Eric Tucker, Author at The Rapid City Post

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., points to a copy of his Verizon phone bill during a Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law hearing to examine Arctic Frost accountability, focusing on oversight of telecommunications carriers on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

Republican lawmakers grill telecom officials over phone records access in Trump investigation

February 10, 2026

Republican lawmakers are decrying what they said are invasive tactics in the investigation of President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Republican senators pressed representatives from leading telecommunications companies Tuesday on their role in providing prosecutors with phone records of sitting members of Congress. Representatives for the companies defended their actions, stressing that they had followed the law even as they affirmed their commitment to lawmakers’ privacy. Special counsel Jack Smith’s team obtained the records of Republican lawmakers whom Trump was imploring on Jan. 6, 2021 to halt the congressional certification of his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

FILE - Libyan military guards check one of the U.S. Consulate's burnt-out buildings, Sept. 14, 2012, during a visit by Libyan President Mohammed el-Megarif, not pictured, to the U.S. Consulate to express sympathy for the death of American ambassador Chris Stevens and his colleagues after the deadly attack on the Consulate on Sept. 11, in Benghazi, Libya. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon, File)

Key participant in 2012 Benghazi, Libya, attack that killed 4 Americans is in custody, Bondi says

February 6, 2026

Attorney General Pam Bondi says a key participant in the 2012 attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans is in custody. Bondi says the man landed Friday morning at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. The attack killed Americans including Ambassador Chris Stevens and immediately emerged as a divisive political issue. Republicans challenged President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on security at the facility, the military response to the violence and the Democratic administration’s changing narrative about who was responsible. A Libyan militant suspected of being a mastermind of the attacks was convicted in the U.S. and is serving a prison sentence.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, left, and FBI Deputy Director Andrew Bailey, enter a command vehicle as the FBI takes Fulton County 2020 Election ballots, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga., near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Intelligence director says Trump requested her presence at FBI search of Georgia election center

February 2, 2026

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has told lawmakers that she attended an FBI search of the election center in Fulton County, Georgia, last week because President Donald Trump asked her to be there. She also acknowledged in a letter Monday that she “facilitated” what she described as a brief phone call between Trump and FBI agents who carried out the search but insisted that neither she nor the president issued any directives. The letter marked Gabbard’s first explanation for her unusual presence at an FBI search during which agents seized hundreds of boxes containing ballots and other documents related to the 2020 election.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche takes a question from a reporter during a news conference after the Justice Department announced the release of three million pages of documents in the latest Jeffrey Epstein disclosure in Washington, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Top Justice Department official plays down chance for charges arising from Epstein files revelations

February 1, 2026

A top Justice Department official is playing down the possibility of additional criminal charges arising from the Jeffrey Epstein files. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on CNN on Sunday that the existence of “horrible photographs” and troubling email correspondence does not “allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody.” Department officials said over the summer that a review of records from Epstein investigations did not establish a basis for new criminal investigations, a position that Blanche said remains unchanged even as a massive document dump since Friday has focused fresh attention on his links to powerful individuals around the world and revived questions about what, if any, knowledge the wealthy financier’s contacts had about his crimes.

Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith testifies before the House Judiciary Committee at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Justice Department says Jack Smith report on Trump investigation ‘belongs in dustbin of history’

January 23, 2026

The Justice Department says in a sharply worded court filing that a report by former special counsel Jack Smith on his investigation into President Donald Trump’s hoarding of classified documents belongs in the “dustbin of history” and should remain sealed. The department’s position echoes that of Trump, whose lawyers this week asked U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to permanently block the release of the Smith report. It marks a stark but expected reversal from the posture taken by President Joe Biden’s Justice Department, which had supported the release of the investigative report.

FILE - Lindsey Halligan, outside of the White House, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Federal judge says Trump-appointed federal prosecutor in Virginia is ‘masquerading’ in the job

January 20, 2026

Two judges in Virginia are rejecting Trump administration arguments that a White House loyalist can continue serving as a top federal prosecutor in the state, with one soliciting applications for a replacement and the other prohibiting Lindsey Halligan from continuing to represent herself in his court as a United States attorney. The dual orders from separate judges on Tuesday marked a dramatic new front in a months-long clash between the Trump administration and the federal court over the legitimacy of Halligan’s appointment. A White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience, Halligan was picked for the role by President Donald Trump in September only to have a judge two months later rule that the appointment was illegal.

President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine listen as Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump administration lawyers blessed US operation to remove Maduro from power, memo shows

January 14, 2026

A legal memo that came out days before the U.S. military operation against Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro said such a move would “not rise to the level of a war in the constitutional sense” and would serve “important national interests. The heavily redacted version of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel opinion was released this week. It sheds new light on how the administration came to conclude that it was legally permitted to oust Maduro as Venezuela’s president. That memo also spells out a muscular view of American presidential power.

Supporters of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ride through the streets calling for his release as he faces trial in the United States after being captured by U.S. forces, in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Multiple Americans detained in Venezuela have been released, Trump administration says

January 13, 2026

The Trump administration says multiple Americans who were detained in Venezuela have been released. The State Department did not provide the exact numbers of those released. But a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe non-public details, said four Americans were released as a group on Tuesday and one was quietly released on Monday. The State Department said, “This is an important step in the right direction by the interim authorities.” The releases come after the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a stunning nighttime raid earlier this month.

FILE - Former Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith departs at the end of a Republican-led deposition before the House Judiciary Committee as part of its oversight into DOJ investigations into President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Ex-Justice Department special counsel Smith will testify publicly about his Trump investigations

January 13, 2026

Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith is set to testify publicly next week about his investigations into President Donald Trump that resulted in two indictments. The Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, told Fox News Channel on Monday that Smith would appear before the panel on Jan. 22. A Smith spokesman on Tuesday confirmed the committee hearing. Smith has already testified behind closed doors before the committee. A transcript of that private deposition shows Smith told lawmakers the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol “does not happen” without Trump. The Republican president says the Justice Department was weaponized against him.

In this image from video released by the House Judiciary Committee, former special counsel Jack Smith speaks during a deposition Dec. 17, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (House Judiciary Committee via AP)

Capitol riot ‘does not happen’ without Trump, Jack Smith told Congress

December 31, 2025

Former special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers that the Jan. 6. riot at the U.S. Capitol “does not happen” without President Donald Trump. That’s according to a transcript released Wednesday of Smith’s closed-door interview with the House Judiciary Committee. Smith also described the Republican president as the “most culpable and most responsible person” in the criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The Dec. 17 deposition was held privately despite Smith’s request to testify publicly. The release of the transcript and video of the interview adds to the public understanding of the decision-making behind two of the most consequential Justice Department investigations in recent history.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, third from right, Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith, left, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, ATF Special Agent in Charge of Washington Anthony Spotswood, FBI Director Kash Patel, and FBI deputy director Dan Bongino speak during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Pipe bomb suspect told FBI he targeted US political parties because they were ‘in charge,’ memo says

December 28, 2025

The man accused of placing two pipe bombs in Washington on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol told investigators after his arrest that he believed someone needed to “speak up” for people who believed the 2020 election was stolen. He also said he wanted to target the country’s political parties because they were “in charge.” That’s according to a memo filed by the Justice Department on Sunday that argues that Brian J. Cole Jr. should remain jailed as the case moves forward. Cole was arrested earlier this month on charges of placing pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican national committees.

FILE - Former CIA Director John Brennan arrives for a meeting at the Capitol in Washington, May 21, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Ex-CIA director John Brennan wants ‘favored’ Trump judge kept away from Justice Department inquiry

December 22, 2025

Lawyers for former CIA Director John Brennan want the Justice Department to be prevented from steering an investigation of him and other former government officials to a “favored” judge in Florida who dismissed the classified documents case against President Donald Trump. The request Monday is addressed to U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga, the chief judge in the Southern District of Florida, where federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation related to the U.S. government assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Brennan and other officials have received subpoenas and Brennan’s lawyer say he’s been advised by prosecutors that he’s a target of the investigation.

Dan Bongino, FBI deputy director, speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino says he plans to resign next month as bureau’s No 2 official

December 17, 2025

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino says he’ll resign from the bureau next month, ending a brief tenure in which he clashed with the Justice Department over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and was forced to reconcile the realities of his law enforcement job with provocative claims he made in his prior role as a popular podcast host. The departure, which had been expected, would be among the highest-profile resignations of the Trump administration. It comes as FBI leadership has been buffeted by criticism over Director Kash Patel’s use of a government plane for personal purposes and social media posts about active investigations.

FILE - Former FBI Director James Comey speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, in Washington, June 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Justice Department faces hurdle in seeking case against Comey as judge finds constitutional problems

December 12, 2025

A federal judge says the Justice Department violated the constitutional rights of a close friend of James Comey and must return to him computer files that prosecutors had hoped to use for a potential criminal case against the former FBI director. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly represents not only a stern rebuke of the conduct of Justice Department prosecutors but also imposes a dramatic hurdle to government efforts to seek a new indictment against Comey after an initial one was dismissed last month. The order concerns computer files and communications that investigators obtained years earlier from Daniel Richman, a Columbia University law professor.

Justice Department challenges court order limiting access to evidence in Comey investigation

December 9, 2025

The Justice Department has challenged a court order that complicated efforts to seek a new indictment against former FBI Director James Comey by making a trove of evidence off-limits to prosecutors. An order issued over the weekend by a federal judge in Washington barred the Justice Department at least temporarily from accessing computer files belonging to Daniel Richman, a close Comey friend and Columbia University law professor who prosecutors see as a central player in any potential case against the former FBI director. Prosecutors moved Tuesday to quash that order, calling Richman’s request for the return of his files a “strategic tool to obstruct the investigation and potential prosecution.”

FILE - Federal Bureau of Investigation officers take a knee with demonstrators as they march on Pennsylvania Ave during a protest over the death of George Floyd on June 4, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

12 FBI agents fired for kneeling during racial justice protest sue to get their jobs back

December 8, 2025

Twelve former FBI agents fired after kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest in Washington have sued to get their jobs back. They say their action had been intended to de-escalate a volatile situation and was not meant as a political gesture. The agents say in their lawsuit filed Monday that they were fired in September by Director Kash Patel because they were perceived as not being politically affiliated with President Donald Trump. But they say their decision to take a knee on June 4, 2020, days after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, has been misinterpreted as political expression. The FBI declined to comment Monday.

Judge deals setback to Justice Department effort to seek new indictment against Comey

December 7, 2025

A federal judge has dealt a setback to Justice Department efforts to seek a new indictment against former FBI Director James Comey. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has temporarily barred prosecutors from using evidence they’d relied on when they initially secured criminal charges. The ruling doesn’t preclude the government from trying again soon to indict Comey. But it does suggest prosecutors may have to do that without citing communications between Comey and a close friend and associate, Columbia University law professor Daniel Richman. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment Sunday.

FILE - Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to the media about an indictment of former President Donald Trump, Aug. 1, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

House Republicans subpoena Jack Smith for closed-door interview about his prosecutions of Trump

December 3, 2025

The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith for a closed-door interview later this month even though he had earlier volunteered to appear for an open hearing about his prosecutions of President Donald Trump. The committee’s Republican chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, directed Smith in a letter dated Wednesday to appear for a private deposition on Dec. 17 as part of the panel’s investigations into the prosecutor’s work. A lawyer for Smith says the prosecutor offered nearly six weeks ago to appear before the committee in an open hearing but would nonetheless appear as scheduled for the deposition.

Justice Department insists Comey indictment was properly approved as it tries to keep case afloat

November 20, 2025

The Trump-appointed prosecutor overseeing the James Comey case is insisting in a new court filing that the full grand jury approved the final indictment against the former FBI director. She is reversing course from statements a day earlier that defense lawyers had seized on to ask for a dismissal. The latest statements from Lindsey Halligan, the hastily named interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, represent an attempt to backtrack on earlier comments the prosecution team made under persistent questioning from a judge about the seemingly jumbled process leading to the return of the two-count indictment.

Judge to hear arguments challenging appointment of prosecutor who charged James Comey, Letitia James

November 12, 2025

Lawyers for two of President Donald Trump’s foes who have been charged by the Justice Department are set to ask a federal judge to dismiss the cases against them, saying the prosecutor who secured the indictments was illegally installed in the role. The challenges to Lindsey Halligan’s appointment as interim U.S. attorney are part of multi-prong efforts by former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James to get their cases dismissed before trial. At issue during Thursday’s arguments are the complex constitutional and statutory rules governing the appointment of the nation’s U.S. attorneys, who function as top federal prosecutors in Justice Department offices across the country.

New York Attorney General, Letitia James, speaks after pleading not guilty outside the United States District Court on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, in Norfolk, Va. (AP Photo/John Clark)

Letitia James calls mortgage fraud case against her vindictive and asks judge to dismiss it

November 7, 2025

New York Attorney General Letitia James is asking a federal judge to dismiss a mortgage fraud case against her, calling it a vindictive and politically motivated prosecution brought at the behest of a president who regards her as an enemy. Friday’s motion, which had been expected, lays out a litany of comments from President Donald Trump designed to show the case was driven by personal animus that arose out of James’ lawsuit against Trump and his companies in her capacity as state attorney general.

FILE - The State Department seal is seen on the briefing room lectern at the State Department in Washington, Jan. 31, 2022. (Mandel Ngan, Pool via AP, File)

State Department adviser charged with illegally retaining classified records

October 14, 2025

A senior adviser at the State Department and expert on Indian and South Affairs is accused by the Justice Department of printing out classified documents and storing more than 1,000 pages of highly sensitive government records in filing cabinets and trash bags at home. Ashley Tellis, who has also worked as a contractor in the Defense Department’s Office of Net Assessment, was charged in federal court in Virginia with the unlawful retention of national defense information after FBI agents who searched his home over the weekend found what they said was a trove of records marked as classified at the secret and top secret levels. One of his lawyers says the defense team looks forward to a detention hearing at which they’ll be able to present evidence.

FBI Director Kash Patel speaks with Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., as he appears before the House Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

FBI cuts ties with Southern Poverty Law Center, Anti-Defamation League after conservative complaints

October 3, 2025

FBI Director Kash Patel says the bureau is cutting ties with two organizations that for decades have tracked domestic extremism and racial and religious bias, a move that follows complaints about the groups from some conservatives and prominent allies of President Donald Trump. Patel said on Friday that the FBI would sever its relationship with the Southern Poverty Law Center, asserting that the organization had been turned into a “partisan smear machine” and criticizing it for its use of a “hate map” that documents alleged anti-government and hate groups inside the United States. A statement earlier in the week from Patel said the FBI would end ties with the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish advocacy organization.

FBI Director Kash Patel speaks before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his first oversight hearing, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

FBI fires agents photographed kneeling during 2020 racial justice protest, AP sources say

September 26, 2025

The FBI has fired agents who were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in Washington that followed the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. That’s according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press. The bureau had reassigned the agents last spring but has since fired them. The FBI declined to comment.

The indictment of former FBI director James Comey is photographed Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

A look at the Trump-Comey relationship and the indictment against the former FBI director

September 25, 2025

The indictment of former FBI Director James Comey represents the first criminal case against a perceived adversary of President Donald Trump so far in this administration. It comes on the heels of his public demands for Justice Department prosecutions of people he dislikes. The criminal case, legally speaking, centers on false statements Comey is alleged to have made to Congress five years ago. But it also represents the latest chapter in a long-strained relationship whose bitter dynamics burst into public view when Trump fired Comey amid an intensifying FBI investigation into his first presidential campaign.

FBI Director Kash Patel speaks before President Donald Trump signs a memorandum in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Patel to face Senate amid questions over probe into Charlie Kirk’s killing and internal FBI upheaval

September 15, 2025

Kash Patel will confront skeptical Senate Democrats at a congressional hearing likely to be dominated by questions about the investigation into Charlie Kirk’s killing as well as the recent firings of senior officials who have accused the FBI director of illegal political retribution. The appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday represents the first oversight hearing of Patel’s young but tumultuous tenure and provides a high-stakes platform for him to try to reassure wary lawmakers that he is the right person for the job at a time of internal upheaval and mounting concerns about political violence inside the U.S.

Kash Patel speaks at a news conference, Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Orem, Utah, as Utah department of public safety commissioner Beau Mason, left, and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox listen. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Patel faces congressional hearings after missteps in Kirk assassination probe and turmoil at FBI

September 13, 2025

FBI Director Kash Patel is bracing for scrutiny over his leadership of the Charlie Kirk investigation and other areas when he appears before Congress this coming week for oversight hearings. He raised eyebrows hours after Kirk’s killing when he posted on X that “the subject” in the killing was in custody when he in fact remained on the loose. That confusion was an early misstep in an investigation that has become the most consequential test of Patel’s young career as director. The hearings are expected to give a glimpse into the sustained tumult at the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency.

A group of FBI agents leave former national security adviser John Bolton's house where FBI searched the home, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

FBI seized phones, computer equipment, folders during search of Bolton’s home, records show

September 4, 2025

The FBI seized phones, computer equipment and typed documents from the home of John Bolton as part of an investigation into whether President Donald Trump’s first-term national security adviser mishandled government secrets. That’s according to court records unsealed Thursday. The criminal investigation burst into view last month when agents searched Bolton’s home in Bethesda, Maryland, and his office in Washington. A person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press at the time that the investigation concerned allegations of the potential mishandling of classified information. No charges have been filed.

FBI Director Kash Patel speaks during a news conference with President Donald Trump in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FBI agents who had accused bureau of politicization during Biden administration reach settlements

August 26, 2025

The Justice Department has reached settlements with a group of current and former FBI agents who have said they were disciplined for invoking their political beliefs or clashing with supervisors about approaches to investigations. Empower Oversight, a group founded and led by former staff members of Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, announced the resolutions of 10 cases, including eight settlements in the last two weeks. Three of the agents are returning to duty at the FBI. Others are being permitted to voluntarily retire, and some are receiving restoration of back pay and benefits. Most of the cases concern agents who had accused the FBI of politicizing its work during President Joe Biden’s administration, a claim leadership denied.

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks at a news conference at the Drug Enforcement Administration, Tuesday, July 15, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

What’s known and not yet known about the Justice Department’s scrutiny of Trump-Russia probe origins

August 5, 2025

Attorney General Pam Bondi is set to criminally investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe from the Obama era. This move reopens a highly scrutinized chapter in American history. Bondi has directed President Donald Trump’s Justice Department prosecutors to present evidence to a grand jury. The investigation’s specifics, including which prosecutors are involved and potential charges, remain unclear. The Trump administration has been challenging intelligence community conclusions about Russian interference in the 2016 election. This probe adds to a series of inquiries into Russian interference and the U.S. government’s response, which have revealed significant flaws but no criminal wrongdoing.

Years later, key figures in Russia investigation face new scrutiny from Trump administration

July 10, 2025

The Justice Department appeared to acknowledge in an unusual statement this week the existence of investigations into former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan. Both officials played key roles in the U.S. government’s response to Russian interference in the 2016 election won by President Donald Trump and have drawn his ire. That the Russia investigation would resurface is hardly surprising given President Donald Trump’s lingering ire over the inquiry and because longtime allies, including Patel and current CIA Director John Ratcliffe, now lead the same agencies whose actions they once lambasted.

President Donald Trump, center, speaking during a cabinet meeting with from l-r., Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Secretary of Housing, Eric Scott Turner, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright at the White House, Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump comes to Bondi’s defense amid uproar from his base over Jeffrey Epstein files flop

July 8, 2025

President Donald Trump is defending Attorney General Pam Bondi as she faces mounting criticism from far-right influencers and conservative internet personalities over the Justice Department’s abrupt refusal to release additional documents from the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation. When a reporter attempted to ask Bondi about Epstein at a White House Cabinet meeting, Trump headed off the questions and scolded the journalist: “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for years.” The comments appeared to signal continued job security for Bondi and amounted to a striking rebuke of members of Trump’s base.

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks to the media, Friday, June 27, 2025, in the briefing room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

2 Chinese nationals charged with spying inside the US for Beijing, Justice Department says

July 1, 2025

Two Chinese nationals have been charged with spying inside the United States on behalf of Beijing, including by taking photographs of a naval base and by participating in efforts to recruit members of the military who they thought might be open to working for Chinese intelligence. The case was filed in federal court in San Francisco and unsealed Monday. It’s the latest Justice Department prosecution to target what officials say are active efforts by the Chinese government to secretly collect intelligence about American military capabilities.

FILE - FBI Director Kash Patel testifies during a budget hearing on Capitol Hill, May 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)

FBI says it plans to move headquarters to different location in Washington

July 1, 2025

The FBI has announced that it planned to move its Washington headquarters several blocks away from its current five-decade-old home. The bureau and the General Services Administration said the Ronald Reagan Building complex had been selected as the new location, the latest development in a yearslong back-and-forth over where the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency should have its headquarters. It was not immediately clear when such a move might take place or what sort of logistical hurdles might need to be cleared in order to accomplish it. FBI Director Kash Patel, who in his first months on the job has presided over a dramatic restructuring of the bureau, called the announcement “a historic moment for the FBI.”

Judge rejects another Trump executive order targeting the legal community

June 27, 2025

A federal judge has struck down another of President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting law firms. U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan ruled that the order against the firm of Susman Godfrey was unconstitutional and must be permanently blocked. The order was the latest ruling to reject Trump’s efforts to punish law firms for legal work he does not like and for employing attorneys he perceives as his adversaries. The Susman Godfrey firm suggested that it had drawn Trump’s ire at least in part because it represented Dominion Voting Systems in the voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit against Fox News over false claims surrounding the 2020 presidential election. The suit ended in a massive settlement.

A National Terrorism Advisory System bulletin issued by the Department of Homeland Security warning of a "heightened threat environment" following U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, is photographed June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

As US cities heighten security, Iran’s history of reprisal points to murder-for-hire plots

June 23, 2025

The Department of Homeland Security is warning of a heightened threat environment following U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. The deputy FBI director says the bureau’s “assets are fully engaged” to prevent retaliatory violence, and local law enforcement agencies in major cities like New York are on high alert. No credible threats to the homeland have surfaced publicly in the hours since the stealth American attack, and it’s unclear what bearing a potential ceasefire announced by the U.S. between Israel and Iran might have on potential threats or how lasting such an arrangement might be. But the potential for reprisal is no idle concern. Rather than planning acts of mass violence, Iran’s most common tactic has been murder-for-hire plots.

FILE - Christine Levinson, center, wife of Robert Levinson, and her children, Dan Levinson, right, and Samantha Levinson talk to reporters in New York, Jan. 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Family of ex-FBI agent presumed dead in Iran hopes talks with US can lead to return of his remains

June 20, 2025

The family of a retired FBI agent presumed dead after vanishing in Iran 18 years ago is calling for any deal between the United States and Iran to include the return of his remains. The U.S. government in 2020 said that it had concluded that Robert Levinson had died while in the custody of Iran. Daniel Levinson, one of Levinson’s sons, said that as President Donald Trump signals an interest in diplomacy over Tehran’s nuclear program that could avert direct U.S. military involvement in Iran’s war with Israel, now is the time for Washington to use its “leverage to hold them responsible.”

President Donald Trump talks with reporters as he meets with members of the Juventus soccer club in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump calls for special prosecutor to investigate 2020 election, reviving longstanding grievance

June 20, 2025

President Donald Trump is calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden, repeating his baseless claim the contest was marred by widespread fraud. Friday’s social media post by the Republican president was made as his White House is consumed by a hugely substantial foreign policy decision on whether to get directly involved in the Israel-Iran war. Trump’s call for a special prosecutor is part of his amped-up effort to undermine the legitimacy of Biden’s presidency. Earlier this month, Trump directed his administration to investigate Biden’s actions as president, alleging aides masked Biden’s “cognitive decline.” Biden has dismissed the investigation as “a mere distraction.”

FILE - FBI Director Kash Patel speaks during a news conference at the Manassas FBI Field Office, March 27, 2025, in Manassas, VA. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, File)

Under Patel, FBI heightens focus on violent crime, illegal immigration. Other threats abound, too

June 8, 2025

The FBI under the leadership of Director Kash Patel has made fighting violent crime and illegal immigration top priorities. That effort brings the bureau into alignment with the vision of President Donald Trump, who has made a crackdown on illegal immigration, cartels and transnational gangs a cornerstone of his administration. The FBI said in a statement that its dedication to investigating terrorism had not changed but acknowledged that it “continuously analyzes the threat landscape” and makes adjustments as necessary. Yet some are concerned the heightened focus on violent crime and immigration risks diverting attention from some of the complicated criminal and national security threats for which the bureau has long borne primary responsibility for investigating.

President Donald Trump speaks during the 157th National Memorial Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery, Monday, May 26, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Trump’s campaign against law firms dealt another setback as judge blocks executive order

May 27, 2025

President Donald Trump’s campaign against the legal profession has hit another setback as a federal judge struck down yet another executive order that sought to sanction one of the country’s most prestigious law firms. The order on Tuesday in favor of WilmerHale marks the third time this month that a federal judge in Washington has deemed Trump’s series of law firm executive orders to be unconstitutional and has permanently barred their enforcement. The ruling was similar to one from Friday by a different judge that rejected a Trump edict against the firm of Jenner & Block and another one from earlier in the month in favor of the firm Perkins Coie.

Judge blocks another Trump executive order targeting a major law firm

May 23, 2025

A federal judge has permanently blocked another of President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting a major law firm, calling it unconstitutional retaliation designed to punish lawyers for their legal work that the White House does not like. The ruling from U.S. District Judge John Bates in favor of Jenner & Block marks the second time this month that a judge has struck down a Trump executive order against a prominent firm. The spate of executive orders announced by Trump sought to impose the same consequences against the targeted firms, including suspending security clearances of attorneys and barring employees from federal buildings.

Eric Tucker.