Tag: Trump Justice Department

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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‘The million-dollar question’: Finance editor breaks down DOJ’s bizarre abandonment of a Russian money laundering case against Deutsche bank

AlterNet logoWhen other banks weren’t making generous loans to Donald Trump and the Trump Organization, Deutsche Bank was. David Enrich, finance editor of the New York Times and author of the new book, “Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump and an Epic Trail of Destruction,” discussed Deutsche’s relationship Trump and a seemingly abandoned U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) case against the bank during a Monday night, February 17 appearance on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

Maddow, noting that Trump “probably owes hundreds of millions of dollars to this one institution,” asked Enrich “whatever happened to” a possible U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) case against Deutsche Bank that involved a “Russian money laundering scandal.” And Enrich responded, “That is the million-dollar question.”

Enrich explained that during the final months of the Obama Administration, the DOJ was “close” to bringing a “criminal case” against Deutsche Bank “for its involvement in Russian money laundering” — but after Trump became president, the case fell by the wayside.  Continue reading.

Over 1,100 former DOJ officials demand Barr’s resignation in scathing letter

AlterNet logoAccording to a report from the New York Times, over 1,100 former federal prosecutors and Justice Department officials have signed on to a letter calling for Attorney General Bill Barr to step down.

The report states the letter insists, “Each of us strongly condemns President Trump’s and Attorney General Barr’s interference in the fair administration of justice,” adding those actions “require Mr. Barr to resign.”

The Times notes that signers of the letter come from across the political spectrum, adding, “Protect Democracy, a nonprofit legal group, gathered the signatures from Justice Department alumni and said it would collect more.” Continue reading.

Barr’s internal reviews and re-investigations feed resentment, suspicion inside Justice Dept.

Washington Post logoThe Justice Department in the Trump era has repeatedly tasked U.S. attorneys from far-flung offices to parachute into politically explosive cases in Washington, raising concerns among current and former officials that agency leaders are trying to please the president by reviewing and reinvestigating cases in which he is personally or politically invested.

After a tumultuous week for federal law enforcement in which Attorney General William P. Barr declared he could not do his job if the president kept tweeting about criminal cases, and officials revealed they had dropped one politically charged case while adding new prosecutors to others, several current and former officials expressed alarm at what they characterized as a troubling pattern.

“The power to investigate is the power to destroy,” said Gregory A. Brower, a former U.S. attorney and former senior FBI official. The current approach to sensitive cases, he said, “gives the appearance of politics coming into play whenever the president has a perceived political enemy. . . . The ability to simply point to a pending investigation against a person can have devastating effects on that person and can have a potential political benefit to the person orchestrating the investigation.” Continue reading.

As impeachment trial ended, federal prosecutors took new steps in probe related to Giuliani, according to people familiar with case

Washington Post logoAs the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump drew to a close in Washington earlier this month, federal prosecutors in New York contacted witnesses and sought to collect additional documents in an investigation related to Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani, according to people familiar with their activities.

The recent steps — including an interview with a witness last week — indicate that the probe involving Giuliani and two of his former associates is moving forward, even as the Justice Department has set up a process to evaluate claims Giuliani is making about alleged wrongdoing in Ukraine related to former vice president Joe Biden.

Attorney General William P. Barr said this week that the department had established an “intake process” to accept information about Biden gathered by the president’s personal attorney. Officials confirmed Giuliani’s tips are being routed to the U.S. attorney’s office in Pittsburgh. Continue reading.

Trump-Barr divide worsens as the president bucks a request to stop tweeting, and the Justice Dept. declines to charge ex-FBI official McCabe

Washington Post logoThe Justice Department on Friday revealed that it would not charge former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, a longtime target of President Trump’s wrath, exacerbating the angry divide between Trump, his attorney general and federal law enforcement officials.

The development came just a day after Attorney General William P. Barr made a televised entreaty to Trump to stop tweeting about criminal cases — and just hours after Trump defied that request.

While three White House officials said Barr, one of Trump’s most loyal and effective Cabinet secretaries, was in no immediate danger of being fired, the attorney general’s relationship with the president is facing its gravest threat yet. Inside and outside the Justice Department, officials watched warily — some questioning whether Barr was truly at odds with Trump, others heartened by what seemed to be Barr defending the institution’s historical independence and all wondering what comes next. Continue reading.

NOTE:  This is one interpretation of the interaction between President Trump and AG Barr that assumes there is no ongoing collusion between these two people.  However, their earlier behavior and comments don’t necessarily support that conclusion.

Justice Dept. won’t charge Andrew McCabe, the former FBI official who authorized the investigation of President Trump

Washington Post logoThe Justice Department will not charge former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe with lying to investigators about a media disclosure, according to people familiar with the matter and McCabe’s legal team, ending a long-running inquiry into a top law enforcement official who authorized the bureau to investigate President Trump and soon became the commander in chief’s political punching bag.

The department revealed the decision to McCabe’s team Friday. The move was said to infuriate Trump, who has raged publicly and privately in recent months that McCabe and others he considers political enemies should be charged with crimes.

The decision could amplify the tension between Trump and his Justice Department, especially Attorney General William P. Barr, who on Thursday publicly rebuked the president for tweeting about Justice Department criminal cases. Continue reading.

41 prosecutors blast Attorney General Barr for ‘dangerous and failed’ approach to criminal justice

Washington Post logoForty-one elected prosecutors in a joint statement condemned Attorney General William P. Barr for his recent rhetoric that attacked progressive policies, arguing that his “dangerous and failed” approach to criminal justice disproportionately punished poor people and racial minorities while diverting resources away from more serious crimes.

“Sadly, we are perceived as a threat by some who are wedded to the status quo or, even worse, failed policies of past decades,” the 41 state, county and city prosecutors wrote. “Critics such as Attorney General William P. Barr seek to bring us back to a time when crime was high, success was measured by how harsh the punishment was, and a fear-driven narrative prevailed.”

In their statement, the signatories warned against returning to a “‘tough on crime’ era” that ignored facts and encouraged mass incarceration. Instead, they argued, evidence shows that a data-based approach is not only more effective, but also strengthens community trust. Continue reading.

Barr breaks with Trump: His tweets ‘make it impossible for me to do my job’

The attorney general’s declaration of independence comes as he and the president have faced blowback over the handling of Roger Stone’s case.

Attorney General William Barr on Thursday sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s prolific Twitter habit, saying that the president’s affinity for opining about the goings-on at the Justice Department “make it impossible for me to do my job.”

“I think it’s time to stop the tweeting about Department of Justice criminal cases,” Barr told ABC News’ Pierre Thomas in an interview, acknowledging that he had a problem with “some” of Trump’s tweets.

The attorney general‘s very public distancing from Trump’s complaints comes as both men have faced fierce blowback over the handling of a court case featuring Trump’s longtime political adviser Roger Stone.

NOTE:  Our concern is that  AG Barr’s statement was neutral enough to not clearly say what President Trump’s behavior is interfering with.  Is it stopping AG Barr from conducting impartial judicial investigations or is it calling too much attention to his actions to shield the president’s abuses of power?  

Barr: Trump’s tweets make it ‘impossible for me to do my job’

The Hill logoAttorney General William Barr told ABC News in an interview that aired Thursday that President Trump had never asked him to do anything in a criminal case but advised the president to stop tweeting about the Justice Department, saying it makes it “impossible for me to do my job.”

The remarks are a significant and rare public break by the attorney general from the president, following days of controversy surrounding the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to lessen a sentence for Trump ally Roger Stone after the president tweeted about his displeasure with the gravity of the original sentence recommendation.

“I think it’s time to stop the tweeting about Department of Justice criminal cases,” Barr told ABC.  Continue reading.