WASHINGTON -- While Attorney General William Barr asserted his independence from the White House this week, he has also been quietly intervening in a series of politically charged cases, including against Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, people familiar with
WASHINGTON — While Attorney General William Barr asserted his independence from the White House this week, he has also been quietly intervening in a series of politically charged cases, including against Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, people familiar with the matter said Friday.
Hours later, the Justice Department told defense lawyers for Andrew McCabe, the former acting FBI director who Trump has vilified for his role in the Russia case, that McCabe would not be charged in connection with a leak case, ending a nearly two-year criminal investigation.Together, the developments send conflicting signals at a time when the Justice Department’s independence from political interference by the White House has come under sharp scrutiny.
Barr installed the outside lawyers at the start of February and put them in a position to second-guess decisions on those cases, people familiar with the office’s workings said. Among the outsiders were Jeff Jensen, who Trump appointed as the U.S. attorney in St. Louis in 2017, and aides to Jeffrey A. Rosen, the deputy attorney general.
Among the most politically charged is the case against Flynn, which Jensen is said to now be overseeing. Flynn’s case had been developed during the Russia investigation by the office of the special counsel, Robert Mueller, and was handed off to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington after Mueller completed his investigation.
“The defendant relies on allegations that do not pertain to his case, that the court already rejected, and that have no relevance to his false statements to the FBI,” prosecutors wrote in a filing Wednesday. Prosecutors in the Washington office told McCabe’s lawyers of their decision Friday morning, the lawyers, Michael R. Bromwich and David Schertler, said in a statement.
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