Category: Department of Justice
DOJ demotes Trump’s top weaponization lawyer loved by MAGA
President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the charge against government weaponization has reportedly been demoted from his role within the Department of Justice.
Ed Martin was initially recruited to serve as U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., but was later reassigned as the DOJ’s weaponization chief. Now, after nine months on the job, several media outlets have reported that Martin’s role has been narrowed but that he will continue serving as the U.S. pardon attorney.
His demotion may have been due to an ongoing feud with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
“President Trump appointed Ed Martin as pardon attorney, and Ed continues to a great job in that role,” a DOJ spokesperson said in a statement.
Martin’s claim to fame came after the 2020 election, when he became a vocal defender of Trump and the January 6 protesters, many of whom he represented as an attorney.
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Photo by Valerie Plesch/Washington Post/Getty Images
Martin’s brief time serving as interim U.S. attorney was focused on forwarding Trump’s agenda, kneecapping prosecutors who harshly punished January 6 protesters, and advocating for the Department of Government Efficiency.
Although Martin was popular with the MAGA base, he was a tough sell for the Senate. President Trump eventually pulled his nomination in May 2025.
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Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
In the midst of Martin’s role change, reports suggested that his demotion may have been due to an ongoing feud with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, clashing with his staff over his “lack of productivity” and his “controversial social media posts,” according to CBS News.
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‘OH MY GOD!!!!! I am dying’: Jeffrey Epstein Showered Obama White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler With Gifts, Including $9,400 Hermes Handbag and Four Seasons Spa Treatment, Emails Show
Former Obama White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler has attempted to downplay a steady drip of revelations about her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein by claiming he never “compensated” her. Newly released emails, however, show the convicted sex criminal showered Ruemmler with luxury gifts, including a $9,400 Hermes handbag, an Hermes-branded Apple watch, and a spa treatment package at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C., emails reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show.
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Somali radical accused of sickening salivary assault on federal agents after bizarre ‘bananas with rice’ speech
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the arrest on Wednesday of 16 anti-ICE rioters who allegedly assaulted, resisted, opposed, impeded, intimidated, and/or interfered with federal agents while officers were engaged in official duties in Minneapolis.
Among the radicals charged under 18 U.S. Code Section 111 was Nasra Ahmed, a 23-year-old “Somali-American” whose bizarre speech about Somalis’ supposed affinity for bananas and rice recently went viral.
‘I will carry this on my shoulders.’
Ahmed, who lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, held a press conference with Democrat state Rep. Samakab Hussein at the Minnesota Capitol last week, where she criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, accused federal agents of roughing her up, and did her apparent best to provide some insights into Somali identity.
“I got kidnapped by ICE,” said Ahmed, wearing a bandage on a portion of her head not covered by her Islamic veil. “ICE came to my neighborhood, where — my neighborhood is a very Somali neighborhood. It’s a predominantly Somali neighborhood. There’s many Somalis that live here.”
Ahmed indicated that she saw a pair of Somali men running away from federal agents outside an apartment complex on Jan. 14 and decided to get involved. When asked for her ID, she allegedly complied.
Footage appears to show a woman believed to be Ahmed spitting in the face of a federal agent.
Following the apparent salivary attack, Ahmed was reportedly arrested, taken to the Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling, then briefly held on pending federal felony charges at Sherburne County jail in Elk River.
Speaking at the press conference several days after she was released without charges, Ahmed claimed both that an ICE agent used a racial slur in reference to her and that she suffered a concussion during the arrest.
Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images
“They arrested and detained me for two days, and I was put in county jail,” continued the anti-ICE radical. “Then there was this ICE agent who called me a racial slur.”
“I am proud to say I have survived ICE,” said Ahmed. “Many people are saying, including my family and friends, that I will go down in history, and I will carry this on my shoulders.”
While Ahmed’s sob story resonated with Democrats such as Rep. Betty McCollum and other anti-ICE liberals, the part of her monologue that went viral online was her commentary on Somalis and “eating bananas with rice”:
I’m Somali. I’m proud to be Somali. To me, being Somali isn’t just eating bananas with rice. It’s a, it’s a lot, it’s like a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s an interesting thing. It’s a — it’s very hard to describe what means to be Somali and what it means to be American, but it’s like a cultural fusion. It’s kind of like the bananas and rice, you know? People don’t really see like — you know it’s a, it’s a, it’s — you know, people don’t think, “Oh, you can eat bananas with rice,” but that’s what it’s like to be Somali and American. It’s like that combination of banana and rice, but you’re gonna get what I mean.
Despite the supposed fusion of bananas and rice, the U.S. State Department has paused immigrant visa processing from Somalia, citing it as one of 75 countries “whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates.”
The Center for Immigration Studies indicated in a report last month that in Minnesota, approximately 54% of Somali-headed households received food stamps and 73% of Somali households had at least one member on Medicaid. By way of comparison, the figures for native households were 7% and 18%, respectively.
“Somalians ripped off that state for billions of dollars. Billions every year. Billions of dollars, and they contribute nothing. The welfare is like 88%. They contribute nothing,” President Donald Trump said last month. “I don’t want them in our country; I’ll be honest with you. Some might say, ‘Oh, that’s not politically correct.’ I don’t care. I don’t want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks, and we don’t want them in our country.”
Ahmed is now hitting up sympathizers for cash, requesting $20,000 on GoFundMe “to support her in this difficult moment.” At the time of publication, she had raised nearly $2,000.
Regarding the arrest of Ahmed and other anti-ICE radicals, Bondi noted, “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: NOTHING will stop President Trump and this Department of Justice from enforcing the law.”
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Trump Admin Joins Lawsuit Against UCLA Med School, Unveiling New Data on Race-Based Admissions
The Department of Justice on Wednesday joined a discrimination lawsuit against the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, unveiling new data that shows the extent of the school’s racial preferences. The filing is the latest setback for the elite medical school, which has endured an onslaught of scandals—largely due to the Washington Free Beacon’s reporting—since 2024.
The post Trump Admin Joins Lawsuit Against UCLA Med School, Unveiling New Data on Race-Based Admissions appeared first on .
Biden Admin Launched Investigation Into Ilhan Omar’s Finances and ‘Interactions With a Foreign Citizen’
The Biden Justice Department launched an investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar’s finances and her “interactions with a foreign citizen” in 2024, the same year the Minnesota Democrat saw her net worth skyrocket from practically nothing to upwards of $30 million, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The post Biden Admin Launched Investigation Into Ilhan Omar’s Finances and ‘Interactions With a Foreign Citizen’ appeared first on .
Trump-appointed prosecutor who uncovered Somali fraud in Minnesota resigns
President Donald Trump appointed 47-year-old career federal prosecutor Joseph Thompson in June to serve as the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota.
Thompson, who expressed an interest at the outset in combating “the shocking and unacceptable levels of fraud in our state government programs,” prosecuted numerous cases of social services fraud even after he was relegated to the status of assistant attorney following the U.S. Senate’s confirmation of Daniel Rosen as the Gopher State’s top federal prosecutor.
Evidently Thompson wasn’t long for the role of second fiddle.
‘His prosecutorial record gives him the opportunity to take a political leap if he wants.’
Sources familiar with Thompson’s decision told the New York Times that Thompson was one of several federal prosecutors who quit on Tuesday.
People supposedly familiar with Thompson’s decision told the Times that he objected both to the alleged push by senior Justice Department officials for a criminal probe into anti-ICE activist Renee Good’s actions as well as to the DOJ’s refusal to loop state officials into its investigation into whether Good’s fatal shooting was lawful.
RELATED: Blocking ICE with ‘micro-intifada’: Good’s group taught de-arrest, cop-car chaos before her death
Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Thompson allegedly wanted the shooting investigated as a civil rights matter and was poised to investigate it in concert with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. His decision to work with the state agency was, however, reportedly overruled by DOJ officials.
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
While Thompson’s office has told multiple outlets that he would not be commenting on his resignation Tuesday, he told the Minnesota Star Tribune, “It has been an honor and a privilege to represent the United States and this office.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), who is now facing the threat of impeachment, said in response to the news that “Joe is a principled public servant who spent more than a decade achieving justice for Minnesotans. This is a huge loss for our state.”
“It’s also the latest sign Trump is pushing nonpartisan career professionals out of the justice department, replacing them with his sycophants,” added Walz.
This is certainly a different tune than Walz sang last week when the failed vice presidential candidate not only accused Thompson of defamation but suggested he “would have been let go by another administration.”
While Walz rushed to presume Thompson resigned on principle, there have long been rumors he has political ambitions outside the DOJ.
After being moved to the role of assistant attorney, Thompson told the Tribune in November, “I knew it was a temporary position, and at some point they would confirm my replacement, and when that happens, I’m gonna wake up the next day and figure out what to do with the rest of my life whether it’s in the office, outside the office, we’ll see.”
“Whether he chooses to pursue public office is entirely up to him,” David Schultz, professor of political science and legal studies at Hamline University, said at the time. “However, his prosecutorial record gives him the opportunity to take a political leap if he wants.”
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Jerome Powell Claims Trump’s DOJ Probe Is Retaliation For Interest Rates
‘This unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context of the administration’s threats’
