms hundreds of thousands have entered the country in the last few years and HHS spends billions of dollars annually to house, medically treat, entertain, and school UAC when they arrive in the U.S. In fact, HHS oversees dozens of state-licensed care facilities to house the young migrants when they arrive in the country and as of May 2, 2023, there are 8,492 unaccompanied children in HHS care, according to the latest agency figures. In fiscal year 2021 ORR provided shelter to an unprecedented 122,731 UAC. In fiscal year 2022, a record 149,000 UAC were apprehended by federal agents. The overwhelming majority of UAC in U.S. custody, approximately 72%, are over 14 years of age and 66% are male. Nearly half (47%) come from Guatemala, 32% from Honduras, 13% from El Salvador and 8% from other countries.

The living accommodations are supposed to be short term, until the government can place the migrants with family or a sponsor even though Uncle Sam still pays for costly medical, educational, legal and other services after release. The new funding for long term care indicates that American taxpayers will get stuck with a much bigger tab than previously disclosed to support UAC. The extended services will also include “acculturation and adaptation” care to help the illegal aliens develop social and interpersonal skills, education, legal and mental health. Daily education for the UAC in long term foster care will be a minimum of six hours based on basic academic competencies and secondarily on English language training. Foster homes will establish summer education plans tailored to the migrants’ needs, including individual counseling by a qualified mental health professional when needed. Mental health professionals will identify special needs and issues that require immediate intervention, including previous juvenile justice or criminal involvement.

“Care providers are required to provide or arrange for the required services in a manner that is sensitive to the age, culture, religion, dietary needs, native language, sexual orientation, gender identity, and other important individual needs of each” young migrant, the grant announcement states. It also says all UAC in U.S. care are entitled to human rights protections and freedom from discrimination and abuse and that providers must ensure that all migrants who are LGBTQI+ are treated fairly and served during their time in custody. “Care providers are required to have the capacity to provide services in the language spoken by the majority of UC in their facility(ies) and/or provide translation services,” the document states, adding the obvious, that “most UC in ORR custody speak Spanish.” The agency further writes that applicants for the new pot of money should “have the flexibility to care for the expanding cultural and linguistically diverse populations that are referred each year.”

This is all part of the Biden administration’s red-carpet rollout for underage illegal immigrants. It is important to note the irony of a system that spends so much money to accommodate a demographic that also includes hardcore criminals and violent gangbangers. For instance, a teenage Salvadoran gang member recently arrested for the murder of a Maryland woman came to the U.S. as a UAC. A few years ago, two UAC were charged with raping a 14-year-old girl in the bathroom of a Maryland public high school. The illegal immigrants were both charged with first-degree rape and two counts of first-degree sexual offense. Both were in the ninth grade like their victim. One came from El Salvador and the other from Guatemala. A year earlier two UAC—both 17—from Central America executed a Massachusetts man by shooting him in the head shortly after being welcomed into the U.S. by the Obama administration. Both had ties to the notoriously violent street gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), authorities disclosed at the time.

Until next week…