DOJ releases memo behind Barr's decision not to prosecute Trump for obstruction

[libertybele]

DOJ releases memo behind Barr's decision not to prosecute Trump for obstruction

Under order from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Department of Justice on Wednesday released a 2019 memo used by former Attorney General William Barr to justify his decision not to prosecute then-President Donald Trump for obstruction of justice arising from Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

The department initially released a redacted version of the memo in May 2021, stemming from a Freedom of Information Act suit brought by the watchdog group the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). That version fully redacted more than six out of the memo's 10 pages.

On Friday, however, a panel of judges in the D.C. Circuit ordered the release of the full memo, affirming a district court decision that had found Barr and other DOJ officials were not candid in their statements about the role the memo played in their decision to not charge Trump.

DOJ officials previously told the court that the memo should be kept from the public because it involved internal department deliberations and the advice given to Barr about whether Trump should face prosecution.

But a district judge ruled that Barr was never engaged in such a process and had already made up his mind to not charge Trump.

The full memo released Wednesday outlines the rationale given to Barr from Steven Engel, the former head of DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel, and Ed O'Callaghan, the then-principal associate deputy attorney general...........



---- more @ link ----   https://www.yahoo.com/gma/doj-releases-memo-behind-barrs-200500468.html

[libertybele]

Justice Department releases unredacted Barr memo detailing decision not to charge Trump with obstructing Russia probe

Former Attorney General Bill Barr concluded that then-President Donald Trump couldn't be charged with obstructing the Russia probe because there wasn't an underlying conspiracy between his campaign and Russia, breaking with special counsel Robert Mueller's view on the matter, according to a newly unredacted memo released by the Justice Department.
The nine-page memo was released Wednesday as part of a lawsuit over public records tied to the Mueller investigation. A highly redacted version of the memo was previously released in 2021, but a federal court ordered the Justice Department to make the full document public.
"It would be rare for federal prosecutors to bring an obstruction prosecution that did not itself arise out of a proceeding related to a separate crime," then-top Justice Department officials Steven Engel and Ed O'Callaghan wrote in the document, which concludes with a formal recommendation against charging Trump, which Barr signed and approved on March 24, 2019.

That's the same date that Barr notified Congress of his decision not to prosecute Trump, which was later criticized by Mueller and legal analysts for cherry-picking from Mueller's report. ............

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/24/politics/barr-mueller-report/index.html

[libertybele]

Memo:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22187584-barr-unredacted-memo

[libertybele]

DOJ recommended against Trump prosecution on obstruction in Mueller probe: newly released 2019 memo reveals

The Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in 2019 said prosecution of then-President Donald Trump for obstruction of justice during the Russia investigation "would not be warranted" — a recommendation that the team of lawyers gave to then-Attorney General Bill Barr at the conclusion of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

A federal appeals court ordered the Justice Department last week to release an internal memo written on March 24, 2019, by the OLC about whether Trump had obstructed justice.

The DOJ released the memo Wednesday, which revealed that the OLC, which is considered to be the top legal adviser to the attorney general, found that the evidence described in Mueller’s report was "not, in our judgment, sufficient to support a conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt that the President violated the obstruction-of-justice statutes."

"In addition, we believe that certain of the conduct examined by the Special Counsel could not, as a matter of law, support an obstruction charge under the circumstances," states the memo written by Steven Engel, former assistant attorney general for the OLC. "Accordingly, were there no constitutional barrier, we would recommend, under the Principles of Federal Prosecution, that you decline to commence such a prosecution."........

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-recommended-against-trump-prosecution-obstruction-mueller-probe-newly-released-memo

[DefiantMassRINO]

Trump hired him because he expected Barr to "play ball".


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAY4P05CvhU&t=2667s

[libertybele]

Trump hired him because he expected Barr to "play ball".

He was a Bushie....big mistake on Trump's part.  He should have known better.