Dc Circuit Orders Release Of Barr Memo On Mueller Russia Report

Comment A federal appeals court has ordered the release of a secret Justice Department memo discussing whether President Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The panel’s unanimous decision issued Friday echoes that of lower court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who last year accused the Justice Department of dishonesty in its justifications for keeping the memo secret. Department officials said the document was protected because it related to internal discussions about whether to indict Trump for obstructing special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s 2016 ties to Russia. But the justices agreed with Jackson that the record clearly showed that Mueller had already concluded that a sitting president could not be charged with a crime. Instead, the committee ruled, the March 2019 memo was about what then-Attorney General William P. Barr would say to Congress before the release of the Mueller report about the obstruction evidence. Judge slams Barr, DOJ for ‘dishonest’ handling of secret Trump obstruction memo “A charging decision was admissible and the agency failed to plead an alternative rationale that might well have justified its invocation of the privilege,” the judges wrote. The court said that if the government had accurately described to Jackson the motivation behind the memo, the decision might have been different. But “any notion that the memo was about whether he would say anything to the public remained completely untenable — and even unreported” until the appeal. Barr eventually told lawmakers that since Mueller declined to reach a conclusion, he and his deputy decided there was no evidence. When the full report was released weeks later, it said there was “substantial evidence” that Trump had obstructed justice. The memo was written by two senior Justice Department officials who argued that the evidence gathered by Mueller’s team did not rise to the level of a prosecutable case, even if Trump were not president. An updated version was released last year, but left the actual analysis of this question under wraps. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the nonprofit that sued over the document’s release, celebrated the decision on Twitter. “We will take the secret memo that Barr used to undermine the Mueller Report and claim it was insufficient to find that Trump obstructed justice,” the ethics watchdog wrote. “And we will make it public.” The Justice Department could appeal to a full U.S. Court of Appeals. for the DC Circuit and the US Supreme Court. A DOJ spokeswoman declined to comment.

title: “Dc Circuit Orders Release Of Barr Memo On Mueller Russia Report Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-29” author: “Lynn Worley”

Comment A federal appeals court has ordered the release of a secret Justice Department memo discussing whether President Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The panel’s unanimous decision issued Friday echoes that of lower court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who last year accused the Justice Department of dishonesty in its justifications for keeping the memo secret. Department officials said the document was protected because it related to internal discussions about whether to indict Trump for obstructing special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s 2016 ties to Russia. But the justices agreed with Jackson that the record clearly showed that Mueller had already concluded that a sitting president could not be charged with a crime. Instead, the committee ruled, the March 2019 memo was about what then-Attorney General William P. Barr would say to Congress before the release of the Mueller report about the obstruction evidence. Judge slams Barr, DOJ for ‘dishonest’ handling of secret Trump obstruction memo “A charging decision was admissible and the agency failed to plead an alternative rationale that might well have justified its invocation of the privilege,” the judges wrote. The court said that if the government had accurately described to Jackson the motivation behind the memo, the decision might have been different. But “any notion that the memo was about whether he would say anything to the public remained completely untenable — and even unreported” until the appeal. Barr eventually told lawmakers that since Mueller declined to reach a conclusion, he and his deputy decided there was no evidence. When the full report was released weeks later, it said there was “substantial evidence” that Trump had obstructed justice. The memo was written by two senior Justice Department officials who argued that the evidence gathered by Mueller’s team did not rise to the level of a prosecutable case, even if Trump were not president. An updated version was released last year, but left the actual analysis of this question under wraps. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the nonprofit that sued over the document’s release, celebrated the decision on Twitter. “We will take the secret memo that Barr used to undermine the Mueller Report and claim it was insufficient to find that Trump obstructed justice,” the ethics watchdog wrote. “And we will make it public.” The Justice Department could appeal to a full U.S. Court of Appeals. for the DC Circuit and the US Supreme Court. A DOJ spokeswoman declined to comment.

title: “Dc Circuit Orders Release Of Barr Memo On Mueller Russia Report Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-26” author: “Mark Vaughn”

Comment A federal appeals court has ordered the release of a secret Justice Department memo discussing whether President Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The panel’s unanimous decision issued Friday echoes that of lower court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who last year accused the Justice Department of dishonesty in its justifications for keeping the memo secret. Department officials said the document was protected because it related to internal discussions about whether to indict Trump for obstructing special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s 2016 ties to Russia. But the justices agreed with Jackson that the record clearly showed that Mueller had already concluded that a sitting president could not be charged with a crime. Instead, the committee ruled, the March 2019 memo was about what then-Attorney General William P. Barr would say to Congress before the release of the Mueller report about the obstruction evidence. Judge slams Barr, DOJ for ‘dishonest’ handling of secret Trump obstruction memo “A charging decision was admissible and the agency failed to plead an alternative rationale that might well have justified its invocation of the privilege,” the judges wrote. The court said that if the government had accurately described to Jackson the motivation behind the memo, the decision might have been different. But “any notion that the memo was about whether he would say anything to the public remained completely untenable — and even unreported” until the appeal. Barr eventually told lawmakers that since Mueller declined to reach a conclusion, he and his deputy decided there was no evidence. When the full report was released weeks later, it said there was “substantial evidence” that Trump had obstructed justice. The memo was written by two senior Justice Department officials who argued that the evidence gathered by Mueller’s team did not rise to the level of a prosecutable case, even if Trump were not president. An updated version was released last year, but left the actual analysis of this question under wraps. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the nonprofit that sued over the document’s release, celebrated the decision on Twitter. “We will take the secret memo that Barr used to undermine the Mueller Report and claim it was insufficient to find that Trump obstructed justice,” the ethics watchdog wrote. “And we will make it public.” The Justice Department could appeal to a full U.S. Court of Appeals. for the DC Circuit and the US Supreme Court. A DOJ spokeswoman declined to comment.

title: “Dc Circuit Orders Release Of Barr Memo On Mueller Russia Report Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-29” author: “Tina Whitehouse”

Comment A federal appeals court has ordered the release of a secret Justice Department memo discussing whether President Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The panel’s unanimous decision issued Friday echoes that of lower court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who last year accused the Justice Department of dishonesty in its justifications for keeping the memo secret. Department officials said the document was protected because it related to internal discussions about whether to indict Trump for obstructing special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s 2016 ties to Russia. But the justices agreed with Jackson that the record clearly showed that Mueller had already concluded that a sitting president could not be charged with a crime. Instead, the committee ruled, the March 2019 memo was about what then-Attorney General William P. Barr would say to Congress before the release of the Mueller report about the obstruction evidence. Judge slams Barr, DOJ for ‘dishonest’ handling of secret Trump obstruction memo “A charging decision was admissible and the agency failed to plead an alternative rationale that might well have justified its invocation of the privilege,” the judges wrote. The court said that if the government had accurately described to Jackson the motivation behind the memo, the decision might have been different. But “any notion that the memo was about whether he would say anything to the public remained completely untenable — and even unreported” until the appeal. Barr eventually told lawmakers that since Mueller declined to reach a conclusion, he and his deputy decided there was no evidence. When the full report was released weeks later, it said there was “substantial evidence” that Trump had obstructed justice. The memo was written by two senior Justice Department officials who argued that the evidence gathered by Mueller’s team did not rise to the level of a prosecutable case, even if Trump were not president. An updated version was released last year, but left the actual analysis of this question under wraps. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the nonprofit that sued over the document’s release, celebrated the decision on Twitter. “We will take the secret memo that Barr used to undermine the Mueller Report and claim it was insufficient to find that Trump obstructed justice,” the ethics watchdog wrote. “And we will make it public.” The Justice Department could appeal to a full U.S. Court of Appeals. for the DC Circuit and the US Supreme Court. A DOJ spokeswoman declined to comment.