“Insanely corrupt”: Despite failure, Bill Barr brags that John Durham boosted Trump’s Clinton smears

Igor Derysh

Former Attorney General Bill Barr on Wednesday heaped praise on special counsel John Durham for boosting former President Donald Trump's "Russiagate" narrative even though his three-year investigation has been dismissed as an epic failure by legal experts. Durham, the former U.S. attorney for Connecticut, was first assigned to investigate the origins of the FBI investigation into Trump's ties to Russia in 2019 and was later appointed as a special counsel by Barr in 2020, ensuring the probe would continue after Trump left office. Durham in September 2021 indicted former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussman, alleging he lied to the FBI about his ties to the campaign while discussing his suspicions about Trump's ties to Russia with former FBI general counsel James Baker. Sussman's attorney argued that the charge was a "circus full of slideshows" as Durham used the proceedings to stoke Trumpworld conspiracy theories. A jury acquitted Sussman on Tuesday in a major blow to the investigation, which Trump and his allies had hyped for years.

Bill Barr knows *exactly* what kind of person Donald Trump is

Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large

(CNN) It's generally a good rule to judge people by those who work most closely with them. Which makes what former Attorney General Bill Barr thinks of Donald Trump all the more important -- and intriguing. In excerpts of his forthcoming book obtained by the Washington Post, Barr takes a decidedly dim view of the former President after working closely together for much of the final two years of his time in office. Of Trump, Barr writes at one point: "People are worthwhile to Trump only as means to his ends — as utensils. When they don't help him get what he wants, they are useless." more...

Former Attorney General Bill Barr says the 2020 presidential election was not stolen: 'Trump lost it'

John L. Dorman

Former Attorney General Bill Barr in a forthcoming book unequivocally rejected former President Donald Trump's claims casting doubt on the integrity of the 2020 election, according to excerpts published Sunday in The Washington Post. Barr wrote in the book, "One Damn Thing After Another," that Trump didn't win the 2020 presidential race against Joe Biden. "The election was not 'stolen,'" the former attorney general wrote, per The Post. "Trump lost it." more...

Barr distances himself from Trump-era subpoenas of Democratic lawmakers

The comments come as Democratic congressional leaders demand the former attorney general testify about the leak probes.

By DANIEL LIPPMAN, ANDREW DESIDERIO and BETSY WOODRUFF SWAN

Former Attorney General William Barr on Friday distanced himself from reports that the Trump Justice Department seized communications records belonging to two prominent Democratic lawmakers who were spearheading investigations into then-President Donald Trump. In a phone interview, Barr said he didn’t recall getting briefed on the moves. more...

DOJ to probe Trump-era subpoenas of lawmaker records

By Rebecca Beitsch and Scott Wong

The Justice Department's internal watchdog will investigate the secret seizure of data from Democratic lawmakers and reporters during leak investigations initiated under the Trump administration. The probe follows news of a department decision in 2017 and 2018 to issue subpoenas seeking metadata from House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and fellow committee member Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) during leak investigations. In recent weeks, the Department of Justice (DOJ) also notified reporters at three different outlets their records were sought in similar investigations and dropped the gag orders limiting disclosure of the seizure. more...

A Federal Judge Finds That Bill Barr Was a Fixer and Corrupter of Justice

The fix was in, and any remaining doubts about Trump’s last attorney general putting propaganda and personal loyalty ahead of the rule of law just went out the window.

Lloyd Green

What remains of Bill Barr’s sullied reputation was blown up when federal district Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled that the government must turn over the memorandum, which the public has yet to fully see and that the Justice Department relied upon in declining to prosecute the 45th president. Not only was Barr being personally “disingenuous” by announcing his decision before the Mueller report was released and pretending he used the report to reach a conclusion instead of simply announcing the one he’d come to before the special counsel’s work had even finished his work, she wrote, “but DOJ has been disingenuous to this Court.” more...

Barr told Trump that theories about stolen election were 'bulls---': report

By Jesse Byrnes

Former Attorney General William Barr reportedly pushed back strongly on President Trump when discussing claims the president was circulating about the election being "stolen" from him. Barr, during a meeting with Trump at the White House in early December, told the president that such theories of a stolen election were "bullshit," Axios reported Monday. Other aides in the room, including White House counsel Pat Cipollone, were reportedly surprised that the attorney general had made the comment, though did not disagree with his remarks. The meeting came as Barr had publicly undercut the president's baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud, telling The Associated Press that the Justice Department had not uncovered evidence to back up the claims. "To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election," Barr had told the AP in the interview. Trump reportedly confronted Barr about his comments while in the private dining room next to the Oval Office. "Why would you say such a thing? You must hate Trump. There’s no other reason for it. You must hate Trump,” the president asserted, according to Axios. Barr responded that "these things aren't panning out" and "the stuff that these people are filling your ear with just isn’t true," Axios reported. The attorney general reportedly emphasized that the DOJ had reviewed the major claims put forward by the president's lawyers. more...

Episode 4: Trump turns on Barr

Jonathan Swan

Episode 4: Trump torches what is arguably the most consequential relationship in his Cabinet. Attorney General Bill Barr stood behind a chair in the private dining room next to the Oval Office, looming over Donald Trump. The president sat at the head of the table. It was Dec. 1, nearly a month after the election, and Barr had some sharp advice to get off his chest. The president's theories about a stolen election, Barr told Trump, were "bullshit." White House counsel Pat Cipollone and a few other aides in the room were shocked Barr had come out and said it — although they knew it was true. For good measure, the attorney general threw in a warning that the new legal team Trump was betting his future on was "clownish." Trump had angrily dragged Barr in to explain himself after seeing a breaking AP story all over Twitter, with the headline: "Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud." But Barr was not backing down. Three weeks later, he would be gone. more...

Barr: Trump committed ‘betrayal of his office’

“Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable,” Barr said in a statement obtained by POLITICO.

By QUINT FORGEY

Former Attorney General William Barr accused President Donald Trump on Thursday of a “betrayal of his office” — the latest rebuke of the president by a former high-ranking administration official after pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol. “Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable,” Barr said in a statement obtained by POLITICO. “The President’s conduct yesterday was a betrayal of his office and supporters.”

Barr’s criticism on Thursday was not his first public comment on the chaos at the Capitol. As the president’s supporters breached the building on Wednesday afternoon, he released a statement through his spokesperson that did not refer to Trump by name. “The violence at the Capitol Building is outrageous and despicable,” Barr said on Wednesday. “Federal agencies should move immediately to disperse it.” Lawmakers were forced to shelter in place as both chambers of Congress went into lockdown amid the violence, which resulted in four deaths. The rioters sought to disrupt the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory after Trump had encouraged them to march on the Capitol earlier Wednesday. more...

William Barr To Step Down As Attorney General Before Christmas

Ryan Lucas

Attorney General William Barr, an outspoken proponent of conservative values and an expansive view of presidential power, will leave office before Christmas, President Trump announced in a tweet Monday afternoon. Trump said he and Barr had a "very nice meeting" and that their "relationship has been a very good one." Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will become acting attorney general, Trump said. Earlier this month, Barr said the DOJ found no evidence of widespread election fraud, directly contradicting President Trump's baseless claims that the election was stolen by Democrats. Ahead of the election, Barr had stood by the president, repeating his unsubstantiated claims that mail-in voting was ripe for fraud.

In less than two years on the job, Barr emerged as perhaps the most divisive attorney general in recent memory for a series of controversial actions, including his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on the Russia investigation and his repeated false claims about the integrity of mail-in voting. But his legacy will forever be stamped by his role leading the forceful removal of peaceful protesters from Lafayette Park in the summer of 2020 to clear the way for a presidential photo op in front of a nearby church. more...

Barr and Giuliani clash over allegations of election fraud

A rebuke from the president’s lawyer came after the attorney general affirmed that there was no evidence of large-scale fraud during this year’s election.

By MATTHEW CHOI

Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday affirmed that there was no evidence of large-scale fraud during this year’s election, prompting a stern rebuke from President Donald Trump’s legal team as the president continues in his efforts to negate the results. Normally a dependable deputy to the president, Barr contradicted Trump’s persistent allegations of a stolen election in an interview to The Associated Press. Trump’s legal team, led by Rudy Giuliani, has insisted on investigations into what they say are troubling irregularities but are actually normal errors expected in any election. The president’s critics have called out the efforts as a thinly veiled power grab.

“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election,” Barr said, according to the AP. Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, senior legal adviser to the campaign, hit back at Barr only minutes after the AP reported his remarks. The two claimed that the Justice Department had not sufficiently investigated allegations of election irregularities and had failed to interview witnesses who claimed to see illegal behavior. Trump’s legal team has peddled eyebrow-raising conspiracy theories about the election, in spite of election officials in states across the country affirming the vote was fair. Attorney Sidney Powell, in particular, has made waves for falsely alleging instances of foreign interference and voting machines changing votes against voters’ will. Trump’s legal team distanced itself from Powell shortly after. more...

Barr appoints John Durham as special counsel investigating 2016 presidential campaign investigators

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN

(CNN) Attorney General William Barr appointed Connecticut US Attorney John Durham to act as special counsel investigating whether intelligence and law enforcement violated the law in investigating the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. The announcement on Tuesday doubles down on one of President Donald Trump's longtime infatuations -- that national security and criminal concerns about his campaign and Russia in 2016 sullied the legitimacy of his election and presidency -- and leaves a political bomb ticking for President-elect Joe Biden and his new attorney general. The appointment virtually ensures Durham keeps his investigation going and allows Republicans to keep some political focus on Trump's accusations of a "witch hunt" and the former government officials he despises.

Durham's has issued no public report and has brought only one criminal charge of a minor FBI lawyer since it began in mid-2019. Barr made the special counsel appointment on October 19 and kept it secret so as not to interfere in the 2020 election, according to documents released by the Justice Department on Tuesday. In an interview with the Associated Press, Barr said Durham's investigation has "narrowed considerably" since it began and now "really is focused on the activities of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation within the FBI." Barr in his order said the "public interest" called for Durham's appointment and added that Durham should submit a report to the attorney general -- presumably under the incoming Biden administration -- so that it could be made public. The appointment is an echo of the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, whom Trump and Barr have long expressed their displeasure with after he investigated Russian interference in Trump's 2016 campaign and began his work based on information gathered by the FBI and the intelligence community. more...

Lieutenant reassigned after William Barr’s trip to Chicago catches CPD brass, mayor’s office by surprise

Sources said Mayor Lori Lightfoot and police leaders learned of the visit just a day before the nation’s top law enforcement officer was scheduled to arrive in the city.

By Sam Charles

A veteran police lieutenant was reassigned last week after a one-day trip to Chicago by Attorney General William Barr caught Chicago Police Department leadership and the mayor’s office by surprise. Sources told the Chicago Sun-Times that Lt. Patrick Quinn was pulled from his position in the Crime Prevention and Information Center in police headquarters and sent to the Rogers Park District on the North Side after Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPD brass learned of Barr’s visit during a conference call Nov. 17 — just a day before Barr, the nation’s top law enforcement officer, was scheduled to arrive in Chicago.

Quinn could not be reached Tuesday and representatives for the CPD lieutenant’s union did not respond to inquiries. Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office referred questions to the CPD, which declined to comment on Quinn’s move. “All personnel decisions are made by the Chicago Police Department Superintendent and his leadership team,” mayoral spokesman Pat Mullane said. The nature of Barr’s visit remains unclear, and a representative for the Department of Justice declined to comment on the attorney general’s trip. A representative for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago said Barr did not meet with anyone from the local federal prosecutors’ office. more...

Justice Department internal watchdog is investigating Roger Stone's sentencing, say sources

Prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky told Congress that the U.S. attorney's office in D.C. told him to recommend a lighter sentence because of Stone's ties to Trump.

By Julia Ainsley and Ken Dilanian

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department inspector general's office has begun investigating the circumstances surrounding the sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, a longtime friend of President Donald Trump's, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The investigation is focused on events in February, according to the two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Stone's prosecutors have said that is when they were told to seek a lighter sentence than they had previously considered.

Attorney General William Barr ultimately intervened to override the prosecutors' recommendation of seven to nine years and to ask for a lighter sentence. All four prosecutors quit the case as a result. One of the prosecutors, Aaron Zelinsky, testified before Congress in June that he was told by the office of the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., to recommend a lighter sentence than he otherwise would have because of Stone's close personal relationship with Trump.

Zelinsky said the U.S. attorney at the time, Timothy Shea, was "receiving heavy pressure from the highest levels of the Department of Justice to cut Stone a break, and that the U.S. Attorney's sentencing instructions to us were based on political considerations." The career prosecutors had recommended the longer sentence in accordance with a 2017 policy put forth by Trump's first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, which requires prosecutors to seek the maximum sentence called for under the guidelines unless there are significant mitigating circumstances.

A source familiar with the matter said comments Zelinsky made during his testimony triggered the inspector general's office to open an investigation. It is not known how far the office has proceeded in its investigation, whom it has interviewed or whether it has found any evidence of wrongdoing. A federal jury convicted Stone of seven felonies after a trial in which prosecutors accused him of lying to Congress and intimidating a witness. They said he was trying to protect Trump by misleading a congressional investigation into ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. more...

First Thing election special: Barr authorises baseless voter fraud investigation

Attorney general has authorised prosecutors to look into ‘substantial allegations’ of voter fraud, despite a lack of evidence. Plus, Trump sacks defense secretary

Molly Blackall

Good morning. The attorney general, William Barr, has authorised federal prosecutors to investigate “substantial allegations” of voter irregularities in the election, despite a total lack of evidence. Trump supporters reacted to the news with joy, while lawyers and election officials expressed skepticism. The justice department official overseeing voter fraud investigations resigned a few hours later.

The news came after Donald Trump’s campaign team insisted he had no intention of conceding the election, with one senior campaign adviser saying “the word is not even in our vocabulary right now”. But even Fox News isn’t buying it. The famously Trump-supporting news outlet cut away from a White House press briefing that repeatedly peddled the Trump campaign’s accusation that “illegal votes” were being counted. more...

DOJ's top election crimes prosecutor quits in protest after Barr tells federal attorneys to probe unsupported allegations of voting irregularities.

By Evan Perez, CNN Justice Correspondent

(CNN) The Justice Department's top election crimes prosecutor resigned Monday in protest after Attorney General William Barr told federal prosecutors that they should examine allegations of voting irregularities before states move to certify results in the coming weeks. Richard Pilger, director of the elections crimes branch in the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, told colleagues in an email that the attorney general was issuing "an important new policy abrogating the forty-year-old Non-Interference Policy for ballot fraud investigations in the period prior to elections becoming certified and uncontested." Pilger also forwarded the memo to colleagues in his resignation letter.

Pilger resignation email didn't make clear whether he plans to stay in the department in another capacity. Barr's densely worded memo had told prosecutors they could take investigative steps such as interviewing witnesses during a period that they would normally need permission from the elections crimes section. It's not clear what practical effect the policy would have in an election in which President Donald Trump trails President-elect Joe Biden by tens of thousands of votes in several key states. more...

Barr OKs investigations of voting irregularities despite lack of evidence of massive fraud

Kristine Phillips USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – Attorney General William Barr has authorized U.S. attorneys to pursue "substantial allegations" of voting irregularities during the 2020 elections, contradicting longstanding Justice Department practice of not taking steps that could impact the results of an election. "Such inquiries and reviews may be conducted if there are clear and apparently-credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, could potentially impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual State," Barr said in a memo to federal prosecutors Monday.

Though President Donald Trump and his campaign have repeatedly claimed there has been fraud, there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud. In fact, election officials from both political parties have publicly stated the election went well, though there having been minor issues that are typical in elections, including voting machines breaking and ballots that were miscast and lost. Barr noted in his memo that the Justice Department has not concluded that "voting irregularities have impacted the outcome of any election." more...

Third Justice Dept. Prosecutor Publicly Denounces Barr

The prosecutor also said he retired after staying on to protect a public corruption case against a Republican congressman.

By Katie Benner

WASHINGTON — A 36-year veteran of the Justice Department this week accused Attorney General William P. Barr of abusing his power to sway the election for President Trump and said he was quitting, making him the third sitting prosecutor to issue a rare public rebuke of the attorney general. “Barr’s resentment toward rule-of-law prosecutors became increasingly difficult to ignore, as did his slavish obedience to Donald Trump’s will,” Phillip Halpern, a federal prosecutor in San Diego, said in a letter published Wednesday in The San Diego Union-Tribune. “This career bureaucrat seems determined to turn our democracy into an autocracy.”

Mr. Halpern said he chose to retire as well, calling Mr. Barr “a well-trained bureaucrat” without prosecutorial experience and alleging that he scorned honest apolitical prosecutors and selectively meddled in the criminal justice system to help Mr. Trump’s allies. He said he would have quit earlier but stayed on because he worried that the department under Mr. Barr would have interfered in his prosecution of former Representative Duncan D. Hunter, Republican of California, who pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to steal campaign funds.

The condemnations by Mr. Halpern and the two other prosecutors, one in Seattle and one in Boston, broke with a longstanding practice by Justice Department lawyers not to publicly discuss internal affairs. “I have never seen sitting prosecutors go on the record with concerns about the attorney general,” said Paul Butler, a professor at Georgetown Law who served as a federal prosecutor during Mr. Barr’s earlier tour as attorney general in the George Bush administration. “This is unprecedented.” more...

Washington Post: Barr's 'unmasking' investigation concludes without charges

By Paul LeBlanc, CNN

Washington (CNN) The US attorney tasked by Attorney General William Barr to review instances of "unmasking" done around the 2016 election has completed the probe without bringing any charges, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post. While Republicans for months have hyped the Obama-era unmasking requests as an enormous scandal, John Bash found no evidence of substantive wrongdoing in his investigation, which has concluded without a public report, the Post said. Bash left his role with the Justice Department last week. The term "unmasking" refers to the process of releasing the names of American citizens who are caught up in National Security Agency foreign intelligence reports. The names of American citizens in NSA foreign intelligence documents are always redacted, but certain government officials have the authority to request to have the names unredacted, or unmasked.

CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment. The quiet end to the probe caps a months-long effort that added the weight of a senior federal prosecutor behind an issue that President Donald Trump had seized on to underpin unfounded allegations about former President Barack Obama. The investigation was announced in May after then-acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell declassified a list of names of former Obama administration officials who allegedly had requested the "unmasking" of the identify of Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn. Senate Republicans later released the list, which named Obama administration officials who "may have received" Flynn's identity in NSA intelligence reports after requests to unmask Americans. At the time, Trump hyped the list as "a massive thing" to reporters and Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, even told Fox News it amounted to the "biggest thing since Watergate." The Trump campaign also quickly issued a statement attacking former Vice President Joe Biden for being listed in the memo, though Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said that the declassified documents "simply indicate the breadth and depth of concern" about Flynn's conduct. more...

Barr Violated Election Law, Ethics Groups Say in Call to Impeach

By Greg Farrell

Two groups promoting ethics in government called for the impeachment of U.S. Attorney General William Barr, accusing him of violating laws and undermining public confidence in the Justice Department. Barr has used the department to further President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, a bipartisan group of lawyers from the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law at the University of Pennsylvania and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington wrote in a report released Monday, three weeks ahead of U.S. elections.

The authors warned that Barr’s appointment of U.S. Attorney John Durham to review the origins of the Russia investigation, and Barr’s willingness to discuss the investigation in news interviews, point to efforts to create a politically orchestrated “October surprise.” Such actions could violate the Hatch Act, which forbids government officials from using their offices to support a particular candidate in an election, they wrote.

The authors, some of whom held top legal and ethics posts in previous Republican and Democratic administrations, are the latest to raise concerns that Barr is pursuing an agenda of partisan politics and selective law enforcement. Earlier this month, 1,600 former Justice Department officials signed an open letter criticizing what they called Barr’s willingness to use the department to support Trump’s re-election effort. Although the Justice Department has traditionally kept live investigations under wraps, it recently advised prosecutors they could publicize investigations into election issues, including alleged ballot fraud. more...

Election Less Than a Month Away, Trump Leans on Barr and Pompeo for a Lift

The secretary of state said he would make Hillary Clinton’s emails public, handing the president a weapon to attack his political foes as the attorney general resisted his overtures to prosecute them.

By Peter Baker, Maggie Haberman, Katie Benner, Lara Jakes and Michael S. Schmidt

WASHINGTON — President Trump forced the State Department on Friday to commit to releasing at least some of Hillary Clinton’s emails before next month’s election, resurrecting a four-year-old issue in hopes that it would prove as helpful to his political prospects as it was when he defeated her in 2016. Trailing badly in the polls and eager to change the subject from the coronavirus, Mr. Trump succeeded in compelling Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to announce that he would make public the emails even as Attorney General William P. Barr resisted pressure from the president to prosecute Democrats like former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., this year’s Democratic nominee.

Still recovering from his own coronavirus infection, Mr. Trump made plans to host hundreds of supporters on the South Lawn of the White House on Saturday for his first in-person event since he tested positive last week, according to three people familiar with the schedule. The rally that he had previously said he wanted to hold on Saturday in Florida will instead be held on Monday, his campaign announced, as the president insisted on getting back on the road despite his illness. The burst of activity and machinations reflected a president grasping for a way to make up a double-digit polling deficit against Mr. Biden with 25 days left before the election on Nov. 3. Mr. Biden’s lead has remained stable for months and, if anything, expanded in recent days, despite every effort by the president to shift the momentum of the race. more...

DOJ weakens policy on investigating elections: report

By John Bowden

Federal election inspectors will be allowed to take steps to investigate potential election-related criminal offenses even if the public reaction to their investigations could impact the election itself, according to a new memo. In the directive emailed by the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section on Friday and first reported by ProPublica, officials state that an exception now exists to the rule dictating that federal investigators avoid taking action — such as making arrests or conducting searches — that would cause a public reaction and therefore have potential to influence election results.

Investigators will now be able to take such action if "the integrity of any component of the federal government is implicated by election offenses within the scope of the policy including but not limited to misconduct by federal officials or employees administering an aspect of the voting process through the United States Postal Service, the Department of Defense or any other federal department or agency," according to ProPublica. more...

The Justice Department just announced a significant policy change that would allow prosecutors to take steps that could affect the outcome of the election

Sonam Sheth

The Department of Justice (DOJ) made a significant change to a longstanding policy against election interference that would allow prosecutors to take steps that may alter the outcome of the election, ProPublica reported Wednesday. The non-interference policy has been in place for at least the last four decades, according to the report, and it prohibits prosecutors from taking overt steps to address election-related offenses in the run-up to an election to avoid changing the outcome of the race.

But an official in the DOJ's Public Integrity Section sent an email Friday saying that if a US attorney's office suspects postal workers or military employees engaged in election fraud, federal prosecutors can publicly take steps to investigate the matter before polls close, even if they affect the outcome, according to ProPublica.

The exception to the policy applies to cases where "the integrity of any component of the federal government is implicated by election offenses within the scope of the policy including but not limited to misconduct by federal officials or employees administering an aspect of the voting process through the United States Postal Service, the Department of Defense or any other federal department or agency." more...

Judge rules Barr violated law in selecting law enforcement panel members

By Christina Carrega and Evan Perez, CNN

(CNN) A federal judge ruled on Thursday that Attorney General William Barr had violated the law in how he chose the members of a law enforcement group commissioned by President Donald Trump to investigate and make recommendations on the state of the criminal justice system. US District Judge John Bates has ordered the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice to "not hold further meetings, sessions, or hearings, or conduct any official business" or "submit, accept, publish, employ, or rely upon any report or recommendations" until it has met the standards of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, according to the order.

The commission's goal is to study a broad range of issues regarding law enforcement and the criminal justice system in more than a dozen working groups that had themes including "Respect for Law Enforcement," "Victim Services" and "Juvenile Justice and Youth Crime." After studying the groups' designated issues, the commission is expected to make recommendations to Barr on actions that address crime, increase respect for the law and assist victims. Barr would then turn over the recommendations for Trump's consideration. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit in April against Barr, the Justice Department and the commission, charging that they were violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act by holding closed-door meetings and omitting people in urban communities that will be affected by their recommendations. more...

Federal prosecutor in Massachusetts accuses Barr of a 'dangerous abuse of power'

By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN

(CNN) An assistant US attorney in Massachusetts is the latest federal prosecutor to criticize Attorney General William Barr, accusing the top law enforcement official of a "dangerous abuse of power" by politicizing his position and doing the bidding of President Donald Trump. "The attorney general acts as though his job is to serve only the political interests of Donald J. Trump. This is a dangerous abuse of power," James Herbert, an assistant US attorney for the District of Massachusetts, wrote in a letter published Thursday in The Boston Globe.

In June, two Justice Department prosecutors accused senior department officials of politicizing investigations and the sentencing of Trump's longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone. Nearly 2,000 former Justice Department employees in May called on Barr to resign, saying in an open letter he had "assaulted the rule of law" by moving to drop the charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn. In his letter, Herbert wrote that Barr's remarks at a Hillsdale College event earlier this month, in which he slammed career prosecutors, "compel me to speak out as well." More...

'His abuses have escalated': Barr's kinship with Trump fuels election fears

Tom McCarthy

The attorney general has been giving misleading statements on election integrity, and, critics say, has a deep sense of mission about re-electing the president. Donald Trump’s astonishing suggestion at a campaign rally last weekend that the US president will deploy government lawyers to try to hit the brakes on the counting of ballots on election night relies on the complicity of one federal official more than any other. That official is attorney general William Barr, who, as leader of the justice department, directs the army of government lawyers who would sue to halt the counting of votes.

Conveniently for Trump’s stated plan, Barr appears not only ready to acquiesce, he seems eager to bring the lawsuits, having laid groundwork for challenging the election with weeks of misleading statements about the integrity of mail-in voting. To some observers, the attorney general appears to have also laid the groundwork for a further alarming step, one that would answer the question of what action the Trump administration is prepared to take if a contested election in November gives rise to large new protests.

In order for Trump to steal the election and then quell mass demonstrations – for that is the nature of the nightmare scenario now up for open discussion among current and former officials, academics, thinktankers and a lot of other people – Trump must be able to manipulate both the levers of the law and its physical enforcement. In Barr, Trump not only gets all of that, critics say, but he also enjoys the partnership of a man whose sense of biblical stakes around the election imbues him with a deep sense of mission about re-electing Trump. More...

'I don't know what to say:' Lemon reacts to Barr's remarks

CNN Tonight

During an event at Hillsdale College, Attorney General William Barr suggested that the calls for a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus were the "greatest intrusion on civil liberties" in history "other than slavery." Source: CNN Video...

Clyburn says Barr's remark comparing lockdowns to slavery is 'the most ridiculous, tone-deaf, God-awful thing I've ever heard'

By Devan Cole, CNN

Washington (CNN) House Majority Whip James Clyburn on Thursday slammed Attorney General William Barr for comparing coronavirus lockdowns in the US to slavery, saying the comments are "the most ridiculous, tone-deaf, God-awful thing I've ever heard." "You know, I think that that statement by Mr. Barr was the most ridiculous, tone-deaf, God-awful thing I've ever heard," Clyburn, the No. 3 Democrat in the House and its highest ranking Black member, told CNN's John Berman on "New Day." "It is incredible that (the) chief law enforcement officer in this country would equate human bondage to expert advice to save lives. Slavery was not about saving lives, it was about devaluing lives."

Barr made the comparison during an event at Hillsdale College Wednesday after he was asked to explain the "constitutional hurdles for forbidding a church from meeting during Covid-19." "You know, putting a national lockdown, stay at home orders, is like house arrest. Other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history," Barr said as a round of applause came from the crowd. More...

Barr says calls for coronavirus lockdown are the 'greatest intrusion on civil liberties' other than slavery in US history

By Katelyn Polantz and Christina Carrega, CNN

(CNN) Attorney General William Barr suggested on Wednesday that the calls for a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus were the "greatest intrusion on civil liberties" in history "other than slavery." The comments came minutes after he slammed the hundreds of Justice Department prosecutors working beneath him, equating them to preschoolers, in a defense of his own politically tuned decision making in the Trump administration. Addressing a Constitution Day celebration hosted by Hillsdale College, the event's host asked Barr to explain the "constitutional hurdles for forbidding a church from meeting during Covid-19."

The question lead Barr into a four-minute response where he said state governors were using their executive powers to stifle citizens and businesses from going back to work. "You know, putting a national lockdown, stay at home orders, is like house arrest. Other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history," Barr said as a round of applause came from the crowd. Covid-19 has taken a measurable toll on minorities, including Black people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In recent weeks, Barr has taken a much more aggressive stance defending Trump administration policies, including suggesting voting by mail is not safe, attacking the Mueller investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and criticizing governors for their coronavirus response. More...

William (Bill) Barr Is Trump's New Roy Cohn, Trump Flunky & Sycophant Page 1

William (Bill) Barr Is Trump's New Roy Cohn, Trump Flunky & Sycophant Page 2

William (Bill) Barr Is Trump's New Roy Cohn, Trump Flunky & Sycophant Page 3

Looking for more information on Donald J. Trump (aka Don the Con, aka Don the Snake, aka Two face Donnie, aka The Don, aka Criminal Don). Here you can find information on lawsuits against Trump, Trump’s time in the white house, Trump Administration scandals and corruption, Trump before the white house, Trump’s Enablers, Flunkies, Minions and Sycophants, Trump Impeachments, Trump Insurrection, Trump Insurrection Videos, Trump Is a Crook, Trump Is Threat To National Security, Trump Russia Affair, Trump-Ukraine Affair, Trump vs. Trump, how Trump runs his properties and more. Find out if Trump is filling his pockets with foreign money and your tax dollars. Find out if Trump is a good a businessman or a bad businessman and how viral, nasty and disgusting Trump properties are. Find out if Trump is a crook and/or a conman. Find out if Trump lies about his lies and more.

The more you know the better informed you will be to make your own determination on the real Donald J. Trump (aka Don the Con, aka Don the Snake, aka Two face Donnie, aka The Don, aka Criminal Don). Find out all you can about Donald J. Trump, for some you may find he is not the man you thought he was, for others you may be proven right, for others you may find he is far worse than you thought he was.

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