Congress needs to 'make it rain subpoenas' to find out how many Trump investigations Bill Barr has squashed: Ex-prosecutor

On Thursday, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner tweeted that the House of Representatives should "make it rain subpoenas" — and attach the threat of jail time to officials who refuse to honor them — in order to find out whether Attorney General William Barr has quashed any Justice Department investigations into President Donald Trump.

His tweet came in response to author Don Winslow, who asserts that sources in the DOJ tell him Barr has shut down six investigations into "Trump and Trump related companies and surrogates," and prevented two other investigations from beginning.

Whether or not Winslow's claims about Barr shutting down investigations are accurate, it is clear that the attorney general has put in place a policy to chill any attempt by federal prosecutors to look into the president. This week, Barr issued a new memo putting in place dramatic new restrictions on "politically sensitive investigations," including a requirement that he personally approve any investigation of a presidential candidate.

This decision comes as Barr's DOJ continues to look into the FBI probe of Trump's ties to Russia, which Trump and his inner circle have baselessly claimed was a "witch hunt" to prevent him from being elected.