Federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson accused former Attorney General Bill Barr of lying about the Justice Department investigation into former President Donald Trump's obstruction of justice. She revealed this week that evidence proves that not only was there no investigation into Trump, Barr attempted to create a false paper-trail after the fact to falsify a legitimate decision. Judge Jackson intends to publish the proof in the coming weeks.
Writing for Washington Monthly, Law Professor Jennifer Taub explained that it's time for the Justice Department to crack down on white-collar crimes like Barr's and others like him.
"No one is supposed to be above the law," she wrote. "But during Donald Trump's presidency, we were more likely to witness a White, wealthy, and well-connected felon pardoned than perp-walked. This was, perhaps, a piece of Trump's kinship if not admiration for these elite grifters."
She explained that while Trump was in the White House, prosecutors of white-collar crime dropped by over a quarter. But the rich and highly connected deserve to be held accountable for crimes just as the rest of the country.
Another major problem that isn't exclusive to Trump is the prosecution of tax evasion has fallen over the years as funding to the IRS has also been reduced by Congress. Without funding for legal experts to fight back against wealthy tax evaders, the IRS can only focus on low-level offenders.
Taub noted that not only has prosecution of tax evasion collapsed but so has accountability for money laundering and identity theft. Collectively, investigations fell by 36 percent.
"How big is our white collar crime problem? While the F.B.I. pegs street-level 'property' crimes including burglary, larceny, and theft nationwide at around $16 billion annually, there is no equivalent F.B.I. figures published on white-collar crime," she explained. "Scholars have tallied the cost to be at least $800 billion."
She continues to walk through steps that can be taken to collect the money that the United States is owed. While Biden has said that he wants to remain independent of the Justice Department, he recognized this week in a speech that there is a problem with tax collection not only from the wealthy but from corporations as well.
His "recusal should not make either pursuing Trump or cracking down on white-collar crime any less of a priority," argued Taub. "The ongoing criminal investigations of Trump in New York County for insurance and bank fraud, and in Fulton County, Georgia for election interference should not absolve the U.S. Department of Justice from following the facts where they lead, even if they lead them to the former occupant of the Oval Office."
