May 24, 2018 · The presence of Emmet T. Flood, a lawyer representing the president in the Russia investigation, and John F. Kelly, the chief of staff, at the start of the classified meetings infuriated Democrats.
Mar 29, 2022 · That is to say, if there is no ongoing Justice Department activity with respect to Trump’s conduct under either § 1512(c)(2) or § 371, that may well be because the Justice Department’s own interpretation of the law of the application of criminal statutes to the president makes prosecuting the president difficult—or because the ...
Dec 17, 2021 · Laura Ingraham told Meadows that Trump “needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home” and that he was “destroying his legacy,” while Sean Hannity suggested Trump “make a …
Jun 10, 2021 · After four years of irresponsible and damaging politicization of the Department of Justice by former Attorney General Bill Barr and others at Donald Trump’s behest, Attorney General Merrick Garland is making good on President Joe Biden’s campaign promise to return to the theme of independence in DOJ’s execution of the federal criminal laws.
In this defamation lawsuit against Trump, Merrick Garland picked up Bill Barr’s baton. E. Jean Carroll at her home in New York state. Carroll claims that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s. Trump denies knowing Carroll.
Circuit held that Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to convey sensitive information in connection with the attack on the diplomatic compound in Benghazi was within the scope her employment as secretary of state, as well.
Worse, Trump said that “she’s not my type” and accused her of lying . The lawsuit began in New York State court, producing a ruling in August 2020 that Trump was not immune from civil suits by virtue of his office. Before discovery could begin, Barr intervened on Trump’s behalf and removed the case to federal court.
Garland’s decision to defend Trump in a defamation suit arising from his public attacks on one of his many alleged sexual assault victims is raising eyebrows. Garland had the discretion to withdraw from the case, and arguably should have. But as he testified at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, ...
Hence, by virtue of this maneuver , Carroll is now suing the U.S. government, not Trump himself. But because the FTCA’s waiver of sovereign immunity does not extend to claims “arising out of” slander or libel, like defamation, if DOJ wins this appeal, Carroll’s defamation suit likely goes away.
And last week, Justice attorneys filed a brief defending Trump from a defamation lawsuit filed last year by E. Jean Carroll, the advice columnist who has accused Trump of raping her during the 1990s — long before he became president.
The government is refusing to release the full version of a memo, written up under former Attorney General William Barr, that sets out why the department concluded that Trump didn't obstruct justice during Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.
And having propounded an extreme or wrongheaded — or partisan — interpretation of the law, the department's commitment to precedent means it can be hesitant to back down in future similar cases, even if it should. Maybe this approach makes a certain amount of sense when it comes to normal presidencies.
As it happens, Biden was fiercely critical of Trump and his Justice Department last year during the presidential campaign, particularly when its intervention in the Carroll case first became known. "This has been the most corrupt administration in modern American history," Biden grumbled.
As Vox 's Ian Milhiser pointed out last week, the Department of Justice doesn't just enforce federal law — one of its functions is to defend the " institutional interests " of the presidency.
Attorneys Carey R. Dunne and Mark F. Pomerantz stepped down from the case after new Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg expressed doubts over moving forward with a case against Trump, the New York Times reported.
Trump unleashed on James and Bragg over the matter on Sunday, accusing them of ‘frightening’ Mazars into cutting him out.
In a statement, Roberta Kaplan said that it was “truly shocking that the current Department of Justice would allow Donald Trump to get away with lying” about sexually assaulting Carroll, “thereby depriving our client of her day in court.”.
According to the Post, attorneys in the DOJ’s Civil Division began the appeals process before Trump left office, when “the question lingered as to whether the Biden administration would continue to advance the legal cause.”.
It’s important to understand that the credibility of the DOJ took a major hit during the Barr regime. There are people throughout the Justice Department who desperately want that credibility back. This kind of appeal is a fairly normal move from people who think institutional credibility must be defended at all costs.
She is—it’s just a terrible thing that people can make statements like that.” (Carroll sued Trump in 2019, months after New York magazine published her claim that he raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s.
Garland’s DOJ is not looking backward at the lies, misinformation, and corruption of Barr’s tenure. They’re looking forward and are worried about the ability of the institution to function if its lawyers are afraid that their internal memos might one day become public.
In October, U.S. District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled that Trump did not qualify as an “employee” of the government as defined by federal law and that he was not acting “within the scope of his employment” when he publicly responded to Carroll’s allegations.