By Carrie Johnson NPR WASHINGTON — A top political appointee in the Obama Justice Department says he made a “mistake” when he didn’t flag questionable tactics used by federal agents in a gun-trafficking case for his superiors last year. Lanny A. Breuer, assistant attorney general in charge of the criminal division, told NPR he found…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com Folks like talk show host Bill O’Reilly talked incessantly about the government spending $16 a muffin at a conference even after press reports began to surface that the Justice Department report on the issue probably wasn’t true. The Hilton hotel had disputed it all along, saying the price included multiple breakfast…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Nearly three years into the Obama administration, the Justice Department appears to be as hard-nosed about challenging reporters’ rights to protect confidential sources as it was under the Bush administration. The latest: The Justice Department has gone to the Court of Appeals to challenge District judge, who ruled that New York…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com FBI Director Robert Mueller was awarded one of the Justice Departments highest honors on Wednesday for his “outstanding professionalism and exemplary integrity,” reports CNN. The award was one of more than 300 commendations, forty-nine of them among intelligence officials, including counterespionage agents, for their roles in catching 10 Russian secret agents…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com In Indiana, in the heart of the Midwest, a Chinese national working for two major U.S. companies pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing trade secrets about food products and pesticides and giving them to people in China and Germany, the Justice Department announced. It marked the first time ever that the…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com Speaking anonymously to the Washington Post, several attorneys said dozens of career antitrust lawyers at the Justice Department say they are likely to quit if the department goes ahead with plans to close four regional offices. Plans were announced earlier this month to close offices in the antitrust division in Atlanta,…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Atty. Gen. Eric Holder Jr. is an honorable man. So I believe him when he tells Congress he didn’t know about ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious until the controversy exploded in 2011. The problem is that he needs to take responsibility for it. Period. He’s the top dog. People…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The war of letters between Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif) and Atty. Gen. Eric Holder Jr. continues. The latest: Issa released on Monday a letter he sent to Holder sharply chastising him. Issa’s letter was in response to one Holder wrote Friday to Issa saying his his Congressional testimony on Operation Fast…
