Latest news with #FOIA
Fox News
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Trump DOJ sues New York City over long-standing sanctuary immigration policies
The Justice Department is suing New York City over its sanctuary policies, as the Trump administration targets jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with immigration authorities as it continues to ramp up deportation raids. The lawsuit filed in a New York federal court names New York City Mayor Eric Adams and several other city officials as defendants. The lawsuit claims the city has enacted policies with the intent of impeding the federal government's ability to enforce immigration laws. "New York City has long been at the vanguard of interfering with enforcing this country's immigration laws," the lawsuit states. "Its history as a sanctuary city dates back to 1989, and its efforts to thwart federal immigration enforcement have only intensified since." The Justice Department cited New York's policy that prohibits its Department of Corrections from honoring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers, which requests that federal immigration authorities be notified upon the release of a criminal illegal immigrant from jail. The New York Police Department was subject to a similar provision, the lawsuit states. In 2014, the city further resisted cooperation with ICE, including adding an amendment to its sanctuary city policy that immigration detainers would not be honored without a warrant issued by an Article III judge (or magistrate judge) and unless the subject of the detainer had been convicted of a "violent or serious" crime within the past five years or was a possible match on the federal terrorist watch list. The lawsuit said crimes committed by illegal immigrants in the city have prompted several city leaders to call for cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Attorney General Pam Bondi said the federal government was left with no choice but to protect New Yorkers. "If New York's leaders won't step up to protect their citizens, we will," she wrote on X. U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliatakis, R-N.Y., applauded the move, calling sanctuary polices "misguided," "costly and dangerous." "Restoring public safety in our communities starts with New York City cooperating with ICE's detainer requests. Failing to do so keeps dangerous criminals on our streets," she wrote on X. The lawmaker said she filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that showed more 16,000 crimes were committed by thousands of people who were living in hotels and shelters at taxpayer expense. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Adams and the White House. In June, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles over its sanctuary policies. The city has become embroiled in a feud with the Trump administration over its deportation raids and anti-ICE protests.
Fox News
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
West Point Bible crest controversy spurs Pentagon lawsuit from conservative watchdog
NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! FIRST ON FOX: A conservative judicial and government watchdog group has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Defense over documents related to a controversy surrounding the U.S. Military Academy at West Point crest on Bibles in the West Point Cadet Chapel. Judicial Watch originally submitted a FOIA request in December 2024 for documents related to the Bibles, after the MacArthur Society, a group for West Point graduates concerned about potential politicization at the military academy, tipped them off to the potential removal of the crest. The original request for the documents said: "Upon information and belief, the West Point Crest has appeared on the cover of the Bibles in the West Point Chapel since 1984, but circa December 2024, the Crest has been removed from the Bibles." It's unclear why the crest was removed, prompting Judicial Watch to file the original FOIA request to learn more about the decision, amid concerns that the military academy is seeking to wipe out any affiliation with what the group calls "traditional values." Mixing religious material with military paraphernalia has come under scrutiny in the past. For example, all four branches of the military yanked approval in 2012 for a military series of Holman Christian Standard Bibles that were sold at military exchanges, due to concerns that the series signaled the Bible was the official religious text of the military services, according to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. The West Point crest has undergone multiple variations, but historically has featured an eagle above the school's mascot, the Black Knights. A spokesperson for West Point told Fox News Digital that the chapel's Bibles now feature the name of the military academy. "The bibles purchased for the West Point Cadet Chapel are emblazoned, 'The United States Miliary Academy, West Point, New York,'" the spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital. The Department of Defense told Fox News Digital it does not comment on pending litigation. WEST POINT DECISION TO CUT 'DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY' FROM MISSION STATEMENT UNDER FIRE AGAIN' Even so, Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit for the documents pertaining to the Bibles Tuesday after receiving no response for the requested records. "It appears the Biden administration and its leftist accomplices were determined to sever all connections between West Point and traditional values," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "They added divisive DEI programs to the curriculum and removed 'Duty, Honor, Country' from the Military Academy's mission statement. Now, we learn they removed the West Point crest from Bibles in the West Point Chapel. It's a wonder they didn't remove the Bibles." This isn't the first time West Point has come under scrutiny from the conservative watchdog. HEGSETH QUIPS '99.9%' OF DEI INITIATIVES ARE GONE FROM THE MILITARY UNDER TRUMP'S WATCH In May, Judicial Watch claimed that West Point engaged in a "cover up" scheme when it altered its mission statement in 2024 from "duty, honor, country" to "Army Values." According to the watchdog group, the change was part of an effort to advance a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) agenda. Even so, West Point's mission statement has been changed nine times in the past century, and the words "duty, honor, country" didn't make it into West Point's mission statement until 1998. When asked about the mission statement change in May, an Army spokesperson directed Fox News Digital to West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steven Gilland's original announcement: "Our absolute focus on developing leaders of character ready to lead our Army's Soldiers on increasingly lethal battlefields remains unchanged." West Point is one of several U.S. military academies that trains students to become military officers. TRUMP DOD CREATES TASK FORCE TO ABOLISH DEI OFFICES THAT 'PROMOTE SYSTEMIC RACISM'
The Hill
18 hours ago
- Health
- The Hill
RFK Jr. sued over a task force by the anti-vaccine group he founded
The anti-vaccine organization founded by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now funding a lawsuit against him, arguing Kennedy has failed to establish a task force on the safety of childhood vaccines. 'Our first priority will ALWAYS be children's health. Sec. Kennedy has FAILED 'to establish a task force dedicated to making childhood vaccines safer, as mandated by federal law,' so we WILL be holding him accountable,' Children's Health Defense (CHD) posted on social platform X. The lawsuit claims Kennedy is violating the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which requires the HHS secretary to stand up a task force consisting of the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The law also requires the health secretary to provide Congress with progress reports every two years. CHD contends that the steps taken to make vaccines safer has never been reported to lawmakers. Kennedy and his allies have been interested in the panel for years, arguing that its absence shows the government has not taken appropriate steps to ensure vaccines are safe for children. While he was part of Children's Health Defense in 2018, Kennedy — along with fellow vaccine critic and adviser Del Bigtree — filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for copies of the reports from HHS. When no reports were found, Kennedy and Bigtree sued HHS to produce them, part of an effort to bolster their misleading narrative about vaccine safety A task force was created in the wake of the law's passage and produced reports. It was short-lived and made its final report to Congress in 1998. During a 2019 Senate hearing about vaccines and rising rates of preventable disease, then-Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) noted the Health, Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee received two reports from HHS about vaccine safety in 1988 and 1989. Alexander said the law only required HHS to submit a report to Congress 'within two years.' The former lawmaker during the hearing blasted 'internet fraudsters' for 'preying on the unfounded fears and daily struggles of parents' by convincing them vaccines aren't safe. Dorit Reiss, a law professor at UC Law San Francisco and expert on vaccine litigation, said she thinks the CHD lawsuit is 'performative,' and doesn't mean Kennedy's former group has turned on him. Reiss noted that the lawsuit could be a way to give Kennedy cover to set up the vaccine safety panel he's been floating for years. Ray Flores, the CHD attorney who filed the complaint, indicated that is exactly what the group wants to do. 'It may appear as though we are being unfriendly to Mr. Kennedy. On the contrary, we're helping him to have an excuse to do his job,' Flores said in an interview with CHD TV.
Hypebeast
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hypebeast
Sale Price of Wu-Tang Clan's 'Once Upon a Time in Shaolin' Revealed
Summary Bloombergjournalist Jason Leopold has revealed the sale price ofWu-Tang Clan's elusiveOnce Upon a Time in Shaolinfollowing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in 2021. The album, previously owned byMartin Shkreliprior to his securities fraud conviction, was sold by the US Attorney's office in July 2021 to cover the forfeiture of his assets. However, the government did not divulge the buyer's name and price as part of 'confidentiality provision.' In October of the same year, the digital art and crypto collectivePleasrDAOannounced that they had acquiredOnce Upon a Time in Shaolinfor about $4 million USD in crypto. Leopold went through years of back and forth with the US government, who provided him with unseen images of the album and redacted documents due to 'trade secrets.' The journalist explained, 'The reason it took so long is that the DOJ still had to hand over other documents I requested, and I couldn't challenge the trade secrets and privacy exemptions until the agency finished its production.' Finally, Leopold received an unredacted copy of the album's bill of sale and purchase agreement. As it turns out,Once Upon a Time in Shaolinwas sold to WTC Endeavors for $2,238,482.30 USD — the exact amount Shkreli owed. WTC Endeavors was incorporated in Hong Kong in May 2020 but dissolved in March 2023. In June 2024, PleasrDAO filed a lawsuit against Shkreli claiming thathe had created and distributed copiesof Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. He was then ordered by a federal judge to turn over all the copies he made, as well as the names of any person that received a copy. While PleasrDAO is required to follow the same rules as Shkreli did when he owned the album (no streaming or distributing the album until 2103), the collective was able to turnOnce Upon a Time in Shaolininto an NFT. For $1 USD, interested fans can listen to five minutes of the record. As Leopold notes, each sale 'will speed up the release of the album by 88 seconds.'
Newsweek
3 days ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
Trump Admin Facing New Legal 'Traps' on Epstein Files
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The Trump administration is facing new legal "traps" aimed at ensuring all evidence in the case of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein is released, a lawyer has said. Speaking on The Daily Beans podcast, attorney Kel McClanahan outlined how he was "setting traps" to get the Department of Justice (DOJ) to disclose Epstein-related testimony through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed on behalf of Allison Gill. Gill, a former Department of Veterans Affairs executive and outspoken critic of the president, said she was seeking "to hold him to" earlier pledges of transparency in the Epstein case. Newsweek has contacted the White House by email and the Department of Justice via its website to comment on this story. Why It Matters Trump has been embroiled in controversy after backtracking on the case involving Epstein, a convicted sex offender who, according to a memo released this month by the DOJ and the FBI, died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting sex trafficking charges. President Donald Trump takes part in a bill signing for cryptocurrency legislation in the East Room of the White House July 18, 2025. President Donald Trump takes part in a bill signing for cryptocurrency legislation in the East Room of the White House July 18, 2025. Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images Initially, the White House had ordered a review of the case and said it would publish names and evidence about Epstein's associates. However, the DOJ-FBI memo said there was no "client list" and that no further charges would be brought. This triggered a backlash among those who had called for more transparency about the case. Trump then called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to release "whatever she thinks is credible" regarding the case and asked the Justice Department to release grand jury testimony about Epstein. What To Know Speaking on the podcast, McClanahan said the wording in Trump's request to Bondi asking her to release "pertinent" grand jury testimony had enabled him to file a FOIA request asking for the entire testimony, not just the parts deemed pertinent, to be released. He said the government would then have to justify any exemptions in the files and therefore expose how and why the administration was keeping some aspects secret, if it did not release all the documentation. The action would likely end in a lawsuit and the government would have to explain its decision-making, said McClanahan. "It'll give us a look behind the curtain to see what they're actually trying to do," he added. What People Are Saying Trump wrote on Truth Social: "Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval. This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!" McClanahan said on the podcast: "They now have to release to us, with or without court approval, any info that is not exempt from all of the grand jury testimony." Gill posted on Mueller, She Wrote on July 20: "There are tons of documents the administration doesn't need a court's permission to release, and they could release those right now. But that's not the point of this exercise. We're trying to strip the administration of any excuse they might have for hiding the names of perpetrators and clients. Trump would like to blame the court for that, and I'd prefer they aren't able to." Matthew Mangino, a former district attorney in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, questioned the efficacy of the legal strategy. He told Newsweek: "Grand jury testimony is confidential and outside the reach of FOIA. There are exceptions, if it relates to material developed outside the grand jury or, as in this case, a court order. It is not clear how forcing the government to claim exemption of testimony not deemed 'pertinent' will reveal anything new. Where is the trap? The refusal to disclose will simply say the files are exempt as a result of the confidentiality of grand jury transcripts. At a minimum, the issue will be litigated which will take some time." What Happens Next Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has requested the unsealing of transcripts from grand jury proceedings that resulted in indictments against Epstein and his long-time associate, the imprisoned British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell. The backlash to the government's handling of the Epstein saga continues.
