Washington
Veteran prosecutor confirmed to lead new Justice Department division targeting fraud nationwide
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Tuesday confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick to lead a new Justice Department division focused on prosecuting fraud, despite critics’ concerns over potential political pressure to target White House opponents.
Colin McDonald, a top aide to the Justice Department’s second-in-command, was confirmed in a vote of 52 to 47 to serve as the assistant attorney general in charge of the new division cast by the Trump administration as a necessary effort to crack down on rampant fraud hurting American taxpayers.
“Colin is an experienced, skilled, and tough prosecutor who will continue doing incredible work to root out fraud across America,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a social media post.
McDonald will be tasked with building up the new unit amid intense scrutiny over the White House’s role in investigations and prosecutions normally insulated from political influence.
The Justice Department has long prosecuted fraud nationally through its Criminal Division, raising questions about the true purpose of the new unit that the Trump administration initially said would be “run out of the White House.”
The administration has since walked back suggestions that McDonald would report directly to the White House instead of senior Justice Department leaders.
Even so, the White House has made clear it will play a major role in shaping the new division’s priorities, with Vice President JD Vance put in charge of the administration’s declared “war on fraud.”
In his confirmation hearing last month, McDonald told lawmakers he would pursue prosecutions “without fear or favor,” but didn’t directly answer when pressed over whether he would follow an order from the president to open a certain investigation.
McDonald’s hearing also left open many questions about how the National Fraud Enforcement Division would differentiate itself from the Criminal Division’s fraud section, which last year charged 265 people — up more than 10% from the year before.
The fraud section last year led the largest coordinated takedown of health care fraud schemes in Justice Department history totaling nearly $15 billion in false claims.
The new division is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to spotlight fraud around the country. That followed allegations of fraud involving day care centers run by Somali residents in Minneapolis that prompted a massive immigration crackdown in the Midwestern city and led to widespread protests.
Minnesota had already been under intense scrutiny for years for fraud, including a massive $300 million pandemic fraud case involving the nonprofit Feeding Our Future that led to dozens of convictions under the Biden and Trump administrations.
“The problem is massive,” McDonald of fraud nationally during his confirmation hearing. “And so President Trump and the attorney general were right to identify this as a place where we needed to put significantly more focus.”
McDonald most recently worked in Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office at Justice Department headquarters. Before that, he spent more than a decade as a federal prosecutor, serving in a variety of roles, including deputy chief of the Southern District of California’s Border Enforcement Section.
Washington
The NAACP names ex-DOJ civil rights chief Kristen Clarke as its top lawyer
The NAACP, the oldest civil rights organization in the U.S., has hired a former Biden Justice Department official to head its legal advocacy work.
Kristen Clarke, who previously led the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, will be the NAACP’s next general counsel, the organization announced on Wednesday.
According to an announcement shared first with The Associated Press, Clarke will oversee the NAACP’s legal strategy and operations, and she will lead its litigation efforts on voter access, gerrymandering and the First Amendment, among other civil rights and social justice issues.
“The NAACP has stood on the front lines of justice for over a century, and I’m deeply honored to join this historic organization at this critical moment in our democracy,” Clarke said in a statement.
“Our communities are under relentless attack — from the ballot box to their wallets — and this moment demands that we use the full weight of the law to promote justice and accountability,” she said.
NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said Clarke is “the legal mind this moment demands.”
“As we face unprecedented attacks on voting and civil rights, having Kristen Clarke at the helm of our legal operations brings strategic vision, disciplined leadership, and innovative advocacy,” he said in a statement.
The NAACP said Clarke’s appointment shows how it’s mobilizing “legal firepower” to combat Republican efforts to dismantle voting rights protections that date back to the Civil Rights Movement, when Black Americans overcame legal suppression and intimidation, largely in southern states.
The NAACP sued nearly a year ago, arguing that President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to require proof of citizenship for voter registration violated the constitutional rights of states to regulate voting, and discriminated against voters of color.
A federal judge blocked that order in June, siding with a group of Democratic state attorneys general that also challenged its constitutionality.
Clarke was the first woman and the first Black woman appointed to lead the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. Serving from 2021 to 2024, she sought reforms in police departments over abusive practices, including in Memphis after the 2023 beating death of Tyre Nichols. She also was part of the DOJ team that prosecuted an avowed white supremacist for hate crimes after a shooting killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo, New York supermarket in 2022.
Before joining the Justice Department, Clarke earned degrees at Harvard University and Columbia Law School, and served as president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which was founded more than 60 years ago to challenge racial segregation.
Since leaving federal service, she has served as a professor at Howard University School of Law, which she will continue to do while working for the NAACP.
Veteran prosecutor confirmed to lead new Justice Department division targeting fraud nationwide
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Tuesday confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick to lead a new Justice Department division focused on prosecuting fraud, despite critics’ concerns over potential political pressure to target White House opponents.
Colin McDonald, a top aide to the Justice Department’s second-in-command, was confirmed in a vote of 52 to 47 to serve as the assistant attorney general in charge of the new division cast by the Trump administration as a necessary effort to crack down on rampant fraud hurting American taxpayers.
“Colin is an experienced, skilled, and tough prosecutor who will continue doing incredible work to root out fraud across America,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a social media post.
McDonald will be tasked with building up the new unit amid intense scrutiny over the White House’s role in investigations and prosecutions normally insulated from political influence.
The Justice Department has long prosecuted fraud nationally through its Criminal Division, raising questions about the true purpose of the new unit that the Trump administration initially said would be “run out of the White House.”
The administration has since walked back suggestions that McDonald would report directly to the White House instead of senior Justice Department leaders.
Even so, the White House has made clear it will play a major role in shaping the new division’s priorities, with Vice President JD Vance put in charge of the administration’s declared “war on fraud.”
In his confirmation hearing last month, McDonald told lawmakers he would pursue prosecutions “without fear or favor,” but didn’t directly answer when pressed over whether he would follow an order from the president to open a certain investigation.
McDonald’s hearing also left open many questions about how the National Fraud Enforcement Division would differentiate itself from the Criminal Division’s fraud section, which last year charged 265 people — up more than 10% from the year before.
The fraud section last year led the largest coordinated takedown of health care fraud schemes in Justice Department history totaling nearly $15 billion in false claims.
The new division is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to spotlight fraud around the country. That followed allegations of fraud involving day care centers run by Somali residents in Minneapolis that prompted a massive immigration crackdown in the Midwestern city and led to widespread protests.
Minnesota had already been under intense scrutiny for years for fraud, including a massive $300 million pandemic fraud case involving the nonprofit Feeding Our Future that led to dozens of convictions under the Biden and Trump administrations.
“The problem is massive,” McDonald of fraud nationally during his confirmation hearing. “And so President Trump and the attorney general were right to identify this as a place where we needed to put significantly more focus.”
McDonald most recently worked in Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office at Justice Department headquarters. Before that, he spent more than a decade as a federal prosecutor, serving in a variety of roles, including deputy chief of the Southern District of California’s Border Enforcement Section.
Washington
The NAACP names ex-DOJ civil rights chief Kristen Clarke as its top lawyer
The NAACP, the oldest civil rights organization in the U.S., has hired a former Biden Justice Department official to head its legal advocacy work.
Kristen Clarke, who previously led the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, will be the NAACP’s next general counsel, the organization announced on Wednesday.
According to an announcement shared first with The Associated Press, Clarke will oversee the NAACP’s legal strategy and operations, and she will lead its litigation efforts on voter access, gerrymandering and the First Amendment, among other civil rights and social justice issues.
“The NAACP has stood on the front lines of justice for over a century, and I’m deeply honored to join this historic organization at this critical moment in our democracy,” Clarke said in a statement.
“Our communities are under relentless attack — from the ballot box to their wallets — and this moment demands that we use the full weight of the law to promote justice and accountability,” she said.
NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said Clarke is “the legal mind this moment demands.”
“As we face unprecedented attacks on voting and civil rights, having Kristen Clarke at the helm of our legal operations brings strategic vision, disciplined leadership, and innovative advocacy,” he said in a statement.
The NAACP said Clarke’s appointment shows how it’s mobilizing “legal firepower” to combat Republican efforts to dismantle voting rights protections that date back to the Civil Rights Movement, when Black Americans overcame legal suppression and intimidation, largely in southern states.
The NAACP sued nearly a year ago, arguing that President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to require proof of citizenship for voter registration violated the constitutional rights of states to regulate voting, and discriminated against voters of color.
A federal judge blocked that order in June, siding with a group of Democratic state attorneys general that also challenged its constitutionality.
Clarke was the first woman and the first Black woman appointed to lead the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. Serving from 2021 to 2024, she sought reforms in police departments over abusive practices, including in Memphis after the 2023 beating death of Tyre Nichols. She also was part of the DOJ team that prosecuted an avowed white supremacist for hate crimes after a shooting killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo, New York supermarket in 2022.
Before joining the Justice Department, Clarke earned degrees at Harvard University and Columbia Law School, and served as president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which was founded more than 60 years ago to challenge racial segregation.
Since leaving federal service, she has served as a professor at Howard University School of Law, which she will continue to do while working for the NAACP.
