By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — It’s a good thing that FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III hopped a plane to Arizona to deal with the aftermath of a mass shooting that killed a federal judge and seriously wounded a member of Congress. Sure, Mueller could have stayed back in Washington and gotten briefed regularly…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard — who worked for Naval intelligence — is back in the news again. The Washington Post reports that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday sent a letter to President Obama asking for Pollard’s release. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — Following months of frustration and opposition from Republicans, President Obama last week used a recess appointment to install James Cole to the number two spot at the Justice Department. On Monday, he was sworn in. The post, deputy attorney general, has been vacant since February. Cole, 58, is a…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — Former U.S. Atty. Michael Mukasey, who came to the Justice Department at the tail end of the Bush administration, is asking the White House to commute the sentence of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard to time served, the Jerusalem Post reported. In a letter to President Obama, Mukasey, a former…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday nominated Christopher R. Thyer, a former state lawmaker, for the U.S. Attorney post in the Eastern District of Arkansas. According to a White House press release, Thyer has been a partner at Stanley & Thyer in Jonesboro, Ark., since 2007. Before that, he was a…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — The rumor mill has Thomas M. Harrigan, chief of DEA operations, as the front runner for the number two spot in the agency, according to people familiar with the situation. The number two spot was held by Michele Leonhart, who has been acting head of the agency, and…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Fed prosecutors in San Francisco have decided on Monday not to retry a man who was charged with threatening to kill President Obama via email, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The decision came after a jury on Nov.1 deadlocked in a 6 to 6 vote on whether the racist and violent…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — President Obama is a busy guy with a lot of worries. So he might be excused when he commits a little Washington faux pas as he did during a town hall meeting last week with young people. While discussing “federal drug enforcement”, he mentioned the Justice Department and FBI,…
