US judge orders Justice Dept to release Trump obstruction memo
Al Jazeera
Former Attorney General William Barr had obscured ‘the true purpose’ of the memo when he resisted releasing it, the judge said.
A federal judge has ordered the release of a legal memorandum the Justice Department’s legal counsel office prepared for then-Attorney General William Barr before he announced his conclusion that Trump had not obstructed justice during an investigation into Russian election meddling and possible collusion. The Justice Department had refused to give the March 24, 2019, memorandum to a government transparency group that requested it under the Freedom of Information Act, part of a larger attempt to gain a clearer understanding of the department’s decision-making leading up to Barr’s announcement. Justice officials had argued the document represented the private advice of lawyers and was produced before any formal decision had been made about whether Trump would be prosecuted. Because the memo was produced before any formal decision had been made, it was therefore exempt from disclosure under public records law, the officials argued.More Related News