“On the day I was born
The nurses all gathered ’round
And they gazed in wide wonder
At the joy they had found
The head nurse spoke up
And she said leave this one alone
She could tell right away
That I was bad to the bone
Bad to the bone
Bad to the bone
B-B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-B-Bad
Bad to the bone”
—- From “Bad to the Bone” By George Thorogood & The Destroyers (1982)
Acting U.S. Attorney General
Photo: Ian Jacobs, Creative Commons License
https://www.google.com/search?q=bad+to+the+bone+lyrics&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
Biden official involved in removal of DoJ lawyer concerned by family separations
Monty Wilkinson worked with Iris Lan in reviewing complaints about prosecutor who said he was ‘disturbed’ by Trump policy
Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
Published:
21:31 Friday, 22 January 2021
Follow Stephanie Kirchgaessner
The Biden administration’s acting attorney general, a longtime career official named Monty Wilkinson, took part in a controversial 2017 decision to remove a justice department (DoJ) lawyer in Texas who had raised concerns about migrant children who were being separated from their parents.
Emails seen by the Guardian show that Wilkinson, who is expected to serve as acting attorney general until Judge Merrick Garland is formally confirmed by the Senate, worked with another longtime career official, Iris Lan, in reviewing complaints about Joshua Stern, a prosecutor who had told colleagues he was “disturbed” by the Trump administration’s separation policy.
Jeff Sessions impeded inquiry into role in Trump’s family separation policy
The policy ultimately led to the separation of about 1,550 children from their parents, hundreds of whom have still not been reunited, although Joe Biden has said he would make that one of his top priorities.
Advertisement
Upgrade to Premium and enjoy the app ad-free.
Upgrade to Premium
Stern, who is no longer employed by the DoJ, was ultimately removed from his post as a temporary detailee, two weeks after senior officials in Texas raised concerns about him to officials in Washington DC, including Wilkinson.
Wilkinson, who Biden chose to serve as acting attorney general until Garland is confirmed, had been overseeing human resources, security planning and the library at the justice department before he was elevated to serve as acting attorney general.
A recent report in the New York Times suggested that Wilkinson was a trusted longtime official, and that his “low profile” all but guaranteed that he was not involved in any of the myriad scandals that defined the justice department under Donald Trump and the former attorney general Bill Barr.
But a report published by the Guardian in September 2020 revealed that Wilkinson was one of several career officials who reviewed complaints that ultimately led to the removal of Stern from the western district of Texas in 2017.
The report was focused on the role a senior justice department official, Iris Lan, played in reviewing those complaints. Lan had been nominated to serve in a lifetime appointment as a federal judge, but the nomination was never taken up in the Senate after a number of immigrant rights groups raised concerns about Lan following publication of the Guardian’s article.
It is not clear whether Wilkinson or Lan privately supported or criticized the administration’s child separation policy when they heard about Stern’s concerns.
. . . .
*********************
Read the full article at the link.
It’s not like Courtside hasn’t been saying it for several years now: Cruelty, lawlessness, inhumanity, racism, and dishonesty end up corrupting everyone. Sessions is essentially a “21st Century Nazi war criminal” — everyone who served him is tarnished by his miserable lack of ethics, humanity, intelligence, honesty, and anything close to the basic qualifications for office. The same can be said for Billy the Bigot and short-timer Matt Whitaker.
Even a guy like “Monty” — basically considered “safe” because he was a bureaucratic nebbish who kept out of sight and off the radar screen — turns out to have been bathed in the slime 🤮 that Sessions and his cronies unleashed on the Department.
Of course, it’s more fun to come “riding in on a white horse” to rally and save the dispirited troops. But, in this case, the “troops” who willingly carried water for the immoral, racist, lawless, White Nationalist, anti-democracy, and ultimately insurgent kakistocracy at the DOJ are part of the problem. And, that goes for some career lawyers who failed to live up to their oaths of office, not just the vile politicos.
If “Team Garland” doesn’t knock some heads, re-establish ethical standards, provide some moral leadership, and hold some folks who should have known better accountable, they are not going to be able to get the job done! The EOIR kakistocracy is the obvious starting point. But, it can’t be the end of “operation clean sweep!”🧹
In the meantime, the Biden Administration might have to look in the JMD motor pool or the mail room to find an “Acting” AG not tarnished by the Barr-Whitaker-Sessions kakistocracy @ Justice!
⚖️Due Process Forever!
PWS
06-22-21