Judge Orders Release Of Trump Obstruction Documents Exposing Barr

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It appears that the former Attorney General William Barr decided that he would not charge Donald Trump with obstruction of justice. So, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) in Washington, D.C. sued the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the release of documents of the obstruction. Exactly, which time was this that the Donald obstructed justice, anyway?

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When the AG handed the Mueller Report to Congress, he noted that there simply was not enough evidence to charge Trump. Spreading the blame around, Barr said that the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) and other DOJ attorneys made the decision with him. Yet, Barr refused to release the OLC memo. That was when CREW decided to sue for its release.

Barr said, according to another CREW document:

‘[T]he evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s [Robert Mueller’s] investigation is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.’

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Special Counsel Robert Mueller decided to let the AG decide whether his report involved a “crime.” The OLC said:

‘[If the document] served to obscure the true purpose of the memorandum.’

Mueller continued:

‘[Barr’s letter] did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of [the Office of the Special Counsel’s] work and conclusions.’

Noah Bookbinder of CREW wrote, according to The New York Times:

‘[F]ar from the “total and complete exoneration” that President Trump prematurely claimed when Attorney General William Barr released his four-page summary of Mr. Mueller’s work, the special counsel’s report, over the course of 400-plus pages, lays out a compelling case — even absent a prosecutive conclusion — of obstruction of justice by the president.’

CREW’s argument in court was that this assisted Barr in giving his version of the Mueller Report prior to releasing it to Congress. In other words, he framed it to Trump’s advantage. The ruling read:

‘[The OLC’s memo] calls into question the accuracy of Attorney General Barr’s March 24 representation to Congress” and “raises serious questions about how the Department of Justice could make this series of representations to a court.

Jackson continued:

‘[Barr] appeared before Congress to deliver the report [April 18, 2019. ]He asserted that he and the Deputy Attorney General reached the conclusion he had announced in the March 24 letter ‘in consultation with the Office of Legal Counsel and other Department lawyers.”

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Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled this about the memo:

‘[Its] contents call into question the accuracy of Attorney General Barr’s March 24 representation to Congress.’

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After she reviewed this OLC memo, the judge said:

‘[It[ raises serious questions about how the Department of Justice could make this series of representations to a court. It is time for the public to see that [the memo], too.’

Judge Jackson gave the government two weeks to respond with its own “course of action” and before turning the memo over to CREW.

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The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.