Bar Association Urges Barr To Recuse From Ukraine Case

@alexvhenderson
Bar Association Urges Barr To Recuse From Ukraine Case

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

The New York Bar Association has asked Attorney General William Barr to immediately recuse himself from any matters pertaining to President Donald Trump’s Ukraine scandal, believing that any further involvement would be a conflict of interest on the part of the head of the Justice Department.

In a statement Wednesday, the association explained: “Despite this commitment to the role of the attorney general, Mr. Barr’s actions in office have failed in precisely the role that he described with eloquence when nominated. That failure has jeopardized the confidence that the public can reasonably have in the DOJ as the place ‘where the rule of law, not politics, holds sway.’”

The statement goes on to assert, “Our concern has been brought to a head by Mr. Barr’s failure to recuse himself from the DOJ’s review — itself of uncertain propriety — of the ongoing ‘whistleblower’ complaint with respect to the president’s efforts during his July 25, 2019 telephone call to request the Republic of Ukraine to investigate Mr. Trump’s allegations of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections and former Vice President Biden and his son.”

Barr has often been criticized for conducting himself like a Trump loyalist, and the New York Bar Association makes the same complaint — asserting that Barr’s “actions during his brief tenure in office have demonstrated to us that, contrary to the responsibilities of his office, he appears to view his primary obligation as loyalty to the president individually rather than to the nation. In serving the president, he has been willing to take or countenance actions that are contrary to the professional standards of the DOJ, his oath of office and his own obligations as an attorney.”

AlterNet reached out to the Justice Department for comment on this story, but it did not receive a reply.

Advertising

Start your day with National Memo Newsletter

Know first.

The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning

FBI Agents Probe Justice Barrett's 'Christian' Cult Over Sex Abuse Charges

Justice Amy Coney Barrett

When former President Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett for the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020, her critics were disturbed by her association with People of Praise — a far-right Christian group that combines Catholicism with elements of evangelical fundamentalist Protestantism.

Keep reading...Show less
Remembering A Great American: Edwin Fancher, 1923-2023

Norman Mailer, seated, Ed Fancher and Dan Wolf, founders of The Village Voice

If you are lucky in your life, you come to know one or two people who made you who you are other than your parents who gave you the extraordinary gift of life. Edwin Fancher, who it is my sad duty to inform you died last Wednesday in his apartment on Gramercy Park at the age of 100, is one such person in my life. He was one of the three founders of The Village Voice, the Greenwich Village weekly that became known as the nation’s first alternative newspaper. The Voice, and he, were so much more than that.

Keep reading...Show less
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}