The DOJ Is Moving to Drop Its Fraud Case Against Dish. The Timing Is Interesting.
They cannot be this transparent with this move, right? Despite its actions to the contrary, the Department of Justice has long defended its reputation as an independent institution. Attorney General Merrick Garland described the DOJ staffers as an army of patriots when everyone saw them as Democratic Party operatives.
DOJ officials have gone after journalists, like Steve Baker, for his reports on January 6 that shred the Justice Department’s narrative. FBI agents have targeted pro-life activists. The Justice Department was working to cook up a sweetheart deal with Hunter Biden until that got nuked by the whistleblower testimonies of Joseph Ziegler and Gary Shapley, two IRS agents who alleged pervasive interference from the DOJ in their investigations. The pair were looking into Hunter Biden’s tax crimes. The image of the DOJ is kaput for half the country, so it shouldn’t be shocking that the years-long fraud case facing Dish Network appears to be getting tossed after its founder dropped a six-figure donation to help get Biden re-elected (via NY Post) [emphasis mine]:
The Justice Department took the rare step earlier this month of moving to dismiss a $3.3 billion civil fraud lawsuit against Dish Network — months after founder Charlie Ergen and his wife donated more than $113,000 to President Biden’s re-election campaign late last year.
Ergen, a former professional poker player who helped launch what was then called EchoStar Communications in 1980, has battled the federal fraud claim for nearly a decade.
But the Tennessee native saw his luck change shortly after he and spouse Candy contributed $100,000 to Biden’s super PAC and maxed out with matching $6,600 donations to the president’s principal campaign committee in December, according to campaign finance filings.
This past January, Dish nabbed a $50 million grant from the administration to help expand 5G coverage nationwide — the “largest award” of its kind, the company crowed — through a $1.5 billion fund created by the CHIPS and Science Act.
The move to dismiss the case scrapped plans to depose the Ergens about their knowledge of the allegedly fraudulent scheme, prompting Vermont Telephone’s attorneys to accuse the Justice Department of political interference.
[…]
This month, Ergen was also appointed to a presidential trade and investment mission to the Philippines after the White House announced a partnership with the nation for expanding access to 5G coverage more than a year ago.
Despite having angered the FCC in the past with its slow wireless buildout, Ergen has become potentially vital for the Biden-Harris administration’s modernization efforts due to Dish’s Open Radio Access Network (ORAN) technologies.
