An independent watchdog agency responsible for enforcing a law against partisan political activity by federal employees has opened an investigation into Jack Smith, the Justice Department special counsel who brought two criminal cases against then-candidate Donald Trump before his election to the White House last year.

The controversy over President Donald Trump’s handling of records from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation entered a new dimension Thursday as his administration struggles to make good on its promises to release details on the sex trafficking case involving a one-time friend of the now-president.

President Donald Trump is calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden, repeating his baseless claim the contest was marred by widespread fraud.

The Justice Department is poised to crack down on leaks of information to the news media, authorizing prosecutors to issue subpoenas to news organizations as part of leak investigations, serve search warrants when appropriate and force journalists to testify about their sources.

The two attorneys representing Harvard University in a pitched fight with the Trump administration are no strangers to the spotlight or to Washington investigations that reach into the White House.

The Justice Department will seek the death penalty against a man accused of killing a fellow inmate at the federal government’s “Supermax” prison in Florence, Colorado, while serving a life sentence for killing his cellmate at another lockup.

President Donald Trump used a visit to the Justice Department on Friday to air a litany of grievances about the criminal investigations that threatened to torpedo his political career.

President Donald Trump has ordered the suspension of any security clearances held by lawyers at a prominent Washington law firm who provided legal services to special counsel Jack Smith.

As a popular right-wing podcaster, President Donald Trump's new deputy FBI director, Dan Bongino, has made many public comments about the agency he's about to help lead.

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell has announced that he won’t seek reelection next year, ending a decadeslong tenure as a power broker who championed conservative causes but ultimately ceded ground to the fierce GOP populism of President Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Todd Blanche, criticized the criminal cases against the Republican as “partisan lawfare” during his confirmation hearing to become the No. 2 Justice Department official.

The new Justice Department leadership has put a freeze on civil rights litigation, and suggested it may reconsider police reform agreements negotiated by the Biden administration.

Attorney General Merrick Garland came in with a mission to calm the waters at the Justice Department and restore its reputation for independence after four turbulent years during Donald Trump's presidency.

With President-elect Trump adding uncertainty around whether a TikTok ban will go into effect, the focus is now turning to companies like Google and Apple.

The Justice Department is rescinding its protocol for federal executions that allowed for single-drug lethal injections with pentobarbital.

Senior officials from President-elect Donald Trump’s administration have participated in a transition exercise hosted by President Joe Biden's team on responding to potential terror attacks and avian flu, among other challenges.

Pam Bondi, Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, has sought to reassure Democratic senators that her Justice Department would not prosecute anyone for political purposes.

Less than a week before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office, a report from special counsel Jack Smith is refocusing attention on the brazen steps the Republican took to cling to power at the end of his first term.

The last time Joe Biden packed up and left office, he took with him tens of thousands of papers from his decades in public service.

The special counsel who brought criminal charges against Hunter Biden says the probes were “the culmination of thorough, impartial investigations, not partisan politics.”.

Special counsel Jack Smith has resigned from the Justice Department after submitting his investigative report on President-elect Donald Trump.

Outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray says the bureau must remain independent, above the partisan fray and “committed to upholding the rule of law."

A federal judge in Florida has temporarily blocked the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report on investigations into Donald Trump, who says it would be a “fake report” anyway.

An Iranian officer blamed for the 2022 killing of an American in Iraq has been charged in New York with federal murder and terrorism crimes.

President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic and pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes.

Federal prosecutors sidestepped some Justice Department rules when they seized the phone records of reporters as part of media leak investigations during the Trump administration, according to a new watchdog report being released as the aggressive practice of hunting for journalists’ sources could again be resurrected.

Kash Patel has been well-known for years within Donald Trump’s orbit as a loyal supporter who shares the president-elect’s skepticism of the FBI and intelligence community.

Donald Trump’s plan to nominate Kash Patel as FBI director sets the stage for a fresh round of turbulence at a law enforcement agency tasked with protecting the homeland and investigating federal crimes.

Special counsel Jack Smith move to abandon two federal cases accusing Trump of endangering American democracy and national security does away with the most serious legal threats Trump was facing as he returns to the White House.

Donald Trump’s choice of Matt Gaetz to be attorney general has many Justice Department employees reeling.

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump have told a federal judge that the election interference case against him should be dismissed, arguing that special counsel Jack Smith was illegally appointed and that funding for his office should be cut off.

Donald Trump says that if wins the White House, he'll fire special counsel Jack Smith “within two seconds” of taking office.

A year that began with the prospect of a federal court reckoning for Trump will conclude without any chance at trial, leaving voters without an up-or-down jury verdict in the two most consequential cases against the Republican presidential nominee.

TD Bank will pay approximately $3 billion in a historic settlement with U.S. authorities who say the financial institution’s lax practices allowed significant money laundering over multiple years.

The Justice Department has announced criminal charges against Iranian operatives suspected of hacking Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and disseminating stolen information to media organizations.

The U.S. Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into a Mississippi sheriff’s department whose officers tortured two Black men.

An Alaska man accused of sending graphic threats to injure and kill six Supreme Court justices and some of their family members has been released from custody after being indicted on federal charges.

The Justice Department is preparing criminal charges in connection with an Iranian hack that targeted Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

Attorney General Merrick Garland says he won't allow the Justice Department “to be used as a political weapon.”.

Alabama's newly redrawn 2nd Congressional District is sparking a heated election.

A Pakistani man has been arrested in Canada and accused of plotting a mass shooting at a Jewish center in Brooklyn on the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that sparked the latest conflict in the Middle East.

This week's indictment of two Russian state media employees accused of paying a Tennessee company to create pro-Russian content is revealing Moscow's latest tactic for meddling in the November election.

The Biden administration has announced criminal charges, the seizure of internet domains and sanctions related to Russian disinformation efforts to influence the U.S. presidential election.

The Justice Department has announced criminal charges against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other militants in connection with the Oct. 7 rampage in Israel.

A former Mississippi sheriff’s deputy is seeking a shorter federal prison sentence for his part in the torture of two Black men.

The Justice Department has filed an antitrust lawsuit against real estate software company RealPage, accusing it of an illegal scheme that allows landlords to coordinate to hike rental prices.

A Nevada man awaiting trial on charges that he stormed the U.S. Capitol has been jailed after he allegedly made threats directed at Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett and other public officials.

In a message dated Tuesday, August 6, the DOJ addressed Matranga and Mayor Noto by saying “Please accept our deepest sympathies for the tragedy that occurred in your community on May 18, 2022.” The letter went on to acknowledge the error, calling its initial response to Matranga’s letter “inappropriate.”

A U.S. law enforcement official says a powerful Mexican drug cartel leader who has eluded authorities for decades was duped into flying into the U.S., where he was arrested alongside a son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

The U.S. Justice Department says Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a longtime leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, and Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of another infamous cartel leader, have been arrested by authorities in Texas.

Last week KPRC 2 Investigates reported the DOJ responded to a request sent by Mike Matranga, who is a retired Secret Service agent, former head of safety for Texas City ISD and now runs M6 Global Defense, which specializes in school security and safety. Matranga said he sent the request on behalf of the families.

The 20-year-old Pennsylvania man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump had photos on his phone of the former Republican president, President Joe Biden and other officials, including Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Chris Wray.

A judge’s stunning decision to dismiss the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump brought the prosecution to a halt.

The House has rejected a GOP effort to fine Attorney General Merrick Garland $10,000 a day until he turns over audio of President Joe Biden’s interview in his classified documents case.

House Republicans have filed a lawsuit against Attorney General Merrick Garland for the audio recording of President Joe Biden’s interview with a special counsel in his classified documents case.

House Republicans have advanced a resolution that would hold President Joe Biden’s ghostwriter in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over records related to the special counsel investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents.

The Justice Department has charged nearly 200 people in a sweeping crackdown on health care fraud schemes nationwide with false claims topping $2.7 billion.

New details are emerging in the ethics investigation into Florida Republican Matt Gaetz.

Speaker Mike Johnson says the House will go to court to enforce the subpoena against Attorney General Merrick Garland for access to President Joe Biden’s special counsel audio interview.

The House has voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over audio of President Joe Biden’s interview in his classified documents case.

Merrick Garland is the third attorney general in U.S. history to be held in contempt of Congress.

The families of American hostages in Gaza say they are hopeful for a deal between Israel and Hamas that would bring their loved ones home.

Attorney General Merrick Garland is forcefully rebuking what he describes as “unprecedented” attacks on the Justice Department.

The jury has been seated in Hunter Biden's federal firearms case.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and 22 other Democratic senators are calling on the Justice Department to prevent and prosecute alleged collusion and price-fixing in the oil industry.

The U.S. Justice Department says a top assassin for the Sinaloa drug cartel who was captured by Mexican authorities last fall has been extradited to the U.S. to face drug, gun and witness retaliation charges.

The Justice Department has sued Ticketmaster and its parent company, accusing them of running an illegal monopoly over live events in America.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators have sent a letter to the leader of the World Anti-Doping Agency asking for answers about the case in which 23 Chinese swimmers were cleared to compete at the Tokyo Olympics despite positive tests for a banned drug.

The hearing was derailed when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., responded to a question from Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, by saying, “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”

Leaving Washington behind, prominent far-right House Republicans who have pushed this Congress into chaos showed up at Donald Trump’s hush money trial.

The Justice Department has formally moved to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a historic shift in generations of U.S. drug policy.

Two House committees have moved ahead with contempt charges against Attorney General Merrick Garland for refusing to turn over audio from President Joe Biden’s interview with a special counsel.

House Republicans are moving forward with holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress.

A new exhibit inside the federal agency that’s responsible for enforcing the nation’s gun laws features photos of the faces of more than 100 victims of gun violence.

President Joe Biden has signed legislation reauthorizing a key U.S. surveillance law after divisions over whether the FBI should be restricted from using the program to search for Americans’ data nearly forced the statute to lapse.

The Justice Department is ramping up its efforts to reduce violent crime in the U.S., launching a specialized gun intelligence center in Chicago and expanding task forces to curb carjackings.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has told lawmakers President Joe Biden has shown no signs of cognitive impairment while defending Biden's ability to serve as commander in chief.

Alabama voters have cast their ballots to decide party nominees for the state’s 2nd Congressional District.

Voters in a new Alabama congressional district at the center of an ongoing legal and political dispute will return to the polls Tuesday to select the nominees in a U.S. House contest that could help decide control of the narrowly divided chamber this November.

Thousands more firearms dealers across the United States will have to run background checks on buyers at gun shows or other places outside brick-and-mortar stores.

Already sentenced to many years in federal prison, six white former Mississippi law enforcement officers have been sentenced in state court for their roles in torturing two Black men.

The Justice Department is blasting Republicans’ effort to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt over his refusal to turn over unredacted materials related to the special counsel probe into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents.

House Republicans are threatening to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress if he does not turn over unredacted materials related to the special counsel probe into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents.

New FBI statistics show violent crime in the U.S. dropping again last year, continuing a downward trend after a pandemic-era spike.

The special counsel who impugned the president’s age and competence in his report on how Joe Biden handled classified documents will himself be up for questioning this week.

The Justice Department says a former software engineer at Google has been charged with stealing artificial intelligence technology from the company while secretly working with two companies based in China.

Vice President Kamala Harris led marchers in Selma, Alabama, on the 59 anniversary of Bloody Sunday, saying the fight for voting rights goes on even today.

Prosecutors recently announced that they'd seek capital murder charges in the Buffalo mass shooting case, despite a moratorium on the federal death penalty that's held for nearly three years.

The Justice Department says a suspect in a plot to kill an Iranian American author and activist has been extradited from the Czech Republic to face charges.

President Joe Biden’s personal attorney said Sunday that they went to both the special counsel and the attorney general to register concerns over what they viewed to be pejorative and unnecessary digs at the president’s memory.

The release of a harshly critical Justice Department special counsel report on President Joe Biden's handling of classified information has triggered instant flashbacks to the history-shaping events of 2016.

Vice President Kamala Harris is slamming the special counsel's report into President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents that raised questions about his memory, calling it “politically motivated” and “gratuitous.”.

A special counsel report has found evidence that President Joe Biden “willfully” retained and shared highly classified materials when he was a private citizen, including documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan.

Attorney General Merrick Garland says the Justice Department special counsel investigating President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents has completed his inquiry and a report is expected to be made public soon.

Attorney General Merrick Garland will undergo back surgery this weekend and delegate his duties to the deputy attorney general during the procedure.

A Texas prosecutor has convened a grand jury to investigate the Uvalde school shooting that killed 21 people, multiple media have reported.

Some relatives of the 21 people killed in Texas’ deadliest school shooting are demanding criminal charges after federal officials say delayed police response cost lives.

The May 2022 mass shooting led to the murders of 19 students and two educators in the town of Uvalde.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said that had responding officers followed general procedures, some victims would have survived.

The Justice Department says police officials who responded to the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, “demonstrated no urgency” in setting up a command post and failed to treat the killings as an active shooter situation.