司法部长威廉·巴尔(William Barr)周三为司法部的独立性进行了强有力的辩护，批评称司法部的工作被用作总统的政治工具唐纳德·特朗普。
巴尔在接受美国广播公司新闻的独家采访时说:“在刑事司法中，独立性是最重要的，事实上也是最重要的——决定是否起诉人。”。
“我想听一些我们指控的人的例子，他们认为提起诉讼是不公正的，”他补充道。“我没有看到这方面的任何细节。”
在担任国家首席执法官员期间，巴尔监督了几起备受瞩目的调查，包括多起与总统2016年竞选活动有关的案件，以及由特别顾问罗伯特·穆勒领导的后续调查。
自近一年半前上任以来，巴尔一直面临着那些说他将自己的角色政治化的人的批评。这种批评可以追溯到他对穆勒调查结论的处理，包括特别顾问报告的公布。国会民主党人和前司法部官员有时要求他辞职或弹劾，理由是他的办公室被滥用于政治事务。
也许最值得注意的是，司法部长已经为他的行为吸引了特别强烈的关注对政府案件的干预反对总统的第一任国家安全顾问迈克尔·弗林。
2017年，米勒指控弗林向联邦调查人员撒谎。尽管他两次承认控罪，但在巴尔指派一名美国律师调查政府案件的起因后，司法部在五月份撤销了此案。
巴尔说:“(美国检察官)回来后说，他认为司法部没有人会起诉那个案子或指控那个案子。”。
“事实上，最近公布的文件表明，联邦调查局认为他没有撒谎。这并不是像后来说的那样，他没有说谎的迹象，”巴尔继续说道。“他们说他们不认为他说谎。他相信他所说的是真的。还有许多其他事实让我们觉得这不是一个符合我们起诉标准的案件。”
2018年12月18日，美国前国家安全顾问迈克尔·弗林在华盛顿的美国地方法院被推迟宣判后离开时，路过媒体。未定义的约书亚·罗伯茨/路透社，档案
当被问及为什么弗林两次认罪时，巴尔拒绝推测。5月，2000多名前联邦检察官要求巴尔辞职关于他们所说的他对弗林案件的不当干预。
巴尔还对特朗普的前竞选顾问、政治特工罗杰·斯通(Roger Stone)的案件做出了回应。今年2月，特朗普被判40个月监禁，此前他在11月被判妨碍司法公正、篡改证人和五项向国会撒谎的罪名成立。
巴尔重申他认为对斯通的起诉是“正义的”，并为他反对对斯通更严厉的判决的决定进行辩护，他称之为“过分的”
最近几周，斯通公开主张在他预定抵达拘留所之前进行总统干预。这位长期从事政治活动的特工最近几周充斥着社交媒体，表达了对自己被送进监狱后健康状况的担忧正在进行的冠状病毒大流行。
在推特上，特朗普有助长投机斯通的赦免或减刑可能正在进行中，他转发了一条消息，“是时候#赦免罗杰斯通了。”
巴尔说，未来的干预是“总统的特权”。
“这是总统独有的权力，”他补充道。“这肯定是他的判断。但正如我所说，我认为这是一项适当的起诉，我认为判决是公平的。”
美国广播公司的皮埃尔·托马斯采访司法部长威廉·巴尔，2020年7月8日。未知的卢克·巴尔/美国广播公司新闻
最近，巴尔因被解雇杰弗里·伯曼在纽约南部地区担任美国律师而面临批评。巴尔上个月在周五晚些时候发表声明，宣布伯曼已决定辞职，为即将离任的美国证交会委员杰伊·克莱顿(Jay Clayton)让路。巴尔还试图任命新泽西州的美国律师克雷格·卡皮尼托接替伯曼，直到克莱顿确认，但伯曼反驳巴尔说他从未打算辞职。在对如何解决这个问题有一段时间的不确定之后，巴尔转而解雇了伯曼并将办公室的控制权交给了他的副手奥黛丽·施特劳斯。
巴尔说:“这不是因为他有任何缺陷就把他赶走的问题。”。
伯曼的免职发生在任期的第二年起诉迈克尔·科恩，这个杰弗里·爱泼斯坦被捕和指控鲁迪·朱利安尼的两个同伙乌克兰弹劾调查的核心。
巴尔说，暗示伯曼因其监管下的任何正在进行的调查而被免职是“荒谬的”。
“任何了解这个部门的人都知道，即使有人想影响一个案子，你也不会通过罢免办公室主任来实现，”巴尔说。“这根本不是纽约南区或整个部门的运作方式。所以这实际上很可笑，我觉得这根本不是不改变现状的合理依据。”
伯曼将于周四出现在众议院。
Attorney General William Barr defends Justice Department against claims of politicization
Attorney General William Barr offered a forceful defense of the Justice Department's independence on Wednesday amid criticism that its work has been leveraged as a political tool for PresidentDonald Trump.
"Where independence is most important and, in fact, essential is in the administration of criminal justice -- the decisions to charge people or not charge people," Barr said in an exclusive interview with ABC News.
"I'd like to hear some examples of people we've charged that they think were unrighteous cases to bring," he added. "And I haven't seen any specifics on that."
During his tenure as the nation's chief law enforcement official, Barr has overseen several high-profile investigations, including multiple cases tied to the president's 2016 campaign and subsequent investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Since taking office nearly a year-and-a-half ago, Barr has perpetually faced criticism from those who say he has politicized his role. That criticism dates back to his handling of the Mueller probe’s conclusion, including the rollout of the special counsel’s report. Congressional Democrats and former Justice Department officials have at times called for his resignation or impeachment, citing misuse of his office for political errands.
Perhaps most notably, the attorney general has drawn particularly strong scrutiny for hisintervention in the government's caseagainst Michael Flynn, the president's first national security adviser.
In 2017, Mueller charged Flynn with one count of lying to federal investigators. Though he twice pleaded guilty to the charge, the Justice Department dropped its case in May after Barr assigned a U.S. attorney to investigate the genesis of the government's case.
"[The U.S. attorney] came back and said that he didn't think anyone in the department would prosecute that case or charge that case," Barr said.
"And in fact, the documents that have recently been released indicate that the FBI felt that he had not lied. And this was not, as later spun, that he didn't show signs of lying," Barr continued. "They said they didn't think he lied. That he believed what he was saying was true. And there are a number of other facts there that made us feel that that was not a case that met our standards of prosecution."
Pressed on why then Flynn twice pleaded guilty, Barr declined to speculate. In May, more than 2,000 former federal prosecutorscalled on Barr to resignover what they described as his improper intervention into Flynn's case.
Barr also reacted to the case of former campaign adviser to Trump, political operative Roger Stone, who in February was sentenced to 40 months in prison after he was found guilty in November of obstructing justice, witness tampering and five counts of lying to Congress.
Barr reiterated that he thought Stone's prosecution was "righteous," and defended his decision to object to a stricter sentence for Stone, which he called "excessive."
In recent weeks, Stone has publicly advocated for presidential intervention ahead of his scheduled arrival in custody. The longtime political operative has flooded social media in recent weeks expressing concern over his own health if sent to prison, citing theongoing coronavirus pandemic.
On Twitter, Trump hasfueled speculationthat a pardon or commutation of Stone's sentence may be in the works, retweeting a message, "IT'S TIME TO #PardonRogerStone."
Barr said a prospective intervention is "the president's prerogative."
"It's a unique power that the president has," he added. "And it's certainly something that is committed to his judgment. But as I say, I felt it was an appropriate prosecution and I thought the sentence was fair."
More recently, Barr has faced criticism for the dismissal of Geoffrey Berman as U.S. attorney in the powerful Southern District of New York. In statement last month, issued late on a Friday, Barr announced Berman had decided to step down from his position to make way for the president's official nominee for the post, outgoing SEC Commissioner Jay Clayton. Barr also sought to install the US attorney for New Jersey, Craig Carpenito, to replace Berman until Clayton's confirmation, but Berman contradicted Barr saying he never planned to step down. After a period of uncertainty as to how the matter would be resolved,Barr instead moved to fire Bermanand handed over control of the office to his immediate deputy, Audrey Strauss.
"This was not a question of removing him because of any deficiency on his part," Barr said.
Berman's removal came two years into a tenure that included theprosecution of Michael Cohen, thearrest of Jeffrey Epsteinand charges filed againsttwo associates of Rudy Giulianiat the heart of the Ukraine impeachment inquiry.
Barr said it would be "ludicrous" to suggest that Berman was removed as a result of any ongoing investigation under his watch.
"Anyone who knows the department knows that, even if one were interested in trying to influence a case, you wouldn't do it by removing the head of the office," Barr said. "That's simply not how the Southern District of New York or the department as a whole operates. So it's actually ludicrous and I felt it was just simply not a plausible basis for not making a change there."
Berman is slated to appear before the House of Representatives on Thursday.
