Tag: Barr as corrupt as Trump

Here’s the major ‘tell’ that reveals exactly what Bill Barr will do to win Trump the election: ex-DOJ spokesperson

AlterNet logoFormer Justice Department lawyer Matt Miller said that Attorney General Bill Barr has a “tell” that Miller thinks reveals what Barr will do about his new attempt at a GOP-run Russia investigation.

The MSNBC panel discussion looked back at Barr’s testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, where he admitted that the White House government appointees have discussions about the 2020 campaign during Cabinet Meetings. Conducting politics under the government is strictly prohibited.

“He has a tell, and the one that you just showed is an example, where there’s an answer where you expect the attorney general to give,” Miller began. “In the confirmation hearing, the answer you expected him to give was that he would recuse himself from the Russia investigation because of his previous writings on the topic, a memo he had written that was seen as the audition for the job. And he didn’t give that answer, and I think we found out why shortly after, it was because he wanted to interfere in the Mueller probe. He’s wanted to go back and then discredit it afterward.” Continue reading.

The F.B.I. Pledged to Keep a Source Anonymous. Trump Allies Aided His Unmasking.

New York Times logoWASHINGTON — Not long after the early 2017 publication of a notorious dossier about President Trump jolted Washington, an expert in Russian politics told the F.B.I. he had been one of its key sources, drawing on his contacts to deliver information that would make up some of the most salacious and unproven assertions in the document.

The F.B.I. had approached the expert, a man named Igor Danchenko, as it vetted the dossier’s claims. He agreed to tell investigators what he knew with an important condition, people familiar with the matter said — that the F.B.I. keep his identity secret so he could protect himself, his sources and his family and friends in Russia.

But his hope of remaining anonymous evaporated last week after Attorney General William P. Barr directed the F.B.I. to declassify a redacted report about its three-day interview of Mr. Danchenko in 2017 and hand it over to Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Mr. Graham promptly made the interview summary public while calling the entire Russia investigation “corrupt.” Continue reading.

Judge orders Michael Cohen to be released to home confinement

Axios logoA federal judge on Thursday ordered President Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen to be released from prison and into home confinement, ruling that the Justice Department retaliated against him over his planned tell-all book about the president.

Catch up quick: Cohen was released from federal prison in New York in May to serve his three-year sentence at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. But he was imprisoned again this month after officials said he refused the conditions of his home confinement, including by writing his book. The judge ruled that DOJ’s actions curbed Cohen’s First Amendment rights.

What they’re saying: ““I’ve never seen such a clause in 21 years of being a judge and sentencing people and looking at terms of supervised release,” District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said at Cohen’s hearing. “Why would the Bureau of Prisons ask for something like this … unless there was a retaliatory purpose?” Continue reading.

‘It’s not good for our democracy’: Calls grow for federal officers to shed camouflage

Washington Post logoAs authorities crack down on protests in Portland, Ore., military leaders, lawmakers and former government officials have intensified calls for federal officers to shed the camouflage and return to wearing uniforms that clearly identify them as law enforcement.

The mobilization of federal agents in military-style camouflage in recent days, and their use of unmarked vans to make arrests, has deepened confusion about which force is doing what.

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq, said the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies should not allow their officers to wear camouflage. Continue reading.

Acting U.S. attorney in New York expected to advance politically sensitive cases, safeguard office’s independence, colleagues say

Donald Trump had a bad week. He went to West Point to make himself look like a strong leader but raised doubts about his health when he struggled drinking water and descending a ramp. His first Supreme Court appointee wrote the opinion in a case upholding gay and transgender rights.

The court also struck down Trump’s effort to deport undocumented foreigners brought here as children. His former national security advisor wrote a book painting the world’s most powerful person as an ignorant sleazebag who was guilty of the impeachment charges and more.

Trump had to reschedule a Tulsa rally planned for Juneteenth, but he insisted on holding it the following day — risking lives in a state suffering a surge of the coronavirus. New polls showed him trailing Joe Biden by landslide margins. Continue reading.

Trump ousts Manhattan U.S. attorney who investigated president’s associates

Washington Post logoAttorney General William P. Barr said Saturday that President Trump had fired the top federal prosecutor in New York, ending an unprecedented standoff between Barr and U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, who had resisted being removed from his post.

Barr informed Berman of the president’s move in a sharply worded letter, explaining that Berman’s deputy, Audrey Strauss, will serve as the acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan until the Senate can confirm a permanent replacement. Under Berman, the office managed a number of sensitive investigations involving people close to Trump, including his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani.

Barr wrote that he had hoped for Berman’s “cooperation to facilitate a smooth transition” in the office as Trump nominates the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton, to take over the job. Instead, the attorney general wrote, Berman had chosen “public spectacle.” Continue reading.

Prosecutor in Roger Stone Case Will Testify About Barr’s Intervention

New York Times logoThe prosecutor is one of two Justice Department officials coming forward whom Democrats are calling whistle-blowers.

WASHINGTON — A career Justice Department prosecutor who quit the case against President Trump’s friend Roger J. Stone Jr.after political appointees intervened to seek a more lenient sentence has agreed to testify under subpoena next week before the House Judiciary Committee.

House Democrats issued subpoenas on Tuesday to the prosecutor, Aaron S.J. Zelinsky, along with a second Justice Department official, John W. Elias, who has also agreed to testify in public on June 24 about politicization under Attorney General William P. Barr — setting up a potential fight with the department about what they will be permitted to say.

Mr. Elias is a career official in the Justice Department’s antitrust division, which opened an inquiry into a fuel efficiency deal between major automakers and the State of California; congressional Democrats have called the scrutiny politically motivated. Continue reading.

‘Gross abuse of prosecutorial power’: Court-appointed lawyer rebukes Barr’s handling of Flynn case

AlterNet logoA retired federal judge appointed to argue against the Department of Justice’s move to drop criminal charges against President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn has recommended that the court proceed with sentencing.

He called the department’s request to drop the case “a gross abuse of prosecutorial power” in an attempt to “provide special treatment” to a “political ally of the president of the United States.”

“The Department of Justice has a solemn responsibility to prosecute this case — like every other case — without fear or favor, and to quote the department’s motto, solely ‘on behalf of justice,’” former federal judge John Gleeson wrote in a brief filed Wednesday. Continue reading.

Storm builds around Barr over dropping of Flynn case

The Hill logoDemocrats and other critics are seizing on the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to drop the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, arguing it shows how heavily politicized it has become under Attorney General William Barr.

Anger over the extraordinary move by Justice to drop charges even after it secured a guilty plea has created a new political storm around Barr, who had previously angered Democrats for his handling of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

The latest surprise move approved by Barr makes him even more of a political lightning rod figure in Washington. Continue reading.

Dropping of Flynn Case Heightens Fears of Justice Dept. Politicization

New York Times logoAcross the country, rank-and-file prosecutors cringed at another extraordinary intervention by Attorney General William P. Barr.

WASHINGTON — President Trump and his supporters on Friday praised Attorney General William P. Barr’s decision to drop the prosecution of Michael T. Flynn, even as career law enforcement officials warned that the action set a disturbing precedent and Democrats accused the administration of further politicizing the Justice Department.

“Yesterday was a BIG day for Justice in the USA,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. “Congratulations to General Flynn, and many others. I do believe there is MUCH more to come! Dirty Cops and Crooked Politicians do not go well together!”

But some rank-and-file prosecutors said they saw Mr. Barr’s action as politically motivated and damaging to the department’s credibility. Several compared the move to his forcing prosecutors in February to reduce a standard sentencing recommendation for Roger J. Stone Jr., a friend of Mr. Trump, saying it would leave a lasting mark on the department. Continue reading.