Latest U.S. Department of Justice News
Justice Department demands records from Illinois sheriff after July killing of Black woman
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department is demanding records related to the shooting of an Illinois woman who was killed in her home by a sheriff's deputy as it investigates how local authorities treat Black residents and people with behavioral disabilities. The...
Anxiety and dismay inside the Justice Department after Trump taps Gaetz as attorney general
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump's choice of Matt Gaetz to be attorney general has many Justice Department employees reeling, worried not only about their own jobs but the future of the agency that the Trump loyalist has railed against. The president-elect's pick of the Florida...
Speaker Johnson says Gaetz ethics report should not be released, rebuffing senators
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday that he will “strongly request” that the House Ethics Committee not release the results of its investigation into ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz, rebuffing senators who are demanding access now that Gaetz is President-elect Donald Trump 's nominee...
Trump rewards legal defense team, picks lawyer Todd Blanche as No. 2 Justice official
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Todd Blanche, an attorney who led the legal team that defended the Republican at his hush money criminal trial, to serve as the second-highest ranking Justice Department official. A former federal prosecutor, Blanche has...
Justice Department says jail conditions in Georgia's Fulton County violate detainee rights
ATLANTA (AP) — Jail officials in Georgia's most populous county are violating the constitutional rights of people in their custody by failing to protect them from violence, using excessive force and holding them in filthy and unsafe conditions, U.S. Justice Department officials said Thursday. ...
Gaetz pick shows value Trump places on loyalty — and retribution — as he returns to Washington
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has had few defenders in Congress as reliable as Matt Gaetz, who has thundered at one prosecutor after another for perceived bias against the president-elect and emphatically amplified the Republican's rallying cry that the criminal investigations into him are...
Matt Gaetz once faced a sex trafficking investigation by the Justice Department he could now lead
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, was once embroiled in a sex trafficking investigation by the Justice Department he's been tapped to lead, and has been under scrutiny by the House Ethics Committee over allegations including...
Trump picks Matt Gaetz for attorney general, Marco Rubio for secretary of state
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump chose Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to serve as his attorney general on Wednesday, bypassing more experienced options in favor of a loyalist who has built a national reputation as a disruptor and whom Trump has tasked with dramatically...
Prominent conservative lawyer Ted Olson, who argued Bush recount and same-sex marriage cases, dies
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson, who served two Republican presidents as one of the country’s best known conservative lawyers and successfully argued on behalf of same-sex marriage, died Wednesday. He was 84. The law firm Gibson Dunn, where Olson...
Special counsel Smith asks court to pause appeal seeking to revive Trump's classified documents case
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Jack Smith asked a court Wednesday to pause prosecutors' appeal seeking to revive the classified documents case against President-elect Donald Trump in light of the Republican's presidential victory. Smith’s team has been evaluating how to wind...
