Barr’s Secret Memo on Not Charging Trump Must Be Made Public, Judge Rules
LET’S SEE IT
A federal judge ruled that the decision not to charge Trump with crimes found by Mueller’s probe had already been made by the time the memo was written, so it should be released.
The Trump Justice Department tried its hardest to keep it a secret—but we may soon see a memo that could shed new light on William Barr’s decision not to charge Donald Trump with a crime at the climax of the Mueller investigation. Barr’s Justice Department had argued in court that the memo should be kept private because it contained the legal advice that the then-attorney general had used to make his decision. However, according to CNN, federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled late Monday that the decision not to charge Trump had already been made by the time the memo was written, so it can be made public. The judge said the memo offers “strategic, as opposed to legal advice” to Barr, and accused his Justice Department of attempting to “obscure the true purpose of the memorandum” in order to keep it secret. Jackson added that the department “has been disingenuous to this court” in its attempts to shield the memo from public view. Neither Barr nor the Justice Department, now under the leadership of Merrick Garland, has commented on the ruling.
