Judge Orders Former AG Barr's Misleading Trump Memo Released

by Michael London | 05/05/2021 4:38 PM

A federal judge called the Department of Justice disingenuous and deceptive in their attempt to conceal a departmental opinion to not charge former President Donald Trump with obstruction at the end of the Mueller investigation.

In a ruling that threatens the Department of the Justice Department of Justice (DOJ) authority, a federal judge in Washington publicly accused the Attorney General, William Barr, of misrepresenting his case to her and Congress. Barr misstated whether President Donald J. Trump should have been charged with obstruction of justice in the Russia investigation.

A legal memorandum that Trump’s Department of Justice produced by then Attorney General AG William Barr just before he made his obstruction decision was ordered released by a federal judge.

The government transparency group requested the March 24, 2019 memorandum under the Freedom of Information Act. That request was turned down by the U.S. government, which said that it was drafted before Barr announced his conclusion that President Donald Trump had not obstructed justice during the Russia investigation and was thus excluded from disclosure under public records laws.

The Justice Department of the United States was attempting to confuse the facts when it refused to release the memo. They stated the paper expressed the private opinions of the lawyers and was exempted from public disclosure before any formal decision being taken

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled the memo qualified as a “strategic” text and said that the Department of Justice had reached a predetermined conclusion that Trump would not be charged with obstruction of justice before the memo was received. The memo contained “strategic” as opposed to “legal” recommendations. They already had a general idea of what prosecutors would decide.

The DOJ investigation uncovered no new proof to support the president colluded with Russia, leaving the obstruction of justice investigation open.

Judge Berman concluded that the analysis of the document shows Attorney General has already made up his mind and is choosing not to use his power to make a decision on that issue of obstruction of justice.