AG Merrick Garland yesterday, reminded us that the Justice Department must be unbiased, as follows:

“Faithful adherence to the rule of law is the bedrock principle of the Justice Department and of our democracy. Upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly, without fear or favor. Under my watch, that is precisely what the Justice Department is doing. All Americans are entitled to the evenhanded application of the law, to due process of the law, and to the presumption of innocence.”

I think AG Merrick Garland and Director Christopher Wray make a very good team in fighting crime at all levels. The FBI investigates and Justice Department prosecutes. Frequently, the FBI works in close cooperation with local officials, like the recent arrests of Mexican drug smugglers in both Texas and Arizona.

Authorities bust multi-million-dollar drug operation with ties to Mexican drug cartels

FBI Wiretap Opens Window To Murderous Drug Gang—And A Crucial Flaw In Snapchat Privacy

Drugs come through both Texas and Arizona, so the FBI is in the perfect position to coordinate state investigations.

Christopher Wray is the 8th Director of the FBI. He was sworn in on August 2, 2017. He was nominated by Donald Trump and was confirmed by the Senate 92-5. Normally, his term is 10 years. I was very glad to see Biden keeping him on. He’s got the right education and experience for the job.

Wray’s nomination was confirmed by a GOP-led Senate, with votes from Trump allies such as Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Josh Hawley of Missouri. At the time Trump called him a man of “impeccable credentials.” See Wray’s bio in the link below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_A._Wray

See how quickly the Republicans have turned against the FBI. From Ted Cruz’s tweet:

“The FBI raiding Donald Trump is unprecedented. It is corrupt & an abuse of power. What Nixon tried to do, Biden has now implemented: The Biden Admin has fully weaponized DOJ & FBI to target their political enemies. And with 87K new IRS agents, they’re coming for YOU too.”

And to respond to Ted Cruz, hopefully some of these new agents will work in the criminal investigations department (IRS-CI) and they are coming for you, particularly if your name is Kunal Kalra or Jon Woo Son:

Kunal Kalra, AKA “shecklemayne”, operation: In August 2019, Kunal Kalra operated an unlicensed Money Service Business (MSB) in which he exchanged about 25 million dollars for drug dealers, credit card fraudsters, and performed other illicit activities. Kalra owned and operated a Bitcoin Kiosk (aka Bitcoin ATM) that would allow for the exchange of large amounts of money with no Know Your Customer requirements. This is believed to be the first federal criminal case charging an unlicensed money remitting business that used a Bitcoin kiosk.

In October 2019, Welcome to Video, one of the largest Darkweb child pornography sites in the world was shut down. IRS-CI was instrumental in the investigation by the tracing the bitcoin transactions used by people from all over the world to pay for the illicit material. Jong Woo Son, a South Korean national and the administrator of the website, was arrested and an eventual seizure of the child pornography material was conducted. IRS-CI performed the operation in conjunction with other agencies: U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the National Crime Agency of the United Kingdom and the Korean National Police.

Things are getting tougher for the IRS Criminal Investigation, given the ease at which money is transferred over the internet. Fortunately, they usually get their man with over a 90% conviction rate.

Now, I guess you can tell, tough law enforcement means you can never pick sides. Agents have to be meticulous and persistent. There’s no fear or favor as Garland put it. There can be no Republican or Democrat side, only the rule of law side.

Stay tuned,

Dave