CoA Institute Investigates Role of DHS, Shooter’s Motives in Dallas Shooting

Washington, DC – Cause of Action Institute (CoA Institute) today filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to investigate the involvement of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in investigating and responding to the recent shooting of Dallas police officers. In light of seemingly contradictory statements by Secretary Johnson and President Obama regarding the shooter’s motives, CoA Institute seeks to better understand if information is being withheld from the American public.

CoA Institute President and CEO, and former federal judge, Alfred J. Lechner, Jr.: “Statements about the shootings by President Obama and DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson raise questions about the DHS role in responding to the Dallas shooting and whether there is information about the shooter being withheld from the public.  Because Secretary Johnson appears to be the first public official to confirm that only one shooter existed, it raises questions as to what extent DHS was involved during the aftermath of the shooting and why local authorities were not first in alerting the public. Additionally, discrepancies between statements by President Obama and the Dallas police chief raise concerns that there may be additional information about the motives of the gunman that are being withheld from the public by the Obama administration.”

Background:

On July 7, 2016, a gunman killed five police officers in Dallas, Texas.  On July 8, Chief David Brown held a press conference and stated that multiple suspects may be involved. Three suspects were ultimately taken into custody. Later the same day, Secretary Johnson contradicted initial reports by announcing that the gunman apparently acted alone. According to media reports, Secretary Johnson was the first public official to announce that the gunman was a sole actor.

Additionally, at a press conference on July 9, President Obama said that it is “very hard to untangle the motives” of the Dallas shooter.   He further stated, “I’ll leave that to psychologists and people who study these kinds of incidents . . . I think the danger is that we somehow suggest the act of troubled individuals speaks to some larger political statement across the country.”   President Obama’s statement that the motives of the gunman appear uncertain directly contradicts Dallas Police Chief David Brown’s description of the incident.  According to Chief Brown, the gunman stated that he “was upset about the recent police shootings…and he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.”

CoA Institute requests documents and communications to better understand the role of DHS in the aftermath of the Dallas Shooting. The full FOIA request is available HERE.

Washington Examiner: Reid retirement follows call for probe of his role in visas-for-cash mess

Read the full story: Washington Examiner

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid’s announcement Friday that he won’t seek re-election in 2016 came at the end of a week in which his role in pressuring Department of Homeland Security officials on behalf of foreign investors in his home state of Nevada sparked one investigation and calls for another.

 

On Thursday, the nonprofit government watchdog Cause of Action called for a review by the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section of allegations that a top Homeland Security official improperly intervened on behalf of friends and political associates of Reid, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Anthony Rodham, brother of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

 

The review by Justice Department’s top anti-public corruption staff is needed, according to Cause of Action Executive Director Daniel Epstein, because “federal employees were pressured to make decisions that financially or politically benefited certain applicants and left many visa applicants feeling deprived of a fair process from their government.”

Fox News: Misuse of power in the Department of Homeland Security?

Watch: Cause of Action’s letter to DOJ on Fox News

Watchdog.org: Criminal investigation sought in McAuliffe-Mayorkas dealings

Read the full story: Watchdog.org

A government accountability group says “unanswered questions” warrant a criminal investigation into actions by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and others involved in the EB-5 visa program.

 

Cause of Action called for the investigation after the federal Office of Inspector General confirmed this week that McAuliffe repeatedly lobbied the director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for visa approvals.

Washington Free Beacon: Watchdog Asks DOJ to Investigate Reid, McAuliffe Over Immigration Favoritism

Read the full story: Washington Free Beacon

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) and Gov.  Terry McAuliffe (D) of Virginia may have illegally facilitated that process at the expense of less politically connected applicants for the same program, according to Cause of Action, a conservative legal watchdog group.

 

In a letter to the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, Cause of Action alleges that Reid and McAuliffe used their considerable political clout to expedite consideration of visas for investors in the SLS Las Vegas Hotel and Casino and GreenTech Automotive.

 

McAuliffe founded GreenTech; he resigned from the company before running for governor. The former’s parent company hired Reid’s son Rory in 2012 to help it obtain government incentives. Its executives donated thousands to Sen. Reid after its Chinese investors obtained U.S. visas.

 

Cause of Action’s letter comes on the heels of, and relies in large part on, a report from the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general released on Tuesday.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Will Congress have to tighten investor visa program?

Read the full story: Las Vegas Review-Journal

Dan Epstein, executive director of Cause of Action, charged Reid crossed the line between an elected official inquiring about agency actions on behalf of constituents to actively seeking to influence an adjudicative matter of determining who should be granted a U.S. visa.