Jerry Seper

Holder reassures Senate on Times Square probe

The suspected Pakistani-trained bomber is continuing to provide federal authorities with "useful information" as federal agents pursue a number of leads and intelligence concerning the attack, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. told a Senate subcommittee. Published May 7, 2010

N.Y. bomb suspect trained in Pakistan

Faisal Shahzad, who has been arrested in the failed car bombing of New York City's Times Square, is a naturalized U.S. citizen who received militant training near a Taliban stronghold in Pakistan. Published May 5, 2010

Ohio lawman seeks to put Arizona-type initiative to vote

An Ohio sheriff is promoting a "Citizens' Initiative" on the November ballot that would give state voters the right to decide whether they want a law patterned after Arizona's new statute authorizing police to arrest anyone reasonably suspected of being an illegal immigrant. Published May 4, 2010

Mexico’s illegals laws tougher than Arizona’s

Mexican President Felipe Calderon denounced as "racial discrimination" an Arizona law giving state and local police the authority to arrest suspected illegal immigrants and vowed to use all means at his disposal to defend Mexican nationals against a law he called a "violation of human rights." Published May 3, 2010

Ex-Bush aide pleads to 1 count

The former head of the White House Office of Special Counsel in the Bush administration, whose job was to protect whistleblowers, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor count of contempt of Congress for withholding information from a House committee investigating his deletion of files from government computers. Published April 28, 2010

Arms dealer Bout gets boot in Thai court

A Thai criminal court dismissed Monday a claim by international arms dealer Viktor Bout, the so-called "Merchant of Death," that his March 2008 arrest by Royal Thai Police in Bangkok was illegal because a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent assisted in the apprehension. Published April 27, 2010

DEA nabs 4 Mexican drug cartel leaders

The leadership of a Mexican drug cartel operating in Dallas has been dismantled by a Drug Enforcement Administration-led task force with guilty pleas from four U.S.-based cell leaders and two associates tied to La Familia, a violent Mexico-based gang that killed 20 Mexican federal police and military officers in attacks last year. Published April 22, 2010

As agents clear out Mexican gangs, more brutal ones move in

The savagery began in earnest in 2006 in the Mexican state of Michoacan, when drug gang members stormed into a discotheque and dumped the decapitated heads of five rival cartel members onto a white tile dance floor. Published April 9, 2010

Panel: Justice stonewalling on Panthers

President Obama or Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. should declare publicly whether executive privilege has been invoked in the Justice Department's refusal to release documents showing why voter-intimidation charges against the New Black Panther Party were dismissed, says the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Published April 5, 2010

Border violence threatens Americans

The killings last month in Ciudad Juarez of two U.S. citizens have fueled concerns that Americans are becoming fair game for Mexican drug gangs seeking control of smuggling routes into the U.S. Published April 1, 2010

Volunteer force of Mexico border watchers disbands

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, which posted hundreds of civilian volunteers along the U.S.-Mexico border over the past five years, has disbanded, citing what it called "rising aggression" in the country and decisions by lawmakers in Washington who have "pushed amnesty down our throats." Published March 30, 2010

Brutal DEA agent murder reminder of agency priority

Twenty-five years ago today, the brutally beaten body of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique S. "Kiki" Camarena was discovered wrapped in plastic bags and dumped along a road near a ranch 60 miles southwest of Guadalajara, Mexico - a death that continues to echo even now throughout the agency. Published March 5, 2010

‘Significant’ Mexican drug lord in U.S. court

A top Sinaloa Cartel lieutenant, accused of directing the assassinations of rivals as well as Mexican and U.S. government officials as part of a raging drug war that has claimed more than 8,000 lives, will be arraigned Tuesday in federal court in Chicago on charges of smuggling multiple tons of cocaine and heroin into this country. Published February 23, 2010

U.S. indicts arms ‘Merchant of Death’

International arms dealer Viktor Bout, the so-called "Merchant of Death" being held in Thailand on charges of selling weapons to Marxist rebels in Colombia to kill Americans, was named Wednesday in an indictment unsealed in New York as conspiring to finance an aircraft fleet to arm bloody conflicts and support rogue regimes worldwide. Published February 18, 2010

Gaps in laundering laws vex senators

A Senate subcommittee outlined on Thursday "glaring gaps" in federal money-laundering laws that allow foreign governments to channel millions of dollars in illicit cash into the United States, again raising questions of influence peddling by powerful lawyers and lobbyists. Published February 5, 2010

Justice inspector stripped of probe power

In a terse letter to a Republican lawmaker who requested an investigation of the dismissal of complaints against the New Black Panther Party, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said he should be able to do so, but was powerless because Congress had stripped him of that authority. Published February 4, 2010

Wolf seeks Panther case dismissal probe

A senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee asked the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General on Tuesday to investigate "potential improprieties" in the department's dismissal of a civil complaint brought against the New Black Panther Party after its members disrupted a Philadelphia polling place in the November 2008 elections. Published January 27, 2010

Justice refuses to release documents in Panther case

The Justice Department, citing privilege claims, has refused to release e-mails and other documents sought under an open records request by The Washington Times to explain its decision last year to dismiss a civil complaint accusing the New Black Panther Party of intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling place. Published January 22, 2010

House panel rejects Panther resolution

The Democrat-controlled House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday rejected by a 15-14 vote a resolution of inquiry that would have forced the Justice Department to tell Congress why it dismissed a civil complaint against members of the New Black Panther Party who disrupted a Philadelphia polling place in the November 2008 election. Published January 14, 2010

Justice rebuffs Panthers subpoena

The Justice Department refused Tuesday to turn over most of the information and documents sought by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights explaining why a civil complaint was dismissed against members of the New Black Panther Party who disrupted a Philadelphia polling place in the November 2008 elections. Published January 13, 2010