Tag: Trump Department of Justice

Attorney General Barr Says DOJ Acts Independent Of Trump’s Interests

Attorney General William Barr said Thursday that he doesn’t believe President Trump has overstepped the boundaries between the White House and the Justice Department in a number of big recent cases.

Barr told NPR in a wide-ranging interview that he believes Trump has “supervisory authority” to oversee the effective course of justice — but Barr said that ultimately, the choices were made and carried through independently by the Justice Department.

“It’s very important that the attorney general make sure that there’s no political influence at stake involved in that — and there wasn’t,” Barr said. Continue reading.

DOJ says surveillance of Trump campaign adviser Page lacked evidence

The Hill logoThe Justice Department has concluded that the evidence underlying multiple warrants authorizing the surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page failed to show Page was a foreign agent, as the law requires.

The department delivered its conclusion in a December letter to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), the secretive federal body that approved the department’s four surveillance applications of the Trump aide.

A Justice Department assessment found that in at least two applications “there was insufficient predication to establish probable cause to believe that Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power,” states a court document quoting the department’s review. Continue reading.

DOJ reverses, says it’s trying to find ways to include citizenship question on 2020 census

The Hill logoA lawyer with the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Wednesday that agency officials have been ordered to determine whether there is a way the administration can include a citizenship question on the 2020 census, hours after a tweet from President Trump raised confusion over the status of the question.

Joseph Hunt, an assistant attorney general with the DOJ’s civil division, said Wednesday that the department has been “instructed to examine whether there is a path forward, consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision, that would allow us to include the citizenship question on the census.”

“We think there may be a legally available path under the Supreme Court’s decision. We’re examining that, looking at near-term options to see whether that’s viable and possible,” Hunt said, according to a transcript of a teleconference held in federal court in Maryland.

View the complete July 3 article by Jacqueline Thomsen on The Hill website here.

‘Fear and the paralysis is the point’: Former federal prosecutor warns Trump will bully and intimidate any DOJ officials who investigate him

AlterNet logoIn his July 2 column for USA Today, former federal prosecutor Michael J. Stern describes a pattern in which President Donald Trump — with the help of Attorney General William Barr — has gone about trying to bully and intimate any U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) officials who investigate him. And based on recent communications with DOJ employees he knows, Stern asserts, he has to conclude that Trump’s campaign of intimidation is working.

Stern, who spent 25 years as a federal prosecutor, writes that he has a list of family, friends and DOJ employees he sends his articles to. And recently, Stern notes, he has been receiving e-mails from some DOJ employees saying things like, “Please keep sending me your articles, but don’t send them to my office e-mail anymore.”

Stern goes on to note why they feel that way: they fear becoming a target of Trump.

View the complete July 2 article by Alex Henderson on the AlterNet website here.

Legal expert argues that the DOJ just asked the Supreme Court to essentially become a ‘branch of the Trump administration’

AlterNet logoWith the fate of the nation’s electoral maps — and thus the very basis of democracy — hanging in the balance, the Supreme Court is poised to rule on the controversial Census case. But at the last minute, Justice Department Solicitor General Noel Francisco wrote new a new plea to the justices asking them to take an even more extraordinary step than simply ruling on the issue before them.

Indeed, law professor Richard Hasen wrote in Slate on Tuesday that if the court goes along with Francisco’s request, it will essentially act as a part of the Trump administration.

The controversy arose when Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross decided to include a question about citizenship on the 2020 Census, which experts believe will reduce compliance with the survey in ways that benefit Republicans and white people electorally. The Justice Department claimed that it had asked Ross to include the question to protect the Voting Rights Act, but critics argued that this was a mere pretext and that the real purpose was to distort the Census results.

View the complete June 25 article by Cody Fenwick on the AlterNet website here.

Federal courts set to run out of money Friday because of government shutdown

Chief U.S. District Judge John Tunheim , seen in his office. Credit: Dvid Joles, Star Tribune

In Minnesota, the chief judge is set to deem all 223 staff members essential.

The federal courts are set to run out of cash on Friday, likely meaning nonessential workers at the 94 federal district courts, and at higher courts across the country, may have to stay home even as skeleton crews show up — without pay — to handle matters deemed essential under U.S. law, including many criminal cases.

And companies that turn to the federal courts to resolve fights with rivals and customers may find themselves in limbo if the government shutdown continues beyond this week.

The system has enough money left over from fees and other sources to run through Friday, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which supports the judiciary. Individual courts and judges will then decide how to fulfill those critical functions, said courts spokesman David Sellers. He pointed to earlier shutdowns, the longest of which was the 21-day furlough that started in December 1995 and ended in January 1996. A shutdown beyond Friday would break that record.

View the complete January 8 article by Erik Larson of Bloomberg News on The Star Tribune website here.

Want to Know More About: Deputy Attorney General Rod RosenStein

Jonathan Karl: “Rosenstein Came To The White House Expecting To Be Fired Today, So It Is Anybody’s Guess Whether Or Not The President Will Fire Him On Thursday. He Is Certainly Not Ruling It Out.” DAVID MUIR: “Obviously, the big question tonight, will President Trump fire Rosenstein on Thursday. And if he does, who then oversees the Russia investigation, does it put the investigation at risk?” Karl: “Well, Rosenstein came to The White House expecting to be fired today, so it is anybody’s guess whether or not the president will fire him on Thursday. He is certainly not ruling it out. If Rosenstein goes, the number three official at the justice department, that is Noel Francisco, the solicitor general, would oversee the Russia investigation until a Rosenstein replacement is put in place. Now David, the president’s legal team is saying that if Rosenstein goes, the Russia investigation should be put on pause, but there is absolutely no indication that will, in fact, happen.” [World News Tonight, ABC, 9/24/18; VIDEO]

Jonathan Karl: “ABC News Has Learned That Rosenstein Offered To Resign Over The Weekend, But Couldn’t Agree With The White House On The Conditions And Circumstances Of His Resignation.” KARL: “ABC News has learned that Rosenstein offered to resign over the weekend, but couldn’t agree with The White House on the conditions and circumstances of his resignation. If he does end up going, the Russia investigation will be overseen by the number three official at the justice department, that is Noel Francisco, the solicitor general who would oversee that investigation until a replacement for Rosenstein is put in place.” [Good Morning America, ABC, 9/25/18; VIDEO]

John Berman: “You Will Have Congress Holding A Hearing On The Supreme Court Where The President Is Talking About Using His Power To Fire Someone Investigating Him. Three Branches At Once In Turmoil.” JOHN BERMAN: “On Thursday when this happens this will quite literally be all three branches of American government in turmoil at once. You will have congress holding a hearing on the supreme court where the president is talking about using his power to fire someone investigating him. Three branches at once in turmoil.” [New Day, CNN, 9/25/18; Video] Continue reading “Want to Know More About: Deputy Attorney General Rod RosenStein”