Tag: Trump Justice Department

Barr could expose secrets, politicize intelligence with review of Russia probe, current and former officials fear

President Trump’s new executive order giving the attorney general broad authority to declassify government secrets threatens to expose U.S. intelligence sources and could distort the FBI and CIA’s roles in investigating Russian interference in the 2016 elections, current and former U.S. officials said.

On Thursday, Trump allowed Attorney General William P. Barr to declassify information he finds during his review of what the White House called “surveillance activities during the 2016 Presidential election.”

Trump has long complained that the U.S. government engaged in illegal “spying” on his campaign, alleging without evidence that his phones were tapped and that American officials conspired with British counterparts in an effort to undermine his bid for the White House.

View the complete May 24 article by Shane Harris on The Washington Post website here.

Daniel Ellsberg: Espionage Charges Against Assange Are Most Significant Attack on Press in Decades

As the Justice Department charges WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act, we speak to Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. In 1971, he was charged with violating the Espionage Act for leaking a top-secret report on U.S. involvement in Vietnam to The New York Times and other publications. At the time, Ellsberg faced over 100 years in prison. He tells Democracy Now!, “There hasn’t actually been such a significant attack on the freedom of the press … since my case in 1971.”

View the complete May 24 article with video on the Democracy Now! website here.

House Intelligence enjoys breakthrough with Justice Department

An unexpected breakthrough in negotiations between the Justice Department and the House Intelligence Committee is about to offer some lawmakers an intimate look at highly sensitive intelligence files collected by special counsel Robert Mueller.

The development represents a rare example of a deal amid what Democrats otherwise describe as a sea of stonewalling by the president and his officials of their investigations.

While the Justice Department has not yet met all of the panel’s demands, Chairman Adam Schiff (Calif.) and other committee Democrats say they are encouraged.

View the complete May 24 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Trump Falsely Accused Former FBI Officials Of ‘Treason’ For Investigating Him

Trump’s two-day-long meltdown continued on Thursday afternoon, as the obviously worked-up president baselessly accused federal investigators of committing treason — a serious crime punishable by death — all because they looked into his ties to Russia.

Trump listed a number of his favorite targets, saying former FBI Director James Comey, former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former FBI agent Peter Strzok, and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page tried to wage a coup against his presidency, referencing a much-ballyhooed “insurance policy” comment Strzok and Page sent in a text message, which Republicans have taken out of context to make look like some sort of nefarious plot against Trump.

“That’s treason, that’s treason,” Trump said of the non-existent coup he says was waged against his campaign. “They couldn’t win the election and that’s what happened.”

View the complete May 23 article by Emily Singer on the National Memo website here.

Trump gives Barr power to declassify intelligence related to Russia probe

President Trump has granted Attorney General William P. Barr “full and complete authority” to declassify government secrets, issuing a memorandum late Thursday that orders U.S. intelligence agencies to cooperate promptly with Barr’s audit of the investigation into Russia’s election interference in 2016.

The president’s move gives Barr broad powers to unveil carefully guarded intelligence secrets about the Russia investigation, which the attorney general requested to allow him to quickly carry out his review, according to the memo.

“Today’s action will ensure that all Americans learn the truth about the events that occurred, and the actions that were taken, during the last Presidential election and will restore confidence in our public institutions,” the White House said in an accompanying statement, which Trump then tweeted.

View the complete May 23 article by Devlin Barrett, Carol D. Leonnig, Robert Costa and Colby Itkowitz on The Washington Post website here.

House Intel postpones enforcement action after DOJ offer to share some Mueller files

The House Intelligence Committee is postponing a vote to enforce a subpoena for Attorney General William Barr after the Justice Department agreed to begin producing some of special counsel Robert Mueller‘s files.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said in a statement that a committee business meeting Wednesday to vote on what he has described as an “enforcement action” has been canceled and that he expected the Justice Department to begin producing the foreign intelligence and counterintelligence documents by the end of the week.

“The Department of Justice has accepted our offer of a first step towards compliance with our subpoena, and this week will begin turning over to the Committee twelve categories of counterintelligence and foreign intelligence materials as part of an initial rolling production,” Schiff said. “That initial production should be completed by the end of next week.” 

View the complete May 22 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Mueller and House Democrats at impasse over how much of his testimony would be public Add to list

Robert S. Mueller III and House Democrats have been unable to reach an agreement on how much of the special counsel’s expected congressional testimony would be public, and how much would take place in private, according to people familiar with the matter.

The special counsel’s office, along with senior Justice Department officials, has been quietly negotiating with the House Judiciary Committee, whose chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), has been eager to have Mueller testify as soon as possible.

Who is driving the dispute is a source of debate. Two people familiar with the matter said the Justice Department is deferring to Mueller, who would like for any discussions beyond the public contents of his report to be conducted in private. But another person said it is primarily the department, rather than Mueller himself, resisting a nationally televised hearing.

View the complete May 21 article by Devlin Barrett, Ellen Nakashima, Rachael Bade and Matt Zapotosky on The Washington Post website here.

Chilling viral video of Trump accusing FBI and Dems of treason draws warnings: ‘Could be a rally in Nuremberg’

‘Name one country where this happened and It ended well.’

The only appointment that appeared on President Donald Trump’s official schedule Monday was a “Make America Great Again” campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Now chilling and disturbing video of a portion of the rally is going viral, and it’s raising warnings from experts.

In the video, posted by Vox’s Aaron Rupar, President Trump, with Air Force One as a prop in the background, accuses the FBI and the Democrats of treason. The crowd chants, “lock them up!”

The President then brags about his “great new attorney general who will give it a very fair look,” meaning, who will investigate the FBI and the president’s political enemies for treason.

Aaron Rupar

✔@atrupar

 · 
Replying to @atrupar

For the third time during his speech Trump calls for a doctor to attend to someone in the audience. He blames it on the bright lights.

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Aaron Rupar

✔@atrupar

Trump accuses the FBI and Democrats of treason. He then has to pause as his fans chant, “lock them up!”

“We have a great new attorney general who will give it a very fair look,” Trump says. 👀 pic.twitter.com/TNEoVny7pJ

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 View the complete May 21 article by David Badash from the New Civil Rights Movement on the AlterNet website here.

Barr Again Casts Doubt on Russia Inquiry’s Origins, Aligning With Trump’s Attacks

WASHINGTON — When Attorney General William P. Barr described the early stages of the Russia investigation as “spying” on the Trump campaign, he prompted questions about whether he had used that word spontaneously — or whether he was deliberately fueling conspiracy theories.

That question flared anew on Friday after Mr. Barr went even further in casting doubt on the legitimacy of the investigation in two interviews that, by design or coincidence, provided fresh ammunition for President Trump and allies to attack law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Mr. Barr told Fox News he had been asking whether “government officials abused their power and put their thumb on the scale” in opening the Russia inquiry. “A lot of the answers have been inadequate and some of the explanations I’ve gotten don’t hang together,” he added.

View the complete May 17 article by Charlie Savage on The New York Times website here.

Report: Steve Bannon Urged FBI Officials in 2017 to Put ‘Differences’ with Trump Behind Them

President Trump’s decision to ask then-FBI Director James Comey to pledge loyalty to his presidency was one of the primary reasons special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed.

But it turns out, Trump wasn’t the only White House official to engage with the FBI as it investigated Russia’s role in the presidential election.

A day after Trump asked for Comey’s loyalty in April 2017, then-White House strategist Steve Bannon asked two top FBI officials to put their “differences” with Trump’s administration behind them, according to The Guardian, which cited “people familiar with the matter.”

View the complete May 14 article by Steve Neavling on the ticklethewire.com website here.