Washington
Trump pardons founder of Silk Road website
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he had pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an underground website for selling drugs.
Ulbricht had been sentenced to life in prison in 2015 after a high-profile prosecution that highlighted the role of the internet in illegal markets.
Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media website, that he had spoken to Ulbricht’s mother on his first full day in office.
“It was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross,” he wrote. “The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me.”
Trump called Ulbricht’s prison sentence “ridiculous.”
He had promised to help Ulbricht during a speech at the Libertarian Party National Convention last May.
Libertarian activists, who generally oppose criminal drug policies, have long believed that government investigators overreached in building their case against Silk Road. Many held “Free Ross” signs.
“Ross Ulbricht has been a libertarian political prisoner for more than a decade,” said a statement from Libertarian National Committee Chair Angela McArdle. “I’m proud to say that saving his life has been one of our top priorities and that has finally paid off.”
Trump has been eagerly using his pardon power since beginning his second term. On Monday, hours after taking office, he wiped clean the records of roughly 1,500 people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The decision, which applied to some people who were convicted of attacking police, upended the Justice Department’s sweeping investigation into the attack.
Washington
Key career officials at DOJ reassigned to different positions
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has reassigned key senior officials across multiple divisions as part of a leadership shakeup ahead of the expected confirmation of President Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, multiple people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
Among those moved to other positions inside the department is Bruce Swartz, the longtime head of the Justice Department’s office of international affairs, which handles extradition matters, according to two people who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss personnel moves. As many as 20 or so officials in all have been reassigned.
Another affected official is George Toscas, a veteran deputy assistant attorney general in the department’s national security division who, in addition to helping oversee major terrorism and espionage investigations, has also been a key supervisor in politically charged probes over the last decade including into Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information and Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The reasons for the moves were not immediately known. Though it is common for a new administration to appoint its own political hires at the top of the Justice Department, it is not standard for career lawyers to be reassigned. They serve the department across administrations and typically retain their positions even when control of the department changes hands.
The moves could foreshadow additional changes given Trump’s keen interest in the Justice Department, which investigated him in his first term through a special counsel and then indicted him twice last year in separate cases that never reached trial and were withdrawn after Trump’s November election win. A key veteran prosecutor in the classified documents case, Jay Bratt, retired earlier this month.
Trump’s fury over the investigations has raised alarms that he could seek to use the law enforcement powers of the department to pursue retaliation against his adversaries.
On his first day in office Monday, he pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, including people convicted of assaulting police officers. The reassignments were first reported by the Washington Post.
Wisconsin
Officials identify the remains of pilot lost over Vietnam in 1967
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Federal officials have identified the remains of a U.S. Air Force pilot from Wisconsin who went missing during the Vietnam War nearly 60 years ago.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Tuesday that its scientists in December positively identified the remains of U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Donald W. Downing of Columbus.
Downing was piloting an F-4C Phantom II aircraft during an armed night reconnaissance mission over the then-Democratic Republic of Vietnam in September 1967 when his plane disappeared.
Another plane in the formation reported a mid-air fireball and Downing’s plane didn’t respond to any further radio calls, according to the accounting agency.
Search and rescue efforts yielded nothing and Downing was reported as killed in action in April 1978. He was a captain when he disappeared but was posthumously promoted to lieutenant colonel.
Decades of investigation yielded nothing until a recovery team in May and June 2024 discovered life support equipment, aircraft wreckage and bone tissue at a site in Quang Binh Province, Vietnam.
The accounting agency’s scientists used DNA testing as well as other evidence to identify Downing. His funeral will be held in Arlington National Cemetery on an as-yet-undetermined date.
Trump pardons founder of Silk Road website
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he had pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an underground website for selling drugs.
Ulbricht had been sentenced to life in prison in 2015 after a high-profile prosecution that highlighted the role of the internet in illegal markets.
Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media website, that he had spoken to Ulbricht’s mother on his first full day in office.
“It was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross,” he wrote. “The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me.”
Trump called Ulbricht’s prison sentence “ridiculous.”
He had promised to help Ulbricht during a speech at the Libertarian Party National Convention last May.
Libertarian activists, who generally oppose criminal drug policies, have long believed that government investigators overreached in building their case against Silk Road. Many held “Free Ross” signs.
“Ross Ulbricht has been a libertarian political prisoner for more than a decade,” said a statement from Libertarian National Committee Chair Angela McArdle. “I’m proud to say that saving his life has been one of our top priorities and that has finally paid off.”
Trump has been eagerly using his pardon power since beginning his second term. On Monday, hours after taking office, he wiped clean the records of roughly 1,500 people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The decision, which applied to some people who were convicted of attacking police, upended the Justice Department’s sweeping investigation into the attack.
Washington
Key career officials at DOJ reassigned to different positions
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has reassigned key senior officials across multiple divisions as part of a leadership shakeup ahead of the expected confirmation of President Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, multiple people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
Among those moved to other positions inside the department is Bruce Swartz, the longtime head of the Justice Department’s office of international affairs, which handles extradition matters, according to two people who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss personnel moves. As many as 20 or so officials in all have been reassigned.
Another affected official is George Toscas, a veteran deputy assistant attorney general in the department’s national security division who, in addition to helping oversee major terrorism and espionage investigations, has also been a key supervisor in politically charged probes over the last decade including into Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information and Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The reasons for the moves were not immediately known. Though it is common for a new administration to appoint its own political hires at the top of the Justice Department, it is not standard for career lawyers to be reassigned. They serve the department across administrations and typically retain their positions even when control of the department changes hands.
The moves could foreshadow additional changes given Trump’s keen interest in the Justice Department, which investigated him in his first term through a special counsel and then indicted him twice last year in separate cases that never reached trial and were withdrawn after Trump’s November election win. A key veteran prosecutor in the classified documents case, Jay Bratt, retired earlier this month.
Trump’s fury over the investigations has raised alarms that he could seek to use the law enforcement powers of the department to pursue retaliation against his adversaries.
On his first day in office Monday, he pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, including people convicted of assaulting police officers. The reassignments were first reported by the Washington Post.
Wisconsin
Officials identify the remains of pilot lost over Vietnam in 1967
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Federal officials have identified the remains of a U.S. Air Force pilot from Wisconsin who went missing during the Vietnam War nearly 60 years ago.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Tuesday that its scientists in December positively identified the remains of U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Donald W. Downing of Columbus.
Downing was piloting an F-4C Phantom II aircraft during an armed night reconnaissance mission over the then-Democratic Republic of Vietnam in September 1967 when his plane disappeared.
Another plane in the formation reported a mid-air fireball and Downing’s plane didn’t respond to any further radio calls, according to the accounting agency.
Search and rescue efforts yielded nothing and Downing was reported as killed in action in April 1978. He was a captain when he disappeared but was posthumously promoted to lieutenant colonel.
Decades of investigation yielded nothing until a recovery team in May and June 2024 discovered life support equipment, aircraft wreckage and bone tissue at a site in Quang Binh Province, Vietnam.
The accounting agency’s scientists used DNA testing as well as other evidence to identify Downing. His funeral will be held in Arlington National Cemetery on an as-yet-undetermined date.
