U.S. Department of Justice Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

DOJ’s Regional Outreach program will strengthen investigation of MMIP cases in eastern Washington

By Johanna Bejarano July 7, 2023

Eastern Washington is part of the Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Regional Outreach Program recently announced by the U.S. Department of Justice. The program will provide more resources and specialized support to address the crisis in the Northwest.Read More

Donald Trump Pressed Justice Department To Reverse The Election Results, Documents Show

By NPR News June 15, 2021

Former President Donald Trump addresses the North Carolina Republican Party's annual state convention on June 5. Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images

A batch of emails released by the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee appears to paint a clearer picture of how former President Donald Trump and his allies attempted to pressure the U.S. Justice Department to investigate unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.Read More

DOJ Moves To Block Full Memo On Trump Obstruction Decision From Release

By NPR News May 25, 2021

Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks last month

The Justice Department released a portion of an internal memo cited by former leaders as part of their decision concluding that former President Donald Trump did not obstruct justice, but in a court filing late Monday said it would seek to block the full document from release.Read More

Justice Department Brings Federal Criminal Charges Against Derek Chauvin, 3 Others

By NPR News May 7, 2021

A picture of George Floyd hangs on a fence barrier that surrounds the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis during the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin in March. The Justice Department is now bringing criminal charges against Chauvin over allegedly violating Floyd's rights and using excessive force in restraining him. CREDIT: Scott Olson/Getty Images

The Justice Department has filed federal criminal charges against Derek Chauvin, accusing the former police officer of using excessive force and violating the civil rights of George Floyd. Floyd died after Chauvin pressed on his neck for more than nine minutes on the pavement outside a convenience store last year in Minneapolis.Read More

Federal Investigators Search Rudy Giuliani’s Apartment Over Ukraine Ties

By NPR News April 28, 2021

Rudy Giuliani, left, is seen here with Donald Trump shortly after Trump's election victory in 2016. Federal authorities raided Giuliani's apartment Wednesday, the former New York City mayor's attorney said. Carolyn Kaster/AP

Federal investigators in Manhattan executed a search warrant Wednesday at Rudy Giuliani's apartment as part of a probe into the former New York City mayor's activities involving Ukraine, his attorney told NPR.Read More

Civil Rights Group Calls On Justice Dept. To Suspend Local Police Grants

By NPR News April 26, 2021

Protesters confront law enforcement on April 13 outside the police headquarters in Brooklyn Center, Minn., over the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright by an officer. The NAACP Legal Defense And Education Fund is asking the Justice Department to suspend local police grants, citing ongoing killings of Black people like Wright by police. CREDIT: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund wants Attorney General Merrick Garland to suspend grants to local law enforcement until he's sure that no federal taxpayer money is funding police departments that engage in discrimination, according to a letter obtained by NPR.Read More

DOJ Has Charged Nearly 500 With COVID-Related Fraud In The Past Year

By NPR News March 26, 2021

On the anniversary of the CARES Act, the Justice Department says that over the past year it has charged 474 defendants with fraud or other criminal schemes tied to the pandemic. The grand total that fraudsters tried to scam from the government and the public in those cases is more than $569 million.Read More

DOJ Says At Least 100 More People Could Be Charged Over Capitol Attack

By NPR News March 13, 2021

Rioters clash with police and security forces as people storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Federal investigators say they expect even more people will be charged in connection with the insurrection. CREDIT: Brent Stirton/Getty Images

The Justice Department says it expects to charge at least 100 more people in connection with the storming of the Capitol, describing the investigation into the deadly attack as one of the biggest in U.S. history.Read More

Whistleblowers Allege Improper Hiring At Justice Department During Trump’s Last Days

By NPR News March 10, 2021

Jeffrey Bossert Clark during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2017. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Two whistleblowers assert that a Justice Department official improperly injected politics into the hiring process during his waning days in the Trump administration, according to a new filing obtained by NPR.Read More

Merrick Garland Confirmed As Attorney General 5 Years After Thwarted Supreme Court Bid

By NPR News March 10, 2021

A new chapter of Merrick Garland's long career in the law has opened after the Senate voted to pave the way for him to serve as attorney general.Read More

U.S. Deports Nazi Concentration Camp Guard To Germany

By NPR News February 20, 2021

Friedrich Karl Berger, in a 1959 photo. A court found that he helped guard prisoners when they were forced to evacuate a Nazi concentration camp in a nearly two-week trip under "inhumane conditions," the Justice Department said. Courtesy Department of Justice

Friedrich Karl Berger was sent to Germany because he participated in Nazi-sponsored acts of persecution while serving as an armed guard at the Neuengamme concentration camp system near Meppen, Germany, in 1945, according to the announcement.Read More

Merrick Garland Will Be Joe Biden’s Nominee For Attorney General

By NPR News January 6, 2021

Garland, 68, is the widely respected former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He has deep roots inside the Justice Department, where he launched his career decades ago.Read More

Federal Execution Can Proceed For Lisa Montgomery, Court Rules

By NPR News January 3, 2021

Lisa Montgomery appears in a 2004 booking photo. Wyandotte County Sheriff's Department

Montgomery was originally scheduled to be executed last month, but that was postponed to January when her attorneys contracted the coronavirus after visiting her in prison and a federal judge granted them more time to file a petition for clemency.Read More

Justice Department Declines To Prosecute Cleveland Officers In Death Of Tamir Rice

By NPR News December 29, 2020

A sign in Cleveland memorializing Tamir Rice

The U.S. Department of Justice will not charge any of the officers involved in the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice, a Black 12-year-old boy who was fatally shot by police in Cleveland in 2014. The department has closed its investigation.Read More

32 Years Later, U.S. Charges Alleged Bomb-Maker In Pan Am Flight 103 Attack

By NPR News December 21, 2020

A police officer walks on Dec. 21, 1988, by the nose of Pan Am Flight 103 near Lockerbie, Scotland, where it lay after a bomb aboard exploded, killing a total of 270 people. CREDIT: Martin Cleaver/AP

U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced Monday — exactly 32 years after that deadly flight — that the department is charging Abu Agela Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi.Read More

William Barr To Step Down As Attorney General Before Christmas

By NPR News December 14, 2020

Attorney General William Barr after a speech to the International Association of Chiefs of Police Officer Safety and Wellness Symposium on Feb. 27 in Miami. Brynn Anderson/AP

Trump said he and Barr had a "very nice meeting" Monday and that their "relationship has been a very good one." Barr started out as a loyalist, but his relationship with the president frayed.Read More

Justice Department Investigating Possible Bribery-For-Pardon Scheme

By NPR News December 1, 2020

The American flag flies outside of the Justice Department building, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

A document filed in federal court seems to show a probe into lobbying for a pardon and a related scheme to offer payment. Large swaths of the document, including names, are blacked out.Read More

Advocates Push For Resurrection Of Justice Department Civil Rights Division Under Biden

By NPR News November 29, 2020

Police officers in Ferguson, Mo., during a protest in 2014. Advocates want the Justice Department to step up its oversight of law enforcement in the incoming administration. Charlie Riedel/AP

Critics say President Trump constrained the Civil Rights Division from being as effective as it should. Business could look very different under the new incoming administration. Read More

Purdue Pharma Reaches $8B Opioid Deal With Justice Department Over OxyContin Sales

By NPR News October 21, 2020

Purdue Pharma headquarters in Stamford, Conn., in 2019. Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, and its owners, the Sackler family, have faced hundreds of lawsuits over the company's alleged role in the opioid epidemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans. CREDIT: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Critics say the settlement doesn't hold company executives or members of the Sackler family accountable for their aggressive marketing of OxyContin, which helped fuel the nation's opioid epidemic.Read More

Google Abuses Its Monopoly Power Over Search, Justice Department Says In Lawsuit

By NPR News October 20, 2020

The U.S. Justice Department is suing Google, accusing the tech giant of breaking antitrust laws as it amassed power and grew into the world's most dominant search engine. Philippe Huguen/AFP via Getty Images

The antitrust lawsuit against Google is the most significant action the federal government has taken against a technology company in two decades. Google calls the lawsuit "deeply flawed."Read More

Hanford Contractors Settle $58 Million Claim Over Fraudulent Labor Billing Practices

By NWPB News September 23, 2020

A new sign graces the entrance onto the Hanford site near Richland, Washington. CREDIT: ANNA KING

Under the settlement, Bechtel Corp. and Aecom will pay nearly $58 million over allegations from current or former Hanford employees. The workers said they were retaliated against for blowing the whistle over how labor hours were billed. Read More

Oregon Sues Federal Agencies Over Protest Enforcement, Civil Rights Abuses As Clashes Continue

By NWPB News July 19, 2020

Federal officers deployed tear gas and fired less-lethal rounds into a crowd of protesters late Thursday, July 16, 2020. The actions came just hours after the head of the Department of Homeland Security called the protesters “violent anarchists.” CREDIT: Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian via AP

The federal lawsuit names the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Marshals Service, the United States Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Protective Service, agencies that have had a role in stepped-up force used against protesters since early July. The state filed the lawsuit late Friday night.Read More

President Trump Fires Top U.S. Prosecutor Who Investigated His Allies, Barr Says

By NPR News June 20, 2020

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman speaks to reporters last year about two Florida men associated with President Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani and the Ukraine investigation. CREDIT: Seth Wenig/AP

The attorney general said Trump removed Geoffrey Berman as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. But the president quickly sought to distance himself from the decision.Read More

U.S. Justice Department Is Dropping Its Case Against Ex-Trump Adviser Michael Flynn

By NPR News May 7, 2020

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn leaves the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., in late 2018. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

After months of wrangling following the Russia investigation, prosecutors aren't going ahead with the case based on the former national security adviser's false statements to the FBI.Read More

U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr Tells Prosecutors To Look For Unconstitutional Virus Rules From States

By NWPB News April 27, 2020

President Trump has congratulated Attorney General William Barr for "taking charge" of the Roger Stone case. Susan Walsh/AP

Attorney General William Barr on Monday ordered federal prosecutors across the U.S. to identify coronavirus-related restrictions from state and local governments “that could be violating the constitutional rights and civil liberties of individual citizens.”Read More

Roger Stone Sentenced To More Than 3 Years Amid Controversy Over President Trump And DOJ

By NPR News February 20, 2020

Roger Stone, former adviser to President Trump, arrives at the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse on Thursday in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Nydia. CREDIT: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

President Trump's political adviser was found guilty on all counts by a federal jury last year after he was charged with lying to Congress and obstructing its investigation.Read More

1,100 Former DOJ Employees Call On AG Barr To Resign After Intervening In Roger Stone Case

By NPR News February 16, 2020

William Barr's Justice Department lowered the prison sentence recommendation for Roger Stone, a longtime ally of President Trump, in a move that's led to accusations of political interference. Read More

Attorney General Says Trump’s Tweets About DOJ Make His Job ‘Impossible’

By NPR News February 13, 2020

Attorney General William Barr, pictured during a news conference on Monday, tells ABC News that President Trump should stop his commentary about ongoing Justice Department cases. CREDIT: Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

William Barr told ABC News that he wishes the president wouldn't offer commentary about cases the Justice Department is handling or judges before which its attorneys are arguing.Read More

Federal Prosecutors Quit Roger Stone Case After DOJ Seeks Less Prison Time For Trump Ally

By NPR News February 11, 2020

Roger Stone leaves federal court with his wife, Nydia Stone, on the day he was found guilty last fall. CREDIT: Julio Cortez/AP

President Trump had called the seven-to-nine-year sentence prosecutors had initially sought "unfair." His Justice Department then requested a lesser sentence.Read More

Federal Government Sues King County Over Ban Of Deportation Flights From Boeing Field

By NWPB News February 10, 2020

A man detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement waves back to activists from the Yakima Immigrant Response Network Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019 as they wave signs and call out "no estas solo, you are not alone." CREDIT: ENRIQUE PÉREZ DE LA ROSA/NWPB

The United States Department of Justice is suing King County over its ban on deportation flights from Boeing Field. A King County executive order banned deportation flights from Boeing Field in April 2019. Since then, ICE has diverted detainees to and from Yakima airport by bus.Read More

Chinese Hackers Charged In Alleged Cyber-Theft Of 145 Million Americans’ Data

By NPR News February 10, 2020

Attorney General William Barr and top law enforcement officials announced what they called a huge cyberattack on Monday at the Justice Department. CREDIT: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

The credit agency Equifax was compromised by a cyberattack that permitted China's military to steal names, Social Security numbers and other personally identifiable information.Read More

Attorney General Announces DOJ Plan To Address Crisis Of Missing And Murdered Native Americans

By NPR News November 25, 2019

Attorney General William Barr speaks with Myrna DuMontier (left) and Charmel Gillin (right), councilwomen with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes on Friday on the Flathead Reservation in Pablo, Mont. CREDIT: Patrick Semansky/AP

Studies find that Native Americans, especially women, are victims of disproportionate levels of violence, and state and federal databases inadequately track the crisis.Read More

Judge Orders DOJ To Hand Over Mueller Material, Validates Impeachment Probe

By NPR News October 25, 2019

A judge has ruled that the Justice Department must turn over grand jury material as part of the House impeachment inquiry. Liam James Doyle/NPR

Chief District Judge Beryl Howell rejected the Justice Department's case that the grand jury material must stay secret and Republicans' argument that a vote was needed to launch impeachment.Read More

Justice Department Announces Plan To Collect DNA From Migrants Crossing The Border

By NPR News October 21, 2019

Attorney General William Barr speaks at an event in Washington earlier this month. On Monday, he issued a proposed rule seeking to allow the federal government collect DNA samples from more than 740,000 immigrants every year. Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Immigrant advocates are denouncing the proposal, arguing that collecting genetic information of border crossers could have implications for family members residing in the U.S. Read More

President Trump Responds To Scrutiny Of Ukraine Call

By NPR News September 25, 2019

President Trump speaks to the media at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

President Trump asked his Ukrainian counterpart to see what he could find out about former Vice President Joe Biden and his family and to be in touch with Trump's lawyer and the attorney general.Read More

23 States, Including Washington And Oregon, Sue Trump Admin In Fight Over Vehicle Emissions

By NPR News September 21, 2019

Tailpipe emissions. CREDIT: FLICKR/EUTOPICATION AND HYPOXIA

The lawsuit comes two days after the Trump administration revoked California's ability to set its own rules for automobiles. The state's top prosecutor blasted the move as "arbitrary and capricious."Read More

Justice Department Sues Edward Snowden, Seeking Profits From His Book

By Scott Leadingham September 17, 2019

The Justice Department says Edward Snowden, seen here via video feed, breached nondisclosure agreements he signed with the National Security Agency and CIA with the publication of his new memoir, Permanent Record. Juliet Linderman /AP

DOJ lawyers want all of Snowden's profits and royalties from Permanent Record, and all of the publisher's assets related to the memoir, to be placed in a special fund benefiting the U.S. government.Read More

Researching Medical Marijuana May Soon Get Easier With DOJ Allowing More Applications

By NPR News August 29, 2019

Cyndi Michael, a former medical marijuana grower, holds the last syringes of cannabis tincture she will process for sale in Rickreall, Ore., after deciding to no longer grow medical marijuana. The number of medical marijuana growers participating in Oregon's 20-year-old medical cannabis program has plummeted after the state legalized cannabis for all adults. Michael, who once grew for eight patients, could no longer make ends meet and also lost her business selling supplies to other medical marijuana growers.

Researchers hoping to study marijuana for scientific and medical purposes are one step closer to expanding their limited supply of the plant. This week, the federal government announced it would begin processing dozens of pending applications for permission to cultivate the plant for scientific research.Read More

DOJ: Comey Violated Policy On His Trump Memos — But Won’t Be Prosecuted

By NPR News August 29, 2019

Former FBI Director James Comey leaves the Rayburn House Office Building after testifying to the House judiciary and oversight committees on Capitol Hill on Dec. 7, 2018. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

An inspector general investigation concluded that former FBI Director James Comey broke rules governing the handling of documents that described his now-famous exchanges with President Trump.Read More

Americans Are Divided On Federal Executions. Why Is The Trump Administration Reviving Them?

By PBS Newshour July 26, 2019

The execution chamber at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Florence is shown in a screen grab from a video provided by the Arizona Department of Corrections on March 4, 2015. Courtesy Arizona DOC-REUTERS

The first federal inmate scheduled to be executed under the newly re-opened policy is Danny Lewis Lee, a white supremacist from the Spokane, Wash., area convicted of three murders in Arkansas and bombing Spokane City Hall in 1996.Read More

Federal Government To Resume Capital Punishment After Nearly 20-Year Hiatus

By NPR News July 25, 2019

U.S. Department of Justice - Office of Attorney General sign. CREDIT: Patrick Semansky/AP

"The Justice Department upholds the rule of law — and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system," Attorney General William Barr said.Read More

Dozens Of Doctors And Other Medical Workers Charged In Federal Opioid Sting

By NPR News April 17, 2019

Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski said Wednesday that if doctors or pharmacists behave like drug dealers, the Justice Department would prosecute them accordingly. Jose Luis Magana/AP

The Department of Justice said defendants allegedly pushed more than 32 million unneeded pills, contributing to a drug crisis and potentially defrauding the health care system.Read More

Greg Craig, Onetime White House Counsel, Charged In Ukraine Case

By NPR News April 11, 2019

Former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig is facing charges related to the work he and his former law firm did on behalf of the former government of Ukraine. Charles Dharapak/Associated Press

The well-known D.C. lawyer stepped down from a powerful law firm that has been ensnared in the Russia investigation over failure to disclose work for a foreign client as required by an obscure law.Read More

Judges Ask ICE to Make Courts Off Limits To Immigration Arrests

By NPR News December 13, 2018

The Association of Legal Aid Attorneys along with dozens of unions, immigrant rights organizations, and community groups held a rally on December 7, 2017 at Brooklyn Borough Hall to call on the Office of Court Administration and Chief Judge Janet DiFiore to prohibit Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents from entering state courthouses, and to end coordination with ICE. Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

For 25 years, schools, hospitals and places of worship have effectively been off-limits to federal immigration officers. Now, a group of dozens of former state and federal judges is asking U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to add courthouses to the list of "sensitive locations" where their officers generally do not go.Read More

White House And DOJ Ask Supreme Court To Fast-Track Ruling On Transgender Military Ban

By NPR News November 24, 2018

It's not the first time that the administration has asked the Supreme Court to intercede in the appeals process. Read More

Moldova To Minnesota: Man Allegedly Faked Death For $2 Million Insurance Payout

By NPR News November 21, 2018

Igor Vorotinov, 54, was arrested in Moldova on Nov. 14 and extradited to the U.S. on Saturday. He made his first appearance in court on Monday.

Igor Vorotinov had been living in Moldova after allegedly faking his death there in 2011. He was brought back to Minnesota on Saturday by U.S. law enforcement.Read More

Trump Administration Faces Legal Challenges For Asylum Restrictions

By NPR News November 19, 2018

Members of the migrant caravan walk to make requests for political asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border last week in Tijuana, Mexico.

As Trump cracks down on asylum-seekers, federal lawsuits argue that the administration is turning its back on legal precedent and international law.Read More

How A ‘Court Records Nerd’ Discovered The Government May Be Charging Julian Assange

By NPR News November 18, 2018

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could soon be facing criminal charges from the Department of Justice, according to language discovered in an unrelated court document by terrorism researcher Seamus Hughes.

One minute, Seamus Hughes was reading the book 'Dragons Love Tacos' to his son. The next minute, he stumbled on what could be one of the most closely guarded secrets within the U.S. government. Read More

Justice Department Expands Assistance To Tribal Police, Calling It ‘Right Thing To Do’

By NPR News October 22, 2018

Navajo Nation police Lt. Clifton Smith's department is among those with access to national anti-crime databases. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is expanding that program. CREDIT: Felicia Fonseca/AP

The program covers a number of real-world situations: assisting with the registration of sex offenders; identifying human remains; locating endangered and missing people; arming tribal law enforcement with information about people they encounter in traffic stops; and conducting background checks to vet foster parents.Read More

ICE Removes Immigration Detainees From Federal Prisons, Including Washington; 3 Remain In Oregon

By Conrad Wilson October 21, 2018

The federal corrections center in Sheridan, Ore. CREDIT: OPB

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has all but abandoned its use of federal prisons to house detainees. Three ICE detainees that remain are inside the federal prison in Sheridan, Oregon.Read More