How Bill Barr's political manipulation of DOJ led to their inability to go after Trump
On Wednesday's edition of MSNBC's "The Beat," House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) took the Justice Department to task for their timid investigation into Donald Trump and his allies' plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
However, Schiff did not place the blame entirely on Attorney General Merrick Garland. Indeed, he argued, it was Trump-appointed former Attorney General William Barr whose political misuse of the DOJ put current officials in a tough, gun-shy position about going after a former president.
"Could the DOJ be doing more, quickly?" asked anchor Ari Melber.
"I have been expressing a similar concern for months now," said Schiff. "It is so unprecedented — and I've been part of many congressional investigations — it is unprecedented for Congress to be so far out ahead of the Justice Department and the complex investigation. As the senator was saying, they have got potent tools to get information. They can enforce their own subpoenas in a way we can't. "The idea that a year and a half after these events, they would not have talked to these witnesses — even the Fulton County District Attorney is way ahead of them — I think it's cause for great concern."
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"Are they afraid of the answer?" asked Melber. "In other words, if the answer becomes overwhelmingly terminal evidence against Trump, and they have it, it puts more onus on them in the eyes of people inside the department. Do you think they are afraid, or is there some other reason?"
"I don't think they are afraid, so much as a desire after — honestly, terrible leadership by Bill Barr," said Schiff. "Look, I'm glad Bill Barr finally found the light. He crossed a lot of lines before he got there. Including intervening in criminal cases to reduce Roger Stone's sentence. To make Michael Flynn's case go away completely. The DOJ should restore the department to avoid controversy. I think if they take that too far, the desire to avoid controversy and they somehow immunize the former president because it would be controversial to investigate a former president, that's a political decision. That's a very dangerous one."
Watch the video below or at this link.
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