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Tag: US Justice Department

  • House expected to vote on bill forcing release of Jeffrey Epstein files

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    By STEPHEN GROVES, Associated Press

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is expected to vote Tuesday on legislation to force the Justice Department to publicly release its files on the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, the culmination of a monthslong effort that has overcome opposition from President Donald Trump and Republican leadership.

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  • Trump issues new pardons for January 6 rioters, including militia member and woman who threatened FBI

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    (CNN) — President Donald Trump has issued a new pardon to a militia member involved in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, covering separate Kentucky firearms offenses that were not included in his initial Inauguration Day pardon.

    In April, the appeals court for the District of Columbia rejected Dan Wilson’s attempt to vacate his firearms-related sentences from the Western District of Kentucky that were transferred to DC.

    “The plain language of the pardon does not apply to the Kentucky firearms offenses,” the appeals court stated, returning him to prison.

    Trump in January issued more than a thousand pardons and commutations of those involved with the January 6 attack on the US Capitol and said last month he was “very proud” of it.

    US pardon attorney Ed Martin was one of the people who advocated for Wilson’s new unconditional pardon, which was issued Friday.

    “Danny Wilson is now a free man. When I was DC’s U.S. Attorney, and now as U.S. Pardon Attorney, I advocated for this clemency, which the president granted Friday,” Martin posted on X, thanking Trump.

    The White House said the gun charges were ultimately related to the January 6 investigation.

    “While being investigated for conduct related to January 6 – which President Trump issued a larger pardon for in January – investigators discovered that Mr. Wilson may have owned unauthorized firearms. Because the search of Mr. Wilson’s home was due to the events of January 6, President Trump is pardoning Mr. Wilson for the firearm issues,” a White House official told CNN on Saturday.

    Martin announced Saturday that Trump granted another pardon to Suzanne Kaye, who was sentenced to prison for threatening to shoot FBI agents in a video posted on social media in 2021. The comments were directed at agents who were seeking to question her about her presence in Washington, DC, on January 6.

    Kaye was arrested in February 2021.

    “On video, Kaye announced that she would ‘shoot their [expletive] a–’ if FBI agents showed up at her house,” according to a release by the Justice Department in 2023.

    Alleging “the Biden DOJ targeted Suzanne Kaye for social media posts,” Martin posted on X, “President Trump is unwinding the damage done by Biden’s DOJ weaponization, so the healing can begin.”

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    Kit Maher and CNN

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  • Letitia James, the New York attorney general who defeated Trump in court, indicted by Justice Department

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    (CNN) — New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted Thursday in Alexandria, Virginia, as President Donald Trump’s Justice Department continues to pursue charges against his political opponents.

    James has been under investigation since May over a 2023 mortgage she took out to buy a home in Norfolk, Virginia. Thursday’s indictment focused on a 2020 mortgage for a different property in Norfolk.

    The grand jury returned two felony charges: bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. James’ first court appearance is scheduled for October 24 in Norfolk.

    According to the indictment, James claimed on mortgage paperwork that a home she purchased in Norfolk would be her second residence. That claim allowed her to get favorable loan terms not available for investment properties, prosecutors say.

    But, prosecutors allege, James did not use the house and instead rented the property to a family of three. They allege she falsely stated in loan applications that the residence would be a secondary home when they allege James knew she would use it as an investment property.

    According to the indictment, James received a lower mortgage rate on the property as a secondary mortgage than she would have had it been treated as an investment property. Prosecutors allege James received improper gains of $18,933 over the life of the loan.

    The charges come as Trump continues to call for his enemies to be prosecuted in court. Former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty Wednesday to allegedly making a false statement in a congressional proceeding. The Justice Department has also opened investigation into former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, and others.

    “This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system,” James said in a statement.

    “These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost,” she added. “The president’s actions are a grave violation of our Constitutional order and have drawn sharp criticism from members of both parties.”

    James’ relationship with Trump has been adversarial for years as James campaigned on promises to investigate Trump and ultimately won a civil fraud case against Trump, his adult sons and his real estate business. A judge found them liable for fraud for inflating the value of their properties, and ordered Trump to pay $355 million in penalties.

    Attorney General Letitia James sits in the courtroom during the civil fraud trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump at New York Supreme Court in January 2024 in New York City. Credit: Seth Wenig/Pool / Getty Images/File via CNN Newsource

    A New York appeals court tossed the penalties and Trump has appealed the verdict.

    During the 11-week trial, Trump’s anger toward James was palpable. He railed against her in the courthouse hallways and from the witness stand. Trump testified as James sat across from him in the courtroom galley.

    “This is a political witch hunt and I think she should be ashamed of herself,” Trump testified. “You believe this political hack back there and that’s unfortunate.”

    James often punched back outside of the courtroom, on social media or in video statements.

    Last month CNN reported that Justice Department prosecutors in Virginia, led at the time by Erik Siebert, interviewed dozens of witnesses and did not believe they gathered enough evidence to support criminal charges against James.

    Under pressure by Trump to bring charges against Comey and James, Siebert resigned and was replaced as US attorney by Trump’s former personal attorney Lindsey Halligan.

    “No one is above the law. The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust,” Halligan said in a statement. “The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.”

    Ed Martin, Trump’s Justice Department weaponization chief, posted on social media after the charges were announced: “Promises made, Promises kept.”

    Martin previously posed for photos outside of James’ Brooklyn home in August and called on her to resign in a letter to her attorney.

    Mortgage fraud investigation

    The investigation had focused on a mortgage obtained in 2023 for a property in Norfolk.

    Her attorneys provided a document to the Justice Department in April to push back on what they called “threadbare” allegations.

    They said that one document in the mortgage application “mistakenly” said the property would be James’ primary residence. But they submitted other documents to argue there was no fraud.

    In one document, James writes in an email to her loan originator, “this property WILL NOT be my primary residence.”

    That property in question, however, was unrelated to the underlying charges in the indictment, according to a source familiar.

    CNN’s Casey Gannon and Devan Cole contributed to this report.

    This story has been updated with additional reporting.

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    Kristen Holmes, Hannah Rabinowitz, Kara Scannell and CNN

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  • Appeals court rejects Trump’s bid to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook

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    (CNN) — President Donald Trump cannot remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors for now, a federal appeals court said in an emergency ruling Monday, just hours before the central bank’s two-day monetary policy meeting was set to kick off.

    The decision from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, split 2-1 along party lines, marks another defeat for the White House’s efforts to control the Fed and economic policy. Trump has sought to oust Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud, though Cook has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

    The Federal Reserve Act specifies that presidents can only fire Fed governors “for cause,” and Trump has sought to leverage allegations of mortgage fraud as a sufficient cause for firing.

    “In this court, the government does not dispute that it failed to provide Cook even minimal process—that is, notice of the allegation against her and a meaningful opportunity to respond—before she was purportedly removed,” Judges Bradley Garcia and Michelle Childs wrote in their opinion.

    “The district court issued its preliminary injunction after finding that Cook is likely to succeed on two of her claims: her substantive, statutory claim that she was removed without ‘cause’… and her procedural claim that she did not receive sufficient process prior to her removal in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment,” Garcia and Childs wrote.

    In his dissenting opinion, Judge Gregory Katsas wrote that “President Trump removed Cook for cause.”

    Cook’s attorneys did not respond to CNN’s request for comment following the ruling.

    White House spokesperson Kush Desai told CNN in a statement on Tuesday: “The President lawfully removed Lisa Cook for cause. The Administration will appeal this decision and looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”

    The court’s decision comes just weeks after Trump said he fired Cook, who responded by suing Trump based on “an unsubstantiated allegation” and that her firing violated her due process rights. If Trump is ultimately successful in removing Cook, it would mark the first time a Fed governor was fired by a president in the central bank’s 111-year history.

    At the same time the court ruled Trump couldn’t immediately fire Cook, Stephen Miran, Trump’s nominee to fill a separate seat on Fed’s Board, was confirmed by the Senate.

    Trump’s push to get the Fed to lower rates

    The Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates at the conclusion of their two-day policy meeting this week. However, it’s an open question how big the cut will be at this and upcoming meetings.

    Meanwhile, Trump’s push to oust Cook, a Biden appointee and the first Black woman to serve on the Fed’s Board, comes amid a campaign to get the central bank to lower interest rates.

    As part of that effort, Trump has tried unsuccessfully to bully Fed Chair Jerome Powell into lowering rates, calling him a “numbskull,” a “major loser” and “a very stupid person” for keeping rates elevated. He also threatened to fire him, but more recently has said he’d allow Powell to stay on until his term as chair ends in May.

    While seven out of 12 members of the Fed’s interest rate-setting committee are nominated by the president and confirmed by members of the Senate, the central bank for decades has functioned as an independent institution.

    Trump’s attempt to fire Cook raises serious concerns about the degree of independence the Fed will have moving forward.

    “President Trump’s attempted removal of Governor Lisa Cook, if allowed, would mark an immediate end to that history,” Cook’s attorneys wrote in a filing on Saturday. Economists have expressed similar concerns, arguing that the US economy’s success has been predicated on having an independent central bank, which helps instill confidence in domestic and foreign investors.

    The Fed was designed to be independent from politicians specifically so it could focus on economic data – and not political considerations – in achieving its dual mandate to keep price increases in check while supporting the job market.

    Politicians often prefer lower interest rates, aiming to boost stock prices and make it cheaper for people to borrow money, both popular moves among voters. But lower interest rates risk igniting price pressures. On the other hand, leaving rates too high could overly restrict spending and hiring, hurting the economy.

    Cook and her attorneys have argued that Trump’s use of “cause” is an attempt to get around a Supreme Court decision from earlier this year that appeared to limit the president’s ability to remove Federal Reserve governors.

    Trump, Cook argued in court papers, wants to redefine the meaning of “cause” in a way that would allow him to fire any board member “with whom he disagrees about policy based on chalked up allegations.”

    “President Trump does not have the power to unilaterally redefine ‘cause’ – completely unmoored to caselaw, history, and tradition – and conclude, without evidence, that he has found it,” Cook’s attorneys wrote.

    The Trump administration called Cook’s claims to stay on the board “meritless,” adding that concerns over whether Cook misrepresented her finances pose concerns as to “whether Cook can be trusted to act with forthrightness, care, and disinterest in managing the U.S. money supply.”

    This story has been updated with additional context and developments.

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    Bryan Mena, Dan Berman and CNN

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  • Trump administration moves forward with push to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook

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    (CNN) — The Trump administration on Sunday renewed its request to a federal appeals court to fire Lisa Cook, a Federal Reserve governor who has faced political scrutiny in recent weeks.

    The move comes ahead of the independent central bank’s vote on interest rates this week. President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for the Fed to slash interest rates while publicly targeting Fed chair Jerome Powell.

    The Trump administration filed its request to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ahead of Sunday’s 3 p.m. ET deadline.

    The Trump administration called Cook’s claims to stay on the board “meritless,” adding that concerns over whether Cook misrepresented her finances pose concerns as to “whether Cook can be trusted to act with forthrightness, care, and disinterest in managing the U.S. money supply.”

    Lowell & Associates, which is representing Cook, did not respond to CNN’s request for comment

    On Saturday, Cook’s legal team requested that the court reject Trump’s bid to remove her from the board because the administration did not show sufficient cause to fire her. Cook’s lawyers also argued that allowing her to be fired threatens the bank’s independence and the nation’s economic stability.

    “As economists have warned, everyday Americans ultimately would pay the price: higher prices ‘via higher inflation and higher interest rates’ that result ‘when central bank independence is lost,’” Cook’s lawyers said.

    Cook has been under fire for accusations of mortgage fraud, which were launched by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte. Trump said on August 25 that he would remove Cook from her position because of the accusation.

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    Auzinea Bacon and CNN

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  • Trump official lodges new criminal referral against Fed Governor Lisa Cook

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    (CNN) — A Trump administration housing official has sent a new criminal referral to the Justice Department against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, as she sues the administration to fight the president’s efforts to fire her.

    The new criminal referral, made late Thursday and revealed in a social media post by Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, alleges Cook identified a property in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a second home on official documents, but instead used it as an investment property.

    Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor, has filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s firing of her earlier this week. A hearing on that suit took place Friday morning.

    The battle over Cook’s job is about more than one position: The nation’s central bank operates independently so that officials can make economic decisions without pressure over political considerations. Trump’s attempts to fire Cook – and to force the bank to cut interest rates – get to the heart of the question about the Fed’s independence and whether Trump’s presidential powers have limits.

    The Fed has been resistant to cutting rates this year, citing Trump’s tariffs and their potential to raise inflation. Trump, however, has repeatedly demanded lower borrowing costs, often lobbing personal insults in the process.

    Cook has not been charged with any crimes.

    At the Friday hearing on her civil suit, her attorney, Abbe Lowell argued the mortgage fraud allegations are a pretext because of Trump’s political ire with the Fed for not lowering interest rates.

    In a statement to CNN, Lowell denied there was any validity to the allegations against his client.

    “This is an obvious smear campaign aimed at discrediting Gov. Cook by a political operative who has taken to social media more than 30 times in the last two days and demanded her removal before any review of the facts or evidence,” Lowell said in the statement. “Nothing in these vague, unsubstantiated allegations has any relevance to Gov. Cook’s role at the Federal Reserve, and they in no way justify her removal from the board.”

    In court Friday in Cook’s civil case, the Justice Department didn’t acknowledge any criminal investigation it may be conducting.

    But lawyers for the department have argued to a judge weighing the legality of her firing that “a Governor’s failure to carefully read her own financial documents casts a shadow over the Federal Reserve’s decisions,” according to a Justice Department court filing this week.

    Still, the Justice Department has tasked Ed Martin—whom the attorney general is using as a special investigator for a smattering of politically charged allegations that President Donald Trump is interested in—to look into the allegations around Cook, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

    Many of Trump’s attacks on the Fed have been focused on Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whom he appointed during his first term in office, and who was reappointed to another term under President Joe Biden.

    Trump has not tried to remove Powell, despite threats that he might do so. Some of those threats prompted a sell-off in US equity markets by investors concerned about Fed independence. The president does not have the power to remove a member of the Fed Board except “for cause,” not just because of a disagreement over monetary policy. But Trump used the allegations of mortgage fraud against Cook as justification for her removal.

    In the Thursday referral to the DOJ, Pulte described the new allegations as “extremely troubling.”

    “Second homes receive lower mortgage costs than investment properties, because investment properties are inherently riskier,” he wrote.

    The FHFA had already made a criminal referral alleging that Cook committed mortgage fraud by getting mortgages for two different properties, one in Michigan, another in Georgia, and claiming on both mortgages that they would be her primary residence.

    This story has been updated with additional reporting and context.

    – CNN’s Jeremy Herb, Phil Mattingly and Evan Perez contributed to this report.

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    Chris Isidore and CNN

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  • Trump says he has fired Fed governor Lisa Cook. She says he has no ‘authority’ to fire her

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    (CNN) — President Donald Trump on Monday said he has fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, according to a letter addressed to her posted on his social media — the first instance of a president firing a central bank governor in the central bank’s 111-year history.

    The unprecedented move represents a significant escalation of the president’s battle against the Fed, which he has blamed for taking too long to lower interest rates. But Cook said the president doesn’t have the “authority” to fire her and that she plans to continue in her post.

    Cook has recently come under fire by Trump and members of his administration for allegedly committing mortgage fraud. The Justice Department has said it plans to investigate those allegations first raised by Federal Housing Finance Director Bill Pulte.

    Cook has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

    “President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” Cook said in statement her attorneys shared with CNN Monday night. “I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”

    The Fed declined to comment on the news.

    It’s unclear whether Trump has the legal authority to fire Cook over these allegations. The law specifies that a president may only remove members of the Fed’s board “for cause” – though what merits a for-cause firing has not been explicitly defined.

    Trump, in his letter to Cook wrote, “I have determined that there is sufficient cause to remove you from your position.”

    (A CNN review of mortgage documents shows that Cook took out mortgages for two properties, both of which were listed as her principal residence. However, it’s not known why she did so or if she did so intentionally.)

    “In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter … I do not have such confidence in your integrity. At a minimum, the conduct at issue exhibits the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question your competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator,” Trump added in his letter.

    “This is not DOJ opening anything, they haven’t charged her. So as of right now, I think it’s kind of questionable for cause,” former Federal prosecutor Shan Wu told CNN’s Brianna Keilar, referring to the Department of Justice. “It’s definitely gonna get litigated.”

    Appointed to the Fed board by former President Joe Biden in 2022, Cook is the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor.

    While the firing may be challenged in courts, even going up to the Supreme Court, Trump’s firing of Cook puts the central bank of the world’s largest economy in uncharted waters.

    For example, it’s unknown whether Cook would have to leave the Fed’s board immediately, and if so, will Trump have the opportunity to nominate someone else to fill her seat. Cook’s attorney, Abbe David Lowell of Lowell & Associates, said in a statement to CNN: “We will take whatever actions are needed to prevent his attempted illegal action.”

    The Fed’s next monetary policy meeting is less than a month away, over September 16 and 17.

    Last week Cook released a statement saying she would not be “bullied” into resigning.

    “I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet. I do intend to take any questions about my financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve and so I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts,” she said in that statement.

    Fed independence at risk

    The Fed is designed to be independent from politicians specifically so it can focus on economic data – and not political considerations – in achieving its dual mandate to keep price increases in check while supporting the job market.

    Politicians often prefer lower interest rates, aiming to boost stock prices and make it cheaper for people to borrow money, both popular moves among voters. But lower interest rates risk igniting price pressures. On the other hand, leaving rates too high could overly restrict spending and hiring, hurting the economy.

    No central bank gets it right all the time. However, studies strongly suggest that economies with independent central banks experience better outcomes, including lower inflation.

    If the move costs the US its economic credibility, American assets, such as stocks and the dollar, could get hammered. That in turn could leave investors to demand higher premiums to lend money to the US.

    “The bigger picture is sadly simple: The Fed is designed to be independent of politics, for very good reasons,” Alan Blinder, a former vice chair at the Fed told CNN Monday night. “He is trying to end that and make it an arm of the Trump administration, which will be very bad for monetary policy if it happens.”

    Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said in a statement that Trump’s attempt to fire Cook is “an authoritarian power grab that blatantly violates the Federal Reserve Act, and must be overturned in court.”

    Representatives for Republican Senator Tim Scott, who leads the committee, did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for a comment.

    Immediately following Trump’s announcement on Monday, the US dollar index dropped by 0.3%. The index measures the strength of the dollar against a basket of international currencies.

    US stock futures, meanwhile, slid further after a day in the green. Dow futures fell 100 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 futures fell 0.3%. Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.5%.

    The price of gold, which is considered a safe haven asset during times of uncertainty, rose 0.45%.

    This story has been updated with additional context and developments.

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    Elisabeth Buchwald, Bryan Mena and CNN

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  • Ranger fired for hanging transgender flag in Yosemite and park visitors may face prosecution

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    By MATTHEW BROWN and HANNAH SCHOENBAUM, Associated Press

    A Yosemite National Park ranger was fired after hanging a pride flag from El Capitan while some park visitors could face prosecution under protest restrictions that have been tightened under President Donald Trump.

    Shannon “SJ” Joslin, a ranger and biologist who studies bats, said they hung a 66-foot wide transgender pride flag on the famous climbing wall that looms over the California park’s main thoroughfare for about two hours on May 20 before taking it down voluntarily. A termination letter they received last week accused Joslin of “failing to demonstrate acceptable conduct” in their capacity as a biologist and cited the May incident.

    Yosemite visitors view El Capitan, where a transgender flag hangs in Yosemite National Park, Calif., May 20, 2025. (Jayce Kolinski via AP)

    “I was really hurting because there were a lot of policies coming from the current administration that target trans people, and I’m nonbinary,” Joslin, 35, told The Associated Press, adding that hanging the flag was their way of saying, “We’re all safe in national parks.”

    Joslin said their firing sends the opposite message: “If you’re a federal worker and you have any kind of identity that doesn’t agree with this current administration, then you must be silent, or you will be eliminated.”

    Park officials on Tuesday said they were working with the U.S. Justice Department to pursue visitors and workers who violated restrictions on demonstrations at the park that had more than 4 million visitors last year.

    The agencies “are pursuing administrative action against several Yosemite National Park employees and possible criminal charges against several park visitors who are alleged to have violated federal laws and regulations related to demonstrations,” National Park Service spokesperson Rachel Pawlitz said.

    Joslin said a group of seven climbers including two other park rangers hung the flag. The other rangers are on administrative leave pending an investigation, Joslin said.

    A group of people, including Shannon Joslin, a Yosemite National Park ranger and biologist who was fired, hang a transgender flag on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, Calif.
    A group of people, including Shannon Joslin, a Yosemite National Park ranger and biologist who was fired, hang a transgender flag on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, Calif., May 20, 2025. (Mitchell Overton via AP)

    Flags have long been flown from El Capitan without consequences, said Joanna Citron Day, a former federal attorney who is now with the advocacy group Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility. She said the group is representing Joslin, but there is no pending legal case.

    On May 21, a day after the flag display, Acting Superintendent Ray McPadden signed a rule prohibiting people from hanging banners, flags or signs larger than 15 square feet in park areas designated as “wilderness” or “potential wilderness.” That covers 94% of the park, according to Yosemite’s website.

    Park officials said the new restriction was needed to preserve Yosemite’s wilderness and protect climbers.

    “We take the protection of the park’s resources and the experience of our visitors very seriously, and will not tolerate violations of laws and regulations that impact those resources and experiences,” Pawlitz said.

    It followed a widely publicized instance in February of demonstrators hanging an upside down American flag on El Capitan to protest the firing of National Park Service employees by the Trump administration.

    Among the climbers who helped hang the transgender flag was Pattie Gonia, an environmentalist and drag queen who uses the performance art to raise awareness of conservation issues. For the past five years, Gonia has helped throw a Pride event in Yosemite for park employees.

    She said they hung the transgender flag on the iconic granite monolith to express that being transgender is natural.

    This year, Trump signed an executive order changing the federal definition of sex to exclude the concept of gender identity. He also banned trans women from competing in women’s sports, removed trans people from the military and limited access to gender-affirming care.

    Gonia called the firing unjust. Joslin said they hung the flag in their free time, as a private citizen.

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  • DOJ goes after payment giant Visa with new antitrust suit

    DOJ goes after payment giant Visa with new antitrust suit

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    The US Justice Department went after Visa (V) on Tuesday in a federal antitrust lawsuit alleging that the company illegally used the scale of its vast card processing network to block competition.

    Visa owns and controls the largest debit card processing network in the US, which processes more than 60% of the nation’s debit card transactions.

    According to the DOJ, Visa leveraged its ecosystem of consumers, banks, and merchants to penalize merchants for choosing an alternate debit network.

    “Collectively … Visa’s systematic efforts to limit competition for debit transactions have resulted in significant additional fees imposed on American consumers and businesses and slowed innovation in the debit payments ecosystem,” the complaint said.

    FILE PHOTO: Visa credit and debit cards are seen in this picture illustration taken August 2, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo

    Visa credit and debit cards are seen in this picture illustration taken Aug. 2, 2022. (REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo) (Reuters / Reuters)

    According to the DOJ, Visa fashioned a “web of contracts” with major banks and merchants that required merchants to choose Visa’s network or pay higher fees to Visa for sales transactions.

    In 2022, Visa debit processing fees drove $7 billion in revenue for the company. Visa stock dropped more than 5% Tuesday.

    US Attorney General Merrick Garland said Visa’s illegal conduct discouraged potential rivals, particularly fintech companies like Square’s CashApp, from entering the debit processing market.

    “While Visa is the first name many debit card users see when they take out their card to make a purchase, they do not see the role that Visa plays behind the scenes,” Garland said.

    “There, it controls a complex network of merchants, financial institutions, and consumers … It is charging a hidden toll on each of trillions of transactions, adding up to billions of dollars of fees imposed annually on American consumers and businesses.”

    Specifically, the DOJ said Visa illegally held on to monopolies in two markets: the debit network services market, which is used to withdraw funds directly out of a consumer’s bank account, and the card-not-present debit network services market.

    The latter is a narrower market within the broader services market that includes traditional debit card transactions, as well as fintech transactions.

    Attorney General Merrick Garland, center, is flanked by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Doha Mekki, left, and Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer, right, as he speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)Attorney General Merrick Garland, center, is flanked by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Doha Mekki, left, and Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer, right, as he speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

    Attorney General Merrick Garland, center, is flanked by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Doha Mekki, left, and Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer, right, during a press conference Tuesday. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

    Visa’s general counsel, Julie Rottenberg, responded to the lawsuit by saying that it ignored Visa’s “many competitors” in the growing debit space.

    “Anyone who has bought something online, or checked out at a store, knows there is an ever-expanding universe of companies offering new ways to pay for goods and services,” Rottenberg said.

    Alden Abbott, a Mercatus Center research fellow and former general counsel for the US Federal Trade Commission, said the Visa case is unique for an antitrust case in that the Dodd-Frank Act set a cap on debit card fees.

    Any antitrust analysis of Visa’s arrangements should take the law’s impact into account, Abbott said, because it may have discouraged rivals from entering the market, weakened then-existing rivals, and led to fewer poorer Americans having debit cards.

    “It is certainly possible that Visa’s growing debit card market share is due to this statutory price cap, rather than anti-competitive actions by Visa,” Abbott said.

    The DOJ is asking for the federal district court in Manhattan to block Visa from using the allegedly harmful contracts and to block it from bundling credit services or credit incentives with debit network services.

    It also asked for the court to stop Visa from imposing pricing incentives for use of its network.

    Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on X @alexiskweed.

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  • Top US drug agency a notable holdout in Biden’s push to loosen federal marijuana restrictions – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

    Top US drug agency a notable holdout in Biden’s push to loosen federal marijuana restrictions – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

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    Top US drug agency a notable holdout in Biden’s push to loosen federal marijuana restrictions – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news




























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  • Donald Trump seeks White House again amid GOP losses, legal probes

    Donald Trump seeks White House again amid GOP losses, legal probes

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    Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will mount a third White House campaign, launching an early start to the 2024 contest. The announcement comes just a week after an underwhelming midterm showing for Republicans and will force the party to decide whether to embrace a candidate whose refusal to accept defeat in 2020 pushed American democracy to the brink.

    “I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump said to an audience of several hundred supporters, club members and gathered press in a chandeliered ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago club, where he stood flanked by more than 30 American flags and banners that read, “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

    Trump enters the race in a moment of political vulnerability. He hoped to launch his campaign in the wake of resounding GOP midterm victories, fueled by candidates he elevated during this year’s primaries. Instead, many of those candidates lost, allowing Democrats to keep the Senate and leaving the GOP with a path to only a bare majority in the House.

    Far from the undisputed leader of the party, Trump is now facing criticism from some of his own allies, who say it’s time for Republicans to look to the future, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis emerging as an early favorite White House contender.

    The former president is still popular with the GOP base. But other Republicans, including former Vice President Mike Pence, are taking increasingly public steps toward campaigns of their own, raising the prospect that Trump will have to navigate a competitive GOP primary.

    He’s launching his candidacy amid a series of escalating criminal investigations, including several that could lead to indictments. They include the probe into dozens of documents with classified markings that were seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago and ongoing state and federal inquiries into his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

    Another campaign is a remarkable turn for any former president, much less one who made history as the first to be impeached twice and whose term ended with his supporters violently storming the Capitol in a deadly bid to halt the peaceful transition of power on Jan. 6, 2021.

    But Trump, according to people close to him, has been eager to return to politics and try to halt the rise of other potential challengers. Aides have spent the last months readying paperwork, identifying potential staff, and sketching out the contours of a campaign that is being modeled on his 2016 operation, when a small clutch of aides zipping between rallies on his private jet defied the odds and defeated far better-funded and more experienced rivals by tapping into deep political fault lines and using shocking statements to drive relentless media attention.

    Even after GOP losses, Trump remains the most powerful force in his party. For years he has consistently topped his fellow Republican contenders by wide margins in hypothetical head-to-head matchups. And even out of office, he consistently attracts thousands to his rallies and remains his party’s most prolific fundraiser, raising hundreds of millions of dollars.

    But Trump is also a deeply polarizing figure. Fifty-four percent of voters in last week’s midterm elections viewed him very or somewhat unfavorably, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 94,000 voters nationwide. And an October AP-NORC poll found even Republicans have their reservations about him remaining the party’s standard-bearer, with 43% saying they don’t want to see him run for president in 2024.

    Trump’s candidacy poses profound questions about America’s democratic future. The final days of his presidency were consumed by a desperate effort to stay in power, undermining the centuries-old tradition of a peaceful transfer. And in the two years since he lost, Trump’s persistent — and baseless — lies about widespread election fraud have eroded confidence in the nation’s political process. By late January 2021, about two-thirds of Republicans said they did not believe President Joe Biden was legitimately elected in 2020, an AP-NORC poll found.

    VoteCast showed roughly as many Republican voters in the midterm elections continued to hold that belief.

    Federal and state election officials and Trump’s own attorney general have said there is no credible evidence the 2020 election was tainted. The former president’s allegations of fraud were also roundly rejected by numerous courts, including by judges Trump appointed.

    But that didn’t stop hundreds of midterm candidates from parroting his lies as they sought to win over his loyal base and score his coveted endorsement. In the end, many of those candidates went on to lose their races a sign that voters rejected such extreme rhetoric.

    While some Republicans with presidential ambitions, like former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, have long ruled out running against Trump, others have said he would not figure into their decisions, even before his midterm losses.

    They include Pence, who released a book Tuesday, and Trump’s former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, as well as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who ran against Trump in 2016. Other potential candidates include Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Trump is also likely to face challenges from members of the anti-Trump wing of the party like Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the House committee that has been investigating Jan. 6.

    But the person who has most occupied Trump and his allies in recent months is DeSantis, whose commanding reelection as governor last week was a bright spot for Republicans this cycle. The former congressman, who became a popular national figure among conservatives during the pandemic as he pushed back on COVID-19 restrictions, shares Trump’s pugilistic instincts and has embraced fights over social issues with similar zeal.

    Even some enthusiastic Trump supporters say they are eager for DeSantis to run, seeing him as a natural successor to Trump but without the former president’s considerable baggage.

    Trump has already begun to lash out at DeSantis publicly. On Tuesday, the Florida governor shot back.

    “At the end of the day, I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night,” DeSantis told reporters.

    A crowded field of GOP rivals could ultimately play to Trump’s advantage, as it did in 2016 when he prevailed over more than a dozen other candidates who splintered the anti-Trump vote.

    Trump’s decision paves the way for a potential rematch with Biden, who has said he intends to run for reelection despite concerns from some in his party over his age and low approval ratings. The two men were already the oldest presidential nominees ever when they ran in 2020. Trump, who is 76, would be 82 at the end of the second term in 2029. Biden, who is about to turn 80, would be 86.

    If he is ultimately successful, Trump would be just the second U.S. president in history to serve two nonconsecutive terms, following Grover Cleveland’s wins in 1884 and 1892.

    But Trump enters the race facing enormous challenges beyond his party’s growing trepidations. The former president is the subject of numerous investigations, including the monthslong probe into the hundreds of documents with classified markings found in boxes at Mar-a-Lago.

    Meanwhile, Trump is facing Justice Department scrutiny over efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating what she alleges was “a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign” to influence the 2020 results.

    And in New York, Attorney General Letitia James has sued Trump, alleging his namesake company engaged in decades’ worth of fraudulent bookkeeping by misleading banks about the value of his assets. The Trump Organization is also now on trial, facing criminal tax fraud charges.

    Some in Trump’s orbit believe that running will help shield him against potential indictment, but there is no legal statute that would prevent the Justice Department from moving forward — or prevent Trump from continuing to run if he is charged.

    It wasn’t any secret what he had been planning.

    At a White House Christmas party in December 2020, Trump told guests it had “been an amazing four years.”

    “We are trying to do another four years,” he said. “Otherwise, I’ll see you in four years.”

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