Ben Penn

There's an intriguing name being floated to serve as the court-appointed US attorney who'd then sue Trump for his presumed firing. Hint: he already has experience being fired as Seattle US attorney by a Republican administration.

Trump Fraud Pick Deflects Senator Questions on New DOJ Office The White House pick to lead a newly established fraud division outlined his broad enforcement vision while providing senators scant details on cases he’s targeting and dodging questions on Trump-dire...

Trump said JD Vance is leading 'war on fraud' in SOTU, but it was a lesser-known lawyer, Colin McDonald, who faced Senate grilling today on his nomination to head new DOJ fraud division. Like Trump, he offered scant details.
'I do not have cases in mind.' news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Seattle Bar Readies to Confront Trump on Next US Attorney Firing The Trump administration’s escalating confrontation with judges over US attorney appointments is next bound for an entirely Biden-selected trial court in Seattle, where lawyers want whomever is picked...

News: DOJ's war with judges on US attorney picks heads to Seattle, where an all Biden-selected trial court will soon appoint a chief prosecutor. Lawyers are strategizing on tapping someone who'd be ready to litigate a surefire Trump termination. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

ICYMI ⬇️

Democrats Want DOJ’s Details on Fraud Unit Before Nominee Review Senate Democrats are urging the Trump Justice Department to explain the enforcement focus and other aspects of its new fraud division before they consider the White House’s nominee to run it.

Just In: Senate Democratic leaders overseeing DOJ ask Bondi for details on new fraud division. They say DOJ has stonewalled their requests for a briefing & they need answers before considering Trump fraud chief nom Colin McDonald news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

In-Your-Face DOJ Aide Rides Prosecutors for ‘Chief Client’ Trump When leaders of all 93 US attorneys’ offices met for their weekly video chat last month, the 33-year-old Justice Department aide who presided had a blunt message.

Check out my profile of Aakash Singh, the 33-year-old DOJ bro who relishes clamping down on top prosecutors' autonomy, warning them Trump is their 'chief client' while steering many of this administration's most controversial cases news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Lately, Singh’s influence and autonomy are increasing, as he’s filled the void left by the departure of his direct boss, former senior official Emil Bove, said multiple people close to the matter. Since Bove’s exit for the federal bench, Singh’s tried emulating his heavy-handed tactics.

In-Your-Face DOJ Aide Rides Prosecutors for ‘Chief Client’ Trump When leaders of all 93 US attorneys’ offices met for their weekly video chat last month, the 33-year-old Justice Department aide who presided had a blunt message.

Check out my profile of Aakash Singh, the 33-year-old DOJ bro who relishes clamping down on top prosecutors' autonomy, warning them Trump is their 'chief client' while steering many of this administration's most controversial cases news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Updated with Jeanine Pirro's statement praising prosecutor who tried to indict 6 Dems: "Any attempt to undercut his expertise is nothing more than an effort to detract from his excellent prosecutorial record to which few can compare. And by the way, everybody has a hobby."

Apologies - we are correcting the story to note that Carlton Davis, the other Pirro hire who presented this case to grand jury yesterday, was briefly an EDVA line prosecutor in 2018.

He confirmed to me he's the same Steve Vandervelden who updated his studio's Instagram account earlier this morning. Here's his site stevenv873.smugmug.com/Site-Files/A...

Pirro Enlists Dance Photographer-Lawyer in Lawmaker Video Case Washington’s US Attorney Jeanine Pirro tapped a dance photographer who worked for her decades ago as one of the prosecutors who tried—and failed—to convince a grand jury to indict six Democratic lawma...

NEWS: DOJ lawyer who tried & failed to indict 6 Dem lawmakers over military video runs an active dance photography studio & worked for US Atty Pirro decades ago. Grand jury rejected indictment from lawyers w/ no prior DOJ backgrounds. Experts were walled off. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

DOJ spox confirms judicial impeachment effort in statement: “The Dept. of Justice solicited the most egregious examples of this obstruction from our US Attorney Offices to assist Congress with efforts to rein in judges violating their oaths"

Trump DOJ Seeks Judicial Impeachment Fodder From Top Prosecutors A Trump Justice Department official is soliciting examples of perceived judicial activism from all US attorney’s offices to inform potential impeachment referrals to Congress, portending an escalation...

Scoop: A Trump DOJ official recently asked all US attorneys for examples of perceived judicial activism -- i.e., adverse rulings -- to inform potential impeachment referrals to Congress. This would escalate DOJ's clash with the bench. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

US Attorneys Decry Resource Strain From Migrant Detention Cases Six US attorneys warned a “flood” of litigation by migrants challenging their detention has created a “substantial drain on the resources” of their offices in declarations filed in December with the U...

Well before DOJ workload crisis defending detained migrant petitions spilled into public view in MN, 6 US attorneys warned judiciary of the resource-draining flood. Predictably, it has since exploded.
Story w/ @ccastronuovo.bsky.social & Megan Crepeau: news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

DOJ Demands Emergency Surge Prosecutors From All US Attorneys The Justice Department is requiring all US attorneys to rapidly assign prosecutors for “emergency jump teams” supporting districts handling alleged assaults or obstruction of law enforcement, accordin...

Exclusive: DOJ is requiring all 93 US attorneys to designate prosecutors for "emergency jump teams" supporting surge districts dealing with assaults & obstruction of federal officers, per internal memo. Comes as more Minn. prosecutors resign. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Update - judge orders DOJ to explain how FIFA corruption dismissal would serve interests of justice and impact numerous other convictions and hundreds of millions in penalties news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Albus is a protege of Sen. Eric Schmitt, who led a group of red state AGs urging Supreme Court to overturn 2020 election. Albus is also based in Trump loyalist/election denier Ed Martin's home turf.

Bondi Hands St. Louis Prosecutor Nationwide Election Fraud Remit The St. Louis-based US attorney overseeing the FBI search warrant executed on Fulton County’s election office Wednesday received a special appointment by Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate elec...

Scoop: AG Bondi gave St. Louis US Attorney Thomas Albus special appointment with nationwide authority to probe voter fraud. This explains why Albus, not the Atlanta US attorney, was on FBI's Fulton County search warrant yesterday. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Grassley Probes Labor Secretary Over Misconduct Allegations Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is pressing Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer to respond to allegations that she committed travel fraud and had an inappropriate relationship with a staffer, marking the...

Exclusive: Sen. Grassley sends sharply-worded oversight letter to Labor Sec. Chavez-DeRemer over ethics scandal, a shift from Judiciary Chairman's protection of Trump appointees facing misconduct claims & sign she's losing support from Rs. W/ Tre'Vaughn Howard: news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-...

DOJ Watchdog Shuns References to Politicization in Assessment The Justice Department’s internal watchdog stripped references to political independence in a drastically shortened annual list of challenges leaders face.

NEW: Justice Dept. inspector general issues annual list of top challenges facing DOJ that strips reference to political motivation that was a core concern in prior reports. This report was 5 times longer last year & warned of accusations of partisanship.
news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Patel Pushes Out More FBI Leaders and Agents in Renewed Purge FBI Director Kash Patel resumed terminating and sidelining senior officials and agents from offices across the US this week who were involved in investigations against President Donald Trump or the Ja...

News: Kash Patel renews purge of senior FBI officials & agents across US, including some involved in J6 & Mar-a-Lago cases.
Some were investigated by FBI internal misconduct body, which didn't recommend they be fired, but Patel overrode those conclusions.
news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

DOJ Plans Fraud Division Lacking Direct White House Supervision The Justice Department is carrying out the Trump administration’s fraud division initiative with existing personnel who’d be supervised by the deputy attorney general—a departure from the White House’...

NEW: Justice Dept. informs Congress of a reorg that appears to backtrack from JD Vance's statement that White House will run new fraud division.
Assistant AG for fraud will report to DAG Blanche, not Trump or Vance. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Trump pardon of former Puerto Rico governor failed to include a relevant criminal case The White House said that an additional document pardoning Wanda Vázquez Garced will be signed out of an abundance of caution.

NEW: Trump pardon of former Puerto Rico governor failed to include a relevant criminal case

www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

More Data-Driven White-Collar Probes in Pipeline, DOJ Chief Says The Justice Department’s arrest of a CEO on insider-trading charges illustrates how corporate crime enforcers are escalating their use of data to initiate market integrity investigations, the office’s...

One of Trump’s pardons went to Terren Peizer, a healthcare CEO convicted of insider trading in a case prized by prosecutors for showcasing DOJ’s cutting edge use of data analytics to root out fraud. What’s their motivation for pursuing more of these cases? news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Venezuelan banker Herrera Velutini hired former Trump defense lawyer Chris Kise, who retained lobbying heavyweight Brian Ballard for this matter

Trump to Pardon Venezuelan Banker, Ex-Puerto Rico Governor President Donald Trump plans to pardon Puerto Rico’s former governor and a Venezuelan banker accused of bribery, the president’s latest use of clemency power to nullify a long-running corruption case,...

NEWS: Trump is about to pardon a wealthy Venezuelan bank owner whose daughter paid $3.5M to MAGA Inc., & the ex-Puerto Rican govenor who'd endorsed Trump in 2020. Prosecutors accused the duo of a bribery scheme.
news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Military, Fraud Lawyers Replacing Minnesota Prosecutors Who Quit The Justice Department is attempting to offset a spike in Minnesota prosecutor resignations by deploying reinforcements from the military, other US attorney offices, and its health care fraud unit, ac...

News: To replace the Minnesota fed prosecutors who quit in protest, DOJ is sending military lawyers, healthcare fraud specialists, & volunteer line prosecutors from Detroit & LA, per senior official. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Several individuals briefed on the department’s implementation of the Epstein disclosure law said DOJ lawyers are frustrated to be focused on the document review rather than investigating and prosecuting crimes and protecting national security. For instance, attorneys throughout NSD are required to complete two batches of pages each day before they can resume their regular case work, and must seek a supervisor’s approval that a particular matter is “urgent” before being exempted from Epstein duties, two of the people said.

This, from @benjaminpenn.bsky.social, is a good update on Epstein review.

But thus far no one is answering Q Pam Bondi probably doesn't want to answer.

DOJ spent 1000s of person-hours in March doing review. What purpose did it serve that it all got scrapped?
news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

DOJ’s Epstein Files Staffing Surge Beset by ‘Very Rocky Start’ The Justice Department’s newly expanded team reviewing files related to Jeffrey Epstein has struggled in its mission of expediting the Trump administration’s legally-mandated disclosures, according to...

Exclusive: DOJ is throwing hundreds of new attorneys at Epstein doc review but officials are frustrated they’re off to “very rocky start” with many issues awaiting guidance & more than two-thirds of 232 Crim Div reviewers failing to hit 1k pages per day mandate news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...