Page 729 - Obstruction News Today

Morning, this full memo from justice department lawyers back in 2019, totally detailing why then attorney general bill barr decided not to prosecute former president trump after the mueller investigation. speak to the significance, what stands out from the memo and i wonder if you agree with nyu law professor ryan goodman who told "the new york times" this is a get out of jail free card. he sees this as sort of shocking. >> i do think it is shocking. i will say that what it really is, it looks t...

Four or five instances of pretty clear obstruction. and that evidence is basically whitewashed in this memo. in a way, this memo is more damning than volume two of the mueller report, because it is so weak. >> thank you gentlemen, we will continue to report this. i really appreciated. an hour and a half of deliberating behind closed doors, late tonight, leading to the uvalde school board firing police chief pete arredondo. we are live there, arredondo. we are live there, next. this just into cnn...

Russia. that is a break with special counsel who found several incidents with strong evidence of obstruction. the memo saying he did not break the law when he fired the fbi director or when he asked him to go easy on his former advisor.>> the political analyst joins me now from los angeles. he is the author of the modern presidency. president of the global policy institute. also great to have you with us. >> thank you rosemary. >> today is the deadline for the department of justice to recommend ...

Right in this memo give bill barr the cover he needed? >> yeah. i read the memo and it really strikes me as reverse engineering the result they want to give. just legally, inaccurate analysis. for example, it says because there was not sufficient evidence to show a conspiracy, that they should not charge obstruction. that is just not the law. its thwarting an investigation, that in its own right, its a crime in its own right -- it doesnt matter that you dont make the ultimate case. it says, beca...

The doj released today, it details why trump was not charged with obstruction the russia probe. he looked at it closely. did barr let trump off the hook here? >> i dont think theres any question that is what happened. in fact, i enjoyed georges analysis on twitter earlier. he has looked at it as well, and i think he reached the same conclusion, that they have twisted the law. this is a bunch of prosecutors doing everything that they can not to prosecute. and in order to do, that they have to rea...

Go through -- the basic point that they make is that because trump was not charged with collusion with the russians, therefore, he cannot be charged with obstruction. ill read you just a part of what they write. the special counsels obstruction theory would not only be novel, but based on his own analysis, it would be unusual because volume one of the special counsels report is conclusive that the evidence developed was not sufficient to charge that any member of the trump campaign including the...

So, in addition to the back and forth, starting in early 2021 between the national archives and lawyers representing trump, im looking to see even the later correspondence, including, but not limited to, that statement from june. >> let me ask you on another topic, looking backwards a little bit, ken. going back to the mueller report and the barr summary of the mueller report. the doj has just been required to release the memo behind the reasoning to not charge donald trump with obstruction. wal...

Merrick garland appealed that and just yesterday or a couple days ago the court of appeals said, no, this was a cya memo, this was not actually something bill barr was considering, it was a predetermined conclusion that he would let donald trump walk. garland chose not to try to bring that to the supreme court wisely. now weve seen the memo and it is just that, it is trying to paper over the file after the fact to cover up for the fact that bill barr was wrong on obstruction and i think distorte...

President biden had to make the determination himself whether he was going to waive executive privilege from a former president. >> meanwhile the justice department releasing nearly unredacted 2019 memo detailing a former attorney general bill barth against prosecuting and president trump with obstruction. robert mueller russian probe citing "the evidence not in our judgment evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the president violated the obstruction of justice statute." robert mueller, howeve...

Concluded barr didnt actually rely on it for legal advice, never seriously considered charging trump, made up his mind before he commissioned the memo and that he siengned the momente after notifying congress of his decision to not prosecute trump. does that mean trump should have potentially been prosecuted? >> well, i mean, ive always believed after having read the mueller report trump should have been prosecuted and the reason trump wasnt prosecuted or the reason mueller didnt recommend trump...