{"id":1209164,"date":"2022-01-11T18:50:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T23:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1209164"},"modified":"2022-01-11T18:50:09","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T23:50:09","slug":"biden-doj-to-establish-specialized-domestic-terrorism-unit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-doj-to-establish-specialized-domestic-terrorism-unit\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden DOJ To Establish Specialized Domestic Terrorism Unit"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-doj-to-establish-specialized-domestic-terrorism-unit%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1209164&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Biden administration\u2019s Department of Justice announced it would establish a specialized unit dedicated to domestic terrorism.<\/p>\n<p>Testifying on Tuesday at a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qkQ37UteHFc\">Senate Judiciary Committee hearing<\/a> on the January 6 Capitol riot, Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew Olsen revealed the change during his opening statement before the Committee.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe threat posed by domestic terrorism is on the rise,\u201d Olsen said. \u201cThe number of FBI investigations over the past two years since March 2020 has more than doubled.\u201d Olsen cited as examples the 2019 mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, the 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the 2017 shooting at the Congressional Baseball game practice, and the 2015 shooting at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. Olsen also made note of the anniversary of the Capitol riot and pointed out that the DOJ has arrested <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/725-people-have-been-arrested-for-jan-6-capitol-breach-most-hit-for-entering-or-remaining-in-capitol\">more than 725 people<\/a> for their involvement in the Capitol breach, including more than 300 on felony charges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe attacks in recent years underscore the threat that domestic terrorism continues to pose to our citizens, to law enforcement officers, to public officials, and to our democratic institutions,\u201d Olsen continued. \u201cBased on the assessment of the intelligence community, we face an elevated threat from domestic violent extremists.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olsen then outlined what that threat means in practice. He testified that domestic terrorists are motivated by a mix of ideology and personal grievances, but that the DOJ has recently \u201cseen a growing threat from those who are motivated by racial animus as well as those who ascribe to extremist anti-government and anti-authority ideologies.\u201d Olsen did acknowledge that the DOJ is still monitoring threats from foreign terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, investigating and prosecuting domestic violent extremists is one of our top priorities,\u201d Olsen continued, adding that the partnership between federal prosecutors and the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force is currently the front line of defense against domestic terrorism. Olsen also outlined the role of the National Security Division in coordinating counter-terrorism prosecutions, which includes a team of prosecutors trained to handle terrorism cases, both foreign and domestic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn addition, I have decided to establish a domestic terrorism unit to augment our existing approach,\u201d Olsen added. \u201cThis group of dedicated attorneys will focus on the domestic terrorism threat, helping to ensure that these cases are handled properly and effectively coordinated across the Department of Justice and across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olsen added that the National Security Division works closely with the Civil Rights Division in order to prosecute hate crimes, and uses \u201call of the legal tool in [its] arsenal\u201d to prosecute domestic terrorism. Olsen closed his statement by assuring that the DOJ does not prosecute individuals based on their beliefs, but only if they commit violent crimes.<\/p>\n<p>The creation of the new task force comes as new questions arise about the circumstances of the infamous <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/nsba-apologizes-for-letter-describing-potential-domestic-terrorism-at-school-board-meetings\">letter<\/a> from the National School Boards Association comparing parent disruptions at school board meetings with domestic terrorism. The Daily Wire reported Tuesday that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona may have \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/bidens-education-secretary-solicited-nsba-letter-comparing-parents-to-domestic-terrorists-report\">solicited<\/a>\u201d the letter from the NSBA, which prompted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/doj-fbi-investigating-disturbing-spike-in-harassment-threats-against-school-administrators\">Attorney General Merrick Garland<\/a> to publish a memo instructing the DOJ, including Olsen\u2019s National Security Division, to develop plans to \u201cdiscourage\u201d threats and potentially prosecute parents.<\/p>\n<p>Pressed by Judiciary Committee ranking member <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=04Q2bbxLzSU\">Chuck Grassley<\/a> on the subject, Olsen assured him that the National Security Division was playing only an advisory role in enforcing the memo and that the memo was a low priority for the division.<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\">member<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Biden administration\u2019s Department of Justice announced it would establish a specialized unit dedicated to domestic terrorism. Testifying on Tuesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the January 6 Capitol riot, Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew Olsen revealed the change during his opening statement before the Committee. \u201cThe threat posed by domestic &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":189,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1209164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/189"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1209164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1209164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1209164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1209164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}