Lawsuit for Info on Capitol Police Officer Death

Judicial Watch Sues for Autopsy of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick
Judicial Watch Sues for NY, PA COVID Nursing Homes Policies
Court Slams Potentially Illicit Sales of Parts of Aborted Fetuses
U.S. Lifts Yemeni Militant Group’s Terrorist Designation

Judicial Watch Sues for Autopsy of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick

We’re not going to get the full truth of events at the Capitol on January 6 from politicians or a dishonest media — no surprise there. So were going after it on our own.

We filed a District of Columbia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in the District of Columbia Superior Court against the District of Columbia for the autopsy of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick and related records (Judicial Watch v. District of Columbia (Case Number 2021 CA 000875 B)).

We sued after the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) of the District of Columbia denied our February 16, 2021, FOIA request for:

All records, including but not limited to autopsy reports, toxicology reports, notes, photographs, and OCME officials’ electronic communications, related to the death on Jan. 6, 2021 of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick and its related investigation.

Initial reports from the New York Times and other media outlets about the cause of Officer Sicknick’s death have subsequently been corrected and revised.

The unusual and unlawful secrecy about Officer Sicknick’s death investigation undermines public confidence in the fair administration of justice. 

We also recently filed lawsuits for U.S. Capitol Police emails and video related to the riot and for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s communications with the Pentagon in the days after the January 6th incident.

It will be particularly interesting to see if any politicians such as Nancy Pelosi or other outside officials communicated with the medical examiner’s office about Officer Sicknick. 

Judicial Watch Sues for NY, PA COVID Nursing Homes Policies 

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is under fire for his policies that may have resulted in countless preventable nursing home Covid-19 deaths. But other states, such as Pennsylvania, had similar policies that needlessly increased risk for the nursing home residents. Again, not trusting the corrupted media or government to give us the full picture of this scandal, Judicial Watch went to court for answers. 

We sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for records about New York and Pennsylvania nursing home policies and procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We filed the FOIA suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) failed to respond to a December 7, 2020, FOIA request (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Health of Human Services (No. 1:21-cv-00612)) for:

Communications, including emails and text messages, between Division of Nursing Homes Director Evan Shulman and Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine regarding policies and procedures for nursing facilities during COVID-19. The timeframe of this request is February 18, 2020 to June 1, 2020.

Communications, including emails and text messages, between Quality and Safety Oversight Group Director David Wrightand Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine regarding policies and procedures for nursing facilities during COVID-19. The timeframe of this request is February 18, 2020 to June 1, 2020.

Communications, including emails and text messages, between Division of Nursing Homes Director Evan Shulman and Pennsylvania Deputy for Quality Assurance Susan Coble regarding policies and procedures for nursing facilities during COVID-19. The timeframe of this request is February 18, 2020 to June 1, 2020.

Communications, including emails and text messages, between Quality and Safety Oversight Group Director David Wright and Pennsylvania Deputy for Quality Assurance Susan Coble regarding policies and procedures for nursing facilities during COVID-19. The timeframe of this request is February 18, 2020 to June 1, 2020.

Communications, including emails and text messages, between Division of Nursing Homes Director Evan Shulman and New York Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker regarding policies and procedures for nursing facilities during COVID-19. The timeframe of this request is February 18, 2020 to June 1, 2020.

Communications, including emails and text messages, between Qualityand Safety Oversight Group Director David Wright and New York Department of Health Executive Deputy Commissioner Sally Dreslin regarding policies and procedures for nursing facilities during COVID-19. The timeframe of this request is February 18, 2020 to June 1, 2020.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn are investigating New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of that state’s nursing homes during the pandemic. As of March 3, 2021, 15,430 nursing home and other long-term care residents in the state have died from COVID-19, according to the New York Long Term Care Community Coalition.

In February, Cuomo’s top aide reportedly admitted that New York withheld information about the coronavirus death toll in the state’s nursing homes out of fear that the true numbers would “be used against us” by federal government.

In Pennsylvania, as of February 25, at least 12,000 of the nearly 24,000 deaths attributed to coronavirus in that state reportedly occurred in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Republicans in the state legislature have renewed calls for an investigation into how Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration has dealt with these facilities, specifically the state’s policy requiring that the facilities accept COVID-positive patients.

According to a report by Spotlight PA, coronavirus reports from the Pennsylvania Department of Health were “consistently missing data” on nursing homes. The state’s health department was headed during most of the pandemic by Dr. Rachel Levine, who has been nominated for a top position in HHS, believe it or not, in the Biden administration.

Thousands of nursing home residents in New York and Pennsylvania may have died thanks to those states’ COVID-19 mandates. The public, particularly those who lost loved ones due to the policies of the Cuomo and Wolf administrations, have a right to know the full truth about this public health scandal.

Court Slams Potentially Illicit Sales of Parts of Aborted Fetuses 

In May 2019 we sued the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) documents about the purchase and use of human fetal tissue obtained from abortion clinics that was used by FDA researchers in “humanized mice” testing.

Then in February 2020 we uncovered records from NIH showing that the agency paid thousands of dollars to California-based Advanced Biosciences Resources (ABR) to purchase organs from aborted human fetuses to create “humanized mice” for HIV research.

In June 2020, we uncovered records from the FDA showing that, between 2012 and 2018, the FDA entered into eight contracts worth $96,370 with ABR to acquire “fresh and never frozen” tissue from first and second trimester aborted fetuses for use in creating “humanized mice” for ongoing research.

We can now report a positive development in this case, which, in many ways, has been a journey into a heart of darkness.  A federal court ordered HHS to release additional information about its purchases of organs harvested from aborted human fetuses. 

The Court also found “there is reason to question” whether the transactions violate federal law barring the sale of fetal organs. Documents previously uncovered in this lawsuit show that the federal government demanded the purchased fetal organs be “fresh and never frozen.”

Both the FDA and NIH purchased the organs from ABR to create “humanized mice” for use in HIV research. ABR partners with Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers to dismember fetuses and sell their parts for research. The decision notes that ABR:

sold second-trimester livers and thymi for hundreds of dollars apiece. The same for brains, eyes, and lungs. After tacking on fees for services like shipping and cleaning, ABR could collect over $2,000 on a single fetus it purchased from Planned Parenthood for $60. The federal government participated in this potentially illicit trade for years.

The court raised concern about whether these transactions are legal:

Happily for the Government (and ABR), this means that the Court need not reach Judicial Watch’s argument that the Government cannot withhold the information at issue because ABR engaged in criminal conduct. Recall that it is illegal to transfer “any human fetal tissue for valuable consideration. 42 U.S.C. § 289g-2(a). Judicial Watch contends that the invoices disclosed here show that the Government paid “valuable consideration” to ABR and so the Government cannot keep the withheld information confidential.

The court found it “dubious” that a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exception invoked by the government could be used to “shield illegal business practices under the guise of ‘confidential business information’” and declared that “[t]here is reason to question the lawfulness of the transaction between the Government and ABR.”

In ruling in our favor, U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden ordered HHS to disclose:

• Any currently withheld names and addresses of ABR’s contract laboratories
• Any redacted unit pricing information for fetal tissue, shipping, or other fees and services relating to the 2013-2015 years that can found in the fee schedules appended to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee report entitled “Human Fetal Tissue Research: Context and Controversy”
• Any redacted per-specimen pricing information for the second-trimester fetal tissue relative to the 2016-2018 years

We initially filed this lawsuit after HHS failed to respond adequately to a September 2018 FOIA request (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department Health and Human Services (No. 1:19-cv-00876)). We asked for:

• All contracts and related documentation between FDA and ABR for the provision of human fetal tissue to be used in humanized mice research.
• All records reflecting the disbursement of funds to ABR for the provision of human fetal tissue to be used in humanized mice research.
• All guidelines and procedural documents provided to ABR by FDA relating to the acquisition and extraction of human fetal tissue for its provision to the FDA for humanized mice research.

5. All communications between FDA officials and employees and representatives of ABR related to the provision by ABR to the FDA of human fetal tissue for the purpose of humanized mice research.

This court victory will shed additional light on the federal government’s barbaric practice of purchasing organs of aborted human beings. The American people deserve to know how their tax dollars are being spent on this grotesque and potentially illegal activity.

U.S. Lifts Yemeni Militant Group’s Terrorist Designation

The Biden administration quickly undid a major Trump anti-terror initiative in Yemen and is set to resume sending militants there with millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars. Our Corruption Chronicles blog reports the details.

Days after a “humanitarian situation” compelled the Biden administration to revoke the terrorist designation of a Yemen-based militant group, the U.S. is sending the Islamic nation $191 million in assistance. Yemen is a hotbed of terrorism that serves as the headquarters of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The international community strongly opposed the Trump administration’s classification of another Yemeni radical faction, Ansarallah, as a specially designated global terrorist entity asserting that it would come with repercussions for humanitarian operations. In a Federal Register bulletin announcing the move the State Department writes that Ansarallah, also known as Partisans of God, has committed or has attempted to commit, or poses a significant risk of committing, or has participated in training to commit, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.

The Biden administration did not waste much time caving into the demands of leftist global entities to reverse the designation. Leading the pack was the famously corrupt United Nations, which joined forces with independent humanitarian organizations to demand Ansarallah be removed from the government’s terrorist list. UN officials expressed “deep concern about the adverse humanitarian impact,” and the director of a nonprofit called it a “death sentence.” In mid-February Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken obliged, explaining that the decision to revoke Ansarallah’s terrorist designation is a recognition of the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen. “We have listened to warnings from the United Nations, humanitarian groups, and bipartisan members of Congress, among others, that the designations could have a devastating impact on Yemenis’ access to basic commodities like food and fuel,” according to State Department announcement. “The revocations are intended to ensure that relevant U.S. policies do not impede assistance to those already suffering what has been called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.  By focusing on alleviating the humanitarian situation in Yemen, we hope the Yemeni parties can also focus on engaging in dialogue.”

It is worth noting that shortly after Blinken’s decision the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two key militants of the Iranian-backed Ansarallah, which is sometimes referred to as the Houthis. The agency identifies them as Mansur Al-Sa’adi and Ahmad ‘Ali Ahsan al-Hamzi and claims they are responsible for orchestrating attacks by Houthi forces impacting Yemeni civilians, bordering nations, and commercial vessels in international waters. “These actions, which were done to advance the Iranian regime’s destabilizing agenda, have fueled the Yemeni conflict, displacing more than one million people and pushing Yemen to the brink of famine,” the OFAC writes in an a press release. The document proceeds to explain that the Houthis have waged a bloody war against the internationally recognized Yemeni government using ballistic missiles, explosives, naval mines, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to attack bases, population centers, infrastructure, and nearby commercial shipping. “The Iranian regime has intensified this conflict by providing direct financial and materiel assistance to the Houthis, including small arms, missiles, explosives, and UAVs,” according to the U.S. Treasury.

The conflicting actions of two American government agencies may seem confusing to some, though Secretary of State Blinken does acknowledge Ansarallah’s terrorist traits and that its leaders threaten Yemen’s peace, security, and stability. In the announcement quashing the terrorist designation, Blinken says this: “The United States remains clear-eyed about Ansarallah’s malign actions, and aggression, including taking control of large areas of Yemen by force, attacking U.S. partners in the Gulf, kidnapping and torturing citizens of the United States and many of our allies, diverting humanitarian aid, brutally repressing Yemenis in areas they control, and the deadly attack on December 30, 2020 in Aden against the cabinet of the legitimate government of Yemen.” 

The Secretary of State promises to “closely monitor” the terrorist organization’s activities and actively identify additional targets for designation, especially those responsible for explosive boat attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and missile attacks into Saudi Arabia. Blinken assures the U.S. is committed to helping its partners defend themselves against threats arising from Yemen. In the meantime, American taxpayer dollars keep pouring into the country. The latest allotment of $191 million, announced this month, comes on the heels of a $160 million allocation at the end of 2020 to “alleviate the suffering of the people of Yemen.”

Until next week,