DOJ Appeals Release Of Trump Obstruction Memo

The Justice Department is appealing an order to release the complete memo about whether or not President Trump obstructed the Russian investigation. Due to the appeal, some sections of the 9 page memo from 2019 will remain secret for the time being while litigation continues. The DOJ released some portions of it yesterday though they did not provide much detail about the decision former Attorney General William Barr made that Trump should be charged for any crime. If released, the full version of the memo could reveal how Trump appointees at the DOJ justified why he shouldn’t be charged even though special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation found evidence that Trump obstructed the probe repeatedly.

The decision to appeal the order made earlier this month by Judge Amy Berman Jackson is said to disappoint a number of Trump’s opponents who had hoped the latest release would reveal damaging information about the former President and his Attorney General. In the portion revealed yesterday, top Trump appointees told Barr that the Muller reports ‘failure to take a position’ on whether or not to charge Trump ‘might be read to imply such an accusation of the confidential report were released to the public’ and that they ‘recommend examining the report to determine whether prosecution would be appropriate.’