America First Legal (AFL) is suing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to obtain the records of political appointees employed at the agency, alleging that these individuals have been placed there to “advance the Biden administration’s radical agenda.”
AFL sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the DOJ, seeking to obtain basic records and resumes of political appointees under the current administration. However, AFL said it has, so far, received no replies.
“As the Biden Administration continues to weaponize the Department of Justice against law-abiding citizens who disagree with his political agenda, it’s crucial that the American people have transparency when it comes to who is actually doing Biden’s dirty work,” said Gene Hamilton, vice president and general counsel of the organization, in an April 19 statement.
“We will continue to do everything in our power to hold the Biden Administration accountable for violating the law and concealing these records.”
The politicization of the DOJ became a heated issue after the FBI raided former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida in August in an apparent effort to retrieve official documents that Trump took from the White House. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who heads the DOJ, said he had “personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant.”
“The DOJ and FBI have breached the public trust. This blatant politicization of the federal justice system is a dangerous escalation without precedent, and incompatible with the United States Constitution,” the letter said.
“Merrick Garland, sadly, has been the most political attorney general we’ve ever had,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told NTD News, sister outlet of The Epoch Times, in March.
“He’s used the Department of Justice and the FBI as a weapon to attack his political enemies,” Cruz said, “and I think it is profoundly harmful to the rule of law and to justice in America.”
Those who were subpoenaed included individuals in Congress who voted against certifying the election results, people who participated as alternate electors, and those who peacefully took part in a rally on Jan. 6, 2021.
Dhillon pointed out that Democrats had challenged the presidential election results in 2000, 2004, and 2016. In 2016, several Democrats objected to the certification of Trump electors, based on “overwhelming evidence of Russian interference” in the election.
“No DOJ action was taken in any of these previous years. What has changed, if not the politicization of the Justice Department?” she said.
Politicization of Federal Agencies
In November, Republicans from the House Judiciary Committee sent letters to at least 42 officials in the Biden administration. One of the issues the letters dealt with was the suspected politicization of the DOJ and the FBI.A letter sent by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to White House chief of staff Ron Klain asked for testimony from administration staffers on the alleged “misuse of federal criminal and counterterrorism resources to target concerned parents at school board meetings.”
The letter claimed that at the time of his appointment, Ng had “existing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ties” and had already worked for two Chinese intelligence front groups.
In September, a group of House Republicans sent a letter to the DOJ questioning Biden’s use of U.S. Marines as “political props” during a speech at the time.
The FOIA Lawsuit
According to the AFL lawsuit, the organization submitted a FOIA request to the DOJ on July 12, 2021, “to better understand the background of individuals” hired by the department. The DOJ closed the request and asked AFL to file a request with the Justice Management Division (JMD) as the records were being held by JMD.“DOJ has a legal obligation to forward the request to the proper component instead of merely closing the request. However, AFL attempted to cooperate with DOJ to get its request processed instead of appealing the decision or proceeding to litigation,” the lawsuit notes.
AFL filed a new request with JMD on March 7, 2021. A week later on March 14, JMD acknowledged the email and also sent the request tracking number. But the AFL received no more updates regarding its request.
On April 20, 2022, AFL submitted two requests to the DOJ, seeking information on two individuals over a given time period. Though the DOJ acknowledged the requests and assigned tracking numbers for them, no further information was provided.
“The DOJ has violated the FOIA by failing, within the prescribed time limit, to reasonably search for records responsive to AFL’s FOIA request and release nonexempt records,” the lawsuit states. The lawsuit is asking the court to declare that the records sought in AFL requests be disclosed.
