Barr Resignation Caps Controversial Term
Paul Rosenzweig, a former Justice Department official now with the R Street Institute, a libertarian and conservative think tank, said he shared that initial view of Barr.
“I thought that he would restore integrity to the Department of Justice and like many other lawyers I’m bitterly disappointed,” Rosenzweig said in an interview. “I don’t know whether I misjudged him, or he changed.”
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Rosenzweig said Barr’s efforts on behalf of Trump undermined the Justice Department’s post-Watergate tradition of independence and demoralized the agency rank and file. In February 2020, after Barr overruled prosecutors’ recommendation of a lengthy sentence for Stone, more than 1,000 former DOJ officials called for his resignation.
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Rosenzweig said the future attorney general has their work cut out for them. “He’s got to restore the culture, review what has happened before, change procedures, and institute rules that make it harder, for example for political interference,” Rosenzweig said. “It’s not an easy task.”
