The deadline to release the Justice Department documents federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled must be revealed is Monday, May 24.
Judge Berman Jackson’s 35-page opinion in Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. U.S. Department of Justice confirmed that former Attorney General Bill Barr lied to Congress when he said that he worked with other DOJ lawyers to decide whether or not to indict then-President Donald Trump.
She didn’t release the document in early May because she gave the DOJ time to appeal her ruling if they wanted. Thus far, the DOJ hasn’t appealed, meaning they’d have to file it Monday morning or the information will be released.
In an episode of Rachel Maddow after the ruling, the MSNBC host explained that not only did Barr lie about the decision, he also created a fake paper trail to act as if there was a broader conversation with DOJ lawyers.
Calling it “a heck of a thing,” Maddow explained that the new White House has made it clear that they want to look forward, not back. At the same time, the new White House has also said that they have no intention of meddling with the Justice Department’s decisions or cases.
“Merrick Garland is the attorney general now, all new leadership at the Justice Department, all new priorities, moving forward with a million things at once, and here’s a judge saying, you know, your immediate predecessor in this job lied to me, lied to the court and lied to the American public about something as freaking serious as why the former president was not charged with crimes,” Maddow continued. “You cool with the evidence of all of that being released to the public? Because it’s coming out in two weeks unless you want to appeal my ruling.”
The question has become, if there was no actual conversation or Justice Department investigation into whether Trump should be held accountable for the obstructions of justice cited by special counsel Robert Mueller. The difference between now and then is that before Trump was president and protected by the Office of Legal Counsel decision that dictated a president couldn’t be indicted. Trump doesn’t enjoy that protection now.
There’s also a question of whether or not Barr should garner a criminal investigation for lying to the court, Congress and the American people and falsifying documents to justify his behavior.