Tag: Bill Barr

Trump’s Brutal Response To Protest Violence Undermines ‘Law And Order’

Donald Trump, whose 2016 presidential campaign was consciously modeled after Richard Nixon’s 1968 run, seems to think he can win reelection by emulating his predecessor’s appeal to a “silent majority” disgusted by raucous anti-war protests. Trump is offering voters a choice between his firm hand and the pusillanimity of “liberal Democrats” who let “violent anarchists” run wild in the streets.

Notwithstanding Trump’s pose as “your president of law and order,” his heavy-handed reaction to the protests triggered by George Floyd’s death represents neither. In response to largely peaceful demonstrations against police brutality that have been punctuated by criminal behavior, he has deployed his own brand of lawlessness, including arbitrary arrests and the disproportionate, indiscriminate use of force.

Billy Williams, the U.S. attorney for Oregon, is well aware of the crimes committed by some people drawn to the protests Portland has seen every day since May 28. He notes that the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse has been vandalized repeatedly and that federal agents assigned to protect the building “have been subjected to threats; aerial fireworks including mortars; high intensity lasers targeting officers’ eyes; (and) thrown rocks, bottles, and balloons filled with paint.” 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.

Barr continues his retaliation against Trump critics — outs a Russia-linked FBI source

AlterNet logoTrump-loyal Attorney General William Barr continues to use his granted federal powers to retaliate against Trump’s enemies—namely, those that would dare investigate Trump and his uncountably-many crooked allies. He has taken it upon itself to sabotage federal investigations, remove investigators and watchdogs who have taken on Trump-related cases, withhold evidence from Congress, order that testimony be withheld from Congress, and rigorously done whatever other actions would best cement conservative, fascist-premised power.

The Washington Post reports on a new instance, in which Barr ordered the declassification of a document last week that, upon delivery to senator and fellow corruption-enabler Lindsey Graham, within days resulted in the public outing of a secret FBI source. The reason? That source was one who compiled information for the now-infamous “dossier” collecting rumors and leads on Donald Trump’s dealings inside Russia, and we can presume the outing of this confidential source is in keeping with Barr’s brazenly public campaign of retaliation against those who investigated the connections between Russian election interference, in 2016, and Trump’s campaign.

Also in keeping with this administration’s fascist tendencies, whether this campaign of Trump-friendly declassifications results in people getting killed seems immaterial to Barr. 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.

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 Cohen Released, Citing ‘Retaliation’ Over Tell-All Book

New York Times logoA judge agreed that federal officials had returned Michael D. Cohen to prison because he wanted to publish a book this fall about President Trump.

When Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s one-time lawyer and fixer, met with probation officers this month to complete paperwork that would have let him serve the balance of his prison term at home, he found a catch.

Mr. Cohen was already out on furlough because of the coronavirus. But to remain at home, he was asked to sign a document that would have barred him from publishing a book during the rest of his sentence. Mr. Cohen balked because he was, in fact, writing a book — a tell-all memoir about his former boss, the president.

The officers sent him back to prison. 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.

Michael Cohen’s book to allege Trump made racist comments about Obama and Nelson Mandela, lawsuit says

Washington Post logoNEW YORK — The book manuscript being drafted by President Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen alleges that Trump has made racist comments about his predecessor Barack Obama and the late South African leader Nelson Mandela, according to court filings made public Monday night that contend Cohen was sent back to prison this month as retaliation for seeking to publish his memoir before November’s election.

The lawsuit seeks Cohen’s immediate release from federal custody. He was rearrested July 9, less than two months after he was approved to serve the remainder of his sentence on home confinement because of the coronavirus pandemic. His attorneys allege that Cohen’s First Amendment rights were violated when he was detained at the federal courthouse in Manhattan during a meeting with probation officers, who had asked him to sign a gag order prohibiting him from speaking to the media or publishing a book while serving the rest of his sentence.

Cohen’s suit names Attorney General William P. Barr and Federal Bureau of Prisons officials, in their official capacities. The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in the Southern District of New York, and an initial hearing was scheduled for Thursday. Continue reading.

Here’s why the White House is sending stormtroopers into Portland

AlterNet logoIn one of the most alarming developments of Trump’s presidency, dozens of federal agents in full camouflage seized protesters and threw them into unmarked cars, taking them to locations unknown without specifying a reason for arrest. It appears that at least some of the agents involved belonged to the US Customs and Border Protection (colloquially known as Border Patrol), an organization that obviously has no business whatsoever conducted counterinsurgency tactics against peaceful American protesters in Portland, Oregon. Neither the mayor of Portland nor the governor of Oregon wanted them there; in fact, they specifically requested that they leave. And now a U.S. Attorney for the State of Oregon is calling for an investigation into the arrests, even as the Acting head of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, is vowing to ramp up these actions both in Portland and reportedly elsewhere.

Needless to say, this is a chilling step toward police state authoritarian rule in the United States, one that was presaged by Attorney General Barr’s approval of an pre-curfew assault on protesters instigated in Lafayette Square to clear the way for a presidential campaign photo op. Few took it seriously when leftist organizers were warning that the border patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were being culturally and structurally converted into stormtroopers for the Trump regime, equally ready to be deployed against politically inconvenient American citizens as against undocumented immigrants seeking a better life. Those warnings should be heeded now. Continue reading.