HARTMANN Joining the Barr U.S. Attorney General William Barr called in St. Louis’ top fed to fight Trump’s battle BY RAY HARTMANN
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he most powerful law-enforcement o cial in St. ouis has been appointed by Attorney General illiam Barr to participate in resident Donald Trump’s relentless assault on democracy. I’m guessing you haven’t heard much about it. But you might want to grab some popcorn. The St. ouisan is effrey ensen, who holds the formidable position of .S. Attorney in the astern District of issouri. He was
appointed by Trump in . n February , Barr chose ensen to join a Department of ustice (D prosecutor in a review of the case of t. Gen ichael Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI more than two years ago. Flynn should have long since been sentenced. ow, his saving grace might be the timing of Trump’s march to monarchy. Since Trump was unshackled from the chains of impeachment by his epublican Senate servants, he has deployed his Twitter account, million followers strong, to wreak havoc on perceived enemies. True to his lifelong mantra — I can do whatever I want — Trump is e ploring uncharted presidential territory by attacking judges, prosecutors, jurors and witnesses who dare cross him in the judicial system. Trump chastised and tried to intimidate .S. District udge Amy Berman ackson as she deliberated on the case of his slea y old
pal oger Stone. After she ignored Trump and gave the felon a richly deserved month prison sentence, the president pouted publicly, angry about how that inevitable pardon will look for him. It’s always about him. The ne t felon up for Trump’s grace would be Flynn, who has conveniently discovered, two years after the fact, that his guilty pleas were actually the work of FBI ventriloquists or some other Deep State plot. So, of course, Barr has decided to investigate his own department’s handling of the Flynn case. ven the ultra conservative Washington Times offered Internal ustice Department reviews of cases are e ceedingly rare and likely to raise a whole new round of questions about political interference by top o cials. That’s not so promising for ensen. hen Flynn confessed to lying to the FBI way back on December , , it wasn’t for parking violations. Flynn admitted he lied to
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cover up his conversations with ussian ambassador Sergey islyak on the subjects of .S. sanctions against ussia and a . . resolution condemning Israeli settlements that ared ushner was trying, hopelessly, to get ussia to oppose. .S. District udge mmet Sullivan thought this serious enough that he told Flynn in late 8 ou sold your country out, adding I’m not hiding my disgust, my disdain for this criminal offense. ow our hometown guy has been tasked by Barr to discover that it’s much ado about nothing. Getting linked with Barr cannot be good for ensen. Barr’s resignation was recently demanded in a scorching bipartisan letter from an astonishing , former federal prosecutors, who warned that governments that use the enormous power of law enforcement to punish their enemies and reward their allies are not constitutional republics; they are autocracies.
FEBRUARY 26-MARCH 3, 2020
Continued on pg 8
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