Background Briefing: June 13, 2021

On By gram

 

Abuses by Trump’s DOJ Under Sessions Then Barr Now Come to Light

We begin with revelations in The New York Times that the Trump Justice Department under Sessions then Barr secretly subpoenaed iPhone records of Trump critics Congressmen Schiff and Swalwell, their staff on the House Intelligence Committee and members of their families including a minor.  Joining us is Elie Honig, a former Assistant United States Attorney who spend eight years with the Southern District of New York and is now a legal analyst at CNN where his latest article is “Bill Barr’s despicable conduct is now on full display.” The author of the new book, out soon, Hatchet Man: How Bill Barr Broke the Prosecutor’s Code and Corrupted the Justice Department, we discuss Trump’s use of the DOJ as his own private police force using the law to undermine his critics in an attempt to discredit anyone investigating his ties to Russia and Putin. We will examine the role of Congressman Devin Nunes and his sidekicks Cash Patel and Ezra Cohen Watnick, who were later promoted by Trump to top jobs in the Intelligence Community and at the Department of Defense. They appear to have set up Swalwell and Schiff, who was the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee at the time, as the leakers in order to discredit them and distract the focus away from Trump’s collusion with Russia.  

 

Will Sessions, Rosenstein and Barr Ever Answer For Their Conduct Before Congress?

Then we examine further the corruption of the DOJ under the ruinous regime of Donald Trump who always wanted his Roy Cohn and found him with Bill Barr.  Bill Yeomans, a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School who served for 26 years in the Department of Justice, including as acting Assistant Attorney General, joins us to assess what can be done with officials inside the DOJ who did Trump’s bidding in violation of their own code of conduct, and whether Barr will ever appear before Congress to answer for his destructive role as Trump’s chief enabler.

 

Republicans Resist Raising Taxes on the Rich to Pay For Infrastructure

Then finally we speak with Frank Clemente, Executive Director and co-founder of Americans for Tax Fairness who commissioned a new poll that found by a 29 point margin, voters say raising taxes on the wealthy helps the economy. Following recent revelations by ProPublica from IRS leaks that show how the super-rich are richer than ever and pay less taxes than ever, we discuss how raising taxes to pay for infrastructure is what the real battle with Republicans in the Senate is all about and we will also investigate the proposals for surtaxes on the super-rich from Senators Warren and Van Hollen.