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DOJ Accused of ‘Abuse of Power’ After Sending Armed Marshals to Whistleblower’s Home

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A former U.S. Department of Justice pardon attorney delivered sworn testimony before Congress on Monday, accusing her former agency—now under the leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi—of “corruption and abuse of power.” She claimed that armed U.S. Marshals were sent to her home to deliver what she described as a “warning” from the DOJ, cautioning her about the risks of testifying.

Liz Oyer “told U.S. media outlets that her firing came shortly after she declined to recommend restoring gun rights to actor Mel Gibson, a supporter of President Donald Trump,” Reuters reports. She reportedly was fired by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on March 7.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins last month reported that “Oyer says she was fired as the pardon attorney at the Justice Department within hours of saying she couldn’t add Mel Gibson to a list of individuals she recommended should have their gun rights restored.”

“Within hours of my decision not to do that,” Oyer said, “I was escorted out of my office by DOJ security officers.”

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During her testimony, Oyer described the tense situation.

“The letter was to be served at my home between 9 o’clock and 10 o’clock on Friday night,” she explained (video below). “I was in the car with my husband and my parents, who are sitting behind me today, when I got the news that the officers were on their way to my house, where my teenage child was home alone. Fortunately, due to the grace of a very decent person who understood how upsetting this would be to my family, I was able to confirm receipt of the letter to an email address, and the deputies were called off.”

Oyer blasted the DOJ.

“At no point did Mr. Blanche’s staff pick up the phone and call me before they sent armed deputies to my home,” she said in her testimony. “The letter was a warning to me about the risks of testifying here today. But I am here because I will not be bullied into concealing the ongoing corruption and abuse of power at the Department of Justice.”

“DOJ is entrusted with keeping us safe, upholding the rule of law, and protecting our civil rights. It is not a personal favor bank for the President. Its career employees are not the president’s personal debt collectors.”

“It should alarm all Americans that the leadership of the Department of Justice appears to value political loyalty above the fair and responsible administration of Justice. It should offend all Americans that our leaders are treating public servants with a lack of basic decency and humanity.”

Attorney Michael Bromwich, who is representing Oyer, in a letter to DOJ called it an “unusual step” to direct “armed law enforcement officers to the home of a former Department of Justice employee who has engaged in no misconduct, let alone criminal conduct, simply to deliver a letter.” He characterized the act as “both unprecedented and completely inappropriate.”

Bromwich also challenged the administration’s apparent claim of executive privilege over Oyer’s testimony, calling it”baseless,” and wrote “that she is entitled to certain legal protections for whistleblowers.”

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According to NBC News, Bromwich also accused Blanche of appearing “to be using the Department’s security resources to intimidate a former employee who is engaged in statutorily protected whistleblower conduct, an act that implicates criminal and civil statutes as well as Department policy and your ethical obligations as a member of the bar.”

Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, a professor of law and popular MSNBC/NBC News legal analyst, remarked: “Sending two armed marshals to a former DOJ lawyers [sic] home at 9pm to ‘deliver a letter’ when they’re in email contact with her or could have just called smacks of an effort to intimidate.”

CBS News justice correspondent Scott MacFarlane posted a copy of the letter Oyer was sent.

Watch the video below or at this link.

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‘Needs an Intervention’: Newsom Scorches ‘Unhinged’ Trump Over San Francisco Threat

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California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom blasted President Donald Trump over his seemingly arbitrary threat to deploy the U.S. military to San Francisco. The president pointed to what he called out-of-control crime and described the city as a “mess,” but state and local leaders — vowing to “resist” his efforts — say his allegations are baseless.

The Guardian on Thursday characterized the president’s claims as “hyperbolic,” and reported that San Francisco “is on track to have the lowest number of homicides in more than 70 years, according to a recent San Francisco Chronicle analysis.”

“The president,” Newsom said to reporters at a press conference announcing state-sponsored $11 insulin, “his latest assertion that he was going to come to San Francisco — on what basis? He didn’t even claim — there’s no pretext anymore. Let’s disabuse ourselves that there has to be a pretext with Donald Trump, that there’s anything that would justify that.”

“There’s no existing protest in a federal building,” the governor explained. “There’s no operation that’s being impeded. I guess it’s just a ‘training ground’ for the President of the United States,” he said, invoking Trump’s earlier words suggesting how the military should look at American cities.

California Democratic State Senator Scott Wiener on Wednesday said, “Contrary to Trump’s lie, no ‘government officials’ here have requested federal occupation. We don’t need Trump’s authoritarian crackdown in our city. Bottom line: stay the h– out of San Francisco.”

Newsom called Trump’s threat to militarize San Francisco “grossly illegal” and “immoral.”

State Attorney General Rob Bonta threatened to take the Trump administration to court if the President sends the National Guard to San Francisco.

“It’s rather delusional,” Newsom said of Trump’s threat.

“And increasingly, this president appears unhinged, unmoored by reality and facts, seems listless,” he charged. “He seems, dare I say, in decline — cognitively — and, dare I say, forgive me? Perhaps unfair, physically.”

“These are just rantings of someone that needs an intervention,” Newsom added. “Needs some help. Needs to be stabilized, dare I say?”

 

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‘Deliberate Incitement’: Outrage as White House Claims Dems Cater to ‘Hamas Terrorists’

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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is under fire after alleging that Democrats are catering to “Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals.”

“The Democrat Party’s main constituency are made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals,” Leavitt said on Fox News on Thursday afternoon.

“That is who the Democrat Party is catering to — not the Trump administration, and not the White House, and not the Republican Party, who is standing up for law abiding Americans, not just across the country, but around the world.”

Leavitt did not explain why the Democratic Party should be catering to the Republican Party or to the Trump administration.

READ MORE: Trump Focused on Bailout for Farmers Loyal to Him ‘For a Really Long Time’ Says Official

Critics blasted the Press Secretary.

Former Obama senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer wrote: “This s– is so f– dangerous and everyone on the Republican side just nods along.”

Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary Brandon Wolf asked, “Remember when they pretended to want to ‘turn down the temperature’?”

Veteran journalist John Harwood called Leavitt’s remarks “disgusting b–.”

Dylan Williams, Vice President for Government Affairs for the Center for International Policy warned: “How is this anything other than deliberate incitement that risks leading to deadly violence?”

“This is INCREDIBLY dangerous framing,” declared author Carey Lohrenz, the first female F-14 Tomcat pilot, “and should make the hair on the back of your next stand, whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, or Independent. And it’s also patently false.”

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Attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick noted that Hillary Clinton’s “‘Deplorables’ was a scandal for years and she wasn’t even in the government yet. This is the White House Press Secretary, whose salary is paid by the American public.”

Journalist Ahmed Baba wrote: “In a sane reality, this insane comment would’ve ended the career of any other press secretary. In this reality, it’s a just another Thursday. But when the Trump fever breaks, and it will break, these people will have to reckon with the digital footprints of their own depravity.”

READ MORE: Johnson Wavers After Agreeing to Debate Jeffries ‘Anywhere Anytime’

 

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Trump Focused on Bailout for Farmers Loyal to Him ‘For a Really Long Time’ Says Official

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President Donald Trump has for weeks been talking about providing a bailout for America’s farmers harmed by his tariff policies, especially soybean farmers whose top buyer, China, hasn’t bought any U.S. soybeans since at least May.

Multiple figures have been tossed around for the bailout, possibly between $10 billion and $14 billion, but no firm plans reportedly have been set.

Wondering who and which farming sectors would benefit from the bailout, Fox Business host Stuart Varney asked Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on Thursday, “Will every farmer get some money in this bailout? All of them? Or is it targeted to one group of farmers?”

Her answer reflected politics more than policy.

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“Obviously,” Secretary Rollins replied, “the president remains very focused on, as he has said, all along — he calls them ‘his farmers,’ but those who have been with him for a really long time, from the very beginning.”

Rollins went on to say that “we’ve been very clear all along, while we’re working on what that package looks like, we’re not even entirely sure what the damage is yet, so it’s hard to craft the confirmed solution as every day goes on, and we’re working to sell more of our soybeans and sorghum and wheat across the world.”

Asked about the $20 billion to $40 billion bailout President Trump has reportedly decided to give to Argentina, a direct competitor of America’s soybean farmers, Secretary Rollins said: “The president’s focus remains 100% on America first.”

CNN on Wednesday called it “$20 billion to save the political career of a foreign ally of President Donald Trump. The US is putting up $20 billion for a currency swap to prop up the Argentinian peso ahead of elections there this month, with the aim of bolstering Argentine President Javier Milei, a Trump ally.”

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U.S. Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) on Wednesday blasted the Argentina bailout.

“While family farmers in Minnesota and Maine are losing business to Argentina, the Trump Admin is organizing a $40 billion bailout to Argentina — because who needs to reopen the government when you could just spend all your time and energy finding taxpayer dollars to give to our top agricultural competitors?”

READ MORE: ‘I Don’t Accept Pinky Promises’: AOC Sets Hard Line on Ending the Shutdown

 

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