Tag: Barr acting as Trump’s defense attorney

DOJ partially discloses memo on why Trump wasn’t charged with obstruction

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Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the memo was actually meant to guide then-Attorney General William Barr on “getting a jump on public relations” in explaining why he was not pursuing obstruction charges.

A portion of a memo cited by former Attorney General William Barr as a reason not to pursue obstruction of justice charges against former President Donald Trump was released Monday night, but the Justice Department said it is appealing a judge’s order to disclose the rest of it.

Barr cited the 2019 memo by the department’s Office of Legal Counsel as a reason for not pursuing the charges after he received special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and any links to the Trump campaign.

Mueller’s report said his team was unable to reach a judgment on whether the president committed obstruction of justice, but the Office of Legal Counsel’s memo said the department should reach a conclusion anyway, and recommended that the evidence would not support prosecution. Continue reading.

House Democrats start contempt of Congress process against Barr

The House Judiciary scheduled a Wednesday markup for the 27-page contempt resolution

House Democrats plan to take the first step to holding Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress on Wednesday, in their push to get an unredacted version of the Mueller report and its underlying investigative material.

The House Judiciary Committee scheduled a markup of a 27-page contempt resolution that lays out the need for the full report from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and the negotiations so far with Barr to get it.

Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said that Barr’s failure to comply with the congressional subpoena for the full report “leaves us no choice” but to initiate contempt proceedings — but he left the door open to canceling them as well.

View the complete May 6 article by Todd Ruger on The Roll Call website here.

Barr, Dems fail to reach deal on House testimony

Attorney General William Barr is refusing to testify before the House on Thursday, arguing Democrats have put “unprecedented” conditions on his testimony.
The fight sets up a major clash between Barr and Democrats in control of the House Judiciary Committee, who have threatened to subpoena the attorney general to compel his testimony.
It also comes as tensions rise over Barr because of Robert Mueller‘s written criticisms of how the attorney general handled the special counsel’s report on his nearly two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and potential obstruction of justice.

View the complete May 1 article by Olivia Beavers and Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Dems hammer Barr over Mueller in four-hour grilling

Senate Democrats were fully unleashed in their grilling of Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday, accusing the top Department of Justice official of bungling the release of the Mueller report in an attempt to defend President Trump.

During the four-hour hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Democrats seized on the explosive revelation that special counsel Robert Mueller had criticized Barr’s summary of his report in writing. Some suggested he was no longer fit to serve as attorney general.

“I think history will judge you harshly, and maybe a bit unfairly,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told Barr.

View the complete May 1 article by Jacqueline Thomsen and Brett Samuels on The Hill website here.

Democrats renew attacks on Trump attorney general

Democrats ripped into Attorney General William Barr on Friday, signaling he’ll be a focal point of their attacks on the Trump administration in the post-Mueller report world.

The Democrats say Barr bungled the handling of special counsel Robert Mueller‘s report and that he has repeatedly sought to protect President Trump, contrasting his comments about what the report said with the actual text that was released on Thursday.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) issued a subpoena on Friday to win the release of the full report, while other Democrats have called for Barr’s resignation.

View the complete April 20 article by Olivia Beavers on The Hill website here.

Trump lawyers reviewed Mueller report for 10 hours before it was made public

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyers spent at least 10 hours reviewing Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian meddling in the 2016 election before it was made public, two of the lawyers told Reuters on Friday.

Rudy Giuliani, Jay Sekulow and two other Trump lawyers went to the U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday and Wednesday for an early look at the 448-page report into whether Trump’s team colluded with Russia and whether Trump obstructed the investigation, which was released to the public on Thursday.

Attorney General William Barr, who has drawn criticism from Democratic lawmakers over his handling of the Mueller probe, said on Thursday that both White House counsel and Trump’s personal lawyers had been allowed to review the redacted report.

View the complete April 19 article by Karen Freifeld on the Reuters website here.

Trump feared ‘one of these independent counsels.’ He got something else

Amid Democrats’ criticism, is Barr trying to protect Trump or the office he occupies?

Jeff Sessions, then the attorney general, ended a phone call and returned to the Oval Office. It wasn’t long before President Donald Trump was in an angry rage.

Sessions, since unceremoniously fired, had just taken a phone call from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who informed him he had appointed former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III as a special counsel to look into Russia’s 2016 election meddling, including whether there was coordination with Trump’s campaign.

It fell to Sessions to inform the president.

View the complete April 19 article by John T. Bennett on The Roll Call website here.

What Attorney General Barr said vs. what the Mueller report said

Before the special counsel’s report on Russia and President Trump was released to the public, Attorney General William P. Barr made several statements about what was in its 448 pages.

Barr received special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report last month and outlined its principal conclusions in a letter dated March 24. Barr then held a news conference on Thursday, shortly before releasing a redacted version of Mueller’s report.

As it turns out, in some cases, Barr’s characterizations were incomplete or misleading. The Mueller report is more damning of Trump than the attorney general indicated.

View the complete April 19 Salvador Rizzo on The Washington Post website here.

Barr v. Mueller: Friends pitted against each other

Despite close ties, the attorney general and special counsel face increasing scrutiny of their disagreements on the Trump probe.

Bill Barr and Robert Mueller have been close friends for 30 years, from the Justice Department to family weddings and the Bible study attended by both of their wives.

Now they’re anchoring two ends of a legal high-wire act playing out through news conferences, congressional hearings and close-up reviews of the special counsel’s long-awaited findings on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The bond between the two men has been stressed over the past month amid a volley of letters and closed-door negotiations among their aides. Finally, on Thursday, the release of Mueller’s final report showcased the large amounts of daylight between the veteran law enforcement officials on fundamental questions at the heart of Donald Trump’s presidency.’

View the complete April 18 article by Josh Gerstein and Darren Samuelsohn on the Politico website here.

Five takeaways from Mueller’s report

The release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Thursday ends a two-year investigation that has shadowed Donald Trump’s presidency but opens a new era likely to keep Mueller and his findings in the spotlight.

The White House and congressional Republicans welcomed Thursday’s report as positive news for the president, while Democrats vowed to move forward with their investigations.

Mueller ultimately did not establish that Trump or members of his campaign coordinated or conspired with Moscow to affect the 2016 presidential election, but he and his team declined to reach a conclusion on whether the president obstructed justice.

View the complete April 18 article by Morgan Chalfant and Jacqueline Thomsen on The Hill website here.