6/10/21 The DOJ Went Wild Under Bill Barr, Says CNN Lawyer

The Trump Justice Department went well beyond traditional limits to whitewash Trump operatives and otherwise cater to the whims of the Liar in Chief. At the same time, Justice tried to cloak its actions to minimize pushback from the public.

Among the more egregious examples is the DOJ's grab for information about emails to and from CNN reporter Barbara Starr. CNN lawyer David Vigilante described how it happened: One day in July 2020, without warning, he received a gag order along with the DOJ's demands for information, which were specifically for email header information. (The email header tells you everything about the email except what it actually says -- where it came from, what browser was used, how it was sent, and so forth.)

The gag order meant that Vigilante couldn't tell anyone about the DOJ's request aside from lawyers outside CNN. "I was told in no uncertain terms (multiple times) that I was forbidden from communicating about any aspect of the order or these proceedings to the journalist whose interests I am duty-bound to protect, Barbara Starr," says Vigilante in the article linked below. "I was further informed that if I violated the order, I was subject to charges of contempt and even criminal prosecution for obstruction of justice."

Usually, secret orders involve national security. This one didn't. Usually, the orders have to provide advance notice to the subject of the request, in this case Barbara Starr. But Vigilante couldn't tell Starr until mid-May of 2021. While Vigilante sought to make the request more manageable, he learned bit by bit what he wasn't allowed to know:

• What the investigation was about.

• Who were the subject(s) of the investigation were.

• The subject matter of the reporting that was at issue.

• When the investigation was opened.

• They weren't supposed to talk to the reporter either before or after CNN provided the requested information.

"In short," Vigilante says, "All the tools lawyers use every day to navigate these situations were refused to us."

After several rounds of lawsuit and countersuit, Vicente eventually learned from a judge's remarks that the information the government wanted was untethered to the facts of the case.

Now, Vicente wants to make sure that the sordid tale won't be repeated. He and representatives from the New York Times and Washington Post are scheduled to take it up with the Attorney General soon.

 

Can you imagine having Trump-era discourtesies become the norm for Department of Justice investigations?

Should the DOJ be subject to a type of "sunshine law?"

Do you agree with any of the DOJ's actions in this case?

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/09/politics/david-vigilante-cnn-email-secret-court-battle/index.html?fbclid=IwAR21kIvIa61EgLdtrQO8YvrDrYjd2yZfpDIWTV3rW6flNhSlYmUvU8QeOG4