Trump calls on Barr to appoint special prosecutor to investigate Bidens before Election Day
Category: News & Politics
Via: tessylo • 4 years ago • 16 commentsBy: Dylan Stableford and Hunter Walker, Yahoo News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Trump has repeatedly railed against his attorney general for failing to “lock up” Democrats for alleged crimes, including “spying” on his 2016 campaign. In an interview with Fox Business earlier this month, Trump said that history would look poorly on Barr if he does not prosecute Hillary Clinton and other members of the Obama administration, including Joe Biden. “Bill Barr is going to go down as either the greatest attorney general in the history of the country, or he’s going to go down as, you know, a very sad situation,” Trump said then. But Tuesday was the first time he publicly demanded Barr start an investigation before Nov. 3.
Trump, who trails Biden in virtually every national poll, has sought in recent days to magnify a New York Post report — citing unverified emails reportedly taken from Hunter Biden’s laptop hard drive — alleging that Hunter tried to introduce a Ukrainian businessman to his father when Joe Biden was the vice president. The Biden campaign said a review of the elder Biden’s calendars shows no record that a meeting ever occurred. The FBI has reportedly probed whether the emails are part of a Russian disinformation campaign to interfere in the 2020 election, as dozens of former intelligence officials suspect. More than 50 former senior intel officials signed a letter outlining their belief that the recent disclosure of the emails “has all the classic earmarks” of a Russian disinformation operation.
Nonetheless, John Ratcliffe, Trump’s director of national intelligence, has said the emails are not part of a Russian disinformation campaign, and nearly a dozen House Republicans have demanded the Justice Department assign a special prosecutor to investigate the case. In a letter to Barr , 11 GOP lawmakers, including Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Paul Gosar of Arizona and Ted Yoho of Florida, said it was “imperative” that there be “a full accounting of former Vice President Biden’s dealings with his son and his son’s business partners, and if the former vice president misused his office for personal gain.” “If these reports about former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, are true, the former vice president fell far short of his responsibility to uphold his constitutional oath and betrayed the sacred trust of the American people,” the letter reads.
A Trump ally told Yahoo News that last week there were conversations inside the White House and inside Justice about appointing a special counsel to investigate the Bidens. According to the ally, the thinking was that the Justice Department could appoint “somebody above reproach, above partisanship,” such as a former FBI director or prosecutor who had been appointed in a Democratic administration.
The ally also noted that Biden would be unable to interfere with any special prosecutor even if he defeats Trump. With polls showing Biden leading both nationally and in key states, the Trump ally argued that, if Biden does win, a special counsel probe would ensure “his presidency is sidelined before it even starts.”
A source close to Trump was dubious that Barr would be open to naming a special counsel to look into Biden. They cited Barr’s handling of the U.S. attorney John Durham’s probe of roots of the FBI investigation into Trump’s campaign, and the fact any new investigation would likely be highly controversial if it began in the home stretch of the presidential race.
“Barr’s not going to do anything this close to an election,” the source said.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Biden campaign, for its part, has continued to challenge the legitimacy of the allegations.
“Investigations by the press, during impeachment, and even by two Republican-led Senate committees, whose work was decried as ‘not legitimate’ and political by a GOP colleague, have all reached the same conclusion: that Joe Biden carried out official U.S. policy toward Ukraine and engaged in no wrongdoing,” Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said. “Trump administration officials have attested to these facts under oath.”
Updated: This piece was updated to include quotes from a source.
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The 'president' is desperate, deplorable, and disgusting.
Attempting to have his politically biased Justice Dept announce a hokey "investigation" of his election opponent days before the election is one of the most outrageous actions in US political history. I have been thinking it would be better for national unity to not prosecute Trump once he leaves office, but I am changing my mind about that.
"Trump, who trails Biden in virtually every national poll, has sought in recent days to magnify a New York Post report — citing unverified emails reportedly taken from Hunter Biden’s laptop hard drive — alleging that Hunter tried to introduce a Ukrainian businessman to his father when Joe Biden was the vice president. The Biden campaign said a review of the elder Biden’s calendars shows no record that a meeting ever occurred. The FBI has reportedly probed whether the emails are part of a Russian disinformation campaign to interfere in the 2020 election, as dozens of former intelligence officials suspect. More than 50 former senior intel officials signed a letter outlining their belief that the recent disclosure of the emails “has all the classic earmarks” of a Russian disinformation operation."
The Russians are not involved....provide verifiable proof if you think otherwise.
That they believe in some "classic earmarks" isn't adequate
Russian interference in the 2020 United States elections is an ongoing matter of concern at the highest level of national security within the United States government, in addition to the computer and social media industries. [1] [2] In February and August 2020, United States Intelligence Community experts warned members of Congress that Russia is interfering in the 2020 presidential election in President Donald Trump 's favor. [3] [4] [5]
If Trump wins America will become Belarus. Never believe ( that ) can't happen here. The Trump base is strong, angry and desires a revenge for something it can not identify.
Witch hunt. Hoax. It's a joke.
Obviously trump is desperate. He and his shills are steadily throwing shit at the walls hoping for something to stick. This is nothing more than wikileaks before the 2016 election. Trump knows he can't win a fair and honest election.
Barr is an idiot but even he knows that if he does what Trump is demanding, he is toast.