DOJ ‘weaponization’ report accuses Biden administration of biased prosecutions against anti-abortion protesters
By Paula Reid, Casey Gannon, CNN
(CNN) — The Trump Justice Department released a new report Tuesday accusing the Biden administration of unfairly using a federal law meant to protect access to abortion clinics to go after anti-abortion protesters.
The report is the first product from DOJ’s “Weaponization Working Group” – established early in President Donald Trump’s second term – and comes as Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faces pressure to pursue prosecutions against Trump’s political adversaries.
The report accuses the Biden Justice Department of being biased in its enforcement of the FACE Act, which was passed in 1994 in the wake of attacks on abortion providers. The law also prohibits threats or obstruction at places of religious worship.
Biden’s former top civil rights lawyer defended the department’s work.
“The Civil Rights Division brought law enforcement leaders, crisis pregnancy center representatives, faith leaders, and reproductive health care staff together to address the real violence, threats of violence, and obstruction that too many people face in our country when it comes to reproductive health care,” Kristen Clarke said in a statement. “We enforced the law even-handedly and put public safety at the center of this work.”
CNN has also reached out to other Biden DOJ officials for comment.
Earlier this year, Trump’s DOJ used the FACE act to bring charges against former CNN journalist Don Lemon and others after a protest entered a church in Minnesota.
The Biden administration initiated approximately two dozen cases under the act.
The Justice Department now accuses Biden prosecutors of engaging in inappropriate conduct and withholding evidence in cases it brought against anti-abortion activists. They also accuse prosecutors of trying to screen jurors based on religion and using “aggressive” arrest tactics.
The Trump administration repeatedly points to the arrest of Mark Houck – an anti-abortion rights activist and Catholic father of seven – who was accused of pushing an escort outside of a Planned Parenthood facility. The report accuses the Biden Justice Department of letting the FBI move forward with a coordinated arrest for Houck instead of allowing him to surrender to law enforcement.
The report also alleges the lead Biden prosecutors on each FACE Act prosecution served as a reference for the National Abortion Federation’s application for a private grant. The report accuses Sanjay Patel, a longtime prosecutor in the Civil Rights Division who specialized in FACE Act prosecution, of ethical violations related to the group’s grant application.
Patel and at least three others who worked on FACE Act prosecutions were fired Monday, according to a source familiar with the matter.
“DOJ has terminated the employment of personnel responsible for weaponizing the FACE Act who still remained at the department,” a spokesperson for the Justice Department said.
CNN has attempted to reach Patel for comment.
The report says the Biden DOJ pursued significantly harsher sentences for anti-defendants than violent pro-abortion defendants. According to a press release from the Justice Department, the Biden DOJ requested an average of 26.8-month sentences for anti-abortion advocates in comparison to the 12.3-month sentences they recommended for pro-abortion defendants it prosecuted.
“This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice,” said acting Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”
The report does not carry any legal weight but allows the Trump Administration to publicly criticize the Biden Justice Department. The report says that “appropriate internal referrals have been made” for possible instances of prosecutorial misconduct but does not provide any additional details.
“Where appropriate, DOJ may refer current or former employees for criminal prosecution,” the report says.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to say if any top Biden officials were referred.
The Justice Department says it has already taken steps to reverse the Biden administration’s enforcement of the FACE Act.
Trump issued pardons for many anti-abortionists, settled and dismissed civil lawsuits against anti-abortion activists, and directed the Justice Department to only bring civil abortion-related prosecutions under the FACE Act in “extraordinary circumstances.”
The Weaponization Working Group
The Weaponization Working Group was formed by former Attorney General Pam Bondi to review law enforcement actions taken under the Biden administration for any examples of what she described as “politicized justice.”
She said the group would focus on investigations into Trump conducted by former special counsel Jack Smith and his staff; Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James; and any “improper” investigations into the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
In addition to the Trump cases, it is tasked with looking at other issues that Republicans raised during the Biden administration, including allegations of discrimination against Catholics, a Biden-era memo about protecting school board members against threats from parents, protections for whistleblowers, and prosecutions against anti-abortion demonstrators.
Bondi previously said the group would review “the activities of all departments and agencies exercising civil or criminal enforcement authority of the United States over the last four years,” and work to find instances in which practices were “designed to achieve political objectives or other improper aims.”
The group was at one point led by Justice Department official Ed Martin, who was tapped for the position after the Senate failed to confirm him to be the US attorney for Washington, DC.
But after a year, the group had failed to produce anything publicly despite focusing on issues that were a priority for the president. CNN reported earlier this year that the group would redouble efforts to produce reports.
A source familiar with the situation said the group has been meeting weekly to produce Tuesday’s report.
The-CNN-Wire
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