The Department of Justice fired back at federal judge Reggie Walton, who suggested that U.S. Attorney General William Barr attempted to influence public opinion when he released his summary of Robert Mueller’s failed Russia-collusion investigation.
The DOJ said Judge Walton — an appointee of George W. Bush — was dead-wrong in his gross mischaracterizations of Barr’s intentions.
“A district court issued an order on the narrow legal question of whether it should review the unredacted Special Counsel’s confidential report to confirm the report had been appropriately redacted under the Freedom of Information Act,” DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec told Fox News.
Kupec continued: “In the course of deciding that it would review the unredacted report, the Court made a series of assertions about public statements the Attorney General made nearly a year ago. The Court’s assertions were contrary to the facts.”
The brouhaha erupted last week when Judge Walton said he believes that Barr had shown a “lack of candor” and made “misleading public statements” in the days preceding the release of Mueller’s confidential report to Congress.
Walton wrote: “The court seriously questions whether Attorney General Barr made a calculated attempt to influence public discourse about the Mueller Report in favor of President Trump despite certain findings in the redacted version of the Mueller Report to the contrary.”
Walton made the remarks while presiding over a lawsuit filed by the left-wing website BuzzFeed and the anti-Trump activist group EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center). Both BuzzFeed and EPIC want more access to Mueller’s unredacted final report on the Russia-collusion hoax.
https://twitter.com/Paintking/status/1227652776647417858
In April 2019, Attorney General William Barr released a summary of the confidential Mueller report, which concluded that there was no evidence of collusion between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.
The Mueller report further concluded that there was insufficient evidence of obstruction of justice. Because of national-security concerns, the Mueller report contained redactions and was not released in its entirety to the public.
The version that was turned over was 98% unredacted on obstruction of justice and 95% unredacted on collusion. As U.S. Attorney General, Barr is obligated to redact grand-jury testimony and top-secret intel that jeopardizes national security.
As we head closer to the November elections, Judge Reggie Walton now wants to rehash the Russia hoax by saying he has “grave concerns about the objectivity” of Barr’s DOJ in authorizing the redactions in Mueller’s final report.
In response, the DOJ said the redactions were made by career DOJ attorneys in conjunction with senior members of Mueller’s team. A DOJ spokeswoman underscored:
“The entire report was reviewed by career [DOJ] attorneys, including different career attorneys with expertise in FOIA cases — a process in which the Attorney General played no role.”
There is no basis to question the work or good faith of any of these career Department lawyers. The Department stands by their work, as well as the Attorney General’s statements and efforts to provide as much transparency as possible in connection with the Special Counsel’s confidential report.”
William Barr has dismissed left-wing whines that he overzealously defends President Trump amid the Democrats’ endless investigations, saying they constantly move the goalposts.
(Source: Fox News)
Barr said he’s fighting for the presidency more so than advocating for Trump because the Democrats’ nonstop obstruction of a sitting president damages the office itself.
Imagine what foreign countries think when they see that one political party constantly undermines the leader of the United States. That emboldens them to dismiss the authority of the American president and erodes the United States’ standing on the world stage.
AG Barr underscored that the executive branch needs to be strong and independent, and not subordinate to partisan legislators who want the President to fail.
“If you destroy the presidency and make it an errand boy for Congress, we’re going to be a much weaker and more divided nation,” Barr said.
https://twitter.com/NevadaJack2/status/1131018925263663104
MSNBC shrew Nicolle Wallace giddy at idea that coronavirus could be ‘Trump’s Katrina’’
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
Samantha@BizPacReview.com
Samantha Chang is a senior staff writer for BizPac Review. She is a financial editor and lawyer based in New York City.
- DOJ attorney in charge of election-crimes unit quits after AG Barr opens investigation - November 10, 2020
- ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa’: Neil Cavuto slammed after he cuts off Kayleigh McEnany presser - November 10, 2020
- Same media that cheered Stacey Abrams, Al Gore for refusing to concede attack Trump for same move - November 8, 2020
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
