The Justice Department released a nine-page memo from 2019 to then-Attorney General William Barr setting out the case for not indicting former President Donald Trump for obstruction of justice in connection with the investigation. Russia of special counsel Robert Mueller.
Andrew Harnik / AP
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Andrew Harnik / AP
The Justice Department released a nine-page memo from 2019 to then-Attorney General William Barr setting out the case for not indicting former President Donald Trump for obstruction of justice in connection with the investigation. Russia of special counsel Robert Mueller.
Andrew Harnik / AP
Department of Justice on Wednesday released a memo from 2019 made a case for not indicting former President Donald Trump for obstruction of justice related to then-special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
The nine-page memo dated March 24, 2019 was written by two senior Trump Justice Department officials: Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel and Deputy Attorney General Ed O’Callaghan.
They concluded that none of Trump’s actions were documented in Mueller’s report – his firing of FBI director James Comey; he directed the top White House attorney to fire Mueller; he advised witnesses not to overturn – should be considered a barricade.
“We conclude that the evidence described in Volume II of the Report is, in our opinion, not sufficient to support a conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt that the President has violated statutes that impede justice,” the memo said. “In addition, we believe that some of the conduct that the Special Counsel examines, as required by law, cannot support an allegation of obstruction under all circumstances.”
Washington-based watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics sued under the Freedom of Information Act to make the memo public. The Justice Department has long resisted its release, arguing that the memo was part of the department’s internal deliberations.
A district court judge and a circuit board of judges disagreed and ordered his release.
Attorney General William Barr ultimately refused to indict Trump for obstruction of justice stemming from Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Trump and his supporters praised the decision, but many legal experts questioned the rationale and conclusion. More than 1,000 former federal prosecutors signed a letter in 2019 saying that the behavior described in the Mueller report would normally lead to multiple charges of obstruction of justice.
The memo concluded that there was insufficient evidence that Trump obstructed justice in the Mueller investigation. It says cases of obstruction are often brought when a person obstructs the investigation and prosecution of a separate crime and that the Mueller investigation has failed to identify the underlying crime or criminal conspiracy.
It also said that there was substantial evidence that Trump took official actions, such as asking White House Counsel to fire Mueller, “not for illegal purposes, but because he believes that the investigation is politically motivated and undermines his administration’s efforts to govern.”
The memo indicates that none of Trump’s requests to change the investigation have been made.
The document was released as the former president faces both criminal and congressional investigations over other issues, including archiving. presidential documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence.
