Senate Finance chairman sets July 2 as deadline for answers about informer Halper, contacts with reporter Ignatius.Updated: June 21, 2020 - 7:35amFileFileThe powerful chairman of the Senate Finance Committee is increasing pressure on an obscure Pentagon office, demanding to know whether its leader was the source of a leaked transcript of a classified Michael Flynn call in the Russia investigation.In a letter, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) also demanded that the Defense Department’s Office of Net Assessment and its director produce documents about one of its academics, Stefan Halper, who...…Senate Finance chairman sets July 2 as deadline for answers about informer Halper, contacts with reporter Ignatius.Updated: June 21, 2020 - 7:35amFileFileThe powerful chairman of the Senate Finance Committee is increasing pressure on an obscure Pentagon office, demanding to know whether its leader was the source of a leaked transcript of a classified Michael Flynn call in the Russia investigation.In a letter, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) also demanded that the Defense Department’s Office of Net Assessment and its director produce documents about one of its academics, Stefan Halper, who...WW…

James Comey had no business meeting with Obama White House on Flynn case, former FBI executive says.Updated: June 24, 2020 - 8:45pmFileFileThe belated discovery of disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok’s January 2017 notes raises troubling new questions about whether President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were coordinating efforts during their final days in office to investigate Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn — even as the FBI wanted to shut down the case.Investigators will need to secure testimony from Strzok, fired two years ago from the FBI, to be certain of the exact...…James Comey had no business meeting with Obama White House on Flynn case, former FBI executive says.Updated: June 24, 2020 - 8:45pmFileFileThe belated discovery of disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok’s January 2017 notes raises troubling new questions about whether President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were coordinating efforts during their final days in office to investigate Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn — even as the FBI wanted to shut down the case.Investigators will need to secure testimony from Strzok, fired two years ago from the FBI, to be certain of the exact...WW…

Geoffrey Berman handled some of the most politically sensitive probes in country.Updated: June 20, 2020 - 6:55pmFileGeoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, was fired Saturday after the high-profile prosecutor initially refused to step aside for a new nominee, Attorney General William Barr announced.Barr sharply criticized Berman for his conduct Friday after a new nominee was named, saying the prosecutor had “chosen public spectacle over public service.”“Because you have declared that you have no intention of resigning, I have asked the President to remove you as of today, and he...…Geoffrey Berman handled some of the most politically sensitive probes in country.Updated: June 20, 2020 - 6:55pmFileGeoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, was fired Saturday after the high-profile prosecutor initially refused to step aside for a new nominee, Attorney General William Barr announced.Barr sharply criticized Berman for his conduct Friday after a new nominee was named, saying the prosecutor had “chosen public spectacle over public service.”“Because you have declared that you have no intention of resigning, I have asked the President to remove you as of today, and he...WW…

From an alleged plot to remove the president from office to Robert Mueller's appointment, the former deputy attorney general is going to face some intense interrogation Wednesday by senators.Updated: June 3, 2020 - 9:09amTwo years ago, then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein chafed when asked whether congressional Republicans might have legitimate reason to suspect the factual underpinnings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants that targeted Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in the Russia probe.Seeming a bit perturbed, Rosenstein launched into a mini-lecture on how much...…From an alleged plot to remove the president from office to Robert Mueller's appointment, the former deputy attorney general is going to face some intense interrogation Wednesday by senators.Updated: June 3, 2020 - 9:09amTwo years ago, then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein chafed when asked whether congressional Republicans might have legitimate reason to suspect the factual underpinnings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants that targeted Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in the Russia probe.Seeming a bit perturbed, Rosenstein launched into a mini-lecture on how much...WW…

Key GOP senators are firing off subpoenas in a concerted effort to identify those who helped sustain a Russia collusion probe without the supporting evidence.Updated: June 5, 2020 - 8:33amHollywood once gave us the Cold War thriller called "The Hunt for Red October." And now the U.S. Senate and its Republican committee chairmen in Washington have launched a different sort of hunt made for the movies.Armed with subpoenas, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., want to interrogate a slew of Obama-era intelligence and law enforcement officials hoping to identify who invented...…Key GOP senators are firing off subpoenas in a concerted effort to identify those who helped sustain a Russia collusion probe without the supporting evidence.Updated: June 5, 2020 - 8:33amHollywood once gave us the Cold War thriller called "The Hunt for Red October." And now the U.S. Senate and its Republican committee chairmen in Washington have launched a different sort of hunt made for the movies.Armed with subpoenas, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., want to interrogate a slew of Obama-era intelligence and law enforcement officials hoping to identify who invented...WW…

'It elevates my suspicion that there is something at a higher level that was happening ... to stop a president,' Walid Phares says in interview with Just the News.Updated: June 18, 2020 - 1:21pmFor more than two years now, Walid Phares has kept a secret. The national security expert favored by many conservatives was interviewed and investigated in the Russia collusion probe, mostly for an issue unrelated to Moscow. It was Egypt, actually.The allegation — like many in the Russia case —, turned out to be spurious, and Phares was never charged with wrongdoing by Special Counsel Robert...…'It elevates my suspicion that there is something at a higher level that was happening ... to stop a president,' Walid Phares says in interview with Just the News.Updated: June 18, 2020 - 1:21pmFor more than two years now, Walid Phares has kept a secret. The national security expert favored by many conservatives was interviewed and investigated in the Russia collusion probe, mostly for an issue unrelated to Moscow. It was Egypt, actually.The allegation — like many in the Russia case —, turned out to be spurious, and Phares was never charged with wrongdoing by Special Counsel Robert...WW…

Newspaper picks fight over names of bases on holiday designed to celebrate heroism.Updated: May 26, 2020 - 10:44amThe Pentagon is blasting The New York Times for a Memorial Day weekend editorial suggesting the military celebrates white supremacism by failing to rename bases honoring Confederate figures and others officers with racism in their past.The called the names of many installations, including Fort Benning in Georgia and Fort Pickett in Virginia, an "embarrassing artifact of the time when the military itself embraced anti-American values.""Military installations that...…Newspaper picks fight over names of bases on holiday designed to celebrate heroism.Updated: May 26, 2020 - 10:44amThe Pentagon is blasting The New York Times for a Memorial Day weekend editorial suggesting the military celebrates white supremacism by failing to rename bases honoring Confederate figures and others officers with racism in their past.The called the names of many installations, including Fort Benning in Georgia and Fort Pickett in Virginia, an "embarrassing artifact of the time when the military itself embraced anti-American values.""Military installations that...WW…

A decade of reforms inside the Minneapolis police department failed to stop two tragic killings by officers in 2017 and 2020.Updated: June 1, 2020 - 11:21amFileFor nearly a decade, Minneapolis police made a much-ballyhooed effort to improve conduct, creating a new early warning system for potentially abusive officers and inviting the U.S. Justice Department to do its own critique.But the aura of progress was pierced on a summer night in 2017 when Justine Ruszczyk, an Australian woman just weeks from her wedding to an American, called Minneapolis police to her home because she believed a...…A decade of reforms inside the Minneapolis police department failed to stop two tragic killings by officers in 2017 and 2020.Updated: June 1, 2020 - 11:21amFileFor nearly a decade, Minneapolis police made a much-ballyhooed effort to improve conduct, creating a new early warning system for potentially abusive officers and inviting the U.S. Justice Department to do its own critique.But the aura of progress was pierced on a summer night in 2017 when Justine Ruszczyk, an Australian woman just weeks from her wedding to an American, called Minneapolis police to her home because she believed a...WW…

Police chief and city officials in Hallandale Beah, Fla., to meet Monday to discuss what to do.Updated: June 16, 2020 - 9:45amA 10-member SWAT team for a Florida police department has resigned en masse after their chief knelt with racial justice protesters, saying they felt "restrained by the politicization of our tactics."The letter of resignation from the SWAT team in Hallandale Beach, Fla., was delivered to city officials on Friday, according to the“The risk of carrying out our duties is no longer acceptable to us and our families," the officers wrote, adding that the unit felt...…Police chief and city officials in Hallandale Beah, Fla., to meet Monday to discuss what to do.Updated: June 16, 2020 - 9:45amA 10-member SWAT team for a Florida police department has resigned en masse after their chief knelt with racial justice protesters, saying they felt "restrained by the politicization of our tactics."The letter of resignation from the SWAT team in Hallandale Beach, Fla., was delivered to city officials on Friday, according to the“The risk of carrying out our duties is no longer acceptable to us and our families," the officers wrote, adding that the unit felt...WW…

The son of the vice president went on 29 international trips with Secret Service in tow, according to records released under FOIA to Judicial Watch.Updated: June 29, 2020 - 1:27pmFileHunter Biden has already made headlines with his pursuit of global business, raising questions about conflicts of interests by landing lucrative deals in Ukraine and China while his father Joe was vice president.And now it’s his proclivity for globetrotting travel that is garnering attention.The son of the former vice president and 2020 Democratic presidential nominee in waiting used Secret Service protection...…The son of the vice president went on 29 international trips with Secret Service in tow, according to records released under FOIA to Judicial Watch.Updated: June 29, 2020 - 1:27pmFileHunter Biden has already made headlines with his pursuit of global business, raising questions about conflicts of interests by landing lucrative deals in Ukraine and China while his father Joe was vice president.And now it’s his proclivity for globetrotting travel that is garnering attention.The son of the former vice president and 2020 Democratic presidential nominee in waiting used Secret Service protection...WW…