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Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec on Thursday hit back at House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler\u2019s threat to potentially seek impeachment<\/a>\u00a0against\u00a0Attorney General Bill Barr, slamming the suggestion as simply a \u201cpolitical thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nadler<\/a>, D-N.Y., suggested this week that his committee \u201cmay very well\u201d initiate impeachment proceedings, amid his panel\u2019s broad investigation into the alleged \u201cunprecedented politicization\u201d of the Justice Department under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

BARR TO TESTIFY BEFORE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE JULY 28<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

But Kupec, during an interview on \u201cFox & Friends\u201d Thursday morning, cast his threat as a \u201cpolitical thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people have a problem with Bill Barr coming back to the Department of Justice to restore one system of justice, not a two-tiered system, I think that says a lot more about the critics than it does about the attorney general,\u201d Kupec said. \u201cBecause that is what he has done again and again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe approaches all cases with an open mind. He judges them according to the facts and the law without regard to political consideration,\u201d Kupec continued. \u201cThis is what he promised to at his confirmation, this is what he has done throughout his tenure as attorney general, and that is what he will continue to do until his last day as AG.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kupec confirmed Thursday that Barr accepted an invitation to testify before Nadler\u2019s committee next month, on July 28, after Nadler threatened to subpoena him and compel his testimony.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Nadler held a hearing featuring two Justice Department officials\u00a0who criticized Barr\u2019s leadership. Following the hearing, Nadler suggested impeachment was an option.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the weight of the evidence and of what\u2019s happened leads to that conclusion,\u201d Nadler<\/a> told CNN.<\/p>\n

Aaron S.J. Zelinsky, an assistant U.S. attorney, testified before Nadler\u2019s committee Wednesday and said that the DOJ\u2019s handling of the sentencing for longtime Trump confidant\u00a0Roger Stone was treated \u201cdifferently from everyone else\u201d because of his relationship with President Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I saw was the Department of Justice Exerting significant pressure on the line prosecutors in the case to obscure the correct Sentencing Guidelines calculation to which Roger Stone was subject — and to water down and in some cases outright distort the events that transpired in his trial and the criminal conduct that gave rise to his conviction,\u201d Zelinsky said in written testimony.<\/p>\n

APPEALS COURT ORDERS FLYNN CASE DISMISSAL<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSuch pressure resulted in the virtually unprecedented decision to override the original sentencing recommendation in his case and to file a new sentencing memorandum that included statements and assertions at odds with the record and contrary to Department of Justice policy,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWhat I heard — repeatedly —\u00a0was that Roger Stone was being treated differently from any other defendant because of his relationship to the president.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stone, in February, was sentenced to three years in prison, after being convicted in November 2019 on seven counts of obstruction, witness tampering and making false statements to Congress on charges that stemmed from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s investigation.<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of 87 to 108 months for the charges, but in a reversal, senior leadership at the Justice Department, including Barr,\u00a0overruled and scaled back<\/a> their recommended\u00a0prison sentence. The sentence, as is customary, was ultimately determined by the federal judge in the case.<\/p>\n

Stone has yet to report to prison because of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

But Kupec, on Thursday, called Zelinsky\u2019s claims \u201cridiculous on its face.\u201d<\/p>\n

PROSECUTOR TO TESTIFY STONE CASE WAS HANDLED IN ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ WAY, UNDER ‘POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Zelinsky\u2014 a line prosecutor, a low-level prosecutor\u2014had no interaction with the attorney general or political leadership,\u201d she said. \u201cHe is making these accusations based on hearsay, at best. He has no first-hand knowledge of what he\u2019s talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that the initial sentencing recommendation for Stone was considered \u201cexcessive\u201d by Barr, and that he felt that it \u201cwas not consistent with other cases\u201d and suggested leaving it to the judge.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what did the judge ultimately do?\u201d Kupec said. \u201cThis judge cut in half the recommendation of those original prosecutors, which was completely consistent with what the attorney general recommended, so there was vindication there.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cIt\u2019s really as simple as that\u2014but certainly\u2014in the interest of fairness and even-handed justice and one system of justice, the attorney general did the right thing\u2014whether it\u2019s for Mr. Stone or any other cases that are brought before him.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also said the DOJ is “pleased” with a federal appeals court order a day earlier to allow the case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to be dismissed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He had pleaded guilty to lying to investigators as part of the Russia probe, but the DOJ later abandoned the case citing problems with the investigation, even as Democrats cited the move as further evidence of politicizing the department.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec on Thursday hit back at House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler\u2019s threat to potentially seek impeachment\u00a0against\u00a0Attorney General Bill Barr, slamming the suggestion as simply a \u201cpolitical thing.\u201dNadler, D-N.Y., suggested this week that his committee \u201cmay very well\u201d initiate impeachment proceedings, amid his panel\u2019s broad investigation into the alleged \u201cunprecedented politicization\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[3278,1064],"class_list":{"0":"post-47965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-nadler","9":"tag-threat"},"yoast_head":"\n