Tag: Barr protecting Trump

Justice Dept., in wrestling with how to handle Giuliani, tightens rules for Ukraine-related probes

Washington Post logoThe Justice Department revealed Tuesday that law enforcement officials running Ukraine-related investigations must seek approval before expanding their inquiries — a move that could have implications for Rudolph W. Giuliani, as President Trump’s personal attorney pushes for scrutiny of the president’s political foes while facing a federal probe into his own conduct.

The directive from Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen was disclosed in a response to Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) after the House Judiciary Committee chairman demanded clarity on how the Justice Department is reviewing information from Giuliani, who has urged law enforcement to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his son for their dealings in Ukraine.

Assistant Attorney General Stephen E. Boyd wrote to Nadler that the department had tapped two U.S. attorneys to assist in the process — Scott Brady in Pittsburgh to receive and assess new information, and Richard Donoghue in Brooklyn to help coordinate personnel throughout the Justice Department involved in Giuliani’s case and others with a focus on Ukraine. An accompanying internal memo, circulated by Rosen in January, says that he and Donoghue must approve expansions of any inquiries. Continue reading.

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Former federal prosecutor recommends AG Barr ‘retain a criminal defense attorney’ after Parnas bombshells

AlterNet logoRudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas, who is facing federal campaign finance charges, has been outspoken about the Ukraine scandal this week — granting interviews to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and CNN’s Anderson Cooper and discussing Giuliani’s efforts to get the Ukrainian government to officially announce an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Parnas has not only discussed President Donald Trump and Giuliani’s roles in the Ukraine scandal, but also, Attorney General William Barr’s. And according to former federal prosecutor Gene Rossi, Barr would do well to consult a defense attorney.

On Twitter, Rossi posted, “Based on the allegation of Lev Parnas, our esteemed Attorney General should probably retain a criminal defense attorney. What a conspiracy to bribe mess. Is our country’s AG the second coming of disgraced former AG John Mitchell? Crazy times.”

The late John N. Mitchell served as U.S. attorney General under President Richard Nixon. In 1974 — the year after Nixon resigned as president — Mitchell was found guilty of obstruction of justice, conspiracy and perjury for his role in the Watergate scandal. Mitchell served 19 months in federal prison. Continue reading.

DOJ: Judge Was Wrong To Rule That House Has Right To See Secret Mueller Docs

The Justice Department says releasing secret grand jury documents from then-special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe to House lawmakers engaged in the impeachment inquiry could discourage future witnesses to presidential abuse from cooperating with grand juries.

“It is not difficult to imagine that a witness in a future investigation of alleged presidential misconduct might be deterred from testifying fully or frankly if she believed that her testimony would be readily disclosed to the House for use in impeachment proceedings,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in a brief filed on Monday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Attorneys for the Justice Department are asking the appeals court to reverse a lower court’s decision ordering the transfer of Mueller grand jury material to House investigators on a two-pronged argument: that an impeachment inquiry is not a “judicial proceeding” and that the House does not really need the documents to complete the impeachment investigation.

Continue reading here.

Democrats blast Barr for missing hearing

House Democrats blasted Attorney General William Barr for refusing to appear at their hearing on Thursday — a day after much of the nation was transfixed on his testimony to the Senate on his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller‘s report.

Barr skipped the House Judiciary Committee hearing because he objected to Democratic demands that their staff counsel be able to question him.

Democrats went forward with the theater of the hearing anyway, setting up an empty chair for the absent attorney general. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) brought a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken to the morning event, and accused Barr of being a coward after it ended.

View the complete May 2 article by Morgan Chalfant and Olivia Beavers on The Hill 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.