Judge Berman has ordered the release of a 2019 memo written by the department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which Barr and other justice department officials sought to keep secret. They claimed, ” it was part of the department’s decision-making process before Barr selectively announced the Mueller Investigation findings,” which falsely exonerated Trump of colluding with Russia to influence the 2016 election and of obstructing justice.
Judge Berman wrote the department’s claims were “so inconsistent with the evidence in the record, they were not worthy of credence.” She called Barr and the department “disingenuous” in their assertion that they were in the process of deciding whether to charge the president when their decision had already been made. The Washington Post published Berman’s opinion in which she also cited other federal judges accusing Barr of “lack of candor and truthfulness in his handling of the release of the Mueller Report.”
More specifically, the judge’s opinion criticized Barr’s memo to Congress, which said Mueller did not conclude whether Trump tried to obstruct the investigation. That was a lie. Robert Mueller cited incidences of obstruction of justice by Trump in his report. Still, he said the special counsel could not assert charges due to a department of justice policy that a sitting president could not be indicted.
Throughout his time as attorney general, Barr corrupted and politicized the DOJ and the role of the AG. He did not function as the chief law enforcement officer for the American people. Instead, he served as Donald Trump’s attorney. He wrote a letter to Trump soliciting for the job and convinced the president that he believed in absolute presidential power and, therefore, would protect him in a way Jeff Sessions didn’t.
In June of 2020, The Intercept printed an article written by James Risen titled, “William Barr Has Turned The Justice Department Into A Law Firm With One Client: Donald Trump.” Evidence of this truth cited in the article was;
- They are covering up Trump’s campaign’s cooperation with Russian interference in the 2020 election.
- Firing U.S Attorney Jeffrey Berman for the Southern District of New York in an attempt to interfere with ongoing investigations into Trump
- Suppressing any investigation into Trump and his associates
- Aggressively pursued studies into Trump’s rivals
- A failed attempt to hire an unqualified golfing buddy of Trump’s to replace Jeffrey Berman
- Dropped the case against General Michael Flynn, a Trump loyalist found guilty of lying to the FBI about contact with Russians
- Personally ordered the aggressive dispersing of peaceful protestors in Lafayette Square during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations so Trump could do his bible-holding photo op.
- He opened multiple politically motivated investigations into people who investigated the Russia interference case.
Barr undoubtedly will go down in history as America’s worst, most corrupt attorney general. Millions of American’s were appalled and traumatized by watching Barr blatantly violate his oath of office in ways that trampled on the Constitution and supported Trump’s attempt to transform the American presidency into an autocracy.
The Department of Justice under Merrick Garland faces the daunting task of trying to restore trust and respect to the DOJ after Barr’s corrupt tenure. Judge Berman’s order to release the memo that accurately describes Mueller’s findings of Russian collusion and obstruction of justice could lead to legal trouble for Barr. Additionally, the investigations into Rudy Guiliani’s attempt to enlist Ukraine to find damaging information on Joe Biden and his son Hunter puts Rudy in potential legal trouble. The list of criminal cronies who served in the Trump administration is extensive, but it appears the AG Garland is committed to the premise that “no one is above the law.”
