Stephen Dinan

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 13:50:00 -0400

Former FBI Director James Comey was being investigated by the government's Office of Special Counsel for potential Hatch Act violations at the time he was fired, according to new documents released Friday as part of a Freedom of Information Act case.

The OSC investigation was cut short by the firing, ...

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 13:03:44 -0400

A man who was once one of Liberia's most violent warlords during that country's brutal civil war was sentenced to 30 years in prison Friday for immigration fraud, after authorities said he lied about his past when he won asylum in the U.S.

Mohammed Jabbateh, 51, led the United Liberation ...

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:50:00 -0400

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, announced his support Friday for decriminalizing marijuana, and said he'll introduce a bill to strip the drug from being listed as a federally controlled substance.

The announcement is a major step in marijuana politics, earning the support of perhaps the ...

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 15:39:29 -0400

President Trump lost another round in his legal battle over sanctuary cities Thursday as a federal appeals court ruled that he could not force localities to let deportation officers into their prisons and jails to go after illegal immigrants.

The administration promised to continue to fight, saying the decision by ...

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 14:14:25 -0400

The Justice Department inspector general has referred former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe's case to federal prosecutors to decide whether to bring a criminal case against him, his attorney said Thursday.

The decision represents serious legal trouble for Mr. McCabe and could pit him directly against his former boss, then-FBI ...

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 12:57:43 -0400

President Trump said Thursday that he wouldn't pay for the California National Guard to join his deployment to the border, saying Gov. Jerry Brown's restrictions meant the troops would "do nothing."

Hours later the Pentagon undercut Mr. Trump, telling California that the deployment is on track and the government will ...

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 09:44:41 -0400

Republicans are going to be playing catch-up as they try to keep Arizona's Senate seat red this year, according to a new poll Thursday that shows Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, the likely Democratic nominee, ahead of all three major GOP rivals.

And President Trump is a major problem for the Republicans, ...

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 23:20:36 -0400

Homeland Security officials regularly bungle their estimates for detention beds needed to hold immigrants awaiting deportation, getting both the bed-number and the cost wrong in requests to Congress, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report Wednesday.

The findings could undercut President Trump's request for a massive increase in ...

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 21:34:06 -0400

A legal watchdog filed a bar grievance against former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on Wednesday while conservative members of Congress, accusing him of lying under oath, referred him to the Justice Department for criminal charges.

The calls for discipline came just days after an inspector general's report laid out ...

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 20:17:11 -0400

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed an order Wednesday deploying National Guard troops to the border, making good on his promise to support President Trump's request but on his own terms.

Mr. Brown said up to 400 troops will help Homeland Security go after criminal gangs, human smugglers, drug traffickers and ...

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 20:14:43 -0400

The number of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh jumping the border to sneak into the U.S. is on pace to double in the Laredo region of Texas, officials said Wednesday, in what is the latest worrying surge of migration from a country with terrorism dangers.

The illegal immigrants pay up to ...

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 19:49:10 -0400

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte is preparing to issue a subpoena to force the Justice Department to turn over former FBI Director James B. Comey's memos that he wrote — and then had leaked — detailing his interactions with President Trump.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the ranking Democrat on the ...

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 17:38:15 -0400

A federal judge ruled Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach in contempt of court Wednesday, saying he misled election officials and voters despite the court's orders laying out notices he was supposed to send to them about voting status.

U.S. District Judge Julie A. Robinson cited Mr. Kobach's "history of ...

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 13:38:00 -0400

A group of conservative Republicans sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department Wednesday asking prosecutors to consider bringing charges against former FBI Director James Comey, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others involved in the probe into Mrs. Clinton's emails.

They also complained ...

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 13:14:00 -0400

The Treasury Department slapped sanctions Wednesday on a Syrian man and his criminal syndicate, blaming them for smuggling "hundreds" of illegal immigrants from Syria and Lebanon into Mexico and then helping them to jump the border into the U.S.

Nasif Barakat and his syndicate, which authorities labeled the Barakat Transnational ...

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 11:29:00 -0400

A bipartisan majority in the House tried to jump-start the DACA debate Wednesday, announcing they have around 240 members who have signed onto a plan to push immigration onto the floor of the chamber and insist a solution to emerge.

As of now the lawmakers have only signed onto an ...

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 00:00:09 -0400

Immigrants to the U.S. are increasingly better-educated than previous generations of newcomers — but they still start off low on the economic ladder, with their median incomes having declined over the last decade according to a new report being released Wednesday.

Nearly 17 percent of recent immigrants in prime working ...

Tue, 17 Apr 2018 18:53:39 -0400

The IRS gave taxpayers an additional day to file their returns — until midnight Wednesday — after the agency sustained a major breakdown that left its systems unable to accept online filings or payments for much of Tuesday.

The embarrassing chaos left agency leaders struggling for an explanation and forced ...

Tue, 17 Apr 2018 17:39:30 -0400

Republican leaders in both the House and Senate said Tuesday they will not schedule votes on bipartisan legislation designed to stop President Trump from firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller, saying they don't think it will come to that.

The comments by House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader ...

Tue, 17 Apr 2018 16:52:00 -0400

Congressional Democrats fired off a letter Tuesday demanding the House hold hearings on President Trump's decision last week to pardon former Bush White House figure I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, saying Mr. Trump is abusing his powers.

All of the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee called on Chairman Bob Goodlatte, ...