Cop-Killing Cover-up? Judicial Watch Goes to Court Against NYPD, FBI in Famed Cold Case
Cop-Killing Cover-up? Judicial Watch Goes to Court Against NYPD, FBI in Famed Cold Case
Tomorrow in New York State Supreme Court, Judge W. Franc Perry will hear arguments in Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Law lawsuit against the New York City Police Department in the murder of NYPD Patrolman Phillip Cardillo. The 1972 shooting of Cardillo inside Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam mosque in Harlem is the most notorious cold case in New York history. We told the full story here, and here. It’s an American tragedy, a tale of cover-up and betrayal in an era of dirty tricks and disintegrating cities. No one ever served a day in jail for the crime. A special prosecutor concluded there had been a “concerted and orchestrated effort” by members of the NYPD to impede the investigation. The FBI had informants in the Nation of Islam and information about the case—facts that were not revealed for decades.
Who orchestrated the NYPD cover-up and why? How deeply was the FBI involved in the actions that got Cardillo killed?
In New York, Judicial Watch filed FOIL actions last year seeking case records and a key audio tape in the murder. The NYPD responded with the astonishing claim that, 46 years later, the case is still “active and ongoing,” and thus no documents need be produced.
As we noted in our submissions to the court (albeit in more polite terms), this is a ludicrous argument. The NYPD claims that a 46-year-old case is still active.
Anyone who has spent time around the NYPD and state FOIL laws recognizes this familiar tactic from police headquarters. We provided substantial documentation that the Cardillo case had been closed and that the public has a right to the information, with appropriate redactions for privacy and confidentiality. But the NYPD, we noted, “has done what it routinely does, blatantly ignore its obligations under state law.”
March will also see legal action in our related Freedom of Information Act case against the FBI. In a May FOIA request, we sought informant, wiretap, electronic surveillance and physical surveillance records related to the mosque where Cardillo was gunned down. We specifically requested that the FBI search its “special file room.” The Boston Globe reported that the special file room is where files on domestic spying were routed, including files on what the FBI called “black nationalist extremists” and sensitive counter-intelligence techniques that may have been deployed against the Nation of Islam.
The FBI did not search the special file room and other data bases we identified. Later this month, we’ll be in federal court to argue that they should search further.
Could the Judicial Watch lawsuits be the key to unraveling one of the most notorious cop killings in U.S. history? Stay tuned.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: 202-646-5188
March 5, 2018
Judicial Watch Files Two Lawsuits against Justice Department for Docs on Top Officials’ Ties to Clinton Dossier Creator Fusion GPS
DOJ Official Bruce Ohr’s Wife Worked for Fusion GPS
(Washington, DC) -- Judicial Watch announced today that it filed two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits against the Justice Department for records about top Justice Department official Bruce Ohr and his wife Nellie Ohr’s involvement in the Trump dossier authored by Christopher Steele (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No.1:18-cv-00490)) and (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No.1:18-cv-00491)).
Until his dossier-related demotion, Bruce Ohr was the fourth ranked official at DOJ and a contact for Steele. The House Intelligence Committee memo released by Chairman Devin Nunes on February 2 says that Nellie Ohr was “employed by Fusion GPS to assist in the cultivation of opposition research on Trump” and that Bruce Ohr passed the results of that research, which was paid for by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Hillary Clinton campaign, to the FBI.
Judicial Watch filed the lawsuits in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia after the Justice Department failed to respond to two separate FOIA requests in December 2017.
Judicial Watch’s December 7, 2017, FOIA request about Bruce Ohr seeks:
Judicial Watch’s December 12, 2017, FOIA request about Nellie Ohr seeks:
The Nunes memo notes that before Steele was terminated as a source “he maintained contact” with Bruce Ohr. The memo states:
For example, in September 2016, Steele admitted to Ohr his feelings against then-candidate Trump when Steele said he ‘was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president.’ [Emphasis in original] This clear evidence of Steele’s bias was recorded by Ohr at the time and subsequently in official FBI files – but not reflected in any of the [Carter] Page FISA applications.
According to Fox News, even after Steele’s termination from the FBI, Steele and Ohr remained in close contact.
“Once again, the Deep State Justice Department is covering up evident misconduct targeting President Trump,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “A top Justice Department official in the Obama administration had an obvious conflict of interest through his wife Nellie’s work with the Clinton/DNC vendor Fusion GPS on the anti-Trump Dossier. The Justice Department needs to come clean about this scandal and turn over the documents as federal law requires.”
Last night, Judicial Watch Director of Investigations and Research Chris Farrell appeared on “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on the Fox Business Network to discuss President Trump and Jeff Sessions.
Obama Not Embarrassed by His Scandals?
Source: Townhall
Former President Barack Obama recently said, “We didn't have a scandal that embarrassed us.” This was not the first time Obama claimed his administration was devoid of scandal. Before leaving office he claimed his administration was "probably" the first “in modern history that hasn’t had a major scandal in the White House.”
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