Democratic AGs have history of meddling in politically sensitive cases

Rowan Scarborough

Democratic attorneys general have a history of meddling in politically sensitive cases, the official record shows. Those include Justice Department interventions under Eric H. Holder Jr. in a voter intimidation case, Loretta Lynch in the Hillary Clinton email abuse scandal, and Janet Reno on possibly illegal campaign fundraising calls by President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore...Previous attorneys general or their political appointees also have intervened in cases that appeared to help the Democratic Party. One of the Justice Department’s first actions under Mr. Holder in 2009 was to intervene in a Justice civil suit against the New Black Panther Party. The department’s Obama appointees dropped a case of voter intimidation against two Black Panthers who patrolled a Philadelphia polling place in paramilitary uniforms, one wielding a club. “Incredibly, after the case was dismissed, instructions were given that no more cases against racial minorities like the Black Panther case would be brought by the Voting Section,” wrote J. Christian Adams, who resigned as a voting rights attorney at Justice, in a Washington Times column. In 2012, a District Court judge ruled, “The documents reveal that political appointees within DOJ were conferring about the status and resolution of the New Black Panther Party case in the days preceding the DOJ’s dismissal of claims in that case, which would appear to contradict Assistant Attorney General [Tom] Perez’s testimony that political leadership was not involved in that decision.” Mr. Holder famously referred to himself as Mr. Obama’s “wing man.” He also labeled America a “nation of cowards” when it comes to race. Former FBI Director James B. Comey testified to Congress that Attorney General Loretta Lynch instructed him to refer to the investigation into former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s email abuse as a “matter,” not a criminal investigation. Mr. Comey said the characterization was the same as the one used by the Clinton camp. Ms. Lynch held a meeting with Mr. Clinton in her aircraft at the time his wife was under investigation. A new book, “Secret on the Tarmac,” asserts the meeting at the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport on June 27, 2016, was planned, not a chance encounter. A few days later, Mrs. Clinton, with a number of aides at her side, sat down for an interview with FBI agents. Mr. Comey usurped the Justice Department and unilaterally announced in July 2016 that Mrs. Clinton would not face charges for storing classified State Department emails on her home computer server. Later, the Justice Department inspector general cited Mr. Comey for insubordination. In 1997, Attorney General Janet Reno overruled FBI Director Louis J. Freeh and decided not to appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate possibly illegal campaign fund-raising calls made by Mr. Clinton, then president, and Mr. Gore, his vice president. Her decision left Mr. Gore unencumbered by an independent counsel as he ran for president...MORE

There is one big difference: Neither Clinton or Obama tweeted their concerns to the whole world.

And, of course, past abuses do not justify any current ones, but they do bring historical perspective to the issue.

Starting, say, with the infamous Palmer Raids under Woodrow Wilson, the abuse of power for political purposes has continued through all administrations, to one extent or the other. For more recent examples see Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice, and Absolute Power: The Legacy of Corruption in the Clinton-Reno Justice Department., or many other sources of your choice.