Foreign Criminals Who Could Be Shipped Home Cost Taxpayers Millions

Taxpayers are shelling out millions each year to house an increasing number of foreign criminals in U.S. federal prisons because their home countries won’t take them back.

Federal prisons are housing more than 40,000 non-U.S. citizens from 79 countries that participate in the International Prison Transfer Program, in which eligible and willing inmates can serve out the rest of their time behind bars in their homeland.

Used correctly, the treaty should ease prison overcrowding and save taxpayers millions of dollars, the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General said in a report made public Thursday.

Treaty nations refused to take 959 transfer-approved foreign inmates from 2011 to 2013, costing U.S. taxpayers $26 million.

Federal inmates from the 97 treaty nations number roughly 43,000, and account for one in five federal prisoners, according to the IG. That number is on the rise. Federal prisons housed 10,000 fewer inmates from treaty nations a decade ago. Less than one percent of those inmates from transfer treaty nations — 0.6 percent — go home, partly because nations like Canada and Mexico in particular often refuse to take their criminals back.

“It really comes down to a question of numbers,” DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a statement. “Transferring more foreign national prisoners to serve the remainder of their sentence in their home country would not only help reduce overcrowding in the federal prison system, but also lower costs.”

Via: Daily Caller

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[VIDEO] Hillary Clinton to turn over private email server to Justice Department

Washington (CNN)Hillary Clinton agreed to turn over her private email server to authorities on Tuesday, the same day an intelligence community inspector general told congressional committees that at least five emails from the server did contain classified information.

The decision to hand over the server, as well as a thumb drive of all her work-related emails to the Justice Department, represents an effort to blunt an expanding probe into her use of a private email account.

Clinton, now the Democratic presidential front-runner, "directed her team to give her email server that was used during her tenure as (secretary of state) to the Department of Justice, as well as a thumb drive containing copies of her emails already provided to the State Department," her spokesman, Nick Merrill, told CNN early Tuesday evening. "She pledged to cooperate with the government's security inquiry, and if there are more questions, we will continue to address them."

Merrill said in the meantime, Clinton's team "has worked with the State Department to ensure her emails are stored in a safe and secure manner."

The FBI, which is handling the matter, declined to comment Tuesday evening. David E. Kendall, Clinton's lawyer, did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

A senior Clinton campaign aide said the server hadn't yet changed hands as of Tuesday evening and Clinton's team is working with the Justice Department to arrange the logistics of the handover. The thumb drive, meanwhile, has been turned over. And Kendall, the aide said, has followed State Department guidance on safekeeping.

Clinton's campaign believes there are no emails from her State Department tenure on the server, since it was wiped clean after she turned over her work-related emails to the State Department, the aide said.

The aide said it's the Clinton campaign's understanding that the Justice Department isn't looking to reconstruct the server's history, but is instead concerned about the security of the emails today, since some are now classified, though they weren't classified or labeled as such at the time.

Clinton certifies she has turned over work-related emails

Boehner: 'It's about time'

For Clinton, the move -- which Republicans like House Speaker John Boehner have urged for months -- indicates her campaign sees a growing risk in the issue of her use of a private email server, which has stoked concerns about her trustworthiness.

"It's about time," Boehner said in a statement Tuesday night.

Since news broke in March of her use of a personal email address on a server kept in her Chappaqua, New York, home, Clinton has insisted that she's turned over all of her work-related emails to the State Department and deleted all others -- but wouldn't turn over her server to the government.

Clinton has been dogged by poll numbers showing that more Americans, by a margin of about 20 percentage points, say she's not trustworthy rather than trustworthy. A late July CNN/ORC poll found that 58% of all registered voters say it is extremely important that the next president be honest and trustworthy.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, who chairs the House Select Committee on Benghazi and has pushed for Clinton's emails for months, claimed credit for her decision to turn over the server.

"The revelation that Secretary Clinton exclusively used private email for official public business, and the multitude of issues that emanated from her decision, including this most recent one, demonstrates what can happen when Congress and those equally committed to exposing the truth, doggedly pursue facts and follow them," he said in a statement.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Clinton waited "a long time" 

Via: CNN Politics

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Voting Rights Act Used to Strike Down Texas Voter ID Law

Veasey celebrated the ruling as a victory for all Texas voters. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

On the eve of its 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, a federal appeals court on Wednesday affirmed a lower court’s ruling that Texas’ strict voter ID law violates Section 2 of landmark civil rights legislation.

Texas Rep. Marc Veasey, the lead plaintiff in the original suit brought against the photo ID law, heralded the ruling as a victory for Lone Star minority voters.

“As a champion for voting rights, I am proud that with this decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has taken the first steps towards ensuring that all Texans have unfettered access to the ballot box,” he said in a statement. 

Veasey, joined by the U.S. Justice Department and minority rights groups, had argued that the voter ID law first passed by the state’s GOP legislature in 2011 was intended to discriminate against minority voters. As such, the plaintiffs argued, it amounted to a poll tax.

The appeals court agreed with the district court that the law has had a “discriminatory effect,” which violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. But it disagreed with the lower court’s ruling that it was crafted with discriminatory intent and remanded it back to the lower court for further consideration.

It’s unclear what the fallout of the ruling will be at Texas polling places because the court did not suggest a remedy for its ruling. It remanded that question, too.

Because of its narrow ruling, the unanimous decision can’t be called a complete victory for the plaintiffs, University of California Irvine professor Rick Hasen wrote on his Election Law Blog.

“This also strikes me as an opinion written as narrowly as possible to still give a victory to the plaintiffs. (Perhaps that was the price of a unanimous opinion?),” he wrote.

Despite its limited scope, Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa cast the ruling as a win for Democrats. “Once again, the rule of law agrees with Democrats. The Republican voter ID law is discriminatory. Republicans made it harder for African-Americans and Latinos to cast their vote at the ballot box.”

Hinojosa is optimistic that further court consideration of the matter will end in Democrats’ favor.

“We remain confident that the courts will find justice for Texas voters and ultimately strike down this racist and discriminatory law.”

But Texas Republicans insist that a voter ID law is still necessary.

“In light of ongoing voter fraud, it is imperative that Texas has a voter ID law that prevents cheating at the ballot box,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. “Texas will continue to fight for its voter ID requirement to ensure the integrity of elections in the Lone Star State.”

Via: Roll Call

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Gov't watchdogs urge Congress to reverse Obama administration IG crackdown

WASHINGTON –  Nearly six-dozen watchdog agencies are asking Congress to step in after the Obama administration clamped down on access to government records they say are vital for their investigations into waste, fraud and abuse. 

The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency sent an Aug. 3 letter to congressional leaders ahead of a hearing scheduled for Wednesday where they will ask lawmakers to pass legislation reversing a controversial decision made July 20 by the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel. The OLC is now requiring investigators to get permission to review sensitive documents from the very agencies they are monitoring.

This decision, the letter said, "represents a serious threat to the independent authority" of all inspectors general. 

IGs are assigned to audit and conduct internal reviews of federal agencies, and recently have been responsible for investigating the IRS targeting scandal, TSA security gaps, personal email use at the State Department and other issues. 

The council represents about 70 IG offices across the government, including for the Federal Communications Commission, the National Security Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. While the July 20 ruling applies to the DOJ, some are worried it will prompt other departments to set similar restrictions.

DOJ spokeswoman Emily Pierce countered the claims, saying the ruling still allows investigators to get sensitive information.

Via: Fox News

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Pennsylvania Democrat indicted on federal racketeering charges

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) has been indicted on dozens of federal charges surrounding his unsuccessful run for Philadelphia mayor in 2007, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday.

The 11-term Democrat, along with four associates, was indicted on 29 federal counts, including bribery, money laundering, falsification of records and multiple counts of bank fraud, among other charges.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell said Fattah and the others "embarked on a wide-ranging conspiracy involving bribery, concealment of unlawful campaign contributions and theft of charitable and federal funds to advance their own personal interests.”

“When elected officials betray the trust and confidence placed in them by the public, the department will do everything we can to ensure that they are held accountable," Caldwell said in a statement. "Public corruption takes a particularly heavy toll on our democracy because it undermines people’s basic belief that our elected leaders are committed to serving the public interest, not to lining their own pockets.”

The DOJ identified the other four facing charges as Herbert Vederman, 69, a lobbyist based in Palm Beach, Fla.; Bonnie Bowser, 59, Fattah’s Philadelphia-based district director; Robert Brand, 69, of Philadelphia; and Karen Nicholas, 57, of Williamstown, N.J.

The DOJ alleges that Fattah borrowed $1 million from a wealthy donor during his 2007 mayoral bid, returning $400,000 in unused funds and devising a scheme to repay the remaining $600,000 using charitable and federal grants filtered through a non-profit — the Educational Advancement Alliance — created and headed by Fattah.

The DOJ also alleges that Fattah used funds from both his mayoral and congressional campaigns to pay down his son's student loan debts. The repayments, totaling roughly $23,000, were paid by a political consulting company that had received the money directly from the campaign, the DOJ alleged.

Fattah's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.

The Pennsylvania Democrat, a senior appropriator who's ranking member of the committee's Commerce and Justice departments subpanel, stepped down from that position within hours of the announcement Wednesday.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) issued a brief statement praising Fattah's commitment to the middle class and characterizing the charges as "deeply saddening." "Congressman Fattah has been a tireless and effective advocate for America’s hard-working families across more than 20 years of distinguished service in the House," Pelosi said. 

“Congressman Fattah has rightly stepped down from his position as Ranking Member on the House CJS Appropriations Subcommittee pending the resolution of this matter.”

Via: The Hill

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Let’s Finish the Job: An Agenda for a New America

After careful deliberation, I am declaring my candidacy for President of the United States.

I know where our party is headed and I believe that we can reach our destination within a single term.

While other candidates may shrink from the tough decisions, or shroud them in euphemism, I will say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done.

I launch my campaign today, fellow Democrats, with a seven-part plan to realize the dream.

Under my administration, we will:

1. Manage aggressively the decline in American wealth, power and influence.

The agreement with the regime in Tehran can serve as a model for a new diplomacy, not only in the Middle East but elsewhere around the globe. That agreement will guarantee, in return for subventions from us, the acquisition of nuclear weapons by them. This asymmetrical approach turns conventional diplomacy on its head. With fresh approaches of this kind, we can establish a post-American international order that is long overdue.

2. Shrink the tax base.

We have demonstrated in recent cycles that, while we can win elections with the half of the electorate currently on public assistance, this constituency alone cannot govern with a strong hand. Our objective should be to exempt at least three-fourths of all eligible voters from income taxes, thus isolating and exposing the residual taxpayer class. This initiative will contain and ultimately extinguish so-called “taxpayer revolts” that have repeatedly disrupted progressivism’s advance.

3. Sap the authority of local law enforcement.

Whenever politically feasible, both POTUS and DOJ should “lean” toward citizen complaints over against city and state police personnel. Such Federal interventions should collaborate, openly where appropriate and off-screen where prudent, with both house media and our front-line grievance activists. Taken together with our efforts in prison reform, gun control and drug legalization, this initiative can break the grip of repressive police power over at-risk communities.

4. Secure the political base.

In political terms, legal immigration has been little better than a wash for us over the years. Moreover, it is a slow and operationally tedious approach to the rapid societal change we seek.  Our proximate goal must be to secure voting rights for the millions of resident aliens who are currently “illegal,” to parrot the mindless rhetoric from the Right. The associated costs in health, welfare, and other public benefits are a small price to pay for this electoral game-changer – and our supporters won’t be paying it.

Via: American Spectator

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[VIDEO] Krauthammer: It Will Snow in Hell Before DOJ Launches Criminal Investigation into Hillary

On Fox News today, Bret Baier brought the subject to Hillary Clinton‘s emails, which got renewed media focus following a report that the Department of Justice received requests to open a criminal investigation into the scandal. The DOJ later backtracked by saying that the referral they received was not actually criminal in nature.

After reading a statement from a Clinton spokesman, Baier said that it was a common maneuver of Hillary to place the blame on “reckless, inaccurate leaks” whenever she is being pressed on her emails.

Charles Krauthammer agreed, saying that whether the Times report was false or not, the substance of the charges against Clinton are still present, and she is trying to create distractions and shift blame onto others.

He said it’s be up to the DOJ to actually determine the criminality of any charges brought against Clinton, but was doubtful on that prospect, saying “I think it will snow in Hell before the DOJ is going to go after her.”

Krauthammer also blasted the DOJ as “an extremely politicized department,” saying they weren’t going after her for being untruthful like they were when former CIA director David Petraeus was discovered having an extramarital affair.

He concluded by saying that even though Clinton insisted otherwise at her speech today, the intelligence community made it clear that the emails she sent out had classified information, and she resisted handing them over.

Via: Mediaite

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Rasmussen: Most Americans Want Feds to Punish Sanctuary Cities

Nearly two-thirds of likely U.S. voters want the Department of Justice to take legal action against so-called sanctuary cities that do not enforce most national immigration laws, according to a new survey.

Rasmussen Reports polled voters and found that 62 percent of them want the government to step in and punish cities for essentially providing safe haven for illegal immigrants. That amounts to 79 percent of Republicans, 65 percent of unaffiliated voters, and 43 percent of Democrats.

Fifty-eight percent of those voters would like to see the federal government cut off funding to more than 200 such cities across the nation, a figure that includes 79 percent of Republicans.

Sanctuary cities have been in the news after a San Francisco woman was allegedly shot and killed by an illegal immigrant who was taking refuge in the city. He had been deported five times, and the shooting appears to be a random murder.

Presidential candidates, including Republicans Jeb Bush and Rand Paul, along with Democrat Hillary Clinton, criticized sanctuary cities this week. 

"The city made a mistake, not to deport someone that the federal government strongly felt should be deported," Clinton said, according to CBS News.

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican, introduced legislation this week aimed at repealing sanctuary laws.

The discussion on sanctuary cities is just another rung on the national immigration debate that has raged for months, ever since President Barack Obama took executive action last fall that would grant amnesty to as many as 5 million illegal immigrants currently living in the U.S. The order is currently held up in the court system. 

Real estate mogul Donald Trump, a Republican candidate for president, injected new life into the debate when he criticized both the policy and the illegals crossing the border.

"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems to us," said Trump, who clarified his remarks in an op-ed for Newsmax this week. "They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people!

Via: Newsmax

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Emails: Obama Administration Discussed Prosecuting Nonprofit Orgs

Newly released documents show Department of Justice officials, Internal Revenue Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation officials were discussing prosecuting nonprofit organizations for allegedly engaging in illegal political activity.

An official “DOJ Recap” document obtained by the group Judicial Watch details an Oct. 8, 2010 meeting between DOJ, IRS and FBI officials, including Lois Lerner, where the administration employees discussed “several possible theories to bring criminal charges under FEC law” against groups “posing” as tax exempt nonprofits.

“The section’s attorneys expressed concern that certain section 501(c) organizations are actually political committees ‘posing’ as if they are not subject to FEC law, and therefore may be subject to criminal liability,” reads the memo from IRS Exempt Organizations Tax Law Specialist Siri Buller to top IRS officials.

Lerner, who was forced out of the IRS in 2013 amid a scandal that the IRS was targeting conservative groups, and her top aide Judy Kindell, explained to DOJ and FBI officials that “although we do not believe that organizations which are subject to a civil audit subsequently receive any type of immunity from a criminal investigation, she will refer them to individuals from [Criminal Investigations] who can better answer that question.”

“[Lerner] explained that we are legally required to separate the civil and criminal aspects of any examination and that while we do not have EO law experts in CI, our FIU agents are experienced in coordinating with CI,” according to the memo. “The attorneys asked whether a change in the law is necessary, and whether a three-way partnership among DOJ, the FEC, and the IRS is possible to prevent prohibited activity by these organizations.”

Judicial Watch says another document shows that just prior to the October 2010 meeting the IRS began giving the FBI confidential taxpayer information on nonprofits. The document obtained by Judicial Watch says the IRS gave the FBI some 21 disks with 1.25 million pages of taxpayer records.

“These new documents show that the Obama IRS scandal is also an Obama DOJ and FBI scandal,” Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said in a statement. “The FBI and Justice Department worked with Lois Lerner and the IRS to concoct some reason to put President Obama’s opponents in jail before his reelection. And this abuse resulted in the FBI’s illegally obtaining confidential taxpayer information. How can the Justice Department and FBI investigate the very scandal in which they are implicated?”

Via: Daily Caller

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$4.2 Million DOJ Grant to Help Young Ex-Cons Be Better Fathers

An inmate at Rikers Island juvenile detention facility carries a plastic fork behind his back as he walks with other inmates. A recent report found that juvenile detainees are subjected to routine violence, both by other inmates and by correction officers. (Julie Jacobson/AP)

(CNSNews.com) – The Justice Department through its Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention is spending up to $4,200,000 in taxpayer dollars to help young fathers who have been incarcerated be better fathers.

The goals of the grant are to “reduce recidivism among young fathers; improve outcomes for young fathers, their children, and family members; and promote responsible fatherhood.”

As many as 10 non-profit groups will be awarded up to $420,000 each for a grant total of $4.2 million. The closing date for applications for the grant, titled “Second Chance Act Strengthening Relationships Between Young Fathers and Their Children: A Reentry Mentoring Project, was March 2, 2015.

“Section 211 of the Second Chance Act authorizes grants to nonprofit groups to provide mentoring and other transitional services, family programming, and employment assistance to help juvenile ex-offenders transition successfully from out-of-home placement and incarceration to the community,” the grant stated.

The target population for the grant is medium-to-high risk offenders. Young fathers must be confined in secure confinement facilities like a juvenile detention center, juvenile correctional facility, staff-secure facility, jail, or prison of a local or state juvenile or adult correctional agency.

Fathers must be admitted to the program before their 25th birthday, although they may continue to take part in the program beyond their 25th birthday. There is no set timeline for terminating services, the grant said, so fathers can continue with the program “as long as is deemed therapeutically necessary.”

According to the grant solicitation, programs should focus on increasing positive parenting behaviors like helping with homework, offering words of encouragement, setting limits, affection and praise, and family activities.

Via: CNS News
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Labor Department Employee Looked At Porn For HOURS Every Day

A Department of Labor (DOL) official looked at porn for hours every single day and wasn’t fired for months.

The Daily Caller first reported that a DOL “Grade 14 employee” — who made between $107,325 and $139,523 per year on the taxpayer dime — was caught looking at pornography at work on his official government computer.

Now new information has emerged on the porn-watcher and his obsessive, libidinous habits.

The Daily Mail obtained redacted copies of DOL inspector general reports through a Freedom of Information Act request that detail the employee’s self-confessed porn addiction.

The worker “downloaded a voluminous amount of adult pornographic movies and images,” according to the reports.

He also “entered the name of actress Alyssa Milano on [his] computer and pornographic sites appeared.”

His porn-watching was all-consuming. The employee “visited pornographic sites for several hours a day.”

His habits were first noticed by a colleague in August 2014, but the employee was not fired for another four months.

DOL could have vetted the porn addict before he ever started getting taxpayer money. According to the reports, the employee was fired from a previous job for “accessing sites with women wearing little clothing.”

Alyssa Milano, 42, was a regular on the television series “Who’s The Boss” before appearing nude in films, according to the Daily Mail report.

It is unclear whether the employee ever pursued his work habit to completion.

Via: Daily Caller

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Cleveland, Justice Department Reach Policing Deal

 People protest in reaction to Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo being acquitted of manslaughter charges after he shot two people at the end of a 2012 car chase in which officers fired 137 shots. (Ricky Rhodes/Stringer/Getty Images)

Cleveland has reached a settlement with the Department of Justice over a pattern of excessive force and civil rights violations by its police department, and it could be announced as soon as Tuesday, a senior federal law enforcement official said.

The official, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the settlement before the formal announcement, spoke Monday on the condition of anonymity.

News of the settlement came days after a white police officer was acquitted of manslaughter for firing the final 15 rounds of a 137-shot police barrage through the windshield of a car carrying two unarmed black suspects in 2012.

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The suspects' backfiring vehicle had been mistaken for a gunshot, leading to a high-speed chase involving 62 police cruisers. Once the suspects were cornered, 13 officers fired at the car.

The case prompted an 18-month Department of Justice investigation into the practices of the police. In a scathing report released in December, the department required the city to devise a plan to reform the police force.

The specifics of the settlement were unavailable. Messages left for a Department of Justice spokeswoman and the Cleveland Police Department seeking comment weren't returned.

The Department of Justice's report spared no one in the police chain of command. The worst examples of excessive force involved patrol officers who endangered lives by shooting at suspects and cars, hit people over the head with guns and used stun guns on handcuffed suspects.

Supervisors and police higher-ups received some of the report's most searing criticism. The report said officers were poorly trained and some didn't know how to implement use-of-force policies. It also said officers were ill-equipped.

Via: Newsmax

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Issa Subpoenas DOJ After ‘Election Crimes’ Director Refuses to Answer Critical Questions 34 Times

(CNSNews.com) – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) subpoenaed the Department of Justice today for documents after the DOJ’s Election Crimes Branch director, Richard Pilger, refused to answer critical questions 34 times, as advised by a DOJ lawyer, about the IRS-Tea Party scandal.

“The Department’s refusal to allow Mr. Pilger to testify about matters highly relevant to the Committee’s investigation unnecessarily delays and frustrates the Committee’s Constitutional oversight obligations,” said Chairman Issa in a letter sent with the subpoena.

“The Department’s obstruction in this regard, coupled with its failure to produce any relevant material to date, leads the Committee to conclude the Department is not seriously committed to cooperating with the Committee’s investigation on the Committee’s terms,” said Issa.

The subpoena follows on the heels of an Apr. 23 letter from 17 members of the committee to the DOJ for materials “concerning the Department’s involvement in efforts to scrutinize tax-exempt applicants after emails surfaced between Pilger and the Internal Revenue Service’s Lois G. Lerner where they discussed singling out and prosecuting tax-exempt applicants, at the urging of a Democraic senator,” reads a statement from the committee issued today.  (See Lerner-Pilger.pdf)

Via: CNS News

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The DOJ’s Curious Foray into the ‘Knockout Game’ Fray

Twenty-seven-year-old Conrad Barrett of Katy, Texas, has been charged with a hate crime by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for allegedly targeting a 79-year-old black man as his “knockout game” victim.

The victim suffered two jaw fractures in the November 24 assault. “Suspected crimes of this nature will simply not be tolerated,” said Kenneth Magidson, the U.S. attorney for the southern district of Texas. “Evidence of hate crimes will be vigorously investigated and prosecuted with the assistance of all our partners to the fullest extent of the law.”

According to the complaint filed by the DOJ, Barrett recorded a cell phone video of the attack in which he remarked, “the plan is to see if I were to hit a black person, would this be nationally televised.” The complaint also states that Barrett allegedly showed the video to other people and that other videos contained on the cell phone confiscated by police included Barrett using the n-word and insisting that black Americans “haven’t fully experienced the blessing of evolution.”

As a result, Barrett has been charged with one count of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. If convicted, he will be facing a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. “It is unimaginable in this day and age that one could be drawn to violently attack another based on the color of their skin,” said Special Agent in Charge Stephen Morris of the FBI’s Houston office. “We remind all citizens that we are protected under the law from such racially motivated attacks, and encourage everyone to report such crimes to the FBI.”

Via: Canada Free Press

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DoJ tells USAir, AMR to divest from 7 airports

The Department of Justice said Tuesday that it will require US Airways and AMR to divest facilities at seven airports in order to for their proposed merger to proceed.

Shares in US Airways were halted earlier Tuesday morning, after early reports saying that the two airlines were close to settling a state and federal antitrust suit.

The settlement with the Department of Justice will allow the deal to proceed.

USAir shares were up 3.4 percent before the halt. Shares in AMR, which has continued to trade despite its bankruptcy, rose 33 percent.

Other airline shares rose sharply as well on the news.

The government filed a lawsuit in August arguing that US Airways and AMR Corp, parent of bankrupt American Airlines, should be forced to scrap their proposed merger, which would create the world's largest airline.

Via: CNBC

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