Tag: Trump Justice Department

Justice Dept. drops support for Michael Cohen gag order, clearing way for tell-all Trump book

Washington Post logoNEW YORK — The Justice Department on Thursday dropped its support for a gag order that would have prevented President Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen from writing his forthcoming tell-all book or discussing it with the media, according to documents filed in federal court Thursday.

The about-face was spelled out in a proposed settlement agreement sent to U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. In it, Assistant U.S. Attorney Allison Rovner and Cohen’s attorney Danya Perry wrote that there should be “no specific media provision” governing Cohen’s release from prison to home confinement.

Hellerstein has yet to approve the deal. Continue reading.

Democrats blister Barr during tense hearing

The Hill logoAttorney General William Barr came under blistering criticism from Democrats on Tuesday over a series of decisions he has made as President Trump’s leader at the Department of Justice (DOJ), including Roger Stone‘s prosecution, the use of federal police in U.S. cities and allegations that DOJ has become politicized under his leadership.

Democrats sought to paint Barr, making his first appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, as a Trump loyalist who has sought to shield the president and his allies from scrutiny, all while seeking to help Trump project the image of a law-and-order president ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

“The job of the attorney general is to defend the best interests of the people and serve as the people’s lawyer, but during your time as attorney general you have consistently undermined democracy, undermined the Constitution and undermined the health, safety and well-being of the American people,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). “All to personally benefit Donald Trump.” Continue reading.

Democrats seek to shame Barr over politics at the Justice Department

Washington Post logoDemocrats clashed with Attorney General William P. Barr on Tuesday at a congressional hearing marked by angry recriminations over racial justice protests in Portland, Ore., and around the country, as the nation’s top law enforcement official said additional agents were needed to subdue aggressive, violent crowds.

The hearing before the House Judiciary Committee was acrimonious from the outset, as liberal lawmakers accused the conservative attorney general of politicizing the Justice Department through his deployment of federal agents to U.S. cities, his involvement in high-profile prosecutions of people connected to President Trump, and his posture toward the upcoming presidential election.<

Lawmakers spent months seeking Barr’s testimony on a host of issues related to the Trump administration’s interactions with the Justice Department. With the attorney general finally seated at the witness table, Democrats mostly made speeches or talked over him as he attempted to answer their questions, seemingly squandering any chance of getting new information or an admission out of him. Continue reading.

National Guard officer calls treatment of Lafayette Square protesters ‘deeply disturbing’

Adam DeMarco will testify before a House panel on Tuesday that he observed a disproportionate law enforcement reaction against protesters.

A District of Columbia National Guard officer claimed law enforcement used excessive force on peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square last month, directly disputing the White House’s account of events that led to a photo-op during the height of demonstrations against racial injustice.

Adam DeMarco, a major in the D.C. National Guard and Iraq War veteran, will testify on Tuesday in front of the House Natural Resources Committee that he observed a brutal law enforcement reaction against protesters exercising their First Amendment rights. A copy of his prepared testimony was released Monday.

“Members of the Committee, the events I witnessed at Lafayette Square on the evening of June 1 were deeply disturbing to me, and to fellow National Guardsmen,” DeMarco’s written testimony said. “Having served in a combat zone, and understanding how to assess threat environments, at no time did I feel threatened by the protestors or assess them to be violent.” Continue reading.

What happened to the lone police department investigation started by Trump’s DOJ?

A Justice Department official tells NBC News the one such probe opened under Trump remains ongoing for a third year without results to show.

WASHINGTON — During the Trump administration the Justice Department has all but abandoned broad civil rights investigations into police forces, a tool used 25 times under the Obama administration to bring cultural change to local departments.

A Justice Department official tells NBC News the one such probe opened under Trump remains ongoing for a third year without results to show. It was meant to examine, and possibly change, practices at the Springfield, Mass., department, where officers allegedly used excessive force and racist language and kept beer in a vending machine at headquarters. The status of the investigation was not previously known.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division’s special litigation section opened the “pattern or practice” investigation in April 2018, according to Springfield officials. Continue reading.

First federal prisoner in 17 years executed hours after Supreme Court decision

The Hill logoDaniel Lewis Lee on Tuesday became the first federal prisoner executed in more than 17 years, just hours after the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against a last-minute attempt to halt the execution.

Lee, 47, a white supremacist convicted of killing a family of three in 1996, was executed by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., and pronounced dead at 8:07 a.m., according to the Bureau of Prisons.

“You’re killing an innocent man,” Lee said with his final words, according to a reporter with the Indianapolis Star who witnessed the execution. Continue reading.

Bill Barr quietly pulls off a shake-up in a federal prosecutor’s office — but why?

AlterNet logoAttorney General Bill Barr’s attempt last month to push U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman out of his position at the Southern District of New York blew up in his face. While Berman was ousted, Barr didn’t get the replacement he wanted, and House Democrats are now investigating.

But last Friday night, Barr successfully pulled off a similar maneuver in the Eastern District of New York. Richard Donoghue no longer leads that office, as he has taken the position of principal associate deputy attorney general at Main Justice. Seth DuCharme, who had been principal associate deputy attorney general and worked under Barr, will now serve as the acting U.S. attorney for EDNY.

It was a strange move because, as Berman has pointed out, typically U.S. attorneys are replaced by their deputies if they need to be ousted before a successor can be confirmed by the Senate. This ensures the best possible continuity for the office.

So why have Donoghue and DuCharme switch roles? Continue reading.

Leahy to Barr: Is Roger Stone sentence commutation ‘a crime’?

Vermont senator had asked attorney general about similar hypothetical during 2019 confirmation hearing

Attorney General William Barr said at his confirmation hearing that “it would be a crime” for a president to trade a pardon for a commitment not to incriminate that president.

The senator who asked that question wants to know why that logic does not apply to President Donald Trump’s announcement on Friday that he was commuting the sentence of former Trump campaign associate Roger Stone.

“Do you believe a president can lawfully issue a pardon in exchange for the recipient’s promise to not incriminate him?” Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont asked during Barr’s January 2019 confirmation hearing.

“No, that would be a crime,” Barr said in response. Continue reading.

Supreme Court allows Justice Dept. to resume federal executions

Washington Post logoThe Supreme Court said early Tuesday morning that the Justice Department can resume federal executions this week, overturning a D.C. judge’s last-minute order that had temporarily halted the lethal injections.

In an unsigned, 5-4 opinion issued around 2 a.m., the Supreme Court found that the prisoners on death row had “not made the showing required to justify last-minute intervention.” Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor each wrote dissents, which Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan joined.

The opinion came hours after U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the District of Columbia had blocked the executions — including three set to take place this week — saying it was necessary to let legal challenges to the government’s lethal-injection protocol play out in court. Continue reading.

Watch: Bill Barr’s face falls when a reporter asks him about the Roger Stone commutation

AlterNet logoOn Friday, President Donald Trump saved veteran GOP operative Roger Stone from federal prison by commuting his sentence. Attorney General Bill Barr, before the commutation, had said that he considered Stone’s prison sentence fair. But when CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang asked Barr to weigh in on the commutation, he had no comment.

Jiang approached Barr, introducing herself and asking the attorney general, “Do you have any comment on the Stone commutation?.” Barr smiled when Jiang first introduced herself, but after hearing the question, he immediately turned away from the CBS reporter and ignored her.

Stone was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for charges that included obstruction of justice, witness tampering and lying to Congress. During an interview with ABC News, Barr said of the sentence, “I think the prosecution was righteous, and I think the sentence the judge ultimately gave was fair.” Continue reading.