Jerry Seper
Articles by Jerry Seper
Grassley: Can U.S. attorney be trusted in Furious probe?
The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee wants to know whether U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. has the independence to conduct an investigation of his boss, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., as part of a contempt of Congress citation approved by the House in the botched Fast and Furious investigation. Published July 15, 2012
Two named in Iran uranium export scheme
Two foreign nationals have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington on charges of attempting to obtain and illegally export to Iran materials that can be used to construct, operate and maintain gas centrifuges to enrich uranium. Published July 13, 2012
Discrimination costly to Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo Bank, the largest residential home mortgage originator in the United States, agreed on Thursday to pay $175 million to settle allegations it discriminated against qualified black and Hispanic borrowers in its mortgage lending from 2004 through 2009, the Justice Department said. Published July 12, 2012
Holder criticizes Texas voter-ID law
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Tuesday told the NAACP annual convention he opposes Texas' new voter-identification law because it would be harmful to minority voters and vowed that the Justice Department would "not allow political pretexts to disenfranchise" all Americans who want to vote. Published July 10, 2012
Five men indicted in death of border agent
Five men were named Monday in a federal grand jury indictment unsealed in Tucson in the December 2010 shooting death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry, with the FBI announcing a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest of four of them who have been designated as fugitives. Published July 9, 2012
Stand-down orders stymied ‘Fast & Furious’ gun tracking, memo says
Concerned that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents were "too close and would burn the operation," the lead investigator in a Fast and Furious surveillance operation ordered an ATF team monitoring the pending transfer of weapons to Mexican drug smugglers to "leave the immediate area." Published July 8, 2012
Grassley letter to Holder demands ‘Fast and Furious’ accountability
The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee wants to know who at the Justice Department saw a memo from a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent in Phoenix outlining questionable tactics in the Fast and Furious gunrunning operation, which was forwarded to ATF headquarters and possibly to Justice a day before the department denied that any weapons had been "walked" to Mexico. Published July 5, 2012
Sides dig in as contempt vote on Holder looms
The House careened toward a Thursday vote to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress after Republicans rejected the Justice Department's final offer for turning over a limited set of documents, saying it wasn't sufficient to complete their investigation into Fast and Furious. Published June 27, 2012
Issa: Obama’s privilege claim in ‘Fast and Furious’ suggests complicity
The chairman of a House committee that recommended a contempt citation against Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in the Fast and Furious scandal said Tuesday that President Obama's assertion of executive privilege means the White House is either covering up its role in the botched operation or is obstructing a congressional probe. Published June 26, 2012
Issa: Obama executive privilege claim is cover-up or obstruction
The chairman of a House committee that recommended a contempt citation against Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in its Fast and Furious investigation said on Tuesday President Obama's assertion of executive privilege in the matter means the White House is covering up its involvement in the botched operation or is obstructing a congressional probe. Published June 26, 2012
Issa: No evidence of White House cover-up in Fast and Furious probe
The chairman of a House committee that recommended a contempt of Congress citation against Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in the Fast and Furious gunrunning probe says there is no evidence so far that White House officials were involved in misleading Congress or engaged in a cover-up. Published June 24, 2012
House committee suspects ‘Fast and Furious’ cover-up
The House committee investigating Fast and Furious has received more than 7,600 documents from the Justice Department, but Republican lawmakers say none addresses who approved the gunrunning probe, who failed to stop it before a U.S. Border Patrol agent was killed and why department officials initially lied to Congress about it. Published June 21, 2012
House committee votes to hold Holder in contempt
A House committee voted on Wednesday to recommend that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. be held in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over hundreds of pages of documents it subpoenaed in its investigation of the botched "Fast and Furious" gunrunning operation, even as President Obama invoked executive privilege to withhold the records. Published June 20, 2012
Obama asserts executive privilege over ‘Fast and Furious’ documents
President Obama on Wednesday asserted executive privilege over documents sought by a House committee in its investigation of the botched "Fast and Furious" operation. Published June 20, 2012
Border Patrol group calls for Holder’s resignation
The National Border Patrol Council, which represents all 17,000 of the agency's nonsupervisory agents, called Monday for the resignation of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. for his role in the botched "Fast and Furious" gunrunning operation that resulted in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Published June 18, 2012
Suspect held in recovery of rare Book of Mormon
Federal agents have recovered in Virginia a rare first-edition of the Book of Mormon, believed to have been stolen from a downtown Mesa, Ariz., bookstore over the Memorial Day weekend, the FBI's Washington field office said Thursday. Published June 14, 2012
Grassley to Holder: Prove claim about Bush-era gun probe
The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee challenged Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Thursday to "produce any evidence" proving his claim that a prior attorney general knew about a gunrunning investigation during the Bush administration or apologize "if no such evidence is available." Published June 14, 2012
‘Great strides’ made combatting human trafficking
Human trafficking is modern-day slavery whose victims include young women coming to the U.S. in search of a new life, children who grew up here but fall into a life of desperation and migrant workers robbed of the means to ensure their independence, a top Justice Department official said Wednesday. Published June 13, 2012
Holder aide who erred on Fast and Furious leaves Justice Department
The senior Justice Department official who sent a letter to a Republican senator falsely claiming that the department did not allow guns to be "walked" to drug smugglers in Mexico during the Fast and Furious investigation left the department Wednesday to become dean of the Baltimore School of Law. Published June 13, 2012
ING agrees to forfeit $619 million
Amsterdam-based ING Bank N.V. agreed Tuesday to forfeit $619 million to the Justice Department and the New York County District Attorney´s Office for conspiring to illegally move billions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of sanctioned Cuban and Iranian entities. Published June 12, 2012