Tag: Biden Department of Justice

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.

George Conway hands Biden’s DOJ a roadmap to make sure Trump ends up in jail

Conway notes that future Attorney General Merrick Garland must appoint a special counsel — or two

On Friday night, writing for The Washington Post, conservative attorney George Conway laid out the way forward to investigate former President Donald Trump for his criminal conduct in office now that he is a private citizen — and prosecute him where appropriate.

“Trump departed the White House a possible — many would say probable, provable — criminal, one who has left a sordid trail of potential and actual misconduct that remains to be fully investigated,” wrote Conway. “A desperate fear of criminal indictment may even explain Trump’s willingness to break any number of laws to stay in office despite losing his reelection bid, democracy and the Constitution be damned.”

While President Joe Biden is correct to pledge to stay out of prosecutorial decisions surrounding Trump, wrote Conway, the Justice Department should not — and everything from the Russia obstruction of justice, to the Ukraine bribery scheme, to his attacks on the election and incitement of the Capitol riot, should be on the table to prosecute. Continue reading.