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Anonymous ID: ccf4fd March 5, 2020, 2:50 p.m. No.8327474   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>7578 >>7986

Judge Orders DOJ To Turn Over Unredacted Mueller Report, Calls Into Question Barr's 'credibility'

 

This story is developing

 

The Department of Justice was ordered Thursday by Judge Reggie B. Walton to turn over a copy of the unredacted former Special Counsel Robert Mueller report. The judge accused Attorney General William Barr of misrepresenting the findings of the report before it was submitted to Congress last year.

 

Walton, a federal district court judge in Washington appointed by President George W. Bush, said in his decision that he questioned Barr’s public comments about the report before Mueller’s findings were made public.

 

“The inconsistencies between Attorney General Barr’s statements, made at a time when the public did not have access to the redacted version of the Mueller Report to assess the veracity of his statements, and portions of the redacted version of the Mueller Report that conflict with those statements cause the Court to seriously question 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,” said Walton in his decision.

 

Department of Justice officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

 

Further, Walton said “these circumstances generally, and Attorney General Barr’s lack of candor specifically, call into question Attorney General Barr’s credibility.”

 

Walton said he would review the full report and determine whether the redactions made by the DOJ are subject to a Freedom of Information Act request.

 

https://twitter.com/SaraCarterDC/status/1235698903527219200

Anonymous ID: ccf4fd March 5, 2020, 2:57 p.m. No.8327524   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>7986

DC appeals court judge to retire, handing Trump key vacancy

 

udge Thomas Griffith on Thursday announced plans to retire from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, handing President Trump his third vacancy on the influential bench.

 

Griffith is set to retire in September, just two months ahead of the 2020 election, as politics intensify the focus on Trump's conservative makeover of the federal courts.

 

The judge, a George W. Bush appointee and 15-year veteran of the D.C. Circuit, made headlines last week when he ruled against House Democratic lawmakers who sought to enforce a subpoena against a former Trump aide.

In a 2-1 opinion, Griffith ruled that courts were powerless to intervene in a House lawsuit to compel testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn over Trump's objections. If his ruling stands, it would establish a favorable precedent for future White House efforts to avoid congressional oversight.

 

However, Griffith also cast a vote against Trump when the president asked the court to reconsider a ruling that paved the way for Democrats to obtain his financial records.

 

The 65-year-old judge's pending departure will mark the third vacancy for Trump to fill on the D.C. Circuit, which is sometimes referred to as "the second most important court" after the U.S. Supreme Court — where a disproportionate number of D.C. Circuit judges eventually land.

 

Trump's appointment of judges has been a selling point for him among conservatives as he has broken records by placing 51 judges on the country's 13 federal circuit courts, in addition to two Supreme Court picks. A pair Trump nominees — Judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao — currently sit on the D.C. Circuit.

 

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/486178-dc-appeals-court-judge-to-retire-handing-trump-key-vacancy?__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true