The attorney general has launched an investigation into the Russia probe’s origins, intervened in Roger Stone’s case and moved to dismiss Michael Flynn’s case.
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With his decision to abandon the prosecution of President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, Barr reignited accusations that he has spent his year-plus as head of the Justice Department working to dismantle and discredit special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, injecting Trump-friendly political considerations into criminal case decisions along the way.
It was a charge that had temporarily receded from the headlines as the coronavirus raced around the globe, pushing aside concerns that had exploded in February when Barr intervened to water down a sentencing recommendation in another high-profile Mueller case: Roger Stone. The move rattled the department — four Stone prosecutors quit the case and one left government altogether — while the president cheered on Barr. The situation deteriorated so quickly that Barr publicly urged Trump to stop commenting on DOJ cases, even issuing what sounded like a veiled threat to resign if he didn’t.
Thursday brought those tensions roaring back into the headlines. Barr had, once again, stepped into a Mueller case on behalf of a close Trump ally. Once again, the lead prosecutor quit the case instead of going along with Barr’s decision. Once again, Justice Department officials were exasperated and disheartened.
For many within the department, it was another day that fueled the view the president’s friends and supporters were winning favors unavailable to the vast majority of criminal defendants. Already, Barr had faced blowback over his summary of Mueller’s findings before the special counsel’s report was released. Later, Barr weathered criticism for his decision to launch a wide-ranging probe into the origins of the election-year investigation of Trump and his aides. Each step, the attorney general’s detractors argue, undercut the department’s independence and bolstered suspicions that DOJ leadership is simply catering to Trump’s desires.
Barr insisted Thursday night that he was not dragging politics into his decisions, suggesting the real bias at work was against Flynn, who had pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to FBI agents in an interview about his conversations with the Russian ambassador.
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“This moment represents the full collapse of an apolitical Justice Department. An astonishing assault on the rule of law and in a functional DOJ it would prompt mass resignation,” former intelligence community lawyer Susan Hennessey wrote on Twitter.
While current Justice officials appeared publicly mum, former officials were blunt about their views.
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Attorney General William Barr reignited accusations that he has spent his year-plus as head of the Justice Department working to dismantle and discredit special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe https://t.co/RQEjrm1XBk
— POLITICO (@politico) May 8, 2020
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