Washington, D.C. — Empower Oversight has requested from the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) records related to the oversight and administration of the state’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), the subject of numerous reports of waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars. The request, filed pursuant to the Minnesota Data Practices Act, …
Empower Oversight president Tristan Leavitt made the following statement after Senator Rand Paul, Chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, released documents detailing the federal government’s investigation into Christine Crowder. Empower Oversight represents Christine and her husband Mark Crowder, a Senior Federal Air Marshal. “In 2022 Empower Oversight helped Mark and Christine …
For the complete statement, visit https://empowr.us/joint-statement/.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – IRS whistleblowers former Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and Special Agent Joe Ziegler reached settlements with the IRS and Justice Department (DOJ) for illegal retaliation against them. The settlements included significant compensation for damages and a requirement for new training for federal prosecutors to deter future whistleblower retaliation. Shapley and Ziegler’s 84-page …
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS EXAMINING THE WEAPONIZATION OF THE QUIET SKIES PROGRAM SEPTEMBER 30, 2025 TESTIMONY OF TRISTAN LEAVITT PRESIDENT EMPOWER OVERSIGHT Chairman Paul, Ranking Member Peters, and Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today. I was last before this Committee in 2021 when it considered my nomination to the …
Washington, D.C. – Empower Oversight is urging the U.S. Department of Education (DOEd) to finalize and release the investigative report required by a referral from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), which forwarded information from a whistleblower disclosing DOEd’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) had been violating federal court injunctions that limited the enforcement of …
WASHINGTON – Empower Oversight has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeking records related to the administration of the National Human Trafficking Hotline, a critical public safety resource for victims of trafficking. The request includes records about an alleged conflict of interest involving Katherine …
WASHINGTON – Empower Oversight is applauding the historic resolution of eight whistleblower retaliation cases, which now resolves all 10 longstanding client disputes with the FBI, as outlined in the organization’s March 5 letter to the FBI General Counsel. The settlements represent more than 12 years of suspended days corrected by these agreements. “For each of …
WASHINGTON – Empower Oversight today filed a forceful response to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) attempt to dismiss IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler’s retaliation case before the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). The filing accuses DOJ attorneys of perpetuating the very retaliation the case seeks to address—by misrepresenting facts, smearing the whistleblowers with …
WASHINGTON – Empower Oversight has filed a reply brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, calling on the court to require the Department of Justice (DOJ) to fully disclose the government’s applications for non-disclosure orders (NDOs) that kept secret subpoenas for the communications of Empower Oversight’s founder, Jason Foster, and dozens …