Justice’s election-year conundrum: How to probe team Trump – POLITICO

The ghosts of 2016 stick around. DOJ and FBI leaders are still weathering bipartisan scorn for their handling of dueling election-year probes into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and the Trump project’s Russia connections.

Attorney General William Barr has actually struggled to keep the department’s historical reputation for self-reliance. The confusion began in late September when a department spokeswoman, Kerri Kupec, provided a declaration stating Trump had been cleared of any campaign financing violations that may stem from his July 25 call with Ukraine’s brand-new leader, Volodymyr Zelensky. Legal experts and numerous Democratic legislators state those other issues could include a conspiracy to commit bribery and extortion by conditioning a main federal government act– a presidential see and the release of monetary aid– on Ukraine’s opening of political investigations that Trump thought about important.

DOJ and FBI leaders are still weathering bipartisan scorn for their handling of dueling election-year probes into Hillary Clinton’s usage of a private e-mail server and the Trump campaign’s Russia connections. Attorney General William Barr has had a hard time to keep the department’s historic reputation for independence. The confusion started in late September when a department spokesperson, Kerri Kupec, released a declaration saying Trump had been cleared of any campaign finance infractions that might stem from his July 25 call with Ukraine’s new leader, Volodymyr Zelensky. Instead, the person said Kupec was only speaking to the particular concerns the inspector general had raised after reviewing the whistleblower problem about Trump’s actions toward Ukraine. Legal experts and numerous Democratic legislators say those other problems could consist of a conspiracy to dedicate bribery and extortion by conditioning a main government act– a presidential visit and the release of monetary help– on Ukraine’s opening of political investigations that Trump considered important.

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