On February 13th Attorney General Barr complained that Trump’s tweets “make it impossible for me to do my job.” He directly said, “it’s time to stop the tweeting about Department of Justice criminal cases.” The presumption was that Barr was referring to Trump’s numerous comments interfering in the sentencing process for Roger Stone. However, Barr may have also been referring to another case.
The very next day, the Department of Justice formally announced that it was closing its investigation of Andrew McCabe. In Trump world, McCabe was one of the great Deep State Satans. They imagined him responsible for the FISA abuses and believed with this investigation they had him. Trump world was convinced that McCabe leaked confidential information, then lied to the FBI about it. Their position was not wholly without merit (unlike most of their claims). McCabe himself admitted he lacked full candor with investigators, and an internal OIG investigation found that lack of candor violated internal policy. In Trump world, this was a chance to strike back against the Deep State, a balancing of the scales for the prosecutions of Flynn, Manafort, Stone, and so many others.
So imagine their disappointment when the DOJ announced no prosecution of McCabe. Most are in denial, just FYI, convinced this is a mere trick by the good guys to set up bigger things. It’s not a trick, and they may have their hero Trump to blame.
The non-prosecution announcement declined to prosecute “based on the totality of the circumstances.” Those circumstances were explained later in the day.
Not so coincidentally, the DOJ’s decision to not prosecute was announced on the deadline to release previously sealed documents in the case. Those documents include a status conference with the judge in the case. In that remarkable status conference, the judge expresses his concern that the entire case against McCabe is part of a political vendetta by Trump.
“The public is listening to what’s going on, and I don’t think people like the fact that you got somebody at the top basically trying to dictate whether somebody should be prosecuted … I just think it’s a banana republic when we go down that road, I think there are a lot of people on the outside who perceive that there is undue inappropriate pressure being brought to bear … It’s just, it’s very disturbing that we’re in the mess that we’re in in that regard.” — Judge Reggie Walton
The judge went on to actually express sympathy for the awkward position this put prosecutors in, and how glad he is that when he was in their shoes he did not have to put up with such nonsense.
“I’m just happy when I was in the Justice Department those type of things were not taking place that were putting either perceived or actual pressure on the office as to whether you prosecute somebody for a criminal offense. I’m happy I never had to endure that.”
For the record, this judge was appointed to the Federal District Court by George W. Bush. Prior to that Ronald Reagan appointed him to a District of Columbia court position.
Trump’s pressure to prosecute McCabe had been unrelenting and clear and over the top.