annabenedetti
like marbles on glass
1,600 former Justice Department lawyers accuse Barr of using DOJ to help Trump in election
WASHINGTON – Former Justice Department attorneys expressed concerns Thursday that Attorney General William Barr is using the power of the agency to help President Donald Trump win reelection, citing statements Barr had made about mail-in ballots and the politically fraught inquiry into the Russia investigation.
"We fear that Attorney General Barr intends to use the DOJ's vast law enforcement powers to undermine our most fundamental democratic value: free and fair elections," according to an open letter signed by about 1,600 former Justice Department employees.
Barr has echoed the president's attacks on mail-in ballots as more states have allowed voting by mail due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The letter also accused Barr of using the Justice Department to discredit the Russia investigation, which cast a dark cloud over much of Trump's presidency and led to the indictment of half a dozen former associates and campaign aides. Barr has tapped a federal prosecutor to investigate the origins of the probe. The investigation by Connecticut federal prosecutor John Durham has led to a criminal charge against a former Justice Department lawyer who pleaded guilty to falsifying an email investigators used to justify continued surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. . . .
"Attorney General Barr’s comments display a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of career prosecutors and why many of them have openly resisted his interventions on President Trump’s behalf," the letter said. "While it is of course true that the DOJ is managed by its political leaders, when those leaders violate their oath to faithfully execute the law, the career staff is obligated by their own oaths of office to uphold the principle of equal justice under law. . . ."
Patrick Cotter, a former federal prosecutor and one of letter's signatories, said Barr's actions are "very serious breaches" of the Justice Department's traditional role as an apolitical institution.
"But of particular concern to me is the threatened Durham Investigation. That the Attorney General has gone so out of his way to designate a hand-picked prosecutor to engage in an amazingly unusual investigation which seems both in its subject matter and even more so in its apparent timing intentionally designed to affect a national presidential election is breathtaking in its impropriety," Cotter said.
WASHINGTON – Former Justice Department attorneys expressed concerns Thursday that Attorney General William Barr is using the power of the agency to help President Donald Trump win reelection, citing statements Barr had made about mail-in ballots and the politically fraught inquiry into the Russia investigation.
"We fear that Attorney General Barr intends to use the DOJ's vast law enforcement powers to undermine our most fundamental democratic value: free and fair elections," according to an open letter signed by about 1,600 former Justice Department employees.
Barr has echoed the president's attacks on mail-in ballots as more states have allowed voting by mail due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The letter also accused Barr of using the Justice Department to discredit the Russia investigation, which cast a dark cloud over much of Trump's presidency and led to the indictment of half a dozen former associates and campaign aides. Barr has tapped a federal prosecutor to investigate the origins of the probe. The investigation by Connecticut federal prosecutor John Durham has led to a criminal charge against a former Justice Department lawyer who pleaded guilty to falsifying an email investigators used to justify continued surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. . . .
"Attorney General Barr’s comments display a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of career prosecutors and why many of them have openly resisted his interventions on President Trump’s behalf," the letter said. "While it is of course true that the DOJ is managed by its political leaders, when those leaders violate their oath to faithfully execute the law, the career staff is obligated by their own oaths of office to uphold the principle of equal justice under law. . . ."
Patrick Cotter, a former federal prosecutor and one of letter's signatories, said Barr's actions are "very serious breaches" of the Justice Department's traditional role as an apolitical institution.
"But of particular concern to me is the threatened Durham Investigation. That the Attorney General has gone so out of his way to designate a hand-picked prosecutor to engage in an amazingly unusual investigation which seems both in its subject matter and even more so in its apparent timing intentionally designed to affect a national presidential election is breathtaking in its impropriety," Cotter said.
