Name: DOJ Whistleblowers Testify That William Barr Has Politicized Justice
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DOJ Whistleblowers Testify That William Barr Has Politicized Justice

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×U.S. EditionPart of HuffPost Politics. ©2022 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.×WASHINGTON ― attorneys on Wednesday offered damning testimony about Attorney General ’s alleged political interference in the department’s work involving President ’s allies and Barr’s own ideological interests., who served as a prosecutor on the special counsel team led by and was later detailed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia as he worked on the case against former Trump associate , members of the House Judiciary Committee that it was clear there was political interference in Stone’s sentencing process. AdvertisementJohn Elias, a prosecutor in the antitrust division of the Justice Department, that Barr directed baseless antitrust investigations into the cannabis industry because of his personal dislike for the rising marijuana market.Donald Ayer, who preceded Barr as deputy attorney general during the George H.W. Bush administration, that Barr “grossly misused his powers as attorney general to advance the president’s personal and political interests, and to protect his friends.” He told the lawmakers that Barr had given reason for the public to “distrust everything he says” and called Barr “the greatest threat in my lifetime to our rule of law.”Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, called Barr “the president’s fixer” and said Barr “has shown us that there is one set of rules for the president’s friends and another set of rules for the rest of us.”AdvertisementNadler called the Department of Justice witnesses brave for agreeing to testify before the committee.“This administration has a record of witness intimidation, and I have no doubt that they will try to exact a price for your testimony,” Nadler said. “But you are patriots, and you have done your duty here today.”The rare testimony from current career Justice Department employees, who typically don’t appear before Congress, capped off a , who Democrats say has given legal cover to some of Trump’s worst and more corrupt impulses. Just last week, Barr a top federal prosecutor who had investigated or prosecuted several Trump associates. But it’s unclear what House Democrats can do to hold Barr accountable. There’s been talk of impeaching the attorney general, but such action would be dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled Senate, just as Trump’s impeachment was earlier this year.Barr, a Justice Department spokesperson said Wednesday, had agreed to testify at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on July 28. It would be the first time for Barr, who was confirmed in early 2019, to appear before the panel. Last May, Barr out on a House Judiciary Committee hearing at the last minute because the committee planned to allow staff members to question him. AdvertisementDemocrats also used Wednesday’s the hearing to criticize Barr’s involvement in the of anti-racism protesters from Lafayette Square ahead of a Trump photo-op in front of a church near the White House and his oversight of the to demonstrations in the District of Columbia, which involved an alphabet soup of federal agents, many of whom went unidentified.Elias Wednesday that the DOJ inspector general and the Office of Special Counsel were investigating allegations about improper antitrust probes of cannabis companies. But the Justice Department claimed there was nothing to the issue, and Politico Wednesday on the from the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility that cleared the Justice Department’s work. OPR has come for lax punishment of prosecutorial misconduct, and the current head of OPR, Jeffrey Ragsdale, was named to the position just last month by Barr, to whom he now reports.A Justice Department spokesperson called Zelinsky’s testimony “” because it is based on what Zelinsky heard from his supervisors. She said Barr “has and will continue to approach all cases at the Department of Justice with that commitment to the rule of law and the fair and impartial administration of justice.”Suggest a correctionNewsletter Sign UpHuffPost's top politics stories, straight to your inbox.Successfully Subscribed!Realness delivered to your inbox

×U.S. EditionPart of HuffPost Politics. ©2022 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.×WASHINGTON ― attorneys on Wednesday offered damning testimony about Attorney General ’s alleged political interference in the department’s work involving President ’s allies and Barr’s own ideological interests., who served as a prosecutor on the special counsel team led by and was later detailed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia as he worked on the case against former Trump associate , members of the House Judiciary Committee that it was clear there was political interference in...

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ryanjreilly

Ryan J. Reilly

HuffPost (formerly The Huffington Post and sometimes abbreviated HuffPo) is an American news aggregator and blog, with localized and international editions. It has been described as mostly liberal or liberal-leaning. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content and covers politics, business, entertainment, environment, technology, popular media, lifestyle, culture, comedy, healthy living, women's interests, and local news featuring columnists.

DOJ Whistleblowers Testify That William Barr Has Politicized Justice

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