Hartmann

Joining the Barr

U.S. Attorney General William Barr called in St. Louis’ top fed to fight Trump’s battle

BY RAY HARTMANN

The most powerful law-enforcement oɚcial in St. /ouis has been appointed by Attorney General :illiam Barr to participate in 3resident 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 8.S. Attorney in the (astern District of 0issouri. He was

HARTMANN

appointed by Trump in .

2n February , Barr chose -ensen to join a Department of -ustice (D2- prosecutor in a Ȋreviewȋ of the case of /t. Gen 0ichael 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. 1ow, his saving grace might be the timing of Trump’s march to monarchy.

Since Trump was unshackled from the chains of impeachment by his 5epublican Senate servants, he has deployed his Twitter account,  million followers strong, to wreak havoc on perceived enemies. True to his lifelong mantra — ȊI can do whatever I wantȋ — 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 8.S. District -udge Amy Berman -ackson as she deliberated on the case of his slea]y old

pal 5oger 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 ȊDeep Stateȋ plot. So, of course, Barr has decided to investigate his own department’s handling of the Flynn case.

(ven the ultraconservative Washington Times offered ȊInternal -ustice Department reviews of cases are e[ceedingly rare and likely to raise a whole new round of questions about political interference by top oɚcials.ȋ 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 cover up his conversations with 5ussian ambassador Sergey .islyak on the subjects of 8.S. sanctions against 5ussia and a 8.1. resolution condemning Israeli settlements that -ared .ushner was trying, hopelessly, to get 5ussia to oppose.

8.S. District -udge (mmet Sullivan thought this serious enough that he told Flynn in late 8 Ȋ<ou sold your country out,ȋ adding ȊI’m not hiding my disgust, my disdain for this criminal offense.ȋ 1ow 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 Ȋgovernments that use the enormous power of law enforcement to punish their enemies and reward their allies are not constitutional republics; they are autocracies.ȋ Continued on pg 8

They called Barr Ȋunfit.ȋ

Two of the signers are prominent St. /ouis attorneys former 8.S. Attorney (d Dowd -r. and Ambassador .evin 2’0alley. The service of each spanned four presidencies, across party lines. 2’0alley, who also served as 3resident 2bama’s envoy to Ireland, doesn’t mince words.

ȊI see no reason on the record available to the public to reopen Flynn’s guilty plea,ȋ 2’0alley says. ȊHe has already told the judge twice under oath that he lied to the FBI, once at the guilty plea and again at sentencing.ȋ

2’0alley adds, ȊI’m not suspicious of -eff, but I am suspicious of the mission.ȋ But he’s way beyond suspicion regarding Flynn

ȊIn my view, if a star general is saying he was tricked into lying during a noncustodial interview at his own oɚce by two FBI agents — and then pressured by a federal district judge to again lie openly under oath — then the problem is not with the criminal justice system, but with our system of military training.ȋ

From the hometown perch in St. /ouis, it’s unclear why Barr put in a call to the bullpen for -ensen. True, he had a tenyear career as an FBI agent before becoming a lawyer and prosecutor, and in normal times that might have factored into his selection. But there’s nothing normal happening here. -ensen’s selection has received surprisingly little coverage at home — just passing news items in the Business Journal and at .SD..com — and there seems more curiosity nationally than in St. /ouis about why Barr cast a good guy like -ensen into such a bad movie as Flynn’s.

The most e[pansive look came from an Associated Press story picked up in the New York Times and other places nationally, but not in St. /ouis. It cited three glowing character references for -ensen former 8.S. Attorney &atherine Hanaway, :ashington 8niversity adjunct law professor David 5osen and, yes, colorful local attorney Al :atkins.

Hanaway, -ensen’s former boss and (later a law partner, unsurprisingly said ȊHe’s fair and unbiased, and he’s going to do the right thing.ȋ 5osen, who worked with -ensen as a prosecutor, assured that -ensen would Ȋdo his very bestȋ to keep his work independent of politics. And :atkins called -ensen Ȋa straight shooter.

Ambassador Kevin O’Malley: “I’m not suspicious of Jeff, but I am suspicious of the mission.”

His word is good. :hen he says something, you can count on it. He’s rock solid.ȋ

To be honest, I wouldn’t have seen that last one coming. :atkins is better known for receiving briefcases than briefs in 5epublican circles lately, so his appearance on behalf of -ensen was une[pected. But fun.

There’s plenty of irony to go around here. Trump’s world is nothing if it’s not about condoning and spreading corruption, and it was -ensen’s oɚce that sent St. /ouis &ounty ([ecutive Steve Stenger to prison for that very thing.

0any people who followed the Stenger case probably associate it with Hal Goldsmith, the prosecutor who -ensen brought in for the job, rather than -ensen himself. That speaks to another reason -ensen seems an odd fit for the task at hand He doesn’t seem all that fond of the spotlight.

-ensen has taken some bows for restructuring his oɚce to combat St. /ouis violent crime in general, and gangs and drug dealers in particular. But he is also a man of relatively few press conferences. How’s that going to work on the big stage"

It’s hard to see how this ends well for -ensen, although only time will tell. If he stays true to those testimonials about doing the right thing, resisting politics and shooting straight, can he really say Ȋnothing to see hereȋ with respect to the lying scoundrel Flynn" 2n the other hand, anything less compliant won’t sit well with the Boss. -eff -ensen has built himself a fine reputation in St. /ouis. But if he fulfills the mission for which Barr has tasked him, he might find himself coming home without it. n

Ray Hartmann founded the Riverfront Times in 1977. Contact him at rhartmann@sbcglobal.net or catch him on St. Louis In the Know with Ray Hartmann from 9 to 11 p.m. Monday thru Friday on KTRS (550 AM).