Justice

On February 5, 2025, shortly after she was sworn in as the 87th Attorney General of the United States, Pam Bondi signed off on several memoranda, including “Restoring the Integrity and Credibility of the Department of Justice” and “General Policy Regarding Charging, Plea Negotiations, and Sentencing.”

In the “Restoring integrity and Credibility” memo, Bondi declared that “the reconciliation and restoration of the Department of Justice’s core values can only be accomplished through review and accountability.”

She further declared that “The Department of Justice will not tolerate abuses of the criminal justice process, coercive behavior, or other forms of misconduct.”

In furthering these declarations, Bondi authorized the creation of a Weaponization Working Group, whose mandate will be to “[c]onduct a review of the activities of all departments and agencies exercising with the heads of such departments and agencies and consistent with applicable law, to identify instances where a department’s or agency’s conduct appears to have been designed to achieve political objectives or other improper aims rather than pursuing justice or legitimate governmental objectives.”

In accordance with the guidance set forth in the February 5, 2025 Memorandum regarding “General Policy Regarding Charging, Plea Negotiations, and Sentencing,” Bondi directed that “Recourse to criminal charges under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and 18 USC § 951 shall be limited to instances of alleged conduct similar to more traditional espionage by foreign government actors,” further directing that, with respect to FARA and § 951, “the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, including the FARA Unit, shall focus on civil enforcement, regulatory initiatives, and public guidance.”

There can be no doubt that the investigation which prompted the FBI to execute a search warrant on my private residence falls under the purview of the directions issued by Attorney General Bondi in these memoranda.

According to The New York Times (“US Investigating Americans Who Worked with Russian State Television,” August 21, 2024), the search of my home was part of a “broad criminal investigation” designed to signal “an aggressive effort to combat the Kremlin’s influence operations leading up to the presidential election in November.”

According to statements made to The New York Times by unnamed US law enforcement personnel, I was being targeted because of my role as a “critic of American foreign policy.”

If the reporting of The New York Times is accurate, then the execution of the search warrant against my private residence was a byproduct of the work carried out by the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF).

The role played by a free press is critical when it comes to the preservation of deocracy in the United States, especially when it serves in its role as a watchdog over the functions of government.

As Justice Hugo Black wrote in his opinion regarding the 1971 Supreme Court decision in The New York Times, Co vs The United States, “The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of the government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell.”

The Department of Justice/FBI targeting me under FARA has nothing to do with the legitimate pursuit of justice, but rather the illegitimate abuse of power to censor and suppress a critical voice seeking to censure the government, especially when the government was engaged in deception which could result in the American people being sent off to distant lands to die in avoidable war.

President Trump has singled out the Biden administration’s policies regarding the conflict in Ukraine as “bad policy,” citing the tragic loss of life that has occurred because of this conflict.

That the Department of Justice would seek to silence my voice through this flagrant abuse of judicial power during a presidential election where the issue of the Ukraine conflict with Russia was front and center, represents a flagrant disregard for the role of an informed citizenry in exercising our right and responsibility to freely elect to public office those whom we believe best represent our values, and to hold those thus elected accountable for what they do in our name.

There can be no doubt about the righteousness of Pam Bondi’s actions in shutting down the FITF, restraining the excesses associated with the enforcement of FARA, and creating a weaponization working group within the Department of Justice to investigate any excesses and violations carried out by the Department of Justice and the FBI as stipulated in her cited memoranda and the relevant Executive Orders signed by President Trump on January 20, 2025.

While Pam Bondi’s instructions regarding the creation of the weaponization working group, and the underlying principles it enshrines as set forth in President Trump’s two executive orders regarding “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship” and “Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government” help create the conditions for terminating the unjust and unconstitutional conduct of persons affiliated with the Department of Justice and/or FBI, the proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

As such, I have written a letter to Pam Bondi requesting that she investigate the circumstances surrounding the weaponization of the Department of Justice as regards the Biden administration’s efforts to intimidate and silence my voice, and that actions be taken to terminate the underlying investigations, restore my property and reputation, and to hold those who violated my civil liberties accountable for their actions.

This letter is published below:

Attorney General Pam Bondi
Department of Justice
Office of the Attorney General
200 I Street, SE
Washington, DC 20530

William Scott Ritter, Jr.
45 Dover Drive
Delmar, New York 12054

February 10, 2025

Dear Attorney General Bondi,

Congratulations on being sworn in as the 87^th Attorney General of the United States.

I am writing to respectfully request that, in accordance with the guidelines set forth in your February 5, 2025, Memorandum “Restoring the Integrity and Credibility of the Department of Justice”, an investigation into the conduct of the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) Unit of the National Security Division of the Department of Justice and the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) be initiated as it relates to the execution of a search warrant at my private residence on August 7, 2024. The role of the United States Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of New York should also be investigated in this matter.

According to the Senior FBI agents present, the search warrant was executed due to concerns over my failure to comply with FARA. The specific conduct cited related to my work as a journalist covering topics related to US-Russian relations.

The goal of these inquiries should be to terminate all investigations initiated by the Department of Justice and the FBI against me under FARA, and to hold those responsible for any violations of my civil rights accountable for their actions.

The search of my home and the underlying investigation of my work as a journalist represent a blatant violation of my civil liberties and constitute the very weaponization of the Justice Department and FBI to silence critics of the government which President Trump banned through executive order.

The actions of the Department of Justice and the FBI cast a shadow over my life and work. Until which time the Department of Justice formally closes the underlying investigation which prompted the FBI’s raid on my private residence, I will labor under a cloud of unwarranted suspicion which negatively impacts my ability to effectively interact with various communities in the United States and around the world.

I request that the Department of Justice issue a formal statement declaring that all the investigations upon which the authorization of the search warrant used by the FBI to raid my home are closed. I also request that all materials seized by the FBI during the search of my private residence be returned—computers, cell phones, etc.—as well as all documents that the FBI agents seized during their search.

I would also request that the Department of Justice investigate what role, if any, was played by its personnel or personnel from the FBI in the seizure of my passport by agents of Customs and Border Protection on June 3, 2024, and, if there was a connection, that the appropriate instructions be issued to facilitate the expeditious return of my passport.

I would also request that appropriate punitive action be taken against all people under your jurisdiction who facilitated and/or participated in violating my Constitutional right of free speech due to investigations carried out under the authority of the Department of Justice and the FBI.

Thank you again for your courage and dedication to justice in the United States of America as reflected in your actions to reverse past wrongs and preserve the Constitutional rights enjoyed by all US citizens.