Via CBP

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

The fate of migrant families seeking protection in the U.S. will now be determined by Border Patrol agents, instead of the highly trained asylum officers who are highly trained in refugee laws.

Border Patrol agents, who will screen families for “credible fear” in the new pilot program, are beginning to get trained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, lawyers and several employees at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services told Los Angeles Times.

The Trump administration has long advocated using law enforcement officers to interview asylum seekers to determine whether families have a “credible fear” persecution in their home countries. The idea is that Border Patrol agents are less likely to provide asylum to families.

“It’s creating significant strain for our clients — not just because they’re unprepared and untrained,” Shay Fluharty, an attorney with the Dilley Pro Bono Project, told The Times. “We understand that the intention is to significantly limit asylum officers who are conducting these interviews and have them be primarily conducted by Border Patrol.”

Fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe faces the possibility of being charged for allegedly make false or misleading statements to internal investigators.

A top official in Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen’s office notified McCabe Thursday that his lawyers had failed to persuade Justice Department officials to drop the case, The Washington Post reports.

“The Department rejected your appeal of the United States Attorney’s Office’s decision in this matter,” the official wrote, according to one person familiar with the case. “Any further inquiries should be directed to the United States Attorney’s Office.”

It’s not clear yet whether McCabe, a 21-year FBI veteran and a target of President Trump’s ire, would be charged.

An inspector general’s report alleges McCabe lied on at least four occasions – three of which were under oath. After the IG’s report was issued, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe in March 2018, just before his retirement benefits would have kicked in.

McCabe took issue with the report, saying he never intended to mislead investigators.

Former FBI Director James Comey testified about his memos on President Trump last year.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

A new poll shows that nearly half of Americans want former FBI Director James Comey prosecuted for leaking information to the media.

The survey of 1,000 likely voters found that 47% believe Comey should be prosecuted for leaking the memos he wrote about his meetings with President Trump. That’s an increase from 41% in 2017.

Of those polled, 35% said they don’t believe Comey should be prosecuted, and 18% indicated they were undecided.

Last month, the Justice Department’s inspector general revealed that Comey violated FBI policy in his handling of the Trump memos.

The IG said Comey kept the government documents at his home and engineered their release to the media. But the IG also said there was “no evidence” that Comey’s leaked memos were classified.

Former FBI Director James Comey.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

By now you’ve heard that former FBI Director James Comey violated bureau policies over his handling of memos he kept on President Trump.

Those memos suggested the president tried to interfere in the FBI’s investigation of Russian meddling during the 2016 presidential election.

What also was revealed Thursday was that the inspector general found “no evidence” that Comey’s leaked memos were classified.

Trump and his apologists have repeatedly claimed, with no evidence, that Comey had leaked classified information.

James Comey leaked CLASSIFIED INFORMATION to the media. That is so illegal!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2017

Congressmen Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., were among those making the false allegations.

“We know that Jim Corey has leaked classified information,” Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski told the Fox Business Network, repeating that claim on Fox News this month.

Same goes with Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett, who said in April 2018 that Comey “leaked these classified documents to three people who he’s hired as his counsel so he can hide behind the attorney-client privilege on these communications.”

Others who have made the false claims include Fox News host Tucker Carlson and former White House aide Sebastian Gorka.

The mantra even continued after the inspector general report was released. On Thursday, Rep. Scott DesJarlais claimed on Twitter that Comey “leaked classified info.”

Today’s IG report shows James Comey stole documents, leaked classified info, violated FBI policy. This is 2nd investigation into his mismanagement. Another another one coming. And we’re still supposed to believe President firing him was obstruction? Gimme a break!

— Scott DesJarlais (@DesJarlaisTN04) August 29, 2019

To be clear, here’s what the inspector general reports says: “We found no evidence that Comey or his attorneys released any of the classified information contained in any of the Memos to members of the media.”

“I don’t need a public apology from those who defamed me, but a quick message with a ‘sorry we lied about you’ would be nice,” Comey tweeted.

And to all those who’ve spent two years talking about me “going to jail” or being a “liar and a leaker”—ask yourselves why you still trust people who gave you bad info for so long, including the president.

— James Comey (@Comey) August 29, 2019

An existing wall at border of Mexico. Photo via Congress.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

President Trump pledged to issue pardons to his aides if they violate the law to quickly build his long-promised border wall before the 2020 presidential election, The Washington Post reports.

“Don’t worry, I’ll pardon you,” Trump reportedly told officials when discussing the wall.

Trump’s wall is far behind schedule, and a source told the Post that the president emphasized that “people expected him to build a wall, and it had to be done by the election.”

Trump responded by calling the report “another totally Fake story in the Amazon Washington Post.”

“This was made up by the Washington Post only in order to demean and disparage – FAKE NEWS!” Trump tweeted.

Another totally Fake story in the Amazon Washington Post (lobbyist) which states that if my Aides broke the law to build the Wall (which is going up rapidly), I would give them a Pardon. This was made up by the Washington Post only in order to demean and disparage – FAKE NEWS!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2019

Deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley said Trump plans to fulfill his promise to protect Americans with new border barriers.

“Donald Trump promised to secure our border with sane, rational immigration policies to make American communities safer, and that’s happening everywhere the wall is being built,” Gidley said.

Photo via Border Patrol

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The Department of Homeland Security plans to transfer $271 million from some of its agencies to support the Trump administration’s border enforcement efforts.

ICE will use the money to increase the number of beds for detained immigrants and to finance temporary facilities along the U.S.-Mexico border, CNN reports.

At least $155 million of that money comes from the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief fund as the hurricane season approaches.

The Trump administration announced last week that it plans to hold migrant families indefinitely.

DHS notified Congress of its plans in July.

Congressional Democrats criticized the transfer of funds.

“The Trump administration’s plan to divert money away from FEMA at the start of hurricane season to continue its efforts to separate and jail migrant families is backwards and cruel,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. “Taking these critical funds from disaster preparedness and recovery efforts threatens lives and weakens the government’s ability to help Americans in the wake of natural disasters. Congress appropriated these funds to meet the American peoples’ priorities and I strongly oppose this effort to undermine our constitutional authority.”

AG William Barr

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

Right or wrong, the optics look bad.

Last month, Attorney General William Barr booked a “Family Holiday Party” in President Trump’s D.C. hotel on Dec. 8 that is likely to deliver Trump’s business more than $30,000 in revenue, Jonathan O’Connell and David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post write.

The Justice Department says Barr is paying for the party and chose Trump’s hotel only after finding that other hotels were booked.

“Career ethics officials were consulted and they determined that ethics rules did not prohibit him from hosting his annual party at the Trump hotel,” an unnamed Justice official told the Post.

Jesse Blake, via Bedford County Jail

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A New York man locked up in a Pennsylvania jail was charged with threatening to kill President Trump and blowing up the White House, Trump Tower, the Pentagon and the United National headquarters once he gets released from prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Monday.

A grand jury indicted 24-year-old Jesse Allen Blake on Aug. 22 on charges that carry a maximum penalty of up to a decade in prison.

According to authorities, Blake mailed a letter to the FBI headquarters in Washington D.C., threatening to blow up the sites and kill Trump.

The Secret Service, with the help of the FBI Task Force, investigated the case.

In a separate case, Robert Pratersch, a 58-year-old Florida man, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for leaving three threatening voicemail messages to the office of Sen. Bernie Sanders, saying he was going to “behead” the senator “ISIS-style” and videotape the execution, the Justice Department announced last week. Pratersch also made “numerous anti-Semitic remarks directed” at Sanders.