Al Kipone schreef op 7 februari 2020 14:48:
Oh:
Yesterday, NYT broke the news that Attorney General Barr had issued a memo, as promised, requiring his approval before opening an investigation into a presidential candidate.
The memo, which said the Justice Department had a duty to ensure that elections are “free from improper activity or influences,” was issued on the same day that President Trump was acquitted on charges that he had abused his office to push a foreign power to publicly announce investigations into his political rivals. The memo said that the F.B.I. and all other divisions under the department’s purview must get Mr. Barr’s approval before investigating any of the 2020 presidential candidates.
While the department must respond “swiftly and decisively” to credible threats to the electoral process, “we also must be sensitive to safeguarding the department’s reputation for fairness, neutrality and nonpartisanship,” he wrote.
He previewed the new policy at a news conference in January, when he said his approval would be required in future investigations involving presidential candidates or campaigns.
In the memo, Mr. Barr established a series of requirements governing whether investigators could open
preliminary or full “politically sensitive” criminal and counterintelligence investigations into candidates or their donors.No investigation into a presidential or vice-presidential candidate — or their senior campaign staff or advisers — can begin without written notification to the Justice Department and the written approval of Mr. Barr.
The F.B.I. must also notify and consult with the relevant leaders at the department — like the heads of the criminal division, the national security division or a United States attorney’s office — before investigating Senate or House candidates or their campaigns, or opening an inquiry related to “illegal contributions, donations or expenditures by foreign nationals to a presidential or congressional campaign.”
OK, so what?This rule would have protected the following people from any investigation in 2016:
Trump, for paying off former sex partners
Paul Manafort, for taking $2.4M after discussing carving up Ukraine to Russia’s liking in 2016
Roger Stone, for dark money activity and coordination still unresolved as well as optimizing materials stolen from the Democrats
Mike Flynn, for being on Turkey’s payroll while attending Top Secret candidate briefings
George Papadopoulos, for trying to monetize his access to Trump with foreign countries including Israel
Illegal donations from Russians, Malaysians, Emiratis, and Ukrainians in 2016
Illegal coordination between the campaign and its SuperPAC
www.emptywheel.net/2020/02/07/the-rea...