In what legal experts are calling an "extraordinary" opinion, a federal judge found Thursday that Attorney General William Barr exhibited such an egregious "lack of candor" that Barr's redactions of the Mueller report must be reviewed for accuracy.
Impugning Barr's "credibility," Judge Reggie Walton wrote that circumstances surrounding his release of the Mueller report call into question the Justice Department's representation that "all of the information" redacted from it "is protected from disclosure" by FOIA exemptions. In other words, Walton wants to review the unredacted receipts for himself. Walton subsequently ordered the Justice Department to submit the full unredacted Mueller report for his review by March 30.
Experts in the legal field marveled at the opinion. "By 'extraordinary,' I mean that I've never seen a federal judge accuse the Attorney General of personally misleading the public and lacking credibility," tweeted Daniel Jacobson, an alum of President Obama's White House Counsel's Office.
"This is a remarkable opinion and a stunning rebuke of the Attorney General of the United States from a federal district judge who is neither a firebrand nor one who’s prone to hyperbole," tweeted Steve Vladeck, Professor in Law at the University of Texas School of Law.
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Posted with permission from Daily Kos
