Trump attorney general pick wrote memo warning Mueller's investigation into obstruction of justice could do 'lasting damage to the presidency'

Source: Washington Examiner | December 19, 2018 | Naomi Lim

William Barr, President Trump’s pick to replace fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions, slammed special counsel Robert Mueller’s reported efforts to uncover whether Trump obstructed justice, arguing it is causing irrevocable damage to the presidency.

In a June memo to the Justice Department, Barr criticized the federal Russia investigation for looking into whether Trump tried to skirt justice by encouraging former FBI Director James Comey to stop examining ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn and his contacts with Russia before the president’s inauguration, according to the Wall Street Journal Wednesday.

He prefaced the unsolicited 20-page document, sent to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, by saying he was “in the dark about many facts.”

“As I understand it, his theory is premised on a novel and legally insupportable reading of the law,” Barr wrote, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. “Moreover, in my view, if credited by the Justice Department, it would have grave consequences far beyond the immediate confines of this case and would do lasting damage to the Presidency and to the administration of law within the Executive branch.”

“I know you will agree that, if a DOJ investigation is going to take down a democratically-elected President, it is imperative to the health of our system and to our national cohesion that any claim of wrongdoing is solidly based on evidence of a real crime — not a debatable one,” Barr said. “It is time to travel well-worn paths; not to veer into novel, unsettled or contested areas of the law; and not to indulge the fancies by overly-zealous prosecutors.”

Rosenstein on Wednesday told the newspaper Barr’s memo “had no impact” on his oversight of the Mueller inquiry. DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec dismissed concerns Barr could have a conflict of interest, saying he has promised to “make any decisions based on the actual facts and circumstances of any particular matter.”

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