Exclusive: DOJ may be curbing executive authority, report reveals
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco has implemented several “substantial” edits to the Department of Justice manual in order to concentrate her office’s power, according to findings from the Article III Project obtained exclusively by Blaze News.
The exclusive report shows Monaco’s various ties to Big Tech entities like Google, which, combined with her consolidated power at the DOJ, could be “undermining” President Joe Biden’s long-standing antitrust policies.
“Just about the only thing President Biden got right in his nearly four years is his antitrust law enforcement against Big Tech,” Mike Davis, president and founder of the Article III Project, told Blaze News.
‘If Lisa Monaco is looking for her next job and can’t do her current job, she should resign immediately,’ Davis told Blaze News.
“Now, Lisa Monaco, Biden’s #2 Justice Department official, seems to be undermining her boss’ long-standing antitrust policies to curry favor with Google, a trillion-dollar Big Tech monopolist currently facing two game-changing antitrust lawsuits from the Biden Justice Department for its egregious abuse of the online search and advertising markets,” Davis continued.
Monaco was previously a partner at O’Melveny & Meyers, a law firm that represented Big Tech companies like Apple and Google in class-action and copyright cases, as well as patent lawsuits and antitrust actions, according to the report. Monaco also worked as an adviser for WestExec, working closely with Google on Project Maven, a controversial defense contract to develop artificial intelligence for drones.
In March of this year, authority to edit the DOJ manual shifted from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys to the manual’s “Editor-in-Chief” and “Managing Editor,” according to the report. Both of these positions are hand-selected by the DAG. As a result, Monaco was able to tailor the language in the manual to strengthen her authority and weaken that of an incoming administration.
At the same time, a line was added to the manual clarifying that “any questions about the controlling internal policy or procedure should be directed to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General,” according to the report.
Under Monaco, the manual was also edited in December 2022 to give the DAG power to “delegate authority to adjudicate disciplinary actions pertaining to non-career attorneys,” according to the report. The manual was also altered to include a provision allowing the DOJ to adjudicate appeals regarding personal misconduct from the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Office of the Inspector General.
The report also compares several portions of the manual that were amended to mandate the DAG’s authorization for various communications.
For example, a section called “Communication with the White House” was added to the manual in April 2022, requiring that the initial communications between the White House and the DOJ include only the DAG or AG and the counsel or deputy counsel to the president, according to the report.
Additionally, all communications from high-level security officials in the DOJ, requests for legal opinions from the White House, and communications between the White House and the Office of the Solicitor General with regard to the Supreme Court all must involve only the AG, DAG, or solicitor general, according to the report.
All of these efforts by Monaco to consolidate her office’s power, given her past ties with Big Tech companies, pose questions about her compliance with antitrust policies, according to the report.
“If Lisa Monaco is looking for her next job and can’t do her current job, she should resign immediately,” Davis told Blaze News.
The press inquiry office at the DOJ did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
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