Tuon dokkarin mukaan 80% jenkeissä vankilaan joutuneista palaa myös uudestaan vankilaan. Norjassa vain 20%.
Uutisia Yhdysvalloista
- Viestiketjun aloittaja Museo
- Aloitus PVM
-
- Tagit
- usa yhdysvallat
Nikhris
Majuri
USA:n vankilajärjestelmä on aivan perseellään: sen sijaan että vankeja rehabilitoitaisiin, niin vankilassa pikkurikollisetkin jotka muissa länsimaissa voisivat oikeasti oppia virheistään tulevat vakiintumaan rikolliseen elämään.
Viimeksi muokattu:
Joo, ei ole rehabilitointilaitos vaan rankaisulaitos. Niin hyvässä kuin pahassakin.
Onhan meilläkin ollut lisärangaistuksena vuoteen 1969 asti käytössä kansalaisluottamuksen menettäminen.
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansalaisluottamus
Tämäkin tuomari on todennäköisesti jäävuoren huippu.
Pa. Judge Sentenced To 28 Years In Massive Juvenile Justice Bribery Scandal
Pa. Judge Sentenced To 28 Years In Massive Juvenile Justice Bribery Scandal
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo...s-in-massive-juvenile-justice-bribery-scandal
Millä perusteella senaattorit ja muut jotka oikeasti tekevät päätöksiä ovat vasemmistolaisia? Onko Trump äärivassari? McCain? Chuck Schumer? Jos menee wikipediaan lukemaan poliitikkojen taustoista, niin vasemmistolaisia päättäjiä on melko vaikea löytää.
Korporaatio myönteisiksi lahjotut/lobatut poliitikot paskovat järjestelmän, mutta kuitenkin syylliset ahdinkoon ovat vasemmistolaiset professorit ja jotkut lähinnä yliopistoilla vaikuttavat hihhulit?
Pihatonttu
Respected Leader
Pahoittelen vaikeaselkoisuuttani. Koitan esittää asian helppotajuisemmin.
Kun puhun siitä, että jotkin yliopistot ovat hurahtaneet johonkin, niin en tarkoita että senaattorit, pressat tai -ehdokkaat, keisaripingviinit tai mustekalat ovat hurahtaneet johonkin vaan että jotkin yliopistot ja osa niiden proffista on hurahtanut.
Jos sanon, että iso osa maailman johtamisesta tapahtuu amerikkalaisen yliopistokoulutuksen voimin, niin silloin en sano, että Trump, McCain, Mustanaamio tai Äiti Teresa on vasemmistolainen vaan että osa maailman johtamisesta tapahtuu amerikkalaisen yliopistokoulutuksen voimin.
Sivistyneiden ihmisten parissa on olemassa sellainen jännä tapa, että vältetään tahallista ja kärjistävää väärinymmärtämistä. Suosittelen tutustumaan.
Heidän parissaan on toinenkin eksoottinen tapa eli sellainen, että otetaan omista älyvapaista yli-, ohi- ja päinpersettätulkinnoista itse vastuu eikä esitetä niitä mukamas jonkun muun ajattelun hedelminä. Sitäkin voisi ehkä harkita.
Viimeksi muokattu:
Saman olen huomannu.
Tässä pari esimerkkiä
Social Justice Lecture Series: Albert Ponce
Political science professor Albert Ponce
With the image of President Trump, Jeff Sessions, and a portrait of Andrew Jackson on the screen behind him, Ponce accused Trump and Sessions of fitting the mold of American “white supremacists” who have held the office before him. “It is fitting that a white supremacist of old and a white supremacist of today exist and sit — they’re smiling — in the White House,” he said.
“Abolition means we must destroy it, not reform it,” Ponce said during the lecture, adding that America must abolish “white democracy.” “No voting’s going to help. No writing your congressperson. We need to smash white supremacy at every institutional level in this country, beginning at the local space, at the state, at the federal system, and build something new. And that’s frightening. Because we don’t know what is to come.”
There will be repression,” Ponce added, seemingly justifying political violence. “Yes, that always happens. But those who are willing, not only to take a knee, that’s just the beginning, that’s just a symbolic, peaceful gesture. It’s going to take a lot more work.”
Tämän tapauksen professori on saman opinahjon proffa kuin tuo ponce
Pidätettiin myöhemmin
Eric Clanton, charged with rally assaults, criticizes police investigation
http://www.berkeleyside.com/2017/08...lly-assaults-criticizes-police-investigation/
Täössä vielä yksi uusi
Professor claims 'meritocracy' in math class is a 'tool of whiteness': report
A math professor at Brooklyn College wrote an academic paper contending that meritocracy in math class holds back racial minorities and is a tool of “whiteness,” Campus Reform reported on Monday.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/01/0...y-in-math-class-is-tool-whiteness-report.html
Fremen
Greatest Leader
Saat kohta haluamasi loman, arvostettu veli Mobile Gnome.
ps. Seuraava Nokia, again. We're saved!
pps. Which would be the opposite of
STI_Tactical9mm
Kenraali
https://truepundit.com/fbi-agents-didnt-see-video-footage-paddock-taking-guns-mandalay-bay-suite/
FBI Agents: We Didn’t See Any Video Footage of Paddock Taking Guns To Mandalay Bay Suite
Posted on January 9, 2018 by admin
If FBI brass was trying to bury the alleged investigation into the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay massacre, that task just got much harder.
According to FBI sources with direct knowledge of the FBI probe of the Oct. 1 deadly shooting, federal agents have not seen any surveillance video showing alleged gunman Stephen Paddock loading up his hotel suite with rifles and ammunition.
“No one has seen that on the video we were provided by MGM,” a FBI source said. “Vegas (PD) has looked at the same video. Paddock is on surveillance video but the guns are not. He’s not carrying bags or cases with rifles.”
How did more than 12 assault rifles get into Paddock’s hotel suite then?
FBI sources noted that there could in fact be video proof of Paddock transporting a dozen guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition to his 32nd-floor hotel suite in Mandalay Bay but MGM Resorts International, who owns the hotel, could be hiding the video.
“They (MGM) control the surveillance video,” one FBI source said. “I have never seen that in any other case. We (the FBI) control the physical evidence.”
Paddock supposedly stayed as a guest at Mandalay Bay for several days prior to his alleged role in the rampage which gunned down over 500 people, including 58 who were killed. Yet, FBI sources show no video of him transporting guns to the 32nd floor?
Another mystery in what has become a bizarre national cover-up on many levels of the massacre.
Previously, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo has not told the truth about the gunshots fired by his SWAT unit after breaching the hotel door of accused shooter Paddock, according to a high-ranking insider from the Clark County District Attorney’s Office.
Lombardo for weeks, along with FBI officials, claimed no shots were fired and Paddock killed himself. Then Lombardo admitted a gun was fired by Las Vegas Metro after entering Paddock’s room, essentially backing True Pundit’s original story that detailed shot(s) were indeed fired by SWAT.
While backtracking, Lombardo called the gunshot an “accident,” however.
“He’s a liar,” the DA source said of Lombardo. “This is one of the premier SWAT units in the United States. Other police departments pay to train with them here (in Las Vegas). They do not accidentally fire weapons. That is pure fiction.”
If a SWAT officer fired his weapon in Paddock’s hotel room it was to subdue or kill Paddock, the DA insider said.
Lombardo changed his story a week after True Pundit, On Oct. 24th, published audio from Las Vegas Metro SWAT. The audio provided a raw and chilling feed from Las Vegas Metro SWAT and confirmed officers did engage in gunfire after breaching Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock’s hotel suite, directly contradicting FBI and police claims that Paddock killed himself.
According to the audio, Paddock was likely gunned down by LVMPD’s elite “Zebra Unit” SWAT force. A SWAT officer code named “Zebra20” and apparent leader of the team’s strike force who led the raid on Paddock’s Mandalay Bay suite reported on police radio that one member of his team did open fire inside Paddock’s room.
“We have one SWAT officer that did fire,” the SWAT strike force team leader said, according to the audio transcript.
Zebra20 then reported no other people were injured during the breach, alluding Paddock was the sole casualty.
“We just have one suspect down at this point in time,” he said.
The events which unfolded during the Oct. 1 massacre per LVMPD’s Zebra Unit SWAT force directly contradict the official narrative delivered since the shooting by Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo and the FBI’s Aaron Rouse who heads the Bureau’s Las Vegas field office.
Previously the DA insider called Lombardo a puppet of the FBI days after the Mandalay Bay massacre. That label seems to have proven somewhat prophetic now weeks after the tragedy.
The DA insider said Rouse reports directly to FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe who is running point on the Las Vegas shooting probe. Rouse, who for years worked under McCabe in the Bureau’s Counterintelligence Division in D.C., was appointed to the Las Vegas post by ex-FBI director James Comey in 2016.
FBI Agents: We Didn’t See Any Video Footage of Paddock Taking Guns To Mandalay Bay Suite
Posted on January 9, 2018 by admin
If FBI brass was trying to bury the alleged investigation into the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay massacre, that task just got much harder.
According to FBI sources with direct knowledge of the FBI probe of the Oct. 1 deadly shooting, federal agents have not seen any surveillance video showing alleged gunman Stephen Paddock loading up his hotel suite with rifles and ammunition.
“No one has seen that on the video we were provided by MGM,” a FBI source said. “Vegas (PD) has looked at the same video. Paddock is on surveillance video but the guns are not. He’s not carrying bags or cases with rifles.”
How did more than 12 assault rifles get into Paddock’s hotel suite then?
FBI sources noted that there could in fact be video proof of Paddock transporting a dozen guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition to his 32nd-floor hotel suite in Mandalay Bay but MGM Resorts International, who owns the hotel, could be hiding the video.
“They (MGM) control the surveillance video,” one FBI source said. “I have never seen that in any other case. We (the FBI) control the physical evidence.”
Paddock supposedly stayed as a guest at Mandalay Bay for several days prior to his alleged role in the rampage which gunned down over 500 people, including 58 who were killed. Yet, FBI sources show no video of him transporting guns to the 32nd floor?
Another mystery in what has become a bizarre national cover-up on many levels of the massacre.
Previously, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo has not told the truth about the gunshots fired by his SWAT unit after breaching the hotel door of accused shooter Paddock, according to a high-ranking insider from the Clark County District Attorney’s Office.
Lombardo for weeks, along with FBI officials, claimed no shots were fired and Paddock killed himself. Then Lombardo admitted a gun was fired by Las Vegas Metro after entering Paddock’s room, essentially backing True Pundit’s original story that detailed shot(s) were indeed fired by SWAT.
While backtracking, Lombardo called the gunshot an “accident,” however.
“He’s a liar,” the DA source said of Lombardo. “This is one of the premier SWAT units in the United States. Other police departments pay to train with them here (in Las Vegas). They do not accidentally fire weapons. That is pure fiction.”
If a SWAT officer fired his weapon in Paddock’s hotel room it was to subdue or kill Paddock, the DA insider said.
Lombardo changed his story a week after True Pundit, On Oct. 24th, published audio from Las Vegas Metro SWAT. The audio provided a raw and chilling feed from Las Vegas Metro SWAT and confirmed officers did engage in gunfire after breaching Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock’s hotel suite, directly contradicting FBI and police claims that Paddock killed himself.
According to the audio, Paddock was likely gunned down by LVMPD’s elite “Zebra Unit” SWAT force. A SWAT officer code named “Zebra20” and apparent leader of the team’s strike force who led the raid on Paddock’s Mandalay Bay suite reported on police radio that one member of his team did open fire inside Paddock’s room.
“We have one SWAT officer that did fire,” the SWAT strike force team leader said, according to the audio transcript.
Zebra20 then reported no other people were injured during the breach, alluding Paddock was the sole casualty.
“We just have one suspect down at this point in time,” he said.
The events which unfolded during the Oct. 1 massacre per LVMPD’s Zebra Unit SWAT force directly contradict the official narrative delivered since the shooting by Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo and the FBI’s Aaron Rouse who heads the Bureau’s Las Vegas field office.
Previously the DA insider called Lombardo a puppet of the FBI days after the Mandalay Bay massacre. That label seems to have proven somewhat prophetic now weeks after the tragedy.
The DA insider said Rouse reports directly to FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe who is running point on the Las Vegas shooting probe. Rouse, who for years worked under McCabe in the Bureau’s Counterintelligence Division in D.C., was appointed to the Las Vegas post by ex-FBI director James Comey in 2016.
STI_Tactical9mm
Kenraali
https://medium.com/@lauraloomer/exc...-victims-received-full-autopsies-77e217d00dd1
EXCLUSIVE: Officials Claim Only Half of Las Vegas Shooting Victims Received Full Autopsies
In a shocking twist in what has already proven to be a shady investigation, this reporter has learned that Las Vegas authorities only conducted autopsies on half of the victims of what is now known as the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
LAS VEGAS, NV(Laura Loomer) — According to two sources within the Clark County coroner’s office, only half of the 58 victims who were killed on October 1st, 2017 received a standard autopsy.
The officials, whose identities and professional backgrounds have been independently verified and kept anonymous to protect their jobs, both emphasized their dismay over the fact that some of the victims did not receive fair treatment.
“Our two biggest concerns are an autopsy was not performed on every single homicide victim, which is the standard practice within the Clark County coroner’s office,” one source recounted. “We also find it troubling that the official number of deaths never increased, despite hearing from colleagues that more victims had died in local area hospitals following the shooting.”
Clark County Nevada Coroner’s Office
Highlighting the sheer irregularity of the decision, one of the officials said, “I’ve participated in thousands of autopsies and never had an instance where I didn’t conduct a full body autopsy on a homicide victim.”
Adding insult to injury, this reporter can exclusively confirm that the alleged killer, Stephen Paddock, received a meticulously thorough autopsy, performed by Las Vegas Pathologist Dr. Lisa Gavin.
Colleagues of Dr. Gavin noted how oddly excited and eager she was to conduct the autopsy, jokingly adding they “wouldn’t be surprised if she performed a rape kit on Paddock because she seemed to want to perform every test in the book.”
Clark County Coroner Dr. John Fudenberg told the Associated Press in December that an autopsy on Paddock’s body was able to determine he had died by suicide from a single self inflicted gunshot wound to the mouth.
Speaking by phone on Monday, Dr. Fudenberg declined to comment on the report that only half the victims received full autopsies.
Ironically, two days before the Las Vegas shooting, a lawsuit was won resulting in a legal mandate that all autopsies be open to public inspection.
Dr. Fudenberg said his office is defying this order because the ruling was appealed and is currently under review by the Nevada Supreme Court, and until a decision is rendered, all autopsies, not just those from the Las Vegas shooting, will remain sealed.
On the subject of why the Clark County coroner’s office was closed to the public during the aftermath of the shooting, Dr. Fudenberg vehemently denied claims there was a lockdown, and referenced safety concerns as to why the doors were locked, and an armed guard was posted outside.
Dr. Fudenberg’s duplicitous answer regarding the number of autopsies that were conducted on the victims mirrors the same lack of transparency which has now defined the infamous investigation of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
Ultimately, these actions, along with the decision to not perform full autopsies on the bodies of every victim, may cost Las Vegas more than its law enforcement’s credibility.
Las Vegas Shooting Victim’s Memorial
According to this reporter’s sources in the coroner’s office, the failure to conduct proper and thorough examinations of the deceased may unduly effect the amount of monetary damages received by victim’s families.
“When this is taken to court to determine how much money in damages each victim’s family deserves, they’re going to ask the forensic pathologist any number of questions about what they saw in the body,” one of the medical officials said. “If they ask that on every single case, the question will be, why didn’t you do that? Why not on this one?”
These failures in basic protocol may facilitate crippling lawsuits against the city, from families who may not be able to prove their loved ones actually died from gunshot wounds inflicted by Paddock.
“You want to see the wound path to see which organs the bullet(s) hit,” the medical officials explained. “You can’t testify to what actually killed someone with 100% certainty unless you go inside the body.”
Pointedly summarizing the infuriating sentiments of this troubling report, one of the medical officials added, “if my loved one wasn’t given a full blown autopsy, I’d want specifics, I’d want to know how exactly the bullet killed them, without it, you just don’t know.”
STI_Tactical9mm
Kenraali
STI_Tactical9mm
Kenraali
So .... MGM näköjään omistaa myös tontin jossa pidettiin se viimeinen konsertti .... arvo 75-100 miljoonaa dollaria ja nyt MGM haluaa lahjoittaa tontin Las Vegasin SWAT`ille ...
Mutta kuten joku toisaalla sanoi : Nothing happens in Vegas for free. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
https://medium.com/@lauraloomer/exc...as-shooting-site-for-new-swat-hq-b4728947a460
EXCLUSIVE: MGM in Talks With LVMPD to Donate Las Vegas Shooting Site For New SWAT HQ
Ground zero for the worst mass shooting in U.S. history may soon become the headquarters for the Las Vegas SWAT division.
LAS VEGAS, NV (Laura Loomer) — MGM Resorts International is currently in negotiation with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) over the donation of the infamous 15-acre Las Vegas Village.
Route 91 concert venue & crime scene blocked off by LVMPD
According to a former LVMPD police detective familiar with the talks, the police department plans on converting the concert grounds into a headquarters facility for their SWAT division.
The source, who spoke with Loomer on condition of anonymity, detailed that in a meeting at the beginning of January, Captain Christopher Tomaino, Bureau Commander of LVMPD SWAT, briefed team members that MGM Resorts International, the parent company of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino was in active discussion with police officials over the transfer of the land for a new headquarters complex for the Las Vegas SWAT division.
When contacted with a request for comment, Debra DeShong, the Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Communications and Industry Affairs for MGM Resorts International told Loomer,
The former LVMPD detective added, “It’s ridiculous, putting a SWAT team on the strip seems good in theory, but it’s logically impracticable.”
Route 91 concert venue across from Mandalay Bay Resort
The 15-acre plot of land near Mandalay Bay is one of two open-air venues on the Las Vegas Strip owned by MGM Resorts International. The land is approximately worth between $75 to $100 MILLION. For several years, the Las Vegas Village has been at the center of plans to make it a popular music festival destination for music fans.
Inferring that the planned donation of the land is not innocent in nature, the former LVMPD detective added, “nothing happens in Vegas without the sound of a cash register. There’s probably some aspect of pay-for-play in the transfer of this land.”
If the deal between MGM and LVMPD goes through, the area, which has been inaccessible to the public since the October 1st, 2017 Las Vegas Shooting, will no longer remain an open air music venue, and will instead be extensively renovated for LVMPD SWAT, which will conveniently hinder and halt any possibility of a future independent examination of the now infamous crime scene.
LVMPD’s Public Information Office was also contacted via email and phone with a request for comment prior to the publication of this article, but they declined to comment.
Mutta kuten joku toisaalla sanoi : Nothing happens in Vegas for free. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
https://medium.com/@lauraloomer/exc...as-shooting-site-for-new-swat-hq-b4728947a460
EXCLUSIVE: MGM in Talks With LVMPD to Donate Las Vegas Shooting Site For New SWAT HQ
Ground zero for the worst mass shooting in U.S. history may soon become the headquarters for the Las Vegas SWAT division.
LAS VEGAS, NV (Laura Loomer) — MGM Resorts International is currently in negotiation with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) over the donation of the infamous 15-acre Las Vegas Village.
Route 91 concert venue & crime scene blocked off by LVMPD
According to a former LVMPD police detective familiar with the talks, the police department plans on converting the concert grounds into a headquarters facility for their SWAT division.
The source, who spoke with Loomer on condition of anonymity, detailed that in a meeting at the beginning of January, Captain Christopher Tomaino, Bureau Commander of LVMPD SWAT, briefed team members that MGM Resorts International, the parent company of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino was in active discussion with police officials over the transfer of the land for a new headquarters complex for the Las Vegas SWAT division.
When contacted with a request for comment, Debra DeShong, the Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Communications and Industry Affairs for MGM Resorts International told Loomer,
“MGM has had preliminary discussions with Metro regarding the possibility of using a portion of The Village site for the purposes of creating a facility for the Metro SWAT team. The discussions are in the conceptual stages and no final decisions have been made as to the future use of the entirety of the property. However, consistent with our history of working collaboratively with law enforcement, utilizing a portion of The Village site for law enforcement is one option we are exploring with Metro.”
“It’s eerie, from my personal experience I wouldn’t want to work in a building built upon the grave site of the 58 Las Vegas shooting victims,” the former LVMPD detective said. “The optics, they appear to be wrong. It’s very inappropriate especially given the fact that the land in discussion is still at the center of ongoing legal battles between MGM and the victims’ families.”The former LVMPD detective added, “It’s ridiculous, putting a SWAT team on the strip seems good in theory, but it’s logically impracticable.”
Route 91 concert venue across from Mandalay Bay Resort
The 15-acre plot of land near Mandalay Bay is one of two open-air venues on the Las Vegas Strip owned by MGM Resorts International. The land is approximately worth between $75 to $100 MILLION. For several years, the Las Vegas Village has been at the center of plans to make it a popular music festival destination for music fans.
Inferring that the planned donation of the land is not innocent in nature, the former LVMPD detective added, “nothing happens in Vegas without the sound of a cash register. There’s probably some aspect of pay-for-play in the transfer of this land.”
If the deal between MGM and LVMPD goes through, the area, which has been inaccessible to the public since the October 1st, 2017 Las Vegas Shooting, will no longer remain an open air music venue, and will instead be extensively renovated for LVMPD SWAT, which will conveniently hinder and halt any possibility of a future independent examination of the now infamous crime scene.
LVMPD’s Public Information Office was also contacted via email and phone with a request for comment prior to the publication of this article, but they declined to comment.
Nurkantakanen
Kapteeni
Venäjän Washingtonin suurlähetystön osoite vaihtunee Boris Nemtsov Plazaksi.
Washington, D.C., Votes To Name Street Outside Russian Embassy After Nemtsov
https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-us-embassy-name-changed-nemtsov-plaza/28966776.html
Washington, D.C., Votes To Name Street Outside Russian Embassy After Nemtsov
https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-us-embassy-name-changed-nemtsov-plaza/28966776.html
Kiusa se on pienikin kiusa
Trump kun kuulee tuosta, niin kohta tulee Federal executive powers ukaasi, jotta P-Korean lähetystön edusta muuttuu "little fat little-rocket man streetiksi"
STI_Tactical9mm
Kenraali
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/11/jeff-sessions-justice-department-hezbollah-team-336396
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced last month that he was ordering a review of the Project Cassandra cases. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Sessions creates team to focus on Hezbollah financing and drugs
The group will examine claims in a POLITICO report that Obama's nuclear deal sidetracked some probes.
By JOSH GERSTEIN
01/11/2018 09:09 AM EST
Updated 01/11/2018 10:45 AM EST
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Attorney General Jeff Sessions is creating a dedicated team of prosecutors and investigators to focus on drug trafficking by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in response to a recent POLITICO article that highlighted some such cases were softpedaled during the Obama administration in order avoid derailing a nuclear deal with Tehran
A Justice Department statement said the newly-formed Hezbollah Financing and Narcoterrorism Team will "begin by assessing the evidence in existing investigations," including the so-called Project Cassandra probes highlighted in the POLITICO report.
"The Justice Department will leave no stone unturned in order to eliminate threats to our citizens from terrorist organizations and to stem the tide of the devastating drug crisis,” Sessions said. “In an effort to protect Americans from both threats, the Justice Department will assemble leading investigators and prosecutors to ensure that all Project Cassandra investigations as well as other related investigations, whether past or present, are given the needed resources and attention to come to their proper resolution.
The team will initiate prosecutions that will restrict the flow of money to foreign terrorist organizations as well as disrupt violent international drug trafficking operations."
The team will be overseen by the Justice Department's Criminal Division, but will coordinate with prosecutors from Justice's National Security Division and United States Attorneys' offices, as well as personnel from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations, the statement said.
The POLITICO report published last month said a series of DEA investigations into Hezbollah's drug trafficking operations ran into high-level roadblocks that stymied many of the cases agents wanted to bring as well as efforts to get suspects extradited to the U.S.
The obstacles and delays left some investigators with the impression that the cases were viewed as unhelpful to the Obama administration drive for a nuclear accord with Iran.
Former Obama administration officials responded angrily to the report, arguing that there was no evidence the cases were derailed for policy or diplomatic reasons rather than for more pedestrian reasons like a lack of evidence or non-cooperation from U.S. allies.
U.S. Senator Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) praised Sessions’ decision.
“This is national security 101: Washington should be hunting down terrorists who fund global violence with domestic drug money,” said Sasse, who in December called on the Trump administration to provide answers on the POLITICO report. “It makes sense for this team to start by going back to Project Cassandra cases and take down Hezbollah’s drug traffickers. As this taskforce starts its work, it’s important for the Justice, State, and Treasury Departments to provide answers about what exactly happened while the Obama Administration pursued the Iran deal.”
Sessions announced last month that he was ordering a review of the Project Cassandra cases and he said he was "hopeful" that the Obama administration had not thrown barriers in the way of such investigations.
Justice's latest move comes as President Donald Trump is facing critical decisions about whether to decertify Iran's compliance with the nuclear deal struck in 2015.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced last month that he was ordering a review of the Project Cassandra cases. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Sessions creates team to focus on Hezbollah financing and drugs
The group will examine claims in a POLITICO report that Obama's nuclear deal sidetracked some probes.
By JOSH GERSTEIN
01/11/2018 09:09 AM EST
Updated 01/11/2018 10:45 AM EST
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is creating a dedicated team of prosecutors and investigators to focus on drug trafficking by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in response to a recent POLITICO article that highlighted some such cases were softpedaled during the Obama administration in order avoid derailing a nuclear deal with Tehran
A Justice Department statement said the newly-formed Hezbollah Financing and Narcoterrorism Team will "begin by assessing the evidence in existing investigations," including the so-called Project Cassandra probes highlighted in the POLITICO report.
"The Justice Department will leave no stone unturned in order to eliminate threats to our citizens from terrorist organizations and to stem the tide of the devastating drug crisis,” Sessions said. “In an effort to protect Americans from both threats, the Justice Department will assemble leading investigators and prosecutors to ensure that all Project Cassandra investigations as well as other related investigations, whether past or present, are given the needed resources and attention to come to their proper resolution.
The team will initiate prosecutions that will restrict the flow of money to foreign terrorist organizations as well as disrupt violent international drug trafficking operations."
The team will be overseen by the Justice Department's Criminal Division, but will coordinate with prosecutors from Justice's National Security Division and United States Attorneys' offices, as well as personnel from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations, the statement said.
The POLITICO report published last month said a series of DEA investigations into Hezbollah's drug trafficking operations ran into high-level roadblocks that stymied many of the cases agents wanted to bring as well as efforts to get suspects extradited to the U.S.
The obstacles and delays left some investigators with the impression that the cases were viewed as unhelpful to the Obama administration drive for a nuclear accord with Iran.
Former Obama administration officials responded angrily to the report, arguing that there was no evidence the cases were derailed for policy or diplomatic reasons rather than for more pedestrian reasons like a lack of evidence or non-cooperation from U.S. allies.
U.S. Senator Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) praised Sessions’ decision.
“This is national security 101: Washington should be hunting down terrorists who fund global violence with domestic drug money,” said Sasse, who in December called on the Trump administration to provide answers on the POLITICO report. “It makes sense for this team to start by going back to Project Cassandra cases and take down Hezbollah’s drug traffickers. As this taskforce starts its work, it’s important for the Justice, State, and Treasury Departments to provide answers about what exactly happened while the Obama Administration pursued the Iran deal.”
Sessions announced last month that he was ordering a review of the Project Cassandra cases and he said he was "hopeful" that the Obama administration had not thrown barriers in the way of such investigations.
Justice's latest move comes as President Donald Trump is facing critical decisions about whether to decertify Iran's compliance with the nuclear deal struck in 2015.