FOCUS: Ryan Bort | Trump Has Officially Weaponized the Justice Department to Go After His Rivals

27 October 19 It's Live on the HomePage Now: Reader Supported News Dearest Readers: Marc Ash lives in the area affected by the Northern California wildfires. He is currently under an evacuation order and is packing up to leave his home as I write this fundraising message. In this uncertain and frightening time, Reader Supported News needs your help more than ever. - Angela Watters, Managing Editor of RSN. Sure, I'll make a donation! FOCUS: Ryan Bort | Trump Has Officially Weaponized the Justice Department to Go After His Rivals Ryan Bort, Rolling Stone Bort writes: "President Trump has been trying to discredit the Justice Department's investigation into his campaign's relationship with Russia for most of his presidency. His attempts to do so have mostly come through his Twitter account and yelling over Marine One on the White House lawn." EXCERPTS: It didn’t take long. When Special Counsel Robert Mueller released his findings in April, Trump and Barr teamed up to misrepresent them. The following month, Barr tapped a John H. Durham, a U.S. attorney in Connecticut, to look into the origins of the investigation. Now, the New York Times reported on Thursday, Durham’s inquiry is no longer just an inquiry; it’s officially a full-scale criminal investigation. In other words, the Justice Department is now investigating itself in service of the president’s political agenda. What those charges might be are a mystery. Trump and his allies have propagated several baseless conspiracy theories that the Russia probe was launched illegally by Democrats working in tandem with corrupt officials within the Justice Department. Most recently, Trump has hammered the idea that Russia did not actually interfere in the election (despite that this has long been the conclusion of both Congress and the intelligence community), and that Putin was framed by Democrats upset Trump won the election. If this doesn’t sound like it makes much sense, it’s because it doesn’t, and it’s frightening to consider what kind of criminal charges Durham might try to wring out of the morass of reckless speculation surrounding the investigation’s origins that the president has tried to cram into reality. None of this is surprising. Trump has made it clear since taking office that he sees the Justice Department as a tool to carry out his personal agenda. He repeatedly attacked Jeff Sessions, his first attorney general, for not doing more to stymie the Russia investigation, ultimately forcing his resignation. His subsequent nomination of Barr, a noted critic of the investigation who had demonstrated extreme views on executive privilege, was considered a play to take a more offensive stance toward the inquiry. Launching a criminal investigation into the origins of the investigation certainly qualifies. READ MORE Contribute to RSN Update My Monthly Donation