United States Department of Justice

Software developer and antivirus pioneer John McAfee is to stand trial in the U.S. on charges of cryptocurrency fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The Justice Department published the indictment on Friday, and McAfee faces years in prison and heavy fines if convicted.

The 75-year-old was arrested in Spain in October at the behest of U.S. law enforcement officials, who had already filed charges against him for tax evasion and unfairly promoting cryptocurrencies. A statement from McAfee was not initially available. According to U.S. authorities, he remains in custody in Spain.

Jessica Watkins, the leader of American far-right anti-government militia organization Oath Keepers who planned and led the US Capitol siege, "indicated that she was awaiting direction from President Trump", the Justice Department reports.

The filing states: "As the inauguration grew nearer, Watkins indicated that she was awaiting direction from President Trump. Her concern about taking action without his backing was evident in a November 9, 2020, text in which she stated, 'I am concerned this is an elaborate trap. Unless the POTUS himself activates us, it’s not legit. The POTUS has the right to activate units too. If Trump asks me to come, I will. Otherwise, I can’t trust it.'"

US President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing the Justice Department not to renew contracts with privately operated correctional facilities. The move is part of a series of actions Biden wants to take to address structural racism and promote equal treatment for all U.S. citizens. The White House pointed out that among the more than two million prisoners currently in the U.S., a disproportionate number are members of minority groups.

President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday addressed the aftermath of the U.S. Capitol riots on Twitter, condemning the violence and calling it "one of the darkest days in the history of our nation, an unprecedented assault on our nation."

"What we witnessed yesterday was not dissent. It was not a disorder. It was not a protest. It was chaos. They weren't protesters. Don't dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob. Insurrectionists. Domestic terrorists. It's that basic. It's that simple," so Biden, adding that Trump "unleashed an all-out assault on our institutions of our democracy from the outset. And yesterday was the culmination of that unrelenting attack" and was "trying to use a mob to silence the voices of nearly 160 million Americans."

"No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, they would have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol. We all know that's true. And it's unacceptable. Totally unacceptable," Biden continued.

Addressing his Justice Department nominees, Biden says: "You won't work for me. You are not the president or the vice president's lawyer. Your loyalty is not to me. It's to the law. The Constitution. The people of this nation."

William Barr has demanded that Libya extradite a suspect in the Lockerbie bombing. The suspect is a former Libyan intelligence officer who allegedly built the bomb for the attack, Barr said. The man is in custody in Libya, he said. The U.S. government will ask the Libyan leadership to extradite him so he can be tried in the United States, Barr said. He said he is optimistic that the Libyan government will comply with the request.

A jumbo jet operated by U.S. airline Pan Am had crashed into the Scottish village of Lockerbie on Dec. 21, 1988. The attack killed 270 people, including eleven villagers. The plane was en route from London to New York at the time. Most of the fatalities were Americans. Barr said the attack was clearly directed against the United States.

The Justice Department is investigating an alleged "bribery-for-pardon" scheme at the White House, according to heavily redacted documents made public by the DC District Court on Tuesday afternoon.

The documents do not name the individuals involved, but allege that an individual offered "a substantial political contribution in exchange for a presidential pardon or reprieve of the sentence."

Prosecutors are further investigating a "secret lobbying scheme" in which two unidentified people acted as lobbyists to senior White House officials "without complying with the registration requirement of the Lobbying Disclosure Act".

The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday filed an antitrust suit against Alphabet Inc, Google's parent company, in which it accuses of violating the law by abusing its dominant market position over its competitors. This is the most important legal offensive against a technological giant in at least two decades, and represents the culmination of a year-long investigation that concludes that the company took advantage of its dominant position in the search and advertising market to the detriment of competitors and consumers.

The United States Department of Justice has declared New York City, Portland and Seattle "anarchist jurisdictions" as all three cities "have permitted violence and destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract criminal activities." This move comes after President Trump signed a memo that threatened to defund Democratic-led cities he deemed "lawless".

Designated cities face potential financial consequences and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio's office is preparing to sue in case of funding cuts.

US Attorney General William Barr reportedly asked prosecutors of the justice department if Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan (D) could be charged for allowing BLM protests to continue in an autonomous police-free zone without police oversight, the New York Times reports, citing two sources familiar with the conversation.

Barr also wanted prosecutors to consider charging protestors with sedition, a charge usually used for people who conspire against the state.

The Justice Department ordered AJ+, an Al Jazeera online news platform based in the US, to register as a foreign agent Monday. The DOJ declared the outlet is "an agent of the Government of Qatar" and "engages in “political activities.”

Al Jazeera suggested the move was related to the agreement signed by the United Arab Emirates with Israel, a deal brokered by the Trump administration. The Emirates ambassador to the United States said that was not true.

US District Judge Stanley Bastian gave the Trump administration and the USPS 10 days to provide records and information about service changes that could undermine main-in voting in the November election.

More than 20 states filed lawsuits last week over the changes, and Bastian granted the states’ request to speed up discovery in that case. The Justice Department opposed the request, stating that much of the information the states are seeking is already in the public record.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced Thursday that he was halting many of the changes, which included reducing overtime and removing mail sorting equipment.

Daniel Lewis Lee has been executed by the United States after the Supreme Court had rejected a last-minute appeal by family members to postpone the execution.

The Supreme Court had decided in a 5-4 vote that the Justice Department can go forward with carrying out the death penalty and rejected the appeal stating that "The plaintiffs in this case have not made the showing required to justify last-minute intervention by a federal court".

Four men have been charged with destruction of federal property by the Justice Department. The complaint alleges that Lee Cantrell, Connor Judd, Ryan Lane and Graham Lloyd had "damaged and attempted to tear down the statue depicting Andrew Jackson located in Lafayette Square" and that "Cantrell was captured on video attempting to pry the statue off its base." According to the DOJ's statement, Judd was arrested on Friday.

Over 1,100 former officials of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) signed and published an open letter as a statement to events of the Roger Stone case. Following the previous events - Attorney General William Barr lowered the prison sentence recommendation for Roger Stone after Donald Trump tweeted about it - the DOJ alumni are calling for Barr to resign.