John,
Almost every day we learn new, outrageous information about the Trump administration’s corruption. But sometimes, it’s the things that we don’t know that are the most concerning. This is the story of one of those times.
Last week, the Department of Justice turned over a heavily redacted version of one of the most important legal documents the American people have never seen: the justification for not charging Trump with obstruction of justice. But despite the importance of the memo, DOJ refuses to make its full reasoning available to the public.
DOJ only released the redacted memo to CREW after extensive litigation, and they only gave us two pages out of nine. We know that it explains the legal reasoning behind Attorney General Barr’s suspect claim that “the evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s [Robert Mueller’s] investigation is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.” President Trump relied on Barr’s statement to claim “No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION.”
But if Barr and Trump are so confident in Trump’s supposed exoneration, why are they continuing to hide the legal reasoning from the American people? Read more here.
One possibility is that the memo would not withstand scrutiny from legal experts. Another possibility is that it contributes to a body of evidence suggesting that Barr was hand-picked by Trump to discredit and undermine Mueller’s investigation and findings. Until we can read the memo for ourselves, we will never know.
The fact that the attorney general could clear the president for a crime without fully explaining his reasoning is absurd. If you agree, share CREW’s analysis on Facebook, Twitter, or by sharing this email.
Our lawsuit against the DOJ is ongoing, and we continue to fight for release of the full memo, and will keep you updated as we learn more. We will keep fighting for answers for as long as it takes.
Thank you for standing with us,
Anne Weismann
Chief FOIA Counsel, CREW
