A new report by The New York Times revealed on Thursday how Attorney General William Barr tried to interfere in the case of Donald Trump’s former “fixer” and personal attorney Michael Cohen — even after he had pleaded guilty.
“Shortly after he became attorney general last year, William P. Barr set out to challenge a signature criminal case that touched President Trump’s inner circle directly, and even the president’s own actions: the prosecution of Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s longtime fixer,” reported Benjamin Weiser, Ben Protess, Katie Benner and William K. Rashbaum. “The debate between Mr. Barr and the federal prosecutors who brought the case against Mr. Cohen was one of the first signs of a tense relationship that culminated last weekend in the abrupt ouster of Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney in Manhattan. It also foreshadowed Mr. Barr’s intervention in the prosecutions of other associates of Mr. Trump.”
“At one point during the discussions, Mr. Barr instructed Justice Department officials in Washington to draft a memo outlining legal arguments that could have raised questions about Mr. Cohen’s conviction and undercut similar prosecutions in the future, according to the people briefed on the matter,” continued the report. “The prosecutors in New York resisted the effort, the people said, and a Justice Department official said Mr. Barr did not instruct them to withdraw the case.”
As the Times notes, Cohen’s plea deal was made in 2018, prior to Barr being sworn in.
You can read the full report HERE.
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