By Steve Neavling

U.S. Capitol rioters assaulted and injured at least 134 police officers during the Jan. 6 insurrection, the Justice Department said in a court filing. 

Of those, 81 officers were from the Capitol Police force and 58 from the Washington D.C. Metro Police Department, Newsweek reports.

A police officer also was killed. 

The FBI has arrested more than 100 alleged rioters, and the Justice Department is building a case that alleges some of the insurrectionists had planned and conspired to overthrow the government. 

By Steve Neavling

The Justice Department’s inspector general said Monday he’s launching an investigation into whether any department officials “engaged in an improper attempt” to overturn the presidential election. 

The announcement follows news reports that former President Trump tried to get department officials to challenge election results.

“The inspector general is initiating an investigation into whether any former or current D.O.J. official engaged in an improper attempt to have D.O.J. seek to alter the outcome of the 2020 presidential election,” IG Michael Horowitz said in a statement, The New York Times reports. 

Before resigning in December, then-Attorney General William Barr said there was no evidence of widespread election fraud, contradicting Trump’s repeated and false assertions that the election was stolen from him.

By Steve Neavling

A former TSA agent charged with detaining a woman and tricking her into showing him her breasts in June 2019 has been sentenced to 60 days in jail and two years of probation. 

Jonathon Lomeli was accused of deceiving the woman to get her to expose herself to him at Los Angeles International Airport. 

Lomeli pleaded no contest Friday to using fraud or deceit to falsely imprison the woman and was also ordered to attend 52 classes addressing sexual compulsion, The Associated Press reports.

Lomeli also has been banned from serving as a security guard. 

According to the woman, Lomeli advised her he had to check the inside of her bra to ensure she wasn’t concealing anything and told her to pull her pants from her waist so he could examine. While in an elevator, she said Lomeli told her he could screen here there and told her to show her breasts before looking down her pants. 

She said he also told her she had nice breasts after notifying her that she could leave. 

By Steve Neavling

FBI Director James Comey said he should have stood up more to former President Trump. 

In an interview with British program, Channel 4 News, Comey said he did “think about some of my encounters with President Trump.”

“For example, when he demanded loyalty and we ended up on this odd compromise where he demanded ‘honest loyalty.’ I should have stood up and said ‘no’ you are not going to get any kind of loyalty from the FBI director, but instead I compromise to avoid a conflict with him,” Comey said. 

“I don’t want to be too tough on myself because I stood up well enough to get fired, but there are things like that I would do differently.” 

When asked if he still believes President Biden should pardon Trump so the country can move forward, Comey also said “it is a close question.”

“On balance, it would be better for the United States if the Department of Justice didn’t prosecute him for his obstructions of justice and his extortions and his other crimes committed while he was president,” he said. “Whether President Biden pardons him is another question.”

Comey added, “I think it’s important that we as a country not give him center stage in our nation’s capital for the next three years which a prosecution would.”

By Steve Neavling

At least eight people have been charged in demonstrations that left an ICE building vandalized in Portland, police said. 

Shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday, police said a group of roughly 150 people converged on the ICE building on the 4300 block of S. Macadam, tagging it with graffiti that included messages such as “Reunite families now” and “Kill cops!!!”

Some demonstrators were wearing gas masks and helmets and carrying batons, fireworks, shields, umbrellas, rocks and pepper ball guns, police said. 

Federal officers converged on the building at about 9:45 and pushed protesters back. In the meantime, Portland made arrests. 

Earlier in the day, protesters also attacked the Democratic Party of Oregon’s headquarters, smashing windows and spraying graffiti. 

By Steve Neavling

Let’s try that again. 

A day after the new White House press secretary told reporters she was unsure if President Biden had confidence in FBI Director Christopher Wray, Jen Psaki circled back with an unequivocal response. 

“I caused an unintentional ripple yesterday so wanted to state very clearly President Biden intends to keep FBI Director Wray on in his role and he has confidence in the job he is doing,” Psaki wrote on Twitter on Thursday. 

Former President Trump appointed Wray to a 10-year term in 2017 after firing then-FBI Director James Comey, a move that prompted the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel. 

Wray and Trump had a rocky relationship because the FBI director refused to peddle unfounded claims about widespread fraud in the election. Wray also denied the Mueller probe was a “witch hunt,” as Trump often claimed. 

Biden has pledged to restore faith in the Justice Department’s independence. 

By Steve Neavling

A former CBP officer from Nogales has been sentenced to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to bribery. 

Jose Rosalio Fuentes, 58, was a CBP officer assigned to canine duty at the Nogales Port of entry in early 2018 when he allowed an undocumented immigrant into the U.S. in exchange for a $6,000 cash bribe. 

Fuentes, who knew the migrant was a convicted felon, allowed the man to enter the U.S. through the Nogales Port of Entry during his shift. A surveillance camera captured Fuentes pretending to swipe the migrant’s ID card at the port of entry before allowing him to pass through the pedestrian gate. 

Fuentes also was sentenced last week to three years of probation and a $6,000 fine. 

The investigation was led by Southern Arizona Corruption Task Force, which includes members from the FBI, the Homeland Security-Office of Inspector General, Immigration and Custom Enforcement-Office of Professional Responsibility, CBP-Office of Professional Responsibility, Tucson Police Department, and the DEA. 

The Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case.