Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour
“A political infestation” at the Justice Dept.
Tuesday, February 12, 2020. While The New York Times is leading with the story of Bernie Sanders’ win in the New Hampshire primary, Twitter is taking another story—the “complete corruption” of the DOJ under Bill Barr—far more seriously.
Yesterday, following a tweet from Trump, Barr intervened to help lessen the sentence of Trump’s friend and adviser Roger Stone, convicted in November for numerous crimes connected to the Trump-Russia scandal. (Stone could have faced up to 50 years in prison. Prosecutors had recommended seven-to-nine years.)
Following Barr’s intervention, four prosecutors, two of whom had been involved since the Mueller investigation, quit the case—including one who quit the DOJ entirely.
This wasn’t the first time Barr, who is supposed to work for the American people, has intervened to protect Trump and his pals from the legal consequences of their actions, but in the words of NBC News legal analyst Chuck Rosenberg, a former U.S. attorney in Virginia:
This signals to me that there has been a political infestation. And that is the single most dangerous thing that you can do to the Department of Justice.
On Twitter, many of the most prominent political legal experts and politicians are sounding the alarm bells:
“Do not underestimate the danger of this situation”
— Eric Holder, former Attorney General
“It is impossible to overstate the danger”
— Walter Shaub, former director, U.S. Office of Government Ethics
Shaub: Barr’s tactics are familiar to “the subjects of totalitarian regimes”
Shaub: “Having toppled the institution dedicated to law,” the rest becomes easy
Trump is acting like a “failed-state fascist”—Hillary Clinton
“Barr should be served with a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee… today”
— Sherrilyn Ifill, President, LDF (NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund)
Greg Olear writes more in his new article How to Stop Bill Barr:
One of the reasons Trump has been winning these little process battles is that the Democrats have been reluctant to upset the apple cart of tradition and decorum. The time has come to kick over that cart and start pelting the bad guys with apples… Barr should be subpoenaed to testify immediately, and if he refuses, he needs to be punished. Period. Lock him up. Fine him... Whatever the law allows, or might allow...Nadler has to bring the heat this time. No more letters. No more niceties.
In a tweet this morning, Trump admitted that Barr personally intervened in the Stone case to help his long-time buddy. Trump even went so far as to allege: “Even Bob Mueller lied to Congress!”
That was enough to make “Bob Mueller” a trending topic—and to prompt some to ask the question: when will Bob Mueller… or John Kelly… or Jim Mattis… or H.R. McMaster… finally speak up?
Unprecedented from The Daily Edge is dedicated to exposing Trump’s and the GOP's corruption, cheating and conning. Because losing in 2020 is not an option.
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