Trump Trial Travesty

Kangaroo Court Prosecution of President Trump in the ‘Hush Money’ Trial
Smoking Gun FBI Records Show that Fauci Funded Gain-of-Function Research
Judicial Watch Sues for Damage Assessment on Biden’s Mishandling of Documents
Hearing in Lawsuit for Release of ‘Manifesto’ in Nashville School Shooting
Texas Captures Half a Million Illegal Immigrants, Thousands of Felons

Kangaroo Court Prosecution of President Trump in the ‘Hush Money’ Trial

It will be nearly impossible for President Trump to receive a fair trial in a courtroom run by biased, anti-Trump Democratic Party politicians.

The kangaroo court proceedings in the Manhattan Supreme Court mark the first-ever criminal trial of a U.S. president. It will go down in infamy. This is a dangerous attack on the rule of law and a brazen attempt to rig the 2024 elections for President Biden and Democrats. Judicial Watch denounces Alvin Bragg’s corrupt attempt to make former president Donald Trump a political prisoner.

Trump committed no crimes, and this is a prosecution about nothing. These and other Democratic Party political prosecutions of Trump are an abomination under law and are destabilizing to our nation.

We will continue to expose in court the truth about these attacks on the rule of law, free and fair elections, and the U.S. Constitution.

We have several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits related to the prosecutorial abuse targeting Trump:

In March 2024, we filed a Georgia Open Records Act lawsuit against District Attorney Fani Willis and Fulton County, Georgia, for records of any communication Willis and the county had with Special Counsel Jack Smith and the House January 6 Committee. The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of Fulton County after Willis and the county denied having any responsive records.

In February 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice asked a federal court to allow the agency to keep secret the names of top staffers working in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office that is targeting former President Donald Trump and other Americans.

(Before his appointment to investigate and prosecute Trump, Special Counsel Jack Smith previously was at the center of several controversial issues, the IRS scandal among them. In 2014, a Judicial Watch investigation revealed that top IRS officials had been in communication with Jack Smith’s then-Public Integrity Section about a plan to launch criminal investigations into conservative tax-exempt groups. Read more here.)

In January 2024, we filed a lawsuit against Fulton County, Georgia, for records regarding the hiring of Nathan Wade as a special prosecutor by District Attorney Fani Willis. Wade was hired to pursue unprecedented criminal investigations and prosecutions against former President Trump and others over the 2020 election disputes.

In October 2023, we sued the DOJ for records and communications between the Office of U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith and the Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney’s office regarding requests/receipt of federal funding/assistance in the investigation of former President Trump and his 18 codefendants in the Fulton County indictment of August 14, 2023. To date, the DOJ is refusing to confirm or deny the existence of records, claiming that to do so would interfere with enforcement proceedings. Judicial Watch’s litigation challenging this is continuing.

Through the New York Freedom of Information Law, in July 2023 we received the engagement letter showing New York County District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg paid $900 per hour for partners and $500 per hour for associates to the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher law firm for the purpose of suing Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) in an effort to shut down the House Judiciary Committee’s oversight investigation into Bragg’s unprecedented indictment of former President Donald Trump.

Smoking Gun FBI Records Show that Fauci Funded Gain-of-Function Research

Your Judicial Watch reported back in July 2022 that the FBI had opened an inquiry into Dr. Anthony Fauci’s agency work on viruses in China. Now we’ve learned much more.

We received 5 pages of records from the FBI that show an April 2020 email exchange in the bureau’s Newark Field Office referring to Dr. Anthony Fauci’s National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases’ (NIAID) grant to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China as including “gain-of-function research” which “would leave no signature of purposeful human manipulation.”

We obtained the records in response to a May 17, 2023, FOIA request for emails and text messages of the Newark Field Office, including to Special Agent David A. Miller, containing the terms “gain of function,” “GoF,” “R01A|110964,” and/or “EcoHealth.” We sent the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to follow up on uncovering the FBI Newark Field Office’s investigation of the Fauci agency’s gain-of-function grants after the Covid-19 pandemic began.

On April 23, 2020, an email exchange with the subject “Follow up call” takes place between several unnamed Newark Field Office FBI officials. A person whose name is redacted writes:

Details of the current NIAID [Fauci’s National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases] grant for WIV [Wuhan Institute of Virology] bat coronavirus surveillance and WIV bat coronavirus gain-of-function research are available at: https://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?aid=9819304&icde=49645421&ddparam=&ddvalue=&ddsub=&cr=1&csb=default&cs=ASC&pball= [summary of NIH grant to EcoHealth Alliance for Project 2R01AI110964-06]. The key activity for bat coronavirus surveillance is ‘Aim 1 … We will sequence receptor binding domains (spike proteins) to identify viruses with the highest potential for spillover which we will include in our experimental investigations. (Aim 3).’

The key activity for bat coronavirus gain of function is “Aim 3 … We will use S protein sequence data, infectious clone technology, in vitro and in vivo infection experiments and analysis of receptor binding to test the hypothesis that 0/0 divergence thresholds in S protein sequences predict spillover potential.” Translated into lay language, this equates to: “In Aim 3, we will use de novo synthesis to construct novel viruses encoding different spike proteins in an otherwise-constant genomic context, and we will test the ability of the resulting novel viruses to infect human cells in culture and to infect laboratory animals. We hypothesize that there is a direct correlation between the receptor binding affinity of the spike protein and the abilities to infect human cells in culture and to infect laboratory animals. We will test this hypothesis by asking whether novel viruses encoding spike proteins with the highest receptor-binding affinity have the highest abilities to infect human cells in culture and to infect laboratory animals.”

The reason I am writing is that the experimental strategy proposed in Aim 3 (“infectious clone technology”), if performed using commercial or in-house gene synthesis to prepare the infectious clones, *** would leave no signatures of purposeful human manipulation***.

A colleague replies:

Hey, are you going to be in office tomorrow? We just interviewed our person from [redacted] again and he provided us with some alarming new info. Give me call if you can.

The email thread is then forwarded by the Newark Office Assistant Special Agent in Charge-National Security Branch (ASAC-NSB), whose name is redacted, to then-special agent in charge of the Newark Field Office, Gregory Ehrie:

This is interesting. I’m following up with the squad tomorrow morning.

Ehrie replies:

[Redacted] Details when you can.

These smoking gun documents show that the FBI quickly understood that Fauci’s agency funded the gain-of-function research that could disguise the resulting coronavirus as “natural.” These new documents further demonstrate the need for a comprehensive criminal investigation into Fauci’s gain-of-function scandal.

Our lawsuits and investigations have uncovered much of what the public knows about many Covid-19 controversies:

• Emails between U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and top Facebook executives in 2021 regarding the censorship of user posts about Covid controversies showed Facebook leadership seeking to “better understand the scope of what the White House expects from us on misinformation going forward.”
• Records from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) showed that a Pfizer study surveyed 23 people in 2021 to gauge reactions to its Covid vaccine booster before asking the FDA to approve it.
• Records from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) included the initial grant application and annual reports to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from EcoHealth Alliance, describing the aim of its work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology to create mutant viruses “to better predict the capacity of our CoVs [coronaviruses] to infect people.”
• HHS records included emails of then-Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Francis Collins showing a British physicians’ group recommended the use of Ivermectin to prevent and treat Covid-19.
• Heavily redacted HHS records showed that just two days prior to FDA approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine a discussion was held between U.S. and UK health regulators regarding the Covid shot and “anaphylaxis,” with the regulators emphasizing their “mutual confidentiality agreement.”
• We obtained HHS records regarding data Moderna submitted to the FDA on its mRNA Covid-19 vaccine, which indicated a “statistically significant” number of rats were born with skeletal deformations after their mothers were injected with the vaccine. The documents also revealed Moderna elected not to conduct a number of standard pharmacological studies on the laboratory test animals.
• Heavily redacted records from the FDA regarding the Covid-19 booster vaccine detailed pressure on Covid booster use and approval.
• HHS records detailed internal discussions about myocarditis and the Covid vaccine. Other documents detailed adverse “events for which a contributory effect of the vaccine could not be excluded.”
• We uncovered HHS records detailing the extensive media plans for a Biden administration propaganda campaign to push the Covid-19 vaccine.
• HHS records revealed previously redacted locations of Covid-19 vaccine testing facilities in Shanghai, China. The FDA had claimed the name and location of the testing facilities were protected by the confidential commercial information exemption of the FOIA.
• NIH records showed an FBI “inquiry” into the NIH’s controversial bat coronavirus grant tied to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The records also showed National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) officials were concerned about “gain-of-function” research in China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2016. The Fauci agency was also concerned about EcoHealth Alliance’s lack of compliance with reporting rules and use of gain-of-function research in the NIH-funded research involving bat coronaviruses in Wuhan, China.
• Texas Public Information Act (PIA) records showed the former director of the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), James W. Le Duc, warned Chinese researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology of potential investigations into the Covid issue by Congress.
• HHS records regarding biodistribution studies and related data for the Covid-19 vaccines showed how a key component of the vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), were found outside the injection site, mainly the liver, adrenal glands, spleen and ovaries of test animals, eight to 48 hours after injection.
• Records obtained from HHS through a FOIA lawsuit related to hydroxychloroquine and Covid-19 revealed that a grant to EcoHealth Alliance was canceled because of press reports that a portion of the grant was given to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
• HHS records revealed that from 2014 to 2019, $826,277 was given to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for bat coronavirus research by the NIAID.
• NIAID records showed that it gave nine China-related grants to EcoHealth Alliance to research coronavirus emergence in bats and was the NIH’s top issuer of grants to the Wuhan lab itself. The records also included an email from the vice director of the Wuhan Lab asking an NIH official for help finding disinfectants for decontamination of airtight suits and indoor surfaces.
• HHS records included an “urgent for Dr. Fauci” email chain, citing ties between the Wuhan lab and the taxpayer-funded EcoHealth Alliance. The government emails also reported that the foundation of U.S. billionaire Bill Gates worked closely with the Chinese government to pave the way for Chinese-produced medications to be sold outside China and help “raise China’s voice of governance by placing representatives from China on important international counsels as high level commitment from China.”
• Our four-part documentary regarding the coordinated effort by the government and Big Tech to censor and suppress information on topics such as Hunter Biden’s laptop, Covid-19, and election debates is available here.

And, as you can see from this week’s news, more revelations on this massive scandal are coming!

Judicial Watch Sues for Damage Assessment on Biden’s Mishandling of Documents

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) can conduct “damage assessments” when classified documents are mishandled by being left in unsecure locations. The agency refuses to provide any documents to Judicial Watch about whether such an assessment was done in response to Joe Biden’s unlawful handling of classified documents.

So we filed a lawsuit against the ODNI for all records regarding Joe Biden’s improper removal of classified materials while he was a U.S. Senator or Vice President and storage of the materials in unclassified settings as detailed in Special Counsel Robert Hur’s February 5, 2024 report (Judicial Watch v. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (No. 1:24-cv-01036)).

We sued after the ODNI failed to comply with a February 21, 2024, FOIA request for damage assessments and equity reviews performed by the ODNI related to the materials improperly removed by Biden.

In his report, Special Counsel Robert Hur reports that the documents were found at Biden’s home in Delaware and at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, DC.

The public deserves to know what the intelligence director’s office concluded about Joe Biden’s unlawful “mishandling” of highly classified documents.

In March 2024, 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 Biden’s Senate records kept at the University of Delaware in light of the findings of Hur that contradict representations made under oath by the University of Delaware that no taxpayer money was used to process Biden’s records. We initially filed the FOIA lawsuit against the University of Delaware for Biden’s Senate records, which are housed at the university’s library, in July 2020.

Also in March, we sued the U.S. Department of Justice for records of all Special Counsel interviews of President Biden.

In December 2024, we filed a FOIA lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense for documents regarding a key Biden staffer allegedly involved in the handling of Biden’s materials housed at Penn Biden Center.

Hearing in Lawsuit for Release of ‘Manifesto’ in Nashville School Shooting

Judicial Watch’s legal team was in court this week for a hearing before Chancellor I’Ashea Myles in the Chancery Court for Davidson County, 20th Judicial District, in the public records lawsuit against the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County for records related to the March 2023 shooting at The Covenant School in Tennessee, including the reported “manifesto” written by the female shooter.

We filed an open records lawsuit on behalf of retired Hamilton County Sheriff James Hammond and the Tennessee Firearms Association, Inc. (“TFA”) (Hammond et al. v. Metropolitan Govt of Nashville et al. (No. 23-0538-III)). The court later consolidated Judicial Watch’s lawsuit with several others related to release of public records from The Covenant School shooting.

Petitioner Clata Brewer filed a motion asking the court for the show cause hearing to finally rule on whether to release the records and another motion asking the court to unseal the initial log created by Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (“MNPD”) describing records and materials in its possession.

Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a 28-year-old trans artist, was killed by police after opening fire on the private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, killing three adults and three children.

The resolution of the case has been delayed over disputes about whether the school and school/victims’ parents could intervene and prevent the release of the “manifesto” and other investigatory material.

We urge the court to place the public’s right to know above any political considerations.

John I. Harris III, Esq., of Schulman, LeRoy & Bennett, PC in Nashville, TN, is assisting us with the lawsuit.

A decision by the court is expected soon.

Texas Captures Half a Million Illegal Immigrants, Thousands of Felons

As President Biden enables a border invasion, Texas has stepped up to stand in the gap, and its successes are dramatic, as our Corruption Chronicles blog reports.

The Biden administration’s failure to secure the Mexican border forced Texas officials to establish a security initiative that has endured heavy criticism from Democrats and the media despite its success in apprehending hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants—including thousands of criminals—and seizing millions of lethal doses of fentanyl. It is known as Operation Lone Star, and it was launched by Governor Greg Abbott in March 2021 as the illegal immigration crisis gripped his border state. Under the program, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Texas National Guard pick up the slack for the federal government, which is charged with protecting the famously porous southern border but has failed miserably to do so. Operation Lone Star works to stop the smuggling of drugs, weapons and people into Texas, and interdict transnational criminal activity between ports of entry.

This month the state published an update on the security initiative’s work. Since it was put into place, over 507,200 illegal immigrants have been captured and more than 41,500 criminal arrests have been made with more than 36,900 felony charges filed. Additionally, Texas officials have transported over 100,000 illegal aliens to sanctuary cities throughout the country that openly welcome and protect migrants. New York received the largest chunk—42,000—of relocated migrants caught entering Texas illegally, followed by Chicago (34,400), Denver (18,000), Washington D.C. (12,500), Philadelphia (3,400) and Los Angeles (1,500). “Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps created by the Biden Administration’s refusal to secure the border,” reads the statement announcing the latest figures. “Every individual who is apprehended or arrested and every ounce of drugs seized would have otherwise made their way into communities across Texas and the nation due to President Joe Biden’s open border policies.”

Among the examples offered in the latest update is the arrest of an illegal immigrant from Mexico by the DPS after a brush team working the Rio Grande Valley saw the man get picked up by a human smuggler while crossing the Rio Grande River on a jet ski. After vetting the migrant, Gabriel Gutierrez-Perez, the law enforcement agency found that he was wanted in Florida for sexual assault on a child, sexual battery on a child and child molestation. In another case a DPS trooper busted a smuggling operation during a traffic stop after observing two passengers, illegal immigrants, attempting to conceal themselves in the rear of the vehicle. Two more migrants were in the car’s trunk and the driver was arrested and charged with smuggling of persons. All four were Mexican nationals. During a separate traffic stop a DPS trooper noticed multiple people crammed in the rear of a large sports utility vehicle. It turns out five illegal immigrants were smuggled in the vehicle and the driver and passenger were both charged with smuggling of persons. The passenger was also charged with evading arrest and resisting arrest.

Texas is not the only state to take matters into its own hands in the absence of federal immigration enforcement. A handful of others, such as Arizona, Montana, and North Dakota, have enacted measures to help mitigate the mess caused by the president’s open border policies, though Texas has been the most proactive and its initiative has had the biggest impact. As we delve deeper into the Biden presidency, the situation is only getting worse, leaving local governments on their own to deal with national security threats, elevated crime, and other detrimental impacts of lawlessness along the southern border. In fiscal year 2021 a then record-setting 1.73 million illegal aliens entered the country through Mexico only to be topped the following year with 2.4 million. In fiscal year 2023 a ghastly 2.48 million illegal aliens entered the U.S through Mexico and, unbelievably, 2024 is on track to surpass that. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) records recently published in a congressional report show that the agency recorded 256,094 encounters nationwide in February alone, accounting for the worst February for illegal immigration in decades.

Until Next Week…