Judicial Watch Sues for Pentagon Communications about Tucker Carlson, Fox News
As Joe Biden and his handlers remake the federal government in their own image they are clumsily tripping over the U.S. Constitution. Consider the Pentagon and Tucker Carlson of Fox News.
In the March 9, 2021, broadcast of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Carlson said, in criticizing a “woke” public relations push by the military:
So we’ve got new hairstyles and maternity flight suits. Pregnant women are going to fight our wars. It’s a mockery of the U.S. military. Well, China’s military becomes more masculine as it’s assembled the world’s largest navy…. It’s a mockery of the U.S. military.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that Defense Secretary Austin was “revulsed” by Carlson’s comments. Official military Twitter accounts were also used to attack Carlson’s views.
What was going on behind the scenes at the Pentagon? To find out we filed a FOIA suit against the Department of Defense seeking communications between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other top military officials regarding Fox News and Carlson, whose recent commentary on the U.S. military was attacked by top Pentagon officials (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Department of Defense (No. 1:21-cv-01225)).
We sued here in federal court after the Department of Defense failed to reply to our March 16, 2021, request for:
All emails sent between Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and email accounts ending in .gov and/or .mil containing the terms “Tucker Carlson” and/or “Fox News.”
All emails sent between Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and email accounts ending in .gov and/or .mil containing the terms “Tucker Carlson” and/or “Fox News.”
All emails sent between Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Hyten and email accounts ending in .gov and/or .mil containing the terms “Tucker Carlson” and/or “Fox News.”
We’re asking for emails sent between March 1, 2021, and March 16, 2021.
On his March 11 show, Carlson accused the Pentagon of declaring “war on a domestic news operation:”
Since when does the Pentagon declare war on a domestic news operation? We can’t remember that ever happening. But we’re going to pass on that, because this is bigger than a feud with some flack at the Pentagon. This is genuinely worrisome.
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz sent a letter to Defense Secretary Austin demanding a meeting with the Commandant of the Marine Corps to account for the attacks on Carlson and “a plan to prevent other military units from being similarly mobilized against the speech of American citizens.”
In the letter, Sen. Cruz wrote:
I am deeply troubled that the comments you made, and the military’s broader obligation to avoid political endorsements and controversy, are being systematically undermined for the sake of leftwing ideology and political expediency. The last week has witnessed the Pentagon mobilize systematic, public attacks against television host Tucker Carlson that in substance, tone, and political resonance are inexplicably inappropriate.
The Department of Defense has rules about how members of the U.S. military can participate in politics. Active military members may express a personal opinion on political candidates and issues, but they cannot express opinions on behalf of or as a representative of the U.S. military.
We are deeply disturbed over the Pentagon’s illicit secrecy about its coordinated attacks on the First Amendment-protected speech of Tucker Carlson.
To sum up, we asked the Pentagon to search two weeks’ worth of email, in three accounts, using two search terms. And they stonewalled.
The fact that we must take the Pentagon to federal court for these documents suggests the agency has something to hide.
Illegal Immigration Overwhelms Sheriffs; Families Exposed to Gang Violence
As the corrupt media is focused on promoting the anti-Trump politician Liz Cheney, the deadly dangerous Biden border crisis continues unabated. But sheriffs of many counties across the country are making a stand for the rule of law, our sovereignty, and the rule of law -- as our Corruption Chronicles blog reports.Local law enforcement agencies nationwide are overwhelmed with criminal activity linked to a huge increase in illegal immigration, and families are being exposed to violence associated with drug trafficking and transnational gangs, according to hundreds of sheriffs across the United States. In a letter to President Joe Biden, the law enforcement officials in more than two dozen states blast the administration’s “reckless and irresponsible” open border policies that are exposing innocent citizens to illegal alien violence. Titled, “Help America’s Sheriffs Keep Our Neighborhoods and Communities Safe by Halting Illegal Immigration,” the document asserts that the crisis began when Biden was vice president.
“In a myriad of ways, you and your administration are encouraging and sanctioning lawlessness and the victimization of the people of the United States of America, all in the name of mass illegal immigration,” the sheriffs write. “What is most troubling to America’s Sheriffs is that you and your administration were well aware that this crisis would happen when you ceased construction of the border wall and changed border security policies.” The law enforcement officials continue: “Sheriffs were talking with the Obama/Biden administration about these same concerns that we were experiencing at the time based on the lax policies then being implemented. In fact, America’s Sheriffs attended meetings in Washington with then-Undersecretary of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas, who is now your Secretary of Homeland Security. You and he are fully aware of what illegal immigration does to our citizens, legal residents and our communities.”
Among the letter’s signatories are sheriffs in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, and Texas to name a few. Even sheriffs, who are typically elected to head county law enforcement agencies, in states that broadly offer illegal immigrants sanctuary signed the letter. They include several in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon, New Jersey, Illinois, Oregon, and Vermont. “You may imagine how violated America’s Sheriffs feel that you unleashed a predictable crisis upon our nation that puts those we promised to protect at risk of grave danger,” the cops write to the commander-in-chief. “America’s Sheriffs will not defy our oaths. We will not join with those who suggest that we ignore existing laws in collusion with those elected officials who arbitrarily feel that they should be excused from being accountable and required to follow our laws. To do so would violate the promise of America’s Sheriffs to those who bestowed upon us the honor and privilege to represent their safety and security concerns.”
The officials continue by writing that Americans expect them to uphold and enforce the rule of law and assure that they will uphold the oath to do so. “In the interests of ending the undermining of our laws and the increased risks to the safety and security of the people of the United States of America, we respectfully request that you immediately reverse course on your pro-illegal immigration policies, resume the border wall construction, and embrace the common-sense, public-safety-supporting border policies of the previous administration.” The Obama and Trump administrations “recognized the threats and dangers presented by illegal immigration,” the law enforcement officials write, adding that it is “critically important” that Biden see it as well.
The sheriff who wrote the letter, Thomas M. Hodgson in Bristol County, Massachusetts, sent it to his counterparts throughout the U.S. and 275 sheriffs in 39 states quickly signed it. Hodgson authored it after government figures revealed a record number of illegal immigrant minors entered the country from Mexico. Around the same time, the U.S. Border Patrol disclosed that it arrested more than twice as many criminal migrants in the first six months of fiscal year 2021 than it did in all of 2020. In the first half of this fiscal year, the Border Patrol apprehended 5,018 “ criminal aliens” compared to 2,438 in all of fiscal year 2020. The agency defines criminal aliens as individuals who have been convicted of one or more crimes, whether in the U.S. or abroad, prior to interdiction by federal agents.
Maxine Waters and Congressional Special Security Demands Puts Americans at Risk
Reasonable security for congressmen and other public officials is necessary, but it shouldn’t come at the direct expense of the safety and protection of Americans. But that’s exactly what is happening. Here are the shocking details from our Corruption Chronicles blog.
Federal Air Marshals (FAM) were yanked from a high-risk flight so Congresswoman Maxine Waters could have extra security during a recent trip to Minnesota, though she was already covered by a four-man detail consisting of two Capitol Police officers and two Secret Service agents, according to multiple law enforcement sources interviewed by Judicial Watch. The veteran FAM sources say the California Democrat had two air marshals reassigned to a plane that would otherwise not qualify because it was not considered high-risk. The transfer forced the high-risk flight to complete its trip without the two air marshals originally assigned to it, said Sonya Hightower-LaBosco, a retired FAM who serves as executive director of the Air Marshal National Council. The union represents thousands of air marshals nationwide. “Two air marshals were pulled off a high-risk flight so Maxine Waters’ aircraft could have six armed agents,” Hightower-LaBosco said, adding that two additional armed agents met the congresswoman on the ground.
FAMs are federal law enforcement officers whose primary function is to protect commercial passenger flights by deterring and countering the risk of terrorist activity, aircraft piracy and other crimes to protect the nation’s transportation infrastructure. However, a special “VIP” program launched about a year ago allows members of Congress to get extra protection even though they often already travel with plenty of security on flights that do not meet the threat criteria, usually determined by the FBI, for air marshals. The program “has left a glaring hole in America’s aviation security,” according to a whistleblower complaint filed this year by the Air Marshal National Council with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General. “Recently, the Federal Air Marshal service has assigned a full-time position at the Capitol in Washington D.C. to take requests from Congressional members for Federal Air Marshal coverage of flights these Congressional members are on,” the document, which is also addressed to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, states. “The FAMS are now taking agents off of regularly scheduled high risk flights to put them on flights with members of Congress, that in most cases have their own armed federal security details onboard already. It has become akin to a type of extremely expensive concierge service for Congressional members.” The document cites the recent Waters request as an example, confirming what other sources told Judicial Watch, that “FAMS were pulled off of a scheduled high-risk flight to cover” the congresswoman’s plane. Waters received the extra security while traveling to Minnesota in mid-April to support protestors in Brooklyn Center, a Minneapolis suburb, after police shot and killed a black man with an open warrant related to an aggravated armed robbery. The Derek Chauvin trial was wrapping up around 10 miles away and the 82-year-old lawmaker incited the crowd, encouraging protestors to “ get more confrontational” if the former Minneapolis cop was not convicted of murder for George Floyd’s death. “We gotta stay on the street, we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational, we’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business,” Waters said ahead of closing arguments in Chauvin’s trial. The former officer was convicted and the judge presiding over the trial called the congresswoman’s comments “ abhorrent.”
Judicial Watch is investigating Waters’ special security arrangement and has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with DHS for documents associated with the April 17 Delta Airlines flight from Washington D.C.’s Dulles International Airport to Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport. In the public-record request, Judicial Watch writes that Waters raised the potential for violence, directed lawlessness, and may have interfered with a co-equal branch of government. Furthermore, Judicial Watch points out that it is still not known what authorized official government business the congresswoman, who represents Los Angeles in the House, was attending in Minnesota and the appearance is her travel was for personal gain. “How do you go out and promote defunding the police then call for more police protection,” said Hightower-LaBosco, a former police officer who served 12 years as an air marshal. Hightower-Bosco says the estimated cost of Waters’ security detail is about $10,000 for each leg.
Until next week,
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