Justice Dep't Releases Unredacted Barr Memo That Saved Trump From Suit

Former Attorney General Bill Barr concluded that then-President Donald Trump couldn't be charged with obstructing the Russia probe because there wasn't an underlying conspiracy between his campaign and Russia, breaking with special counsel Robert Mueller's view on the matter, according to a newly unredacted memo released by the Justice Department, Marshall Cohen reported for CNN.

Photo Insert: Barr didn't actually rely on the memo for legal advice, never seriously considered charging Trump, already made up his mind before he commissioned the memo, and that he signed the memo after notifying Congress of his decision.

The nine-page memo was released Wednesday as part of a lawsuit over public records tied to the Mueller investigation. A highly redacted version of the memo was previously released in 2021, but a federal court ordered the Justice Department to make the full document public.

"It would be rare for federal prosecutors to bring an obstruction prosecution that did not itself arise out of a proceeding related to a separate crime," then-top Justice Department officials Steven Engel and Ed O'Callaghan wrote in the document, which concludes with a formal recommendation against charging Trump, which Barr signed and approved on March 24, 2019.

That's the same date that Barr notified Congress of his decision not to prosecute Trump, which was later criticized by Mueller and legal analysts for cherry-picking from Mueller's report. The memo contains a legal analysis that was presented to Barr.

Two federal courts involved in the public records case have concluded that Barr didn't actually rely on the memo for legal advice, never seriously considered charging Trump, already made up his mind before he commissioned the memo, and that he signed the memo after notifying Congress of his decision.

Last week, in ruling that the full memo should be released, a federal appeals court described the memo as an "academic exercise" or "thought experiment" that meant to bolster the public rollout of Barr's controversial decision against prosecuting Trump.

The lawsuit was brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a government watchdog.

In the memo, Barr's deputies critiqued Mueller's analysis of relevant obstruction cases and said Trump shouldn't be charged because, among other reasons, "there is no precedent" and claims Mueller couldn't find a single comparable case with "remotely similar circumstances."

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic