The Trump Justice Department released a new report Tuesday accusing the Biden administration of unfairly using a federal law meant to protect access to abortion clinics to go after anti-abortion protesters.
The report is the first product from DOJ’s “Weaponization Working Group” – established early in President Donald Trump’s second term – and comes as Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faces pressure to pursue prosecutions against Trump’s political adversaries.
The report accuses the Biden Justice Department of being biased in its enforcement of the FACE Act, which was passed in 1994 in the wake of attacks on abortion providers. The law also prohibits threats or obstruction at places of religious worship.
Biden’s former top civil rights lawyer defended the department’s work.
“The Civil Rights Division brought law enforcement leaders, crisis pregnancy center representatives, faith leaders, and reproductive health care staff together to address the real violence, threats of violence, and obstruction that too many people face in our country when it comes to reproductive health care,” Kristen Clarke said in a statement. “We enforced the law even-handedly and put public safety at the center of this work.”
CNN has also reached out to other Biden DOJ officials for comment.
Earlier this year, Trump’s DOJ used the FACE act to bring charges against former CNN journalist Don Lemon and others after a protest entered a church in Minnesota.
Heated debate over the FACE Act: Did Don Lemon violate it?
The Biden administration initiated approximately two dozen cases under the act.
The Justice Department now accuses Biden prosecutors of engaging in inappropriate conduct and withholding evidence in cases it brought against anti-abortion activists. They also accuse prosecutors of trying to screen jurors based on religion and using “aggressive” arrest tactics.