One of former special counsel Robert Mueller's top prosecutors urged Justice Department officials to consider refusing to cooperate with two politically charged investigations overseen by Attorney General William Barr.
He wrote, along with former Defense Department special counsel Ryan Goodman, that U.S. Attorney John Durham's criminal inquiry into the Russia investigation and U.S. Attorney John Bash's investigation into "unmasking" requests by Obama administration officials targeting Trump associates shows Barr is poised to "trample" written policy that no action be influenced in by politics and an unwritten norm urging officials to defer publicly charging or taking any other overt investigative steps or disclosures that could affect a coming election.
"Justice Department employees," they wrote, "in meeting their ethical and legal obligations, should be well advised not to participate in any such effort."
The Justice Department has repeatedly signaled they expect "developments" in Durham's investigation by the end of the summer, and Barr disputed in congressional testimony last week the notion that any findings brought forth will be covered by politics and stressed they will not disrupt the election.
Just as Barr's critics fear an "October Surprise" of sorts, often pointing to how Barr has already said Durham's findings are "very troubling," timing is also a mounting concern for the president's allies who say the federal prosecutor's work will likely get buried should Trump lose his bid for reelection. But Weissmann and Goodman argued there is no "urgency" to make any disclosures or bring charges that they say could be brought in November after the election.
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They will reap their reward. They caused it. They shall see it all come out. And they shall lose.