“Notwithstanding whether there was sufficient predication for the leak investigation itself, including family members and minor children strikes me as extremely aggressive,” David Laufman, a former Justice Department official who worked on leak investigations, told the Times. “In combination with former president Trump’s unmistakable vendetta against Congressman Schiff, it raises serious questions about whether the manner in which this investigation was conducted was influenced by political considerations rather than purely legal ones.”
According to the Times, despite the fact that people inside the DOJ argued internally that the investigation should be dropped—and that “the president’s attacks on Mr. Schiff and [James] Comey would allow defense lawyers to argue that any charges were attempts to wield the power of law enforcement against Mr. Trump’s enemies”—Barr insisted that prosecutors continue the probe.
After the records provided no proof of leaks, prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington discussed ending that piece of their investigation. But Mr. Barr’s decision to bring in an outside prosecutor helped keep the case alive. A CNN report in August 2019 about another leak investigation said prosecutors did not recommend to their superiors that they charge Mr. Comey over memos that he wrote and shared about his interactions with Mr. Trump, which were not ultimately found to contain classified information. Mr. Barr was wary of how Mr. Trump would react, according to a person familiar with the situation.
In a statement, Schiff called the subpoenas yet another instance of Trump using the DOJ as a “cudgel against his political opponents and members of the media,” adding, “It is increasingly apparent that those demands did not fall on deaf ears. The politicization of the department and the attacks on the rule of law are among the most dangerous assaults on our democracy carried out by the former president.” He said the Justice Department told him last month that the investigation into his committee was closed, but he called on its independent inspector general to investigate the matter and any others that “suggest the weaponization of law enforcement.“ Speaking to CNN on Thursday, Swalwell said it was his belief that family members “were targeted punitively, not for any reason in law, [but] because Donald Trump identified Chairman Schiff and members of the committee as an enemy of his.”
In possibly related news, here’s a fun throwback to Kamala Harris, then a senator, questioning Barr in 2019 about whether Trump had ever asked him to investigate any of his enemies:
Harris: Has the president or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone?
alchemeron on June 11st, 2021 at 19:51 UTC »
Every time -- every single time -- he accused Obama of having done some ridiculous shit I always assumed that it meant he was using that as pretext to actually do that thing or was actively trying to get people to do that thing for him.
Every. Time.
Linguistic_Biscuit on June 11st, 2021 at 19:34 UTC »
More corrupt that YOU thought, maybe.
This is exactly the crap some of us assumed was happening for four years.
dingo8yobb on June 11st, 2021 at 18:52 UTC »