By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com

Today is the 16th anniversary of the Department of Homeland Security beginning operations in response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The 22-agency department was established by President George W. Bush and was the largest reorganization of the federal government since the Department of Defense was created following World War II.

Bush tapped Tom Ridge, a former Republican governor of Pennsylvania, to lead an agency whose mission was to coordinate all “homeland security” efforts.

Official operations began on Jan. 24, 2003.

The department absorbed border protection, cybersecurity, immigration, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Secret Service.

The Department of Homeland Security operates with a $40.6 million budget and has 240,000 employees.

Paul Manafort’s mugshot

By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com

Lawyers for Paul Manafort, the convicted former campaign boss for President Trump, claimed Wednesday that Robert Mueller’s prosecutors have unfairly accused him of lying to them after he entered a plea deal.

Mueller’s team has alleged Manafort breached his plea agreement by lying to prosecutors about his contacts with Trump administration officials and his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik, who has alleged ties to Russian intelligence.

Manafort’s attorneys argued in a court filing that Mueller failed to show that Manafort “intentionally provided false information.”

Manafort, 69, has been in solitary confinement and faces sentencing in two different cases.