2020 Press Releases

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• 12/14/2020 Attorney General Tong Joins Bipartisan Coalition Supporting Federal Legislation to Protect Safety of Federal Judges and their Families

  Attorney General William Tong today joined a bipartisan group of 51 Attorneys General in a letter urging Congress to pass legislation aimed at protecting the safety of federal judges and their families.

• 3/4/2020 Attorney General Tong: No President is Immune from Justice

  Attorney General William Tong today joined Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring and a coalition of 16 attorneys general fighting to ensure that President Trump cannot impede criminal investigations and hide evidence of potential crimes. In an amicus brief filed in Trump v. Vance, the group urges the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm a decision by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which concluded that President Trump cannot block a valid grand jury subpoena sent to his accounting firm. The subpoena seeks financial records as part of an ongoing investigation by the District Attorney of New York.

• 5/27/2020 Richard Thompson Released From Federal Custody Following Appeals Court Ruling

  Attorney General William Tong issued the following statement today regarding news that Richard Marvin Thompson has been released from federal custody in Alabama and is returning home to Connecticut. His release follows the decision last Thursday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit that reversed a prior immigration court decision denying Thompson the full benefit of his Connecticut pardon.

• 7/9/2020 Attorney General Tong: No One is Above the Law

  Attorney General William Tong released the following statement on this morning's Supreme Court decisions in Trump v. Vance and Trump v. Mazars USA

• 12/11/2020 Attorney General Tong Statement on SCOTUS Rejection of Texas Election Suit

  Attorney General William Tong issued a statement following the U.S. Supreme Court rejection of the Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn election results in four states critical to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

• 3/2/2020 Connecticut Announces $4.9 Million State/Federal False Claims Settlement with Middletown Doctor Couple

  Attorney General William Tong, U.S. Attorney John H. Durham, Comptroller Kevin Lembo and Connecticut Department of Social Services Commissioner Deidre S. Gifford announced today that Connecticut has reached a $4.9 million civil False Claims Act settlement with Middletown couple Crispin and Antonieta Abarientos regarding a long-term fraudulent medical billing scheme involving costly infusions. This is the first False Claims settlement to date regarding the Connecticut State Health Plan.

• 1/30/2020 New England States Seek to Restore Competition to Broken Energy Transmission System, Save Ratepayer Dollars

  Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine are urging federal energy regulators to require ISO-NE to allow competition in transmission work, as required by law—a move that could dramatically drive down costs and save ratepayers millions of dollars.

• 4/3/2020 Office of the Attorney General, Insurance and Consumer Protection Departments Release Travel Guidance During COVID-19 Pandemic

  Attorney General William Tong, Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull and Connecticut Insurance Department Commissioner Andrew N. Mais released the following guidance to consumers regarding booking and canceling travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• 2/13/2020 CT Joins Lawsuit to Compel USPS to Stop Flow of Foreign Contraband Cigarettes

  Attorney General William Tong announced Connecticut has joined a lawsuit seeking to compel the United States Postal Service (USPS) to comply with federal law and stop delivering millions of foreign cigarettes to Connecticut and other states.

• 3/3/2020 Attorney General Tong Sues to Block Unlawful Diversion of Billions of Taxpayer Funds-- Including Millions from Connecticut Projects-- For Trump Vanity Border Wall

  Attorney General William Tong today joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general in a new lawsuit seeking to block the Trump Administration’s illegal diversion of $3.8 billion in taxpayer dollars for the construction of an unauthorized and pointless border wall. The Trump Administration diversions include millions from funds that Congress intended for Connecticut companies and the Connecticut National Guard.

• 5/8/2020 Attorney General Tong Urges FERC to Halt Fossil Fuel Infrastructure Approvals During COVID-19 Crisis

  Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 11 attorneys general in calling on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to impose an immediate moratorium on approvals of all new and pending applications for natural gas pipelines, liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities, and related fossil-fuel infrastructure projects until the end of the COVID-19 crisis.

• 8/28/2020 Attorney General Tong Challenges Trump Administration Rule Curtailing Environmental Review of Federal Actions

  Attorney General William Tong joined a multistate lawsuit filed today challenging the Trump Administration’s unlawful final rule curtailing requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that federal agencies review and assess the impact of their actions on the environment. The final rule also limits public participation in the review process, robbing vulnerable communities of the opportunity to make their voices heard on actions that are likely to have adverse environmental and health impacts. In the lawsuit, the coalition argues that the final rule abandons informed decision making, public participation, and environmental and public health protections in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and NEPA.

• 9/10/2020 As Mail Delays Continue, Attorney General Tong and State Attorneys General Seek Court Order to Protect USPS Operations

  As mail delays continue, Attorney General William Tong joined a multistate coalition of attorneys general seeking a court order to block operational changes at the U.S. Postal Service ahead of the November election.

• 4/3/2020 Attorney General Tong Joins Fight to Stop Texas from Blocking Abortions During Coronavirus Pandemic

  Attorney General William Tong today joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief supporting the plaintiffs in Planned Parenthood v. Abbott in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The brief opposes the Texas directive banning nearly all abortion services in the state, using the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health crisis as an excuse.

• 9/16/2020 Attorney General Tong Joins Multistate Lawsuit Challenging Trump Administration Rollback of Regulations that Limit Methane Emissions

  Attorney General William Tong, joining a coalition of 24 states and municipalities, yesterday filed a lawsuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) final rule gutting standards that limit emissions of methane, volatile organic compounds, and other hazardous pollutants from new, reconstructed, and modified facilities in the oil and natural gas industry.