“Democrats Worry Attorney General Has an October
Surprise in the Making”
AG Barr has promised that the
DOJ will not take any action to influence the upcoming election. But Democrats
and department veterans aren't so sure about that. In opinion pieces and
letters, they warn that Barr might be preparing to spring a so-call “October Surprise.” There's one big
reason for that: recent testimony from the attorney general himself.
Democrats are monitoring the
status of an investigation by CT Federal Prosecutor John Durham who is looking
at intelligence gathering and other actions by the Obama administration in 2016
whom Barr tapped to
look into the origins of the Russia investigation in May 2019.
Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell
(D-FL) asked Barr whether he would commit to not releasing any report by Durham
leading some lawyers familiar with the investigation to believe he may be close
to the end and Barr said bluntly: “No.”
Another source told NPR that
Durham has asked to interview Obama's former CIA director, John Brennan that confirms
a
report by NBC News. The source added that Brennan has been told he is not a
target of prosecutors – Brennan said recently he will appear.
For his part, Barr said Obama and Joe Biden are
not targets in the case – and that any criminal investigations are focused
on others.
One of those targets may be
former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who allegedly doctored an email used as
part of a process to secure court approval to renew a FISA surveillance warrant
on Trump’s former and onetime campaign adviser Carter Page.
Those FISA applications contained
major errors identified by independent IG General Michael Horowitz, highlighted
by many Republicans. A second area of interest may be the leak of sensitive
information to a Washington Post in early 2017 about conversations between
Michael Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Synopsis of those two talking is here reported on by Politico:
Flynn told Kislyak in late 2016
to take “reciprocal actions in response to Obama administration sanctions for
election interference, rather than escalating the situation into a tit for
tat.”
Kislyak replied to Flynn’s request on the December 29, 2016 call
saying: “You might appreciate the
sentiments that are raging in Moscow.”
Flynn responded: “I know, I –
believe me, I do appreciate it, I very much appreciate it. But I really don't
want us to get into a situation where we're going, you know, where we do this
and then you do something bigger, and then you know, everybody's got to go back
and forth and everybody's got to be the tough guy here, you know?”
The next day, Trump, the president-elect praised Putin for declining to
retaliate tweeting: “Great move on
delay (by V. Putin) – I always knew he was very smart!”
When Flynn and Kislyak followed
up on December 31, 2016, Kislyak emphasized that Putin opted not to escalate
the sanctions battle because of his talk with Flynn — despite “raging feelings in Moscow.”
Kisylak argued that the Obama
administration sanctions were aimed at damaging the incoming Trump
administration just as much as they were the Kremlin and he said: “I just wanted to tell you that we found that
these actions have targeted not only against Russia, but also against the
president elect.”
Those exchanges are at the heart
of the controversy over the FBI’s investigation by Durham.
The full scope of Durham's probe is a closely held secret.
Barr has said he expects the
prosecutor will put some findings in writing in the form of a report that may
be made public. Barr told
the House Judiciary Committee on July 28 that he's well aware of the
longstanding DOJ that bars taking action that could produce uproar in an
election year, saying: “Any report will
be in my judgment not one that is covered by that policy.”
I note: How arrogantly pathetic is that statement in essence Barr
is saying he won’t follow DOJ policy but will decide on his own (at Trump’s whim
bet on it) how to report on Durham’s report.
If the report is not made
public then only Barr’s word prevails?
That is both disgusting
and may end up being illegal itself.
Also, to violate DOJ
policy is a serious matter and rightly so.
Amid uncertainty about Durham's fact-finding, and what
Justice Department leaders will do about it, looms a recent historical
precedent. Four years ago, actions
by then-FBI Director James Comey did seem to hurt presidential
candidate Hillary Clinton.
This time around, Democrats said
they're suspicious of Barr. They said he misrepresented the findings of an
earlier investigation, by special counsel Robert Mueller, to benefit President
Trump.
One attorney involved with Durham said: “Is there such a thing as a predictable surprise?”
I note: Directly related is this from Federal prosecutor Nora
Dannehy, a top aide to Durham in his Russia investigation. She quietly resigned
and at least partly out of concern that the investigative team was being
pressed for political reasons to produce a report before its work is done, some
of her colleagues also said.
That report here
from the Hartford (CT) Courant.
In the past year, Barr has told
interviewers that the Durham probe has turned up surprising and damaging
information.
But the Justice Department
typically avoids making comment about ongoing investigations.
This week, Fred Wertheimer from the group “Democracy 21” appealed to Durham directly in
an open letter on the site’s blog “Just
Security,” writing: “A public
release of Durham's findings, or indictments, will become a campaign issue with
political consequences. If your investigation is not complete, you should not
complete it until after the election. If the report is complete, you should
publicly oppose any release of your report before the election.”
He further said that if Durham
gets overruled by Barr or others, then they should withdraw from the case to
avoid actions that could interfere with the presidential election and taint his
“long and distinguished career.”
My 2 cents: All this is a
classic Barr stunt and fancy footwork to wheel and deal for Trump and not the
public’s good as the DOJ is supposed to be.
I hope there is massive
public and congressional outrage over this craziness by Barr – it must not
stand. If anything a move to impeach Barr (if that’s the proper legal route)
and ASAP.
Barr is truly a “clear and
present danger” to our entire judicial system with the massive power that he wields
along with Trump – the both are a serious threat to our entire democratic
system of government operations.
Thanks for stopping by.
No comments:
Post a Comment