Tag Archives: Tom Williams

Daily Beast: Pam Bondi Toys With Axing DOJ’s Public Corruption Unit

Posted on by
Reply

The Justice Department is considering scrapping a key safeguard that prevents politically motivated prosecutions of Congress members.

Attorney General Pam Bondi is reportedly considering doing away with a critical Justice Department safeguard designed to prevent politically motivated prosecutions of elected officials, according to multiple officials familiar with a proposal circulated last week.

The change would remove the requirement of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section (PIN), a Watergate-era department responsible for reviewing and approving prosecutions of public officials and signing off on federal prosecutors’ indictments of lawmakers. Instead, Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys would have the power to bring corruption charges without centralized oversight.

PIN also handles voting-related matters. In the case of a contested election, they would determine how the DOJ would intervene.

The damage has mostly been done already as the office effectively has been gutted:

Since Trump took office, PIN has already been hollowed out, as have other DOJ offices. The 30 prosecutors working in the office at the end of the Biden administration have been cut to fewer than five. Several have resigned, been reassigned, or were fired after clashing with Bondi and other Trump appointees.

Pam Bondi Toys With Axing DOJ’s Public Corruption Unit
The Justice Department is considering scrapping a key safeguard that prevents politically motivated prosecutions of Congress members.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pam-bondi-toys-with-axing-dojs-public-corruption-unit

Newsweek: Donald Trump’s New Order Sparks ‘Martial Law’ Concerns

Posted on by
Reply

President Donald Trump has ordered federal agencies to increase the flow of military and national security equipment to local law enforcement, a move that has raised concerns about the militarization of policing across the United States.

Why It Matters

Research into militarized police forces has found the practice can erode public trust, escalate encounters between police and citizens and blur the distinction between military operations and domestic law enforcement.

This executive order specifically has increased fears around an encroachment toward martial law. The president has already called for his government to review the Insurrection Act, which would give more domestic power to the military, and now wants to provide regular law enforcement with militaristic material.

What To Know

The “Strengthening and Unleashing America’s Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens” executive order, which the president signed on Monday, directs Attorney General Pam Bondi [Bimbo #3] and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, in consultation with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem [Bimbo #2] and other agency heads, to “increase the provision of excess military and national security assets in local jurisdictions” within 90 days.

The directive gives the attorney general and the secretary of defense a three-month deadline to begin expanding the provision of military and national security resources to “assist state and local law enforcement.”

Donald Trump’s new order sparks “martial law” concerns
A new executive order has raised fears of “martial law” as it would facilitate an increase in military equipment for law enforcement.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-new-order-sparks-martial-law-concerns-2065618

Guardian: Fears grow that Signal leaks make Pete Hegseth top espionage target

Posted on by
Reply

Experts say Pentagon chief has endangered secrets of US defense department and given assistance to foreign spies

As more develops about the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and his repeated disclosures of sensitive military intelligence in unsecured Signal group chats, there are growing concerns his behavior has weakened the Pentagon in the eyes of its foreign adversaries and made him and his entourage a top espionage target.

Allies, already concerned by Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs, have also begun to see the US as an intelligence-sharing liability. There are fears that the mounting firings and leak inquiries in Hegseth’s orbit, along with his inability to manage these internal crises, exposes the entire global US war footing – especially, if a geopolitical and external crisis comes across his desk.

Fears grow that Signal leaks make Pete Hegseth top espionage target
Experts say Pentagon chief has endangered secrets of US defense department and given assistance to foreign spies

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/23/pete-hegseth-pentagon-espionage

Mediaite: House Republican Comes Out Swinging Against ‘Amateur Person’ Pete Hegseth and Calls for His Ouster

Posted on by
Reply

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) became the first House Republican to suggest that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is no longer fit to keep his job, in scathing comments made to Politico’s Rachel Bade on Monday.

“I had concerns from the get-go because Pete Hegseth didn’t have a lot of experience,” Bacon told Bade, following the bombshell revelations over the weekend that Hegseth had shared national security details in a second Signal group chat – this time one that included his wife.

Bacon, a retired Air Force general, added, “ … I find it unacceptable, and I wouldn’t tolerate it if I was in charge,” …,

House Republican Comes Out Swinging Against ‘Amateur Person’ Pete Hegseth and Calls for His Ouster
“I’m not in the White House, and I’m not going to tell the White House how to manage this … but I find it unacceptable, and I wouldn’t tolerate it” The post House Republican Comes Out Swinging Against ‘Amateur Person’ Pete Hegseth and Calls for His Ouster first appeared on Mediaite.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/house-republican-comes-out-swinging-against-amateur-person-pete-hegseth-and-calls-for-his-ouster/ar-AA1Dl5oC

Wall Street Journal: Hegseth Brought His Wife to Sensitive Meetings With Foreign Military Officials

Posted on by
Reply

Defense secretary’s handling of sensitive information is under fire after he shared details about a strike on Houthi militants in a group chat on a widely used app

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is facing scrutiny over his handling of details of a military strike, brought his wife, a former Fox News producer, to two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed, according to multiple people who were present or had knowledge of the discussions.

One of the meetings, a high-level discussion at the Pentagon on March 6 between Hegseth and U.K. Secretary of Defense John Healey, took place at a sensitive moment for the trans-Atlantic alliance, one day after the U.S. said it had cut off military intelligence sharing with Ukraine. The group that met at the Pentagon, which included Adm. Tony Radakin, the head of the U.K.’s armed forces, discussed the U.S. rationale behind that decision, as well as future military collaboration between the two allies, according to people familiar with the meeting. 

…

Jennifer Hegseth also attended a meeting last month at North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters in Brussels where allied defense officials discussed their support for Ukraine, according to two people who attended the meeting. Hegseth’s brother Philip Hegseth has also been traveling with him on official visits, the Pentagon said.

Too stupid to learn?

Exclusive | Hegseth Brought His Wife to Sensitive Meetings With Foreign Military Officials – WSJ