Countering Threats and Attacks on Our Judges Act

— 573 — Department of Justice ENDNOTES 1. Judiciary Act of 1789, ch. 20, sec. 35, 1 Stat. 73 (1789), https://judicial-discipline-reform.org/docs/Judiciary_ Act_1789.pdf (accessed February 3, 2023). 2. An Act to Establish the Department of Justice, Public Law No. 41-97, 16 Stat. 162 (1870), https://www.justice. gov/sites/default/files/jmd/legacy/2013/10/23/act-pl41-97.pdf (accessed February 3, 2023). 3. John F. Fox, Jr., “The Birth of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, “History,” July 2003, https://bit.ly/3G4LmD0 (accessed February 3, 2023). 4. Trafalgar Group, “Nationwide Issues Survey August 2022,” pp. 19, 22, and 25, https://www.thetrafalgargroup. org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/COSA-FBI_DOJ-Opinion-Full-Report-0824.pdf (accessed February 3, 2023). 5. John Solomon, “FBI Email Chain May Provide Most Damning Evidence of FISA Abuses Yet,” The Hill, December 5, 2018, https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/419901-fbi-email-chain-may-provide-most-damning-evidence-of-fisa- abuses-yet/ (accessed February 3, 2023); Post Editorial Board, “The FBI Knew RussiaGate Was a Lie—But Hid That Truth,” New York Post, June 11, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/06/11/the-fbi-knew-russiagate-was-a-lie- but-hid-that-truth/ (accessed February 3, 2023). 6. John Solomon, “Collusion Bombshell: DNC Lawyers Met with FBI on Russia Allegations Before Surveillance Warrant,” The Hill, October 3, 2018, https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/409817-russia-collusion-bombshell-dnc- lawyers-met-with-fbi-on-dossier-before/ (accessed February 3, 2023); Eric Tucker, “Ex-FBI Lawyer Admits to False Statement During Russia Probe,” AP News, August 19, 2020, https://apnews.com/article/election-2020- b9b3c7ef398d00d5dfee9170d66cefec (accessed February 3, 2023). 7. Jesse O’Neill, “FBI Pressured Twitter, Sent Trove of Docs Hours Before Post Broke Hunter Laptop Story,” New York Post, December 19, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/12/19/fbi-reached-out-to-twitter-before-post-broke- hunter-biden-laptop-story/ (accessed February 3, 2023). 8. Memorandum from Attorney General Merrick Garland to Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation; Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys; Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division; and United States Attorneys, “Subject: Partnership Among Federal, State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Law Enforcement to Address Threats Against School Administrators, Board Members, Teachers, and Staff,” October 4, 2021, https:// www.justice.gov/ag/page/file/1438986/download (accessed February 3, 2023) (cited hereafter as Garland Memorandum, October 4, 2021). 9. Dillon Burroughs, “25 States Have Now Left National School Boards Association as Nebraska Departs,” Daily Wire, June 13, 2022, https://www.dailywire.com/news/25-states-have-now-left-national-school-boards- association-as-nebraska-departs (accessed February 3, 2023). 10. Brianna Herlily, “FBI Met Weekly with Big Tech Ahead of the 2020 Election, Agent Testifies,” Fox News, December 3, 2022, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fbi-weekly-big-tech-ahead-2020-election-agent- testifies (accessed February 3, 2023); Allie Griffin, “Latest ‘Twitter Files’ Show FBI Bullied Executives Over Not Reporting ‘State Propaganda’ Enough, New York Post, December 18, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/12/18/ latest-twitter-files-show-fbi-questioned-executives-over-users-spouting-state-propaganda/ (accessed February 3, 2023). 11. Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD), “In the end, the FBI's influence campaign aimed at executives at news media, Twitter, & other social media companies worked: they censored & discredited the Hunter Biden laptop story. By Dec. 2020, Baker and his colleagues even sent a note of thanks to the FBI for its work,” Twitter, December 19, 2022, 1:35 PM), https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1604908212628598784 (accessed February 3, 2023). 12. Press release, “Eleven Charged with FACE Act Violations Stemming from 2021 Blockade of Mount Juliet Reproductive Health Clinic,” U.S. Department of Justice, United States Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Tennessee, October 5, 2022, https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdtn/pr/eleven-charged-face-act-violations- stemming-2021-blockade-mount-juliet-reproductive (accessed February 3, 2023); Kaelan Deese, “DOJ Official Touts Prosecution of Anti-Abortion Advocates While Vandalized Pregnancy Centers Await Justice,” Washington Examiner, December 14, 2022, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/doj-official- admits-to-prosecuting-pro-life-advocates (accessed February 3, 2023); S. 636, Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994, Public Law No. 103-259, 103rd Congress, May 26, 1994, https://www.congress.gov/103/ statute/STATUTE-108/STATUTE-108-Pg694.pdf (accessed February 5, 2023). — 574 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise 13. Aruna Viswanatha and Sadie Gurman, “Almost Half of Federal Cases Against Portland Rioters Have Been Dismissed,” The Wall Street Journal, updated April 15, 2021), https://www.wsj.com/articles/almost-half- of-federal-cases-against-portland-rioters-have-been-dismissed-11618501979 (accessed February 3, 2023); Just the News Staff, “Antifa-led Portland Rioter Charged with Assault Police [sic] Has Case Dismissed After Community Service,” Just the News, updated December 30, 2021, https://justthenews.com/government/ courts-law/antifa-led-portland-rioter-charge-assault-police-has-case-dismissed-after (accessed February 3, 2023). 14. Press release, “Justice Department Sues Texas Over Senate Bill 8: Complaint Alleges Senate Bill 8 Violates the Constitution by Effectively Banning Most Abortions,” U.S. Department of Justice, September 9, 2021, https:// www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-texas-over-senate-bill-8 (accessed February 3, 2023). 15. Dorian Geiger, “DOJ Warns States Over Blocking Access to Gender-Affirming Treatment,” Axios, March 31, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/03/31/doj-warns-states-blocking-gender-affirming-care (accessed February 3, 2023). 16. Joyce White Vance, “The Justice Department Is Suing Georgia. Don’t Expect Garland to End There,” The Washington Post, June 29, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/06/29/merrick-garland- suing-georgia-voting/ (accessed February 3, 2023); David Nakamura and Devlin Barrett, “Justice Dept. Sues Texas Over State Redistricting Maps, Citing Discrimination Against Latinos,” The Washington Post, December 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/texas-maps-garland-latinos- justice/2021/12/06/4011ce78-56aa-11ec-9a18-a506cf3aa31d_story.html (accessed February 3, 2023); Holmes Lybrand and Paul LeBlanc, “Justice Department Sues Arizona Over New Election Law Requiring Proof of Citizenship,” CNN, updated July 5, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/05/politics/arizona-election-law- justice-department/index.html (accessed February 3, 2023). 17. Zachary Pottle, “America’s Fentanyl Crisis Is Getting Worse,” Addiction Center, August 26, 2022, https://www. addictioncenter.com/news/2022/08/americas-fentanyl-crisis/ (accessed February 3, 2023). 18. Emily Jacobs, “Merrick Garland Speaks at DOJ Before Swearing-in by VP Kamala Harris,” New York Post, updated March 11, 2021, https://nypost.com/2021/03/11/merrick-garland-speaks-at-doj-before-swearing-in- by-kamala-harris/ (accessed February 3, 2023). 19. Eliot H. Lumbard, “State and Local Government Crime Control,” Notre Dame Law Review, Vol. 43, Issue 6 (1968), pp. 899–907, https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/cgi/viewcontent. cgi?httpsredir=1&article=3119&context=ndlr (accessed February 3, 2023). 20. Emma Colton, “Chip Roy Demands DOJ Explain Light Sentence for Floyd Riot Arsonist Who Killed Father of 5,” Fox News, February 10, 2022, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chip-roy-light-sentence-george-floyd- arsonist-riots-2020 (accessed February 3, 2023); Chris Enloe, “DOJ Asked for Lenient Sentence for 2020 Rioter Who Burned Down Pawn Shop, Killing One Man. Prosecutors Even Cited MLK,” Blaze Media News, January 29, 2022, https://www.theblaze.com/news/doj-lenient-sentence-rioter-arson#toggle-gdpr (accessed February 3, 2023); Chris Pandolfo, “House Republicans Release 1,000-Page Report Alleging Politicization in the FBI, DOJ,” Fox News, November 4, 2022, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-republicans-release- 1000-page-report-alleging-politicization-fbi-doj (accessed February 3, 2023); Brooke Singman, “Cruz Slams ‘Politicized’ Biden DOJ for Appointing Trump Special Counsel: ‘Absolutely Disgraceful,’” Fox News, November19, 2022, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cruz-slams-biden-doj-appointing-special-counsel-investigate- trump-absolutely-disgraceful (accessed February 3, 2023). 21. 8 U.S. Code § 1324 (Bringing in and harboring certain aliens), https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1324 (accessed March 9, 2023); 8 U.S. Code § 1325 (Improper entry by alien), https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/ text/8/1325 (accessed February 5, 2023); 8 U.S. Code § 1326 (Reentry of removed aliens), https://www.law. cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1326 (accessed February 5, 2023); 8 U.S. Code § 1327 (Aiding or assisting certain aliens to enter), https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1327 (accessed February 5, 2023); 8 U.S. Code § 1328 (Importation of alien for immoral purpose), https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1328 (accessed February 5, 2023; press release, “In Brief Filed with Supreme Court, AFL Hammers Biden Administration’s Termination of MPP—Cites Alarming Statistic That Biden Administration Has Already Released More Than 750,000 Illegal Aliens into the United States from the Border,” America First Legal Foundation, April 14, 2022, https://aflegal.org/ in-brief-filed-with-supreme-court-afl-hammers-biden-administrations-termination-of-mpp-citing-alarming- statistic-that-biden-administration-has-already-released-more-than-750000-ille/ (accessed February 5, 2023).

— 548 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise PRIORITIZING THE PROTECTION OF PUBLIC SAFETY Ordered liberty is at risk when our citizens lack physical safety, when career criminals do not fear the law, when foreign cartels move narcotics and illegal aliens into our nation at will, and when political leaders call citizens “domestic terrorists” for exercising their constitutional rights. The Department of Justice—in partnership with state and local partners—must recommit in both word and deed to protecting public safety. The overwhelming majority of crimes in the United States are properly handled at the state and local levels,19 but the DOJ can provide critical technical support for local law enforcement and play a critical agenda-setting role. With respect to the Department’s core responsibilities—enforcing our immigration laws, combating domestic and international criminal enterprises, protecting federal civil rights, and combating foreign espionage—the federal government has primary authority and, accordingly, accountability. The evidence shows that the Biden Administration’s Department of Justice has failed to protect law-abiding citizens and has ignored its most basic obligations. It has become at once utterly unserious and dangerously politicized. Prosecution and charging decisions are infused with racial and partisan political double standards.20 Immigration laws are ignored.21 The FBI harasses protesting parents (branded “domestic terrorists” by some partisans) while working diligently to shut down politically disfavored speech on the pretext of its being “misinformation” or “disin- formation.”22 A department that prosecutes FACE Act cases while ignoring dozens of violent attacks on pregnancy care centers and/or the coordinated violation of laws that prohibit attempts to intimidate Supreme Court Justices by parading out- side of their homes23 has clearly lost its way. A department that has twice engaged in covert domestic election interference and propaganda operations—the Russian collusion hoax in 2016 and the Hunter Biden laptop suppression in 2020—is a threat to the Republic.24 l Restoring the department’s focus on public safety and a culture of respect for the rule of law is a gargantuan task that will involve at minimum four overriding actions: l Restoring the FBI’s integrity. l Renewing the DOJ’s focus on violent crime. l Dismantling domestic and international criminal enterprises. l Pursuing a national security agenda aimed at external state and non-state actors, not U.S. citizens exercising their constitutional rights. — 549 — Department of Justice RESTORING THE FBI’S INTEGRITY The FBI was founded in 1908 to “tackle national crime and security issues” when “there was hardly any systematic way of enforcing the law across this now broad landscape of America.”25 It best serves the American people when it dedicates its resources and energies to attacking violent crime,26 criminal organizations,27 child predators,28 cyber-crime, and other uniquely federal interests.29 Revelations regarding the FBI’s role in the Russia hoax of 2016, Big Tech collu- sion, and suppression of Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020 strongly suggest that the FBI is completely out of control. To protect the Constitution, fight crime effectively, and protect the nation from foreign adversaries, the next conservative Adminis- tration should begin to restore the FBI’s domestic reputation and integrity and enhance its effectiveness in meeting actual foreign threats. To do so, the next con- servative Administration should: l Conduct an immediate, comprehensive review of all major active FBI investigations and activities and terminate any that are unlawful or contrary to the national interest.30 This is an enormous task, but it is necessary to re-earn the American people’s trust in the FBI and its work. To conduct this review, the department should detail attorney appointees with criminal, national security, or homeland security backgrounds to catalogue any questionable activities and elevate them to appropriate DOJ leadership consistent with the new chain of command (discussed below). The department should also consider issuing a public report of the findings from this review as appropriate. l Align the FBI’s placement within the department and the federal government with its law enforcement and national security purposes. DOJ veterans often opine that the FBI views itself as an independent agency—accountable to no one and on par with the Attorney General in terms of stature—but the fact remains that “[t]he Federal Bureau of Investigation is located in the Department of Justice.”31 It is not independent from the department (just as Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not independent from the Department of Homeland Security) and does not deserve to be treated as if it were. The next conservative Administration should direct the Attorney General to remove the FBI from the Deputy Attorney General’s direct supervision within the department’s organizational chart and instead place it under the general supervision of the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division and the supervision of the Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division, as applicable.32 This can be accomplished

— 548 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise PRIORITIZING THE PROTECTION OF PUBLIC SAFETY Ordered liberty is at risk when our citizens lack physical safety, when career criminals do not fear the law, when foreign cartels move narcotics and illegal aliens into our nation at will, and when political leaders call citizens “domestic terrorists” for exercising their constitutional rights. The Department of Justice—in partnership with state and local partners—must recommit in both word and deed to protecting public safety. The overwhelming majority of crimes in the United States are properly handled at the state and local levels,19 but the DOJ can provide critical technical support for local law enforcement and play a critical agenda-setting role. With respect to the Department’s core responsibilities—enforcing our immigration laws, combating domestic and international criminal enterprises, protecting federal civil rights, and combating foreign espionage—the federal government has primary authority and, accordingly, accountability. The evidence shows that the Biden Administration’s Department of Justice has failed to protect law-abiding citizens and has ignored its most basic obligations. It has become at once utterly unserious and dangerously politicized. Prosecution and charging decisions are infused with racial and partisan political double standards.20 Immigration laws are ignored.21 The FBI harasses protesting parents (branded “domestic terrorists” by some partisans) while working diligently to shut down politically disfavored speech on the pretext of its being “misinformation” or “disin- formation.”22 A department that prosecutes FACE Act cases while ignoring dozens of violent attacks on pregnancy care centers and/or the coordinated violation of laws that prohibit attempts to intimidate Supreme Court Justices by parading out- side of their homes23 has clearly lost its way. A department that has twice engaged in covert domestic election interference and propaganda operations—the Russian collusion hoax in 2016 and the Hunter Biden laptop suppression in 2020—is a threat to the Republic.24 l Restoring the department’s focus on public safety and a culture of respect for the rule of law is a gargantuan task that will involve at minimum four overriding actions: l Restoring the FBI’s integrity. l Renewing the DOJ’s focus on violent crime. l Dismantling domestic and international criminal enterprises. l Pursuing a national security agenda aimed at external state and non-state actors, not U.S. citizens exercising their constitutional rights.