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“THE ATTACK ON AMERICANS BY PRESIDENT ERDOGAN'S SECURITY FORCE” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H4234 on May 18, 2018.
The Department is one of the oldest in the US, focused primarily on law enforcement and the federal prison system. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, detailed wasteful expenses such as $16 muffins at conferences and board meetings.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE ATTACK ON AMERICANS BY PRESIDENT ERDOGAN'S SECURITY FORCE
(Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on May 16, 2017, as Turkish President Erdogan visited the Nation's Capital, his gestapo security forces unleashed a brutal assault on peaceful American demonstrators. Many of them were Armenian Americans who were exercising their constitutional right of free speech.
As Erdogan looked on, his thugs demonstrated their intolerance for free expression and contempt for America. This illegal behavior is absolutely intolerable by any security force, especially on U.S. soil against Americans.
Fifteen members of the Turkish security detail were originally charged for this unprovoked attack, but now there are only four. Why? It is clear from video recordings and witness accounts that more than four Turks participated on this assault on free speech.
I contacted the Justice Department and asked why charges were dropped against 11 guards, but they refused to give an explanation. The DOJ should not be complicit in Erdogan's assault on democracy. The DOJ must enforce American law. It must not make backroom deals with want-to-be dictators.
And that is just the way it is.
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