Laken Riley Lawsuit!

Judicial Watch Sues for Records on Biden Agency’s Welding Open Border Wall Flood Gates
Judicial Watch Sues for 911 Call, Arrest Reports in Laken Riley’s Murder
Judicial Watch Moves to Reopen Biden Senate Records Lawsuit
Judicial Watch Sues for Emails from Private Accounts of Top Biden Justice Dept Official

Judicial Watch Sues for Records on Biden Agency’s Welding Open Border Wall Flood Gates

Joe Biden is literally opening the flood gates to illegals. And, he is unlawfully hiding records about this escapade.

We filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for all records about Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents welding open “flood gates” in the border wall in Arizona (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:24-cv-00742)).

We cite an August 22, 2023, report by the New York Post in which the U.S. Border Patrol admits it was responsible for a decision to weld open more than 100 “flood gates” in the wall at the U.S. southern border in Arizona, allowing access points for illegal aliens to unlawfully enter the U.S.

According to the Post, the storm gates are normally kept shut but are opened during the annual monsoon season, which Arizona is currently experiencing, to prevent the border wall from being damaged.

We sued after the Department of Homeland Security failed to comply with an August 28, 2023, FOIA request for: All documents and communications from August 25, 2022, to August 25, 2023, relating to welding open 114 flood gates in the border wall in Arizona.

The New York Post’s report cites Border Patrol data showing the border sector at Tucson, which includes the area with the open flood gates, had become the busiest in the country with the Border Patrol encountering 42,561 individuals trying to cross legally and illegally into the country in July 2023.

The report states: “About 1,400 migrants a day from as far away as China and Egypt as well as Central and South American countries are walking through the open gates, then looking for a Border Patrol agent to surrender to and claim asylum.”

In November 2022, we published records of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) detailing the nighttime transportation of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) by air from Texas to Tennessee, as well as two other flights making multiple stops across the country.

In September 2021, we revealed HHS documents that list 33 separate incidents of alleged sexual abuse in a one-month time period tied to unaccompanied alien children shelters.

I’ll be sure to let you know if we get anything substantial in about this “flood gate” outrage portion of the Biden border invasion crisis.

Judicial Watch Sues for 911 Call, Arrest Reports in Laken Riley’s Murder

Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at Georgia’s Augusta University, was killed while jogging in a park on the University of Georgia campus. Her alleged killer is illegal alien Jose Antonio Ibarra from Venezuela. This case has gained national attention.

We filed a Georgia Open Records Act lawsuit against the University of Georgia Police Department for audio of any 911 call about the assault and murder.

Our lawsuit also demands the initial arrest report of Ibarra for the February 22, 2024, murder of Riley (Judicial Watch v. Jeff Clark, in his official capacity as Chief of Police of the University of Georgia Police Department (SU24-cv-0106)).

We filed the lawsuit in the Superior Court of Clarke County after the police agency failed to comply with March 1 and March 14 Georgia Open Record Act requests, claiming that the records requested were exempt because they are “records of law enforcement in pending investigation of prosecution.”

We are requesting:

The audio recording of the 911 call reportedly made by Laken Riley while she was allegedly being assaulted by Jose Antonio Ibarra on February 22, 2024.

The initial arrest report of Jose Antonio Ibarra for the February 22, 2024, homicide of Laken Riley.

The initial incident report relating to the death of Laken Riley.

Our lawsuit states: “911 records are public records that can be released to the public as long as redactions are made of any names, addresses, or telephone numbers of the person placing the call to the public safety answering point.” Initial arrest and incident reports are also required to be disclosed to the public under Georgia law.

There are many political forces that wish to suppress the truth about what happened to Laken Riley, but we will insist on transparency under law for the public interest and public safety.

(Judicial Watch is being ably assisted in this important lawsuit by attorney John R. Monroe of John Monroe Law, P.C.)

Judicial Watch Moves to Reopen Biden Senate Records Lawsuit

Judicial Watch and the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) petitioned the Superior Court of the State of Delaware to reopen their case for the release of Joe Biden’s Senate records kept at the University of Delaware in light of the findings of Special Counsel Robert Hur that contradict representations made under oath made by the University of Delaware that no taxpayer money was used to process Biden’s records.

The Hur report provides disturbing evidence that the University of Delaware misled the courts in order to hide Biden’s Senate papers.

In July 2020, we initially filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the University of Delaware for former Vice President Joe Biden’s Senate records, which are housed at the university’s library (Judicial Watch Inc. and The Daily Caller News Foundation v. DE Department of Justice and University of Delaware (No. N20A-07-001 CEB)). The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware.

In July 2023 the Delaware Supreme Court sided with the University of Delaware, denying the release of the records because the university stated to the courts no tax dollars were used to manage the records.

On February 5, 2024, Hur released his report on the Biden records scandal, which calls into question the representations by the university that no state tax dollars were used to manage the Biden Senate papers (which Hur found to have contained unlawfully retained classified information).

Our filing states:

The [university’s affidavit] provides, in relevant part, that no consideration was paid to President Biden, “State funded or otherwise,” in connection with the Senatorial Papers. To the contrary, the Special Counsel Report found that “Mr. Biden asked two of his former longtime Senate staffers to review his boxes in courtesy storage,” and that “[t]he staffers were paid by the University of Delaware to perform the pre-gift review….” “These former staffers reviewed and catalogued the boxes and recommended to him which papers to donate….” One staffer emailed President Biden: “I have not forgotten about the boxes and files at your house. I am looking to start on those just after Thanksgiving” — another email notes that a staffer was “looking through about 20-25 boxes in the garage … From that group, he has about 2 boxes of Senate material so far….” The search for Senate documents took place at Mr. Biden’s direction, required the participation of many, and was paid for by the University. Even the University General Counsel was involved in coordinating with Mr. Biden’s Chief of Staff….

In sum, the Report shows that President Biden directed his former staffers’ work in reviewing and cataloguing the Senate Papers, received the benefit thereof—and the University paid for it. Such payments constitute consideration paid on President Biden’s behalf in connection with the donation of Senatorial Papers to the University—contrary to the representations [of the university].

Our filing points out:

On February 20, 2024, Petitioners wrote to counsel for the University seeking clarification and additional information regarding the discrepancies between the Special Counsel Report and the Supplemented Affidavit….

On March 13, 2024, the University responded, dismissing Petitioners’ concerns and doubling down on the representation that “no consideration was paid to Mr. Biden for the gift of his Senate Papers …” and that “[y]our apparent assertion that payment for services provided to the University by former Biden staffers who were independent contractors, constitutes a payment of consideration to Mr. Biden for the gift of his Senate Papers, is simply false….” (emphasis in original). Counsel’s assertion, however, directly contradicts the Special Counsel Report, which found that (1) Mr. Biden solicited and directed his former staffers’ work, (2) the former staffers performed the work for Mr. Biden—rather than the University, and (3) the University paid the former staffers.

“The stunning revelations from the Hur report extend beyond the president’s memory lapses and mental state. The court needs to reopen this case to determine whether the University of Delaware lied,” said Michael Bastasch, editor-in-chief for the Daily Caller News Foundation.

(Judicial Watch and the Daily Caller News Foundation are being represented by Delaware lawyers Ted Kittila and Bill Green of Halloran Farkas + Kittila LLP.)

Judicial Watch Sues for Emails from Private Accounts of Top Biden Justice Dept Official

One thing I love about Judicial Watch is how we are able to find leads and pull threads leading to potentially bigger scandal. In June 2023, we received Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records from the Justice Department that showed top officials of its National Security Division discussing the political implications of former President Trump allowing CNN to use closed-circuit TV footage of the raid on his Mar-a-Lago home.

The records included an email exchange in which Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Marshall Miller appears to forward information to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco’s personal account.

We just followed up with a FOIA lawsuit against the Department of Justice for work-related emails on Monaco’s nongovernment email accounts (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:24-cv-00527)).

This new lawsuit comes after the Justice Department completely ignored our follow-up June 22, 2023, FOIA request for “all work-related emails sent to and from Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco using non-.gov email accounts from January 20, 2021, to [June 2023].”

Judicial Watch caught Monaco using her personal email accounts for sensitive government business – including the unprecedented targeting of President Trump. And, in further echoes of the Hillary Clinton email scandal, the Justice Department is trying to cover it up.

In addition to having uncovered the Clinton email scandal, Judicial Watch is in the forefront of the court battles for transparency regarding the Biden administration’s targeting of former President Trump.

In August 2023, we filed a lawsuit against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for records of the Archives’ role in President Trump’s White House records controversy; whether it offered Trump a secure storage location other than the National Archives; and if the Archives consulted with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence regarding the classification or declassification procedures of any of the alleged classified documents found at Trump’s Florida residence.

In June 2023, we obtained DOJ records that showed top officials of the National Security Division discussing the political implications of Trump allowing CNN to use closed-circuit TV (CCTV) footage of the raid on his Mar-a-Lago home. The documents confirmed that the Justice Department had asked that Mar-a-Lago CCTV be turned off before the raid.

A separate Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit against the National Archives and Records Administration resulted in the release of records about the unprecedented document dispute between Archives and President Trump. Click here or here to review the records.

In August 2022, we successfully sued to unseal the search warrant affidavit used to justify the unprecedented raid on the home of former President Trump.

In September 2022, we filed lawsuits against the DOJ for its records and the FBI’s records about the Mar-a-Lago raid search warrant application and approval, as well as communications about the warrant between the FBI, Executive Office of the President and the Secret Service.

In October 2022, we sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for all communications of the U.S. Secret Service internally and with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regarding the raid on Trump’s home and for any video or audio recordings made during the raid.

In November 2022, we sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for all communications between the Secret Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regarding the search warrant that precipitated the raid on former Trump’s Florida residence at Mar-a-Lago.

Until next week,