NEW: Fani Willis Lawsuit!
Records Show CIA Deployed Bomb Techs, Dog Teams to DC on January 6
Judicial Watch Sues Fani Willis for Communications with Jack Smith, Pelosi Committee
Judicial Watch Sues for Transcripts of Biden Special Counsel Interviews
Haiti Gets Millions More from U.S. after Gangs Take Over, Billions in Aid Perish
Florida Sheriff: ‘Federal Policy Drives Illegal Immigrant Crime’
Records Show CIA Deployed Bomb Techs, Dog Teams to DC on January 6
January 6 continues to get even more interesting. It turns out that the CIA was involved in the response to the disturbance.
We received 88 pages of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) records from the Department of Justice in a FOIA lawsuit that show that the CIA deployed personnel to Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021.
We forced the release of the records through a June 5, 2023, lawsuit after the Justice Department failed to respond to an August 10, 2023, FOIA request for records and communications regarding shots being fired inside the U.S. Capitol, as well as requests for ATF Special Response Team assistance on January 6, 2021 (Judicial Watch Inc. v U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:23-cv-01608)).
The ATF records include a series of text messages under the heading “January 7 Intel Chain” in which two separate references to participation by the CIA are made. One states that “two CIA bomb techs” are assisting with “a pipe bomb scene on New Jersey and D ST SE.” Another references “several CIA dog teams on standby.”
Group texts contain a 4 p.m. hour message by persons whose names are redacted regarding two explosive devices found at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) building and one at the Republican National Committee (RNC): “Train traffic is stopped.” “It appears the powerplant is unfounded….” “Upper west Terrance of the capital breached by protesters.” “USCP is sending out a Mutual Aid request.” “Capital Police may be moving resources inside.” “Protesters are cutting tarp at bottom of scaffolding and moving up through that.” “FYSA-FC1, WASH1, SAC, ASAC responded to Capitol….” “2 explosive devices at DNC.” “One at rnc one at dnc.”
The “Intel Chain” also reports on the shooting of Ashli Babbitt: “Shots fired house floor. 1 civilian down with a gun shot [sic] wound to the chest on the 2nd floor. Gunshot victim has been extracted. Shooting was officer involved.”
A separate series of text messages is included in the records. In the 2 p.m. hour on January 6, 2021, the texts read: “West Terrace has been breached [redacted] … Explosion reported on the rotunda steps [redacted]. Shots fired at rotunda.”
Shortly thereafter, another set of texts report: Party 1: “VP stuck inside last I heard.” Patry 2: Copy.” Party 1: “Capitol PD shot someone dead on house floor. Dead.” Party 2: “Christ. What was the final in the devices real or not [redacted].” Party 1: “Clearing Capitol now with bomb techs. Lots of damage.” Party 2: “Damn that’s scary. So sad. Thx for keeping me in the loop brother. I was able to get I [sic] go to my team and the Director before they heard it from outside sources.”
The “Intel Chain” also reports that members of Congress are being evacuated to Fort McNair, which is located about two miles south of the Capitol: “Capitol has been transferred to Fort McNair.” “It’s an alternate location so they can continue their work.”
A heavily redacted series of text messages from redacted sources state, “Command post is at JERSEY and D St SE.” Three additional recipients are added to the text group at 1:21 p.m., one of whom reports: “Just made contact with [redacted] FBI is reporting an additional 3 possible devices for a total of 5 now.” A response follows: “Do you have the locations of the other devices?” The reply is: “Not yet, the FBI is going to pass it on. I believe one was located at the gates to the Power Plant.” The following text states: “LEO’s [Law Enforcement Officers] being attacked on the west side of Capitol with pieces of the restraining fence. Some officers injured.”
We are extensively investigating the events of January 6.
In February 2024, we filed a lawsuit on behalf of Aaron Babbitt, the late Ashli Elizabeth Babbitt’s husband, and Ashli Babbitt’s estate against the U.S. Department of Justice for all FBI files on Ashli Babbitt, an U.S. Air Force veteran who was shot and killed inside the U.S. Capitol by then-Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd on January 6, 2021.
In October 2023, we announced that we received the court-ordered declaration of James W. Joyce, senior counsel in the Office of the General Counsel for the Capitol Police, in which he describes emails among senior officials of the United States Capitol Police (USCP) in January 2021 that show warnings of possible January 6 protests that could lead to serious disruptions at the U.S. Capitol.
In September, we received records from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, a component of the Department of Justice, in a FOIA lawsuit that detailed the extensive apparatus the Biden Justice Department set up to investigate and prosecute January 6 protestors.
A previous review of records from that lawsuit highlighted the prosecution declination memorandum justifying the decision not to prosecute U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd for the shooting death of Babbitt.
In January 2023, documents from the Department of the Air Force, Joint Base Andrews, MD, showed U.S. Capitol Police Lieutenant Michael Byrd was housed at taxpayer expense at Joint Base Andrews after he shot and killed Babbitt.
In November 2021, we released multiple audio, visual and photo records from the DC Metropolitan Police Department about the shooting death of Babbitt. The records included a cell phone video of the shooting and an audio of a brief police interview of the shooter, Byrd.
In October 2021, United States Park Police records related to the January 6, 2021, demonstrations showed that on the day before the January 6 rally featuring President Trump, U.S. Park Police expected a “large portion” of the attendees to march to the U.S. Capitol and that the FBI was monitoring the January 6 demonstrations, including travel to the events by “subjects of interest.”
Judicial Watch Sues Fani Willis for Communications with Jack Smith, Pelosi Committee
District Attorney Fani Willis and Fulton County, Georgia, seem to have provided false information about having no records of communications with Jack Smith and the Pelosi January 6 committee.
We filed a Georgia Open Records Act lawsuit against Willis and the county for records of any communication they had with Special Counsel Jack Smith and the House January 6 Committee (Judicial Watch Inc. v. Fani Willis et al. (No. 24-CV-002805)).
We sued in the Superior Court of Fulton County, GA, after Willis and the county denied having any records responsive to an August 2023 Georgia Open Records Act request for:
All documents and communications sent to, received from, or relating to Special Counsel Jack Smith or any employees in his office.
All documents and communications sent to or received from the United States House January 6th Committee or any of its employees.
We state in the lawsuit that Willis’ and the county’s “representation about not having records responsive to the request is likely false.” We refer to a December 5, 2023, letter from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan to Willis that cites a December 2021, letter from Willis to then-House January 6 Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson. In that letter Willis requested assistance from the committee and offered to travel to DC. Jordan writes:
Specifically, you asked Rep. Thompson for access to “record [sic] includ[ing] but . . . not limited to recordings and transcripts of witness interviews and depositions, electronic and print records of communications, and records of travel.” You even offered that you and your staff were eager to travel to Washington, D.C, to “meet with investigators in person” and to receive these records “any time” between January 31, 2022, and February 25, 2022.
We argue: “Willis’s letter to [former] Chairman Thompson is plainly responsive to the request, yet it was neither produced to Plaintiff in response to the request nor claimed to be subject to exemption from production under the Open Records Act.”
We also cite recent news reports and other records which “indicate that representatives of Willis’s office traveled to Washington, DC, and met with January 6 Select Committee staffers in April, May, and November 2022, as Willis proposed in her December 17, 2021 letter …”
We state that a January 2024, Politico report titled “Jan. 6 committee helped guide days of Georgia Trump probe” and a January 2024, letter from the House Judiciary Committee to Fulton County Special Prosecutor Nathan J. Wade are examples that “Such meetings plainly had to be coordinated and likely generated communications if not other records about or memorializing these meetings.”
Any such records would be responsive to our request, the lawsuit states.
On January 30, 2024, we announced that we filed a lawsuit against Fulton County for records regarding the hiring of Wade as a special prosecutor by Willis. Wade was hired to pursue unprecedented criminal investigations and prosecutions against former President Trump and others over the 2020 election disputes.
In October 2023, we sued the DOJ for records and communications between the Office of U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith and the Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney’s office regarding requests/receipt of federal funding/assistance in the investigation of former President Trump and his 18 codefendants in the Fulton County indictment of August 14, 2023. To date, the DOJ is refusing to confirm or deny the existence of records, claiming that to do so would interfere with enforcement proceedings. Judicial Watch’s litigation challenging this is continuing.
Judicial Watch Sues for Transcripts of Biden Special Counsel Interviews
We filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for records of all Special Counsel interviews of President Biden (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:24-cv-00700)).
We filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the Department of Justice failed to respond to a February 8, 2024, FOIA request for “all transcripts, audio recordings, and video recordings of all interviews of President Biden conducted during the course of the investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Hur.”
On February 5, 2024, Hur issued the “Report of the Special Counsel on the Investigation Into Unauthorized Removal, Retention, and Disclosure of Classified Documents Discovered at Locations Including the Penn Biden Center and the Delaware Private Residence of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.”
In the report, Hur called Biden a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” and declined to charge Biden with a “serious felony:”
We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory. Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him-by then a former president well into his eighties-of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.
Prior to the finalization of the report, the White House issued a letter to the Special Counsel’s office attacking the report’s “treatment of President Biden’s memory,” and added “there is ample evidence from your interview that the President did well in answering your questions …”
The Biden Justice Department needs to stop protecting Joe Biden, follow the law, and release the transcript and any recordings of his interviews.
The written transcript was released almost immediately after Judicial Watch filed its lawsuit, but we still are interested in any audio or videos of Biden’s interviews with the special counsel – so stay tuned for more.
Haiti Gets Millions More from U.S. after Gangs Take Over, Billions in Aid Perish
Does anyone seriously believe that throwing more taxpayer money at Haiti will do any good? The country is in gang-infested ruin, and yet more of your tax dollars are on the way. Our Corruption Chronicles blog explains.
Rife with fraud and corruption, the U.S. government’s multi-billion-dollar Haiti aid program has failed miserably to help citizens of the impoverished island, yet the Biden administration is sending more money as violence and lawlessness grip the country. Armed gangs have overrun most of the capital of Port-au-Prince and political instability has plateaued, but the American taxpayer dollars keep flowing with no oversight though billions in assistance have vanished since an earthquake struck Haiti nearly a decade and a half ago.
This week Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the U.S. is sending another $33 million in humanitarian assistance to the Caribbean nation to provide in-kind food assistance, nutrition support, essential health services, improved access to clean water, and prevention and response to gender-based violence, among other critical humanitarian activities. “Since February 29, organized criminal groups have escalated violence, exacerbating the humanitarian situation for Haitians,” says the government press release announcing the recent allocation. “Displaced people are struggling to access food, health care, water, hygiene facilities, and psychological support, further compounding their already dire needs.” The document reveals that the U.S. remains the single largest donor of humanitarian assistance to Haiti, providing tens of millions of dollars in assistance in the last year alone. “The United States will continue to stand with Haitians during this challenging time, working to save lives and alleviate suffering caused by the humanitarian crisis,” the government writes.
Since the 2010 earthquake Uncle Sam alone has provided Haiti with over $5.6 billion to help the nation bounce back but 14 years later the situation is more dire for the island’s 12 million residents and no one really knows what happened to the money. The funds were supposed to provide Haiti with “life-saving post-disaster relief as well as longer-term recovery, reconstruction, and development programs,” according to the State Department, which confirms that after another earthquake in 2021 the U.S. “again mobilized a whole-of-government effort to provide immediate assistance at the Haitian government’s request.” Haiti’s reconstruction and development will continue for many years, the State Department predicts, adding that in the last few years alone it has doled out hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian and health assistance for Haiti.
Even before the natural disasters the U.S.—under both Democratic and Republican administrations—has dedicated enormous amounts of money to help Haiti despite systemic lapses in the programs it funds. For instance, a costly initiative to build housing failed miserably after the U.S. spent $90 million and tens of thousands of Haitians remain homeless a decade later. The Clinton Foundation and Clinton Bush Haiti Fund also came up with some $88 million for earthquake recovery but Haiti remains a disaster, the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Even before the tremor a federal audit revealed that hundreds of millions of American taxpayer dollars were wasted on reckless Haitian projects with the single largest chunk—$170.3 million—going to a failed port and power plant adventure heavily promoted by Bill and Hillary Clinton. The Clinton-backed power and port venture is the biggest and most expensive failure mentioned in the probe, which was ordered by a Florida congresswoman who at the time confirmed a “troubling lack of progress and accountability” in Haiti reconstruction projects. All these years later many Haitians still live in deplorable, shanty town tent cities and a never-ending epidemic of cholera keeps claiming lives. Nearly half of the Haitian population does not have enough food, according to the United Nations.
At the beginning of last year the Biden administration awarded Haiti another $56.5 million in humanitarian aid, explaining that it was “for the people of Haiti in response to the country’s humanitarian crisis and cholera epidemic.” A few months later the administration sent another $54 million under the auspice of Caribbean climate funding. The government claimed the money would counter the island’s ongoing “humanitarian crisis,” including gang violence on civilians that has prevented Haitians from accessing critical food, safe drinking water and other basic supplies. The recent turmoil should make it even tougher for aid to reach the Haitian people, though the U.S. is not addressing that in its latest allocation. It is unknown where exactly the money will go and how it will be spent since the administration only mentions that the funds “will support the World Food Program (WFP), UNICEF, and NGO partners.”
Florida Sheriff: ‘Federal Policy Drives Illegal Immigrant Crime’
Thank goodness for those who speak up against the Biden border invasion. A Florida sheriff has seen the evil consequences up close, as our Corruption Chronicles blog reports.
No American state, not even Republican-led Florida with its strict law to mitigate the negative impact of record-breaking illegal immigration, can escape the detrimental effects of the Biden administration’s catastrophic open border policies. A major human trafficking operation recently busted by a multi-agency task force in central Florida helps illustrate that illegal aliens are not just victimizing communities that offer them sanctuary. The problem is spreading nationwide, even to areas where local governments do not welcome illegal aliens or shield them from federal authorities.
In central Florida’s Polk County, which has a population of around 780,000, authorities just dismantled a large-scale human trafficking ring that resulted in the arrest of hundreds, including 21 illegal immigrants, involved in acts related to soliciting prostitutes, offering to commit prostitution, or aiding and abetting prostitutes. Authorities coined it “Operation March Sadness 2024” and recently confirmed that more than a dozen of the 66 identified prostitutes were likely human trafficking victims. Law enforcement officials issued 70 felony charges and 288 misdemeanors and the suspects’ criminal histories include a combined 879 felonies and 1,150 misdemeanors. At least 11 suspects told detectives they receive government assistance. Illegal drugs such as fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine were also seized in the sting as well as 17 firearms. The eldest person was 73 and youngest 16, officials say.
The illegal immigrants arrested in the operation are recent arrivals from Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. During a televised press conference Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd blasts the federal government for failing to enforce immigration laws. During the segment the sheriff, who oversees a force of about 1,800, introduced a poster board from the podium with mug shots of the illegal immigrant suspects and silhouettes of several victims also in the U.S. illegally so they could not be identified. Above the mugshots, in large black letters the poster read: “Federal Policy Drives Illegal Immigrant Crime and Victimization.” Grady pointed to one of the suspects on the board and provided a larger mug shot for the media, explaining that he came from New York with three females who are controlled by a human trafficker that sets up their appointments, posts ads online and tells them where to go. The prostitutes then fly to major metro centers where they set up their appointments for sex, said the sheriff, who was first elected in 2004 and has been reelected four times since. “We have a crisis at the border,” Sheriff Judd said. “And because of the crisis at the border we have people that are victimizing illegal folks, forcing them into the sex trade because we allow these criminals in the country illegally.”
Unlike a growing number of law enforcement agencies nationwide that have adopted sanctuary policies, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) fully cooperates with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when it encounters criminal illegal immigrants in its jurisdiction or jails. Under a partnership known as 287(g), PCSO honors ICE detainers and notifies the federal agency of inmates in the country illegally so that they can be deported. A few years ago, PCSO enlisted in a collaborative federal initiative, known as Warrant Service Officer(WSO) program, that expands the immigration enforcement powers of local police after training officers to perform certain duties typically carried out by federal immigration agents. “The WSO program will protect communities from criminal aliens who threaten vulnerable populations with violence, drugs and gang activity by allowing partner jurisdictions the flexibility to make immigration arrests in their jail or correctional facility,” Acting ICE Director Matthew Albence said when the program was launched in 2019.
To further deter illegal immigrants from coming to the Sunshine State, Florida also passed a law banning sanctuary cities in the entire state. The measure also requires local police to fully comply with federal immigration authorities and authorizes law enforcement agencies to transport an alien unlawfully present in the U.S. under certain circumstances. Public universities and colleges must also abide by the law. Even with the strict measures, it appears Florida cannot escape the wrath of the unprecedented illegal immigration crisis created by the Biden administration.
Until next week,
TOP NEWS
