A watchdog report has found that the kind of systemic failures that enabled the high-profile prison deaths of gangster Whitey Bulger and financier Jeffrey Epstein also contributed to the deaths of hundreds of other federal prisoners over the years.

Recent assaults on two notorious, high-profile federal prisoners have renewed concerns about whether the federal Bureau of Prisons is capable of keeping people in its custody safe.

The Justice Department’s watchdog says negligence, misconduct and job failures enabled Jeffrey Epstein to take his own life at a federal jail in New York City while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Sexual abuse in the nation’s federal prisons must be rooted out.

House Republicans have begun their promised aggressive oversight of the Biden administration.

Inspectors general need more authority to go after fraud in the COVID-19 relief programs, the independent committee overseeing federal pandemic relief spending said Tuesday.

The Justice Department’s internal watchdog has launched an investigation after revelations that former President Donald Trump’s administration secretly seized phone data from at least two House Democrats.

FILE - In this Dec. 18, 2019, file photo, Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Horowitz is launching an investigation to examine whether any former or current department officials engaged in an improper attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, file)WASHINGTON – The Justice Department’s inspector general is launching an investigation to examine whether any former or current department officials “engaged in an improper attempt” to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Inspector General Michael Horowitz said Monday that the investigation will investigate allegations concerning the conduct of former and current Justice Department officials but will not extend to other government officials. Election officials across the country, along with Trump's former attorney general, William Barr, have confirmed there was no widespread fraud in the election.

(Al Drago/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON Government watchdogs are warning that legal decisions by the Trump administration could severely limit their ability to oversee more than $1 trillion in spending related to the coronavirus pandemic. In a letter to four congressional committees, a panel of inspectors general overseeing a sweeping economic rescue law said an ambiguity in the law could block the watchdogs from conducting independent oversight. This would present potentially significant transparency and oversight issues because (the spending in question) includes over $1 trillion in funding, the letter says. The agency has only provided general information, such as the total amounts of loans awarded in a given time period. A House subcommittee overseeing the coronavirus aid demanded Monday that the Trump administration and some of the nations largest banks turn over detailed information about companies that applied for and received federal loans.

It found problems in each of the more than two dozen applications it reviewed, including “apparent errors or inadequately supported facts." Those rules, or “Woods Procedures," were developed in 2001 with a goal of minimizing errors in the surveillance applications, known by the acronym FISA. Each of the 25 other applications it reviewed contained “apparent errors or inadequately supported facts," the inspector general said. The FBI and Justice Department say they have begun making significant changes, including additional training and other safeguards meant to ensure the accuracy of surveillance applications. “As Director Wray has stressed, FISA is an indispensable tool to guard against national security threats, but we must ensure that these authorities are carefully exercised and that FISA applications are scrupulously accurate," Abbate wrote.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Justice Department and FBI are reviewing a draft of the long-awaited report on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court applications regarding the Trump campaign, the department's inspector general said Friday. The inspector general has been investigating since early 2018 the handling of four applications that let American intelligence eavesdrop on Carter Page in 2016 and 2017 after he left the Trump campaign. Horowitz noted that the report contained classified material, and that once he receives the draft back from DOJ and FBI, his office would prepare the report for release, "ensuring that appropriate reviews occur for accuracy and comment purposes." Horowitz's review is one of several probes into the origins of the Russia investigation. He told CNN this week that he expected to call Horowitz to testify after his report was released, and he also might bring in former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos to testify.

Graham wrote a letter to Attorney General William Barr, released Tuesday, urging him to use the declassification powers he was granted by President Donald Trump to declassify material surrounding Inspector General Michael Horowitz's investigation into the Page FISA process. Graham wrote that Horowitz's investigation is "nearing completion," according to Horowitz, and he listed nine classified documents he said should be released based on his review. With Graham's letter and the Justice Department lawyers' careful wording Friday, it appears declassification could still be on the table. The Justice Department filing came in a public records lawsuit from USA Today reporter Brad Heath and the transparency group the James Madison Project, who've sued for access to the parts of the memos that haven't been released. Yet according to their filing, declassification would still be possible in the future.