Courtesy of Pam Martens
Kenneth A. Polite, Head of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice
We’re sorry to have to tell you this, but the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process, where the public and members of the press can request information from their government and get a meaningful response, is as dead under the Biden administration as it was under the Trump, Obama and George W. Bush administrations. In no small part, this is why the United States of America, which regularly lectures other countries on what it means to be a democracy, has lost the trust of the American people.
Earlier this year we reported that the man that President Biden had selected to head the Criminal Division of the Justice Department, Kenneth Polite, owed more than $1.5 million in debts according to his financial disclosure form and public mortgage records; was paying over 18 percent interest on an outstanding balance on a credit card; 19.99 percent interest on a personal loan; and yet, for some reason, had decided to accept a job at the Justice Department where his income would be slashed by about 77 percent.
Equally concerning, not one Senator on the Senate Judiciary Committee that held the confirmation hearing for Polite had asked a single question about these red flags.
In addition, Polite was coming from the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bochius where he had been a partner earning approximately $877,500 in 2020. He would likely want to return to that job after his stint in government with a paycheck of less than $200,000 annually. It’s this revolving door from government to Wall Street that is a key factor in the unprecedented levels of corruption that we are seeing today.
Polite’s former law firm, Morgan, Lewis, has provided legal representation to the Wall Street mega banks for decades. Polite’s financial disclosure form revealed that 5-count felon JPMorgan Chase was one of his clients over the past year.
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