Atty General Sessions May Use Outside Counsel to Investigate Holder/Lynch DOJ
Like a musty old house that was used as a trash dump, the Justice Department needs major cleaning up. As does much of the government. But the DOJ remains more mission critical. And as it clear, there is no honeymoon for President Trump. And scandals will be constantly generated and drip fed. The only way to fix that is to dig up and bring out all the dirt on Obama’s people into the light of day.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday that he would be open to bringing in an outside counselor to investigate the practices of his Department of Justice predecessors under former President Barack Obama.
Sessions was asked about such an arrangement during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt,
Who suggested that Sessions might ask outside counsel to look into the department under Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch.
That counsel, Hewitt suggested, would have “authority to bring charges if underlying crimes were uncovered.”
Sessions is also signaling that the era of the pro-crime DOJ is over.
In a memo sent to federal prosecutors nationwide Wednesday, Sessions called on them to crack down on violent crime. .
However, another passage in the directive says changes in Justice Department charging policies are in the offing.
“I encourage you to employ the full complement of federal law to address the problem of violent crime in your district,” Sessions wrote. “Further guidance and support in executing this priority — including an updated memo on charging for all criminal cases— will be forthcoming.”
Legal experts said the language indicates that Sessions is planning to make significant revisions to policies Attorney General Eric Holder issued in 2010 backing away from prior directions that prosecutors seek the most serious viable charges in every case and in 2013 calling for prosecutors to avoid seeking mandatory minimum sentences in some cases by leaving the quantity of drugs seized out of charging documents.
There’s a new sheriff in town.
