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| Someone from the U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney's Office Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section |
On November 16, 2017, U.S. Attorney General issued a Memorandum on issuing external guidance.
He said he was going to stop doing guidance memos and open it up to the public when it comes but someone leaked a guidance memo after he said that.
On January 10, 2018, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Grantson of the Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section issued guidance on handling False Claims Act cases.
He guided the U.S. Attorney's Office to weed out cases because too many people were claiming fraud.
Well, isn't that judicial because he is instructing the U.S. Assistant Attorneys to weed out cases, or rather, "not intervene", or make a judicial determination on who gets due process or not.
But then again, how do we know this Memorandum is even verified, considering the fact that it was leaked.
It says ""confidential" and is reported by other sources.
Leaked Confidential DOJ Memo for Evaluating Dismissal of False Claims Act Cases 1-10-2018 by Beverly Tran on Scribd
On February 18, 2018, U.S. Attorney Sessions announced that he was going after leakers.
The leaked memo blatantly contradicts the Mission Statement of the U.S. Attorney's Office and the position of Sessions on memos.
The United States Attorneys serve as the nation's principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. There are 93 United States Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. United States Attorneys are appointed by, and serve at the discretion of, the President of the United States, with advice and consent of the United States Senate. One United States Attorney is assigned to each of the judicial districts, with the exception of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands where a single United States Attorney serves in both districts. Each United States Attorney is the chief federal law enforcement officer of the United States within his or her particular jurisdiction.
United States Attorneys conduct most of the trial work in which the United States is a party. The United States Attorneys have three statutory responsibilities under Title 28, Section 547 of the United States Code:
- the prosecution of criminal cases brought by the Federal government;
- the prosecution and defense of civil cases in which the United States is a party; and
- the collection of debts owed the Federal government which are administratively uncollectible
Although the distribution of caseload varies between districts, each has every category of cases and handles a mixture of simple and complex litigation. Each United States Attorney exercises wide discretion in the use of his/her resources to further the priorities of the local jurisdictions and needs of their communities.
Now, there are a few questions I have in hand:
- Are the priorities of the local jurisdictions, now, to cover up fraud, or rather not intervene in FCA cases?
- Is this memo real, and if it is, then why would the DOJ blatantly interfere with due process by opting to advocate on behalf of defendants in False Claims cases, drastically failing to even mention to refer matters of fraud to different criminal divisions of public corruption?
- Are these defendants considered to be some of those "quasi-governmental organizations", meaning they are considered Public Private Partners which makes them part of the U.S. government, causing a conflict of interest if the U.S. Attorney intervenes? This sounds exactly like the reason why States Attorney General do not intervene in matters of fraud in child welfare cases. It is quite difficult to contemporaneously advise and advocate.
- If this memo is fake, then what actions have been taken to mitigate the false advisement to U.S. Assistant Attorneys in matters of intervention, which is not part of the public record, particularly, since Sessions has announced that he is going after leakers?
- If this is leaked memo, then what actions have been taken to identify the source and motivation for the leak.
- Do whistleblowers have civil rights?
- Is there an active investigation?
I better get my popcorn.
It looks like we are just getting this party started.
Stay tuned.
Sessions says he’s ‘aggressively’ going after leakers
WASHINGTON – Embattled Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he doesn’t regret recusing himself from the Russia investigation and has since championed one of President Trump’s pet projects: identifying leakers.
After Trump announced last year that the “real story” is not Russia but “illegal leaks,” Sessions has launched 27 investigations — up from three prior to him taking office, the attorney general told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“We’re going after this aggressively,” said Sessions, who has managed to hold onto his job despite Trump’s disgust with his Russia recusal that made way for special counsel Robert Mueller. “I am directing it personally.”
When disgraced former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was fired after lying about his contact with Russians, Trump and his allies in Congress called for action on the “real” crime – the leaks to the press that exposed Flynn’s conversations with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
“That is a violation of the law, to leak classified documents and it is being investigated,” Sessions said.
Flynn pleaded guilty Dec. 1 in the Russia probe for lying to the FBI and is cooperating in Mueller’s investigation.
As Mueller’s Russia investigation has encircled the White House, Trump and the GOP-led House Intelligence Committee declassified a controversial memo that aimed to cast doubt on the FBI launch of the probe.
The memo alleges the FBI relied on an anti-Trump dossier paid for by Democrats to obtain federal court surveillance of former Trump campaign associate, Carter Page.
Sessions said the Page warrant request “will be investigated and looked at.”
He declined to offer more details about his ongoing probes.
Despite all the grief he’s gotten for his March recusal, Sessions stood firm on his decision.
“I believe I did the right thing, the only thing I could do,” Sessions said. “I participated in this [Trump ] campaign and as such under explicit regulations of the Department of Justice; no one can participate in the investigation of a campaign in which they were an active participant.”
He added: “You can’t ask other members of the department to follow the law and follow the rules if the attorney general themselves refuses to do so.”
Sessions’ recusal put Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in charge of the FBI investigation in Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.
Rosenstein, a Trump appointee, appointed the special counsel in May under pressure to ensure independence.
Mueller, a Republican and former FBI director, was widely praised at the time by GOP lawmakers as being a fair and honest choice.
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