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(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice is facing new scrutiny over the decision to withhold the Jeffrey Epstein files earlier this year.

A federal judge on Monday ordered the DOJ to expedite processing of a Freedom of Information Act request related to the Trump administration’s decision in July not to release files from the investigation of Epstein.

With the DOJ already facing a Dec. 19 deadline to turn over the Epstein files, as mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the ruling could shed light on why the Trump administration reversed course on its earlier vow to release the files. A joint FBI and DOJ memo in July concluded there was “no basis to revisit the disclosure of those materials” and that their review “did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”

Progressive legal nonprofit Democracy Forward brought the lawsuit after the Justice Department “constructively denied its expedited review request” regarding the internal records, according to the ruling, including whether Attorney General Pam Bondi “misled the American people in representing that the ‘client list’ was on her desk and ready for review,” and whether the DOJ “reversed course on the decision to disclose the Epstein matter case files out of a desire to cover-up the content within.” Specifically, the FOIA request sought records that might show that the reported mention of Trump’s name in the files prompted the reversal. 

Judge Tanya Chutkan – who oversaw Trump’s criminal case related to his effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election result – ruled on Monday that Democracy Forward demonstrated that their request was reasonably tailored to a “matter of widespread and exceptional media interest in which there exist possible questions about the government’s integrity that affect public confidence,” clearing the legal bar to order expedited processing. 

“The request for ‘records reflecting all correspondence between Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein’ is plainly tied to the concern discussed in the media that the Justice Department reversed its position on the disclosure of the Epstein documents only after Attorney General Bondi reportedly informed the President that his name appeared in the files,” Judge Chutkan wrote. 

In the same ruling, Judge Chutkan partially denied Democracy Forward’s request for records mentioning “whistleblower” and “flight logs” – concluding that those terms were overbroad – but granted the bulk of their request. 

Chutkan ordered both sides to file a report by Dec. 5 to determine the next steps in the FOIA request and lawsuit.

Separately, on Tuesday, the Department of Justice asked two judges in the Southern District of New York to authorize the release of grand jury transcripts and exhibits from the prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, ahead of the Dec. 19 deadline for the DOJ to release the Epstein files, per the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton – whom Attorney General Pam Bondi tapped to lead an investigation into prominent Democrats associated with Epstein – signed a motion asking the judges who oversaw the Epstein and Maxwell cases to approve the release of the grand jury materials, subject to the necessary redactions.

“In the light of the Act’s clear mandate, the Court should authorize the Department of Justice to release the grand jury transcripts and exhibits and modify any preexisting protective orders that would otherwise prevent public disclosure by the Government of materials the disclosure of which is required by the Act,” the motion said.

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(WASHINGTON) — A member of Congress is suing a Trump administration official who over the last year has triggered mortgage fraud investigations into several of President Donald Trump’s political adversaries.

U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., filed suit Tuesday against William Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, for violating his First Amendment rights and privacy by allegedly using government databases to “concoct fanciful allegations of mortgage fraud” against him. 

Swalwell alleges that Pulte “abused his position” by using databases maintained by mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to pull private mortgage records of prominent Democrats he has accused of fraud, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, Fed governor Lisa Cook and Rep. Adam Schiff. 

According to the complaint, Pulte issued a criminal referral against Swalwell earlier this month based on private mortgage records. Swalwell’s lawyers argue the referral violates his First Amendment rights — allegedly punishing him for his criticism of the president — as well as a federal law that prohibits federal officials from disclosing sensitive information about any individual unless it is explicitly authorized by law. 

“Pulte’s referral to the Justice Department was not only a gross mischaracterization of reality. It also represented a gross abuse of power that violated the law,” the complaint says. 

Pulte has maintained that the documents from his referrals are part of the public record. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

Swalwell has denied committing mortgage fraud, arguing that he maintains his primary residence in California while his wife’s primary residence is in Washington, D.C. 

James, who successfully brought a civil fraud case against Trump last year, was indicted on Oct. 9 on charges that she falsely described a property she purchased in Norfolk, Virginia, as a second home instead of an investment property in order to obtain a lower mortgage rate. She pleaded not guilty to all charges.

A federal judge on Monday dismissed the case against James on the grounds that the interim U.S. attorney who brought the case was unconstitutionally appointed.

“Since taking office, President Trump has engaged in unprecedented efforts to leverage the power of the Federal Government to seek retribution against his political enemies,” Swalwell’s lawsuit said. “Those efforts have resulted in the Department of Justice conducting a series of high-profile criminal investigations and prosecutions nakedly targeting some of the President’s most outspoken critics.” ]”Defendants’ unlawful actions in this case were not the result of some inadvertent failure to comply with obscure or technical legal requirements. Rather, they represent a purposeful attack on core democratic norms and reflect a base desire to achieve exactly what the First Amendment and the Privacy Act exist to prevent: the use of government machinery to chill and silence the government’s critics,” said the complaint. 

Swalwell asked a federal judge to declare Pulte’s actions unlawful, force the withdrawal of the criminal referral, and issue damages. 

The Department of Justice, according to sources, is scrutinizing whether Pulte and U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin potentially jeopardized the probes into James and Schiff by enlisting unauthorized individuals outside the Justice Department to help conduct the investigations, ABC News previously reported.

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(POSEN, Ill.) — “Slender Man” stabbing assailant Morgan Geyser is scheduled to appear in an Illinois courtroom on Tuesday for a hearing in which prosecutors are expected to request that she be extradited to Wisconsin, where she allegedly fled a group home over the weekend.

The 23-year-old Geyser’s court appearance comes a day after the Wisconsin district attorney, whose office prosecuted her in the high-profile 2014 stabbing case, called on the state Department of Health Services to send her back to a mental institution.

A Wisconsin judge signed an order in September allowing Geyer a conditional release from a psychiatric facility, where she had been held for a decade, to a group home in Madison. At the time, prosecutors objected to her conditional release, alleging she had “violent” communication with a man outside the facility and had read a book in the facility with “themes of sexual sadism and murder.”

As part of the conditions of her release, Geyser was ordered to wear an ankle monitoring device.

On Saturday night, Geyser allegedly cut off her monitoring device and bolted from her group home with a 43-year-old person she told authorities she met a couple of months ago at a church event, according to a criminal complaint.

Following a massive search, Geyser and her companion were captured on Sunday night at a Posen, Illinois, truck stop, more than 165 miles from Geyser’s group home.

Geyser’s companion, identified by the Posen Police Department as Chad Mecca of Madison, was charged with criminal trespassing and obstructing identification, police said. Mecca was released on a citation and notified to appear in court on Jan. 15.

Waukesha County District Attorney Lesli Boese, whose office prosecuted Geyser in the 2014 stabbing case, expressed her hope that the state Department of Health Services, which has custody of Geyser, will file a petition to revoke the conditional release she had been granted.

“When we learned of Morgan’s escape over the weekend, it unfortunately validated the concerns we have raised from the very beginning,” Boese said. “We have been consistently and adamantly opposed to her release because her conduct has repeatedly demonstrated she poses a risk to the community.”

Boese added, “Her alleged actions this weekend only reinforce our position that a conditional release is unsafe and unacceptable.”

But attorney Anthony Cotton, who represented Geyser in the stabbing case, told ABC News correspondent Juju Chang on Monday that Geyser does not present a danger to her victim, the public, or to herself.

“The question becomes, going forward, is she still a risk to society? And I stand by every word of what I’ve said earlier. She is not a violent risk to others. I don’t believe that she is. And that’s why we found out that during her time out, she engaged in no violence whatsoever and had no weapons on her,” Cotton said.

Cotton said he hopes Geyser will be allowed to go back to a community group home.

“It will certainly present complications because we’re gonna have to go back to court eventually to try to get Morgan back into a community group home,” Cotton said. “So definitely this is not a good development and something that’s gonna have a negative impact on the work we do. It’s a setback.”

Geyser and another girl, Anissa Weier, were charged as adults and pleaded guilty to stabbing a classmate, Payton Leutner, 19 times in 2014, when they and the victim were 12 years old. Geyser and Weier, who were both prosecuted as adults, claimed they committed the attack on Leutner to appease “Slender Man,” a faceless, fictional internet-based character that garnered a cult-like following.

Geyser pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted intentional homicide and was sent to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute in 2018. Geyser was later found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect and was sentenced to up to 40 years in a psychiatric institution.

Weier was also found not guilty by mental disease or defect after pleading guilty to a lesser charge. She was sentenced to up to 25 years in a psychiatric institution. In 2021, at the age of 19, Weier was granted supervised release.

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(APPALACHIA, Va.) — A high school football coach who went missing last week is wanted for possession of child sexual abuse material and using a computer to solicit a minor, authorities in Virginia said Tuesday.

Travis Turner, 46, of Appalachia, Virginia, has been missing since Nov. 20, according to the Virginia State Police. The Union High School football coach is considered a fugitive, police said.

State police have obtained 10 warrants for Turner, including five counts of possession of child pornography and five counts of using a computer to solicit a minor, authorities said. The investigation remains ongoing and additional charges are pending, police said.

Agents with the state police’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation Wytheville Field Office were en route to Turner’s home on Nov. 20 as part of an investigation, not an arrest, when they were informed he was no longer there, police said.

“Police are actively searching for Turner,” Virginia State Police said in a statement on Tuesday. “Since his disappearance, VSP has utilized a number of assets, including search and rescue teams, drones and k9s, to assist in the search. VSP’s main priority is locating Turner safely; he is now considered a fugitive.”

Turner is a physical education teacher and head football coach at Union High School, in the Wise County public school district, according to the school’s website. Amid his disappearance, the football team has advanced to the Virginia regional final, scheduled for this weekend, during their 12-0 season.

ABC News has reached out to the Wise County Public Schools for comment on the charges Turner is facing.

School officials had previously said a Wise County Public Schools staff member had been placed on administrative leave, but did not identify the employee.

“A staff member has been placed on administrative leave with pay while an external agency reviews an allegation that was reported to the division,” the school district said in a statement to ABC News on Monday. “This is standard procedure and is not a determination of wrongdoing. This situation also involves an active law-enforcement matter, and the division cannot comment further.”

Wise County Public Schools Superintendent Mike Goforth said Monday that the school district is unable to provide additional details due to the “personnel and law enforcement components.”

Anyone with information on Turner’s whereabouts is asked to contact Virginia State Police Division 4 at 276-484-9483 or email questions@vsp.virginia.gov.

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(WASHINGTON) — The FBI is working with the Department of Justice to see if there is “anything more” from the Jeffery Epstein files that can be released to the public, according to FBI Director Kash Patel. 

Patel told journalist Catherine Herridge there are “protective orders and orders to seal in place that legally prohibit the disclosure of information related to any investigation when there’s a court order of that fashion,” when asked about whether the DOJ would meet the Dec. 19 30-day deadline to disclose materials, mandated in the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Attorney General Pam Bondi told ABC’s chief justice correspondent Pierre Thomas last week that there was new information that came to light in the files, but declined to say what that new information was. She said that the Justice Department “will continue to follow the law” regarding what is released.

Patel was also asked about the president’s recent call for the DOJ to investigate Jeffery Epstein’s relationship with Democrats, and whether that would limit their investigation to only Democrats. 

“We’ll just follow the facts,” Patel responded. “It’s pretty simple for this FBI.”

Bondi ordered U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York to investigate Democrats’ relationship with Epstein after President Trump essentially told her to do so. 

“Based on the new referral, we’ll take a look at that and see what evidence comes but there’s an important distinction, the information that the government possesses versus the information that the Epstein estate possesses,” Patel said. “Those are two separate boxes of information, and the Epstein estate has not been willing to share information with the U.S. government, and so even though we’ve requested them to do so.”

Regarding how many of the Epstein files would be redacted and to what degree, Patel said the FBI “always” commits to as few redactions as possible “while also upholding always victim’s rights.

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