Steve Neavling

The Justice Department is investigating the high-profile blunders of the ATF in Milwaukee following embarrassing mistakes reported by the the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the newspaper reports.

In letters to two members of Congress, Inspector General Michael Horowitz said the sting raised “significant management issues related to the oversight and management” of the ATF, the newspaper wrote.

Journal Sentinel reports detail serious mistakes, including having their guns stolen, losing $40,000 in merchandise and allowing an armed man who had threatened to shoot someone leave the store.

Steve Neavling

Protesters furious over foreclosure attempts tried to storm the entrances of the Justice Department on Monday, leading to 17 arrests , the Washington Post reports.

About 100 protesters participated, and some were tased during the event.

After the arrests, about half the protesters stuck around as police prepared to make additional arrests.

Law enforcement blocked the entrance while a police helicopter flew overhead.

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Steve Neavling

The Justice Department tracked a journalist suspected of receiving secret material related to possible leaks of classified information about North Korea in 2009, The Washington Post reports.

In addition to obtaining telephone records from James Rosen, the chief Washington correspondent for Fox News,, investigators used security badge access records to track the reporter’s traffic in and out of the State Department, the Post wrote.

Justice Department investigators also obtained a search warrant for Rosen’s e-mails.

This follows the discovery that the Justice Department also seized telephone records from the AP.

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Steve Neavling

Attorney General Eric Holder defended the secret gathering of telephone records at the Associated Press on Wednesday, citing a serious national security leak, the AP reports.

Grilled by Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House, Holder testified that he has faith in those conducting the investigation and recused himself from the case because “I’m a possessor of information eventually leaked.”

Holder said he couldn’t explain the subpoenas or why the IRS didn’t try to negotiate with the news agency to get the records, the AP wrote.

Members of Congress weren’t happy.

“There doesn’t appear to be any acceptance of responsibility for things that have gone wrong,” Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., told Holder.

Steve Neavling

The Justice Department’s probe into the IRS includes questions about whether the tax agency withheld information from Congress and targeted members of conservative groups, the Washington Times reports.

A government audit released Tuesday found that the IRS innapropriately singled out the Tea Party and other conservative groups because of their politically charged names.

Some of the groups waited so long to receive tax-exempt status that they simply gave up, the Washington Times reported.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said the Justice Department is trying to determine whether the IRS broke federal tax laws.

Some members of Congress are calling for a special prosecutor to investigate.

Todd Jones

An independent watchdog group for the Justice Department is investigating claims that President Obama’s nominee to head the ATF retaliated against a whistleblower, the Roll Call reports.

B. Todd Jones is accused of suspending an employee in retaliation for lodging a complaint.

Carolyn N. Lerner, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, is heading the investigation.

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atf file photo

The ATF has failed to inspect 58% of licensed gun dealers every five years because of understaffing and other obligations, the Houston Chronicle reports.

The Justice Department’s inspector general examined data from 2007 to 2012.

The report also criticized the ATF’s failure to track its industry operations investigators.

Most of the blame falls on “insufficient investigator resources,” Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said, the Chronicle reported.

Steve Neavling

Republican lawmakers lashed out at the Justice Department with accusations of racism and preferential treatment in the civil rights division, the Houston Chronicle reports.

At a Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, former employees and a March Inspector General’s report were used to suggest the division was guided by race, not justice.

“The IG report is a sad commentary on a dysfunctional division torn by polarization and unprofessional behavior where career employees who do not toe liberal views are subjected to racist comments, harassment, bullying, and threat of physical violence,” Hans Von Spakovsky, a conservative legal scholar and former official in the civil rights division during George W. Bush’s administration, told the committee.

The IG, however, did not agree with Spakovsky’s interpretation of the report, saying there was “insufficient evidence” of discrimination, the Chronicle reported.