The collaboration between the Department of Justice and the Soros funded Media Matters  (MMFA) “watch dog” is nothing new. Back in April, the Department of Justice referred Free Beacon Reporter C.J. Ciaramella to Media Matters after he asked a question relating to my book.

The MMFA article referenced by DOJ didn’t address Ciaramella's specific question in any way.
Then in July, former DOJ attorney and New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case whistleblower Christian Adams exposed the collaboration between DOJ Spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler and MMFA Researcher Matt Gertz.

Some months ago, PJ Media submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Department of Justice. The request asked for all of the communications between the Office of Public Affairs and the Soros-funded Media Matters about Katie Pavlich’s must-read book Fast and Furious.  The Office of Public Affairs is headed by the notorious screamer Tracy Schmaler.
Anyone who has followed the Fast and Furious scandal closely knows that the Office of Public Affairs has been central to deceiving the public and bullying inquisitive reporters.  Thug tactics unbecoming of the Department of Justice have become standard at the Office of Public Affairs. Despite the fact that PJ Media’s original request was clearly identified as directed to the Office of Public Affairs, the DOJ routed the request to the Civil Rights Division, which on its face has absolutely nothing to do with the request.

That’s called buying time.
Finally, DOJ has at last responded to PJ Media’s request, sort of.  The response letter says that precisely a single document exists responsive to our request.

That single document was an email from Gertz to Schmaler with a link to a hit piece on my book.

Anyone who has followed the Fast and Furious scandal closely knows that the Office of Public Affairs has been central to deceiving the public and bullying inquisitive reporters.  Thug tactics unbecoming of the Department of Justice have become standard at the Office of Public Affairs.

Despite the fact that PJ Media’s original request was clearly identified as directed to the Office of Public Affairs, the DOJ routed the request to the Civil Rights Division, which on its face has absolutely nothing to do with the request.  That’s called buying time. Advertisement

Finally, DOJ has at last responded to PJ Media’s request, sort of.  The response letter says that precisely a single document exists responsive to our request.

This reporter submitted a FOIA on April 25, 2012 to the Justice Department for “all communications between the Civil Rights Division and an organization styled as “Media Matters” from Aug. 15, 2011 through today, relating to a book entitled, “Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department” by Regnery Publishing. Considering DOJ had collaborated with MMFA to attack my book, I figured they had possibly done the same to attack Christian Adams.
After DOJ didn’t respond for months, I sent an email asking where my requested information was and received this bumbling response.

Katie -
I checked in OIP's initial request tracking system and there was no record of this request. I also contacted the Civil Rights Division to see if it had been routed to that office. However, they have no record of this request either.
I can see it was addressed to the Mail Referral Unit. That Unit should have sent it to OIP (because the request seeks PAO records and OIP processes requests on behalf of PAO) and the Civil Rights Division. I've contacted the Mail Referral Unit to see what they did with it, but have not yet received a response. Regardless, it doesn't appear they did what they should have done with it. As such, I personally walked this request over to the Chief of OIP's Initial Request Staff, Laurie Day, and asked her to accept it as a new request. You should receive an acknowledgment letter in the coming days.
I apologize for delay and the confusion. If there is anything else I can do, please don't hesitate to ask.
Thanks,
Ken

DOJ essentially claimed they lost my FOIA request, I sent it certified mail. So after pushing, DOJ sent me a letter confirming they received my request on August 9, 2012 and that the request had been routed to the Civil Rights Division so therefore “some delay may be encountered in processing your request.”
When I finally received a response to my FOIA, I was told the information I requested didn’t exist.

“This responds to your Freedom of Information Act request dated and received in this Office on August 8, 2012, seeking copies of c communication between the Office of Public Affairs and “Media Matters” from August 15, 2011 to the present, concerning the book entitled Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department. This response is made on behalf of the Office of Public Affairs. Please be advised that a search has been conducted in the Office of Public Affairs and no records subject to the FOIA were located that are responsive to your request.”

But yesterday, the Daily Caller’s Matt Boyle completely tore the mask off of the relationship between MMFA and the DOJ. We knew the relationship was there, just not how extensive it was. Boyle obtained more than 60 emails through a FOIA request showing Schmaler actively working with MMFA on hit pieces against conservative journalists and whistleblowers who “embarrass” the Obama/Holder Justice Department, specifically surrounding the New Black Panther Voter Intimidation Case and Operation Fast and Furious.
In one email to MMFA, Schmaler writes, “great piece,” referring to a smear of New Black Panther Party case whistleblowers Adams and Chris Coates. Schmaler regularly used the radical “media” outlet to retaliate against them, violating the Whistleblower Protection Act, but considering DOJ is notorious for retaliating against those who don’t fall in line with the Department’s political agenda, this isn’t surprising. 

Among others, Gertz sent Schmaler attack pieces he wrote about Townhall Magazine’s Katie Pavlich, who also authored a book on Operation Fast and Furious; Breitbart.com writers Joel Pollak and Ken Klukowski; Fox News Channel’s William LaJeunesse, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Megyn Kelly, Martha MacCallum, Bill Hemmer, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity; Sipsey Street Irregulars blogger Mike Vanderboegh; DirectorBlue blogger Doug Ross; National Review’s Andrew C. McCarthy; and this reporter [Matt Boyle.]

Investor's Business Daily put out an editorial yesterday asking, “What is this, Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela?”

These weren't just instances of over-sharing between political allies or a quest for access, such as the New York Times was caught doing when one of its reporters submitted an unpublished story to a CIA flack. This was the Obama administration planning and directing operations from on high in a grotesque example of the state with all its powers using an off-the-books nuisance organization to harass its critics. After the acts, the DOJ then praised them: "Great piece," gushed Schmaler after Media Matters attacked DOJ whistle-blowers J. Christian Adams and Christopher Coates. Incredibly, this isn't happening in some totalitarian dictatorship or banana republic, but here in the U.S. And its implications are serious.

The bottom line is, the taxpayer funded Department of Justice Public Affairs Office, led by Schmaler, is working with the tax exempt MMFA to take down conservative reporters exposing Holder’s DOJ corruption. The Justice Department has blood on its hands and Schmaler is doing everything she can to wash them clean at the expense of her dignity. Attacking reporters won’t bring Brian Terry back from the dead nor will it rid Holder’s DOJ of its role in his murder.