Tag: House Judiciary Committee

Key Lawmaker Worried FBI Whistleblowers Facing Retaliation as Evidence of Politicization Mounts

Just the News

An FBI whistleblower who alleges the bureau has been diverting resources to create a false political narrative that America has a violent domestic extremism problem has been suspended, raising concerns about retaliation for cooperating with Congress.

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee and its likely chairman if the GOP wins the House in November, confirmed to Just the News that Steve Friend, a whistleblower whose identity was outed on TV recently, is facing some form of disciplinary action.

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Ohio Representative: FBI Won’t Answer Allegation Vet-Led Preparedness Group Listed as Domestic Violent Extremists

Just the News

GOP Rep. Jim Jordan says the FBI is not responding to his concerns about a whistleblower report claiming the agency has classified an emergency-preparedness group started by a former Green Beret as a “domestic violent extremism” organization.

Jordan, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, addressed his concerns in a letter sent Wednesday to FBI Director Christopher Wray — following one he sent in July about whistleblower allegations that the agency is “padding its domestic violent extremist data.”

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14 States Sue Biden to Divulge Secret Contacts About School Board ‘Domestic Terrorism’ Letter

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden administration is stonewalling 14 states seeking documents preceding Attorney General Merrick Garland’s controversial Oct. 4 memo directing the FBI to prosecute threats against school boards, according to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed Friday.

Garland acted in response to a Sept. 29 letter to President Biden from the National School Boards Association (NSBA), widely perceived as equating parental activism with “domestic terrorism.”

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Amazon and Facebook Spent More Money Than Ever Lobbying in 2021

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Amazon and Facebook parent company Meta spent more money in 2021 lobbying lawmakers and officials than any year before, according to lobbying disclosure filings.

Amazon spent $20.3 million on lobbying while Meta spent $20.1 million in 2021, according to a review of lobbying disclosure filings by MarketWatch. The figures are record totals for both tech companies, who spent $18.9 million and $19.7 million on lobbying in 2020, respectively.

Google’s lobbying spend for 2021 clocked in at $11.5 million, while Microsoft spent $10.3 million and Apple spent $6.5 million, according to MarketWatch’s review.

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Whistleblower Accuses FBI of Using Counterterrorism Tools Against Concerned Parents

Peter D'Abrosca

On behalf of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) Tuesday sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland claiming that a whistleblower provided the committee with information that contradicts Garland’s own Oct. 21 testimony.

The National School Boards Association colluded with the White House before sending a September letter to President Joe Biden accusing parents who have protested Critical Race Theory (CRT) and other liberal agendas in public schools around the country of being “domestic terrorists,” terminology for which it later apologized. Subsequently, Garland sent out a memo ordering the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate those parents. 

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Commentary: The Data Mining of America’s Kids Should Be a National Scandal

RealClearWire

As U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland sat down for his first hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, denying a conflict of interest in his decision to investigate parents for “domestic terrorism,” there is a mother in the quiet suburb of Annandale, N.J., who found his answers lacking. And she has questions she wants asked at Garland’s hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee this Wednesday.

On a recent Saturday night, Caroline Licwinko, a mother of three, a law school student and the coach to her daughter’s cheerleading squad, sat in front of her laptop and tapped three words into an internet search engine: “Panorama. Survey. Results.”

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Conservative Tech Groups Slam Ex-Intelligence Officials for Defending Monopolies, Urge Passage of Antitrust Bills

Virginia Star Staff

Two conservative tech advocacy groups sent a letter to House lawmakers criticizing former national security officials for attempting to prevent the passage of antitrust bills targeting Big Tech.

The letter, sent by the Internet Accountability Project (IAP) and the American Principles Project (APP) to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy along with lawmakers responsible for overseeing antitrust legislation, urged Congress to pass six bills targeting major tech companies advanced beyond the House Judiciary Committee in June. The letter also criticized twelve former intelligence officials who sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy arguing against the passage of antitrust bills in mid-September.

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Poll: Majority of Americans Support Regulating, Breaking Up Big Tech

Virginia Star Staff

A majority of Americans believe major tech companies are too powerful, and support the government regulating and breaking them up, according to a new poll.

The poll, conducted from June 7 to 12 and released Wednesday by Change Research on behalf of progressive groups CAP Action and Public Citizen, found that 81% of respondents believe Big Tech and social media companies are too powerful, with 73% at least “somewhat convinced” they should be regulated and broken up. Republicans had a less favorable view of tech companies than Democrats and tended to be more supportive of antitrust action.

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Barr Says Unrest Not Linked to Floyd, Defends Feds’ Response

The Associated Press

Attorney General William Barr defended the aggressive federal law enforcement response to civil unrest in America, saying on Tuesday “violent rioters and anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests” sparked by George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police.

Barr told members of the House Judiciary Committee at a much-anticipated election year hearing the violence taking place in Portland, Oregon, and other cities is disconnected from Floyd’s killing, which he called a “horrible” event that prompted a necessary national reckoning on the relationship between the Black community and law enforcement.

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Jim Jordan Calls on Nadler to Help Obtain Trump-Russia Documents Before Barr Hearing

Virginia Star Staff

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, is calling on Rep. Jerry Nadler to help obtain documents and testimony related to the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign prior to a hearing in July for Attorney General William Barr.

“The Attorney General’s appearance is also an opportunity for the Committee to conduct oversight of the Obama-Biden Administration’s weaponization of the Justice Department and intelligence community against the Trump campaign,” Jordan wrote in a letter to Nadler obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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House Republicans Seek Probe of Chinese Communist Party Investment in US Visa Program

Virginia Star Staff

The top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee is asking the Government Accountability Office to review whether members of the Chinese Communist Party have exploited a program that allows foreigners to obtain green cards by investing in businesses in the United States.

Reps. Jim Jordan and Guy Reschenthaler sent a letter Monday to Gene Dodaro, the comptroller general of the Government Accountability Office, inquiring whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its members have used the EB-5 program to gain a foothold in the United States.

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House Chairman Plans To Subpoena Rod Rosenstein ‘Very Soon’

Admin

by Chuck Ross   The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said Saturday that he will subpoena Rod Rosenstein “very soon” if the deputy attorney general does not agree to an on-the-record interview with Congress. “[Rosenstein] has not agreed to come for a transcribed interview on the record. He needs…

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Seven Takeaways From FBI Agent Strzok’s Testimony Before Two House Committees

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Peter Strzok

by Fred Lucas   A joint hearing of two House committees Thursday repeatedly turned testy as FBI agent Peter Strzok sought to explain away text messages sharply critical of Donald Trump and how they did not affect the fairness of the FBI investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential…

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