Judge Rebukes Barr's Justice Dept. as Misleading on Decision Not to Charge Trump

[babylonsister]

Judge Rebukes Barr’s Justice Dept. as Misleading on Decision Not to Charge Trump
Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in a ruling that the misleading statements were similar to others that William P. Barr, the former attorney general, had made about the Mueller investigation.
By Michael S. Schmidt
May 4, 2021, 7:18 p.m. ET


A federal judge in Washington accused the Justice Department under Attorney General William P. Barr of misleading her and Congress about advice he had received from top department officials on whether President Donald J. Trump should have been charged with obstructing the Russia investigation and ordered that a related memo be released.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the United States District Court in Washington said in a ruling late Monday that the Justice Department’s obfuscation appeared to be part of a pattern in which top officials like Mr. Barr were untruthful to Congress and the public about the investigation.

The department had argued that the memo was exempt from public records laws because it consisted of private advice from lawyers whom Mr. Barr had relied on to make the call on prosecuting Mr. Trump. But Judge Jackson ruled that it contained strategic advice, and that Mr. Barr and his aides already understood what his decision would be.

“The fact that he would not be prosecuted was a given,” Judge Jackson wrote of Mr. Trump.

She also singled out Mr. Barr for how he had spun the investigation’s findings in a letter summarizing the 448-page report before it was released, which allowed Mr. Trump to claim he had been exonerated.

more...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/04/us/politics/barr-trump-obstruction-russia-inquiry.html

[alwaysinasnit]

1. k&r for visibility

[Duppers]

2. Rachel is on this now.

[triron]

7. Excellent reporting by Rachel!

[cstanleytech]

3. Barr is and always will be remembered as a toad. nt

[dchill]

4. -stool.

[niyad]

5. KNR

[gratuitous]

6. Barr saw himself as the former guy's personal attorney

So prosecution was out of the question. A lawyer doesn't rat out his own client. The former guy got way out in front of the story, claiming exoneration where there was none, but nobody in the popular media was all that interested in crossing him by pointing out the obvious: Without seeing the full, unredacted report, nobody know if the former guy was exonerated by the report or not.

The only strategy was keeping the former guy out of the dock.

[Justice matters.]

8. By doing so, he lied to the Court. What's the penalty for that?

Or is there a penalty for knowingly lying to a Federal-Court Judge like there is one for lying to Congress?

[gratuitous]

9. Generally speaking, it's bad for a lawyer to lie to a judge

But considering the general lawlessness of the previous administration, who can say what sanction Barr might be facing? Judge Berman Jackson enjoys an excellent reputation as a jurist, but judges aren't anxious to make rulings that might be perceived as interfering with the prerogatives of the Executive branch.

[Justice matters.]

12. Could the Judiciary Committee subponea the liaR then?

Or is there a way we can obtain a copy of the Judge's unredacted version of the report if the DOJ appeals (although I don't think Garland will obstruct the release, but we'll see).

[triron]

11. DOJ needs to get on this!

[triron]

10. knr

[SWBTATTReg]

13. Charge Barr w/ obstruction of justice since he did obstruct it. He's a private citizen now. He

must pay the consequences of lying to the American public. Make him pay.

[triron]

14. Would be what he deserves.

[Botany]

15. " ... which allowed Mr. Trump to claim he had been exonerated."

n/t