September 26, 2020

Federal Prosecutor: William Barr Has “Brought Shame” on the Justice Department

The attorney general “has done the president’s bidding at every turn.”

President Donald Trump listens to Attorney General William Barr speak to reporters in the Oval Office in July.Anna Moneymaker/ZUMA

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In a rare move, a federal prosecutor is denouncing Attorney General William Barr for abusing the Justice Department’s authority to support President Donald Trump.

“The attorney general acts as though his job is to serve only the political interests of Donald J. Trump,” Assistant US Attorney James D. Herbert wrote in a letter to the Boston Globe. “This is a dangerous abuse of power.” He added that Barr “has done the president’s bidding at every turn.”

Herbert said he was compelled to speak out after Barr criticized his own department’s prosecutors during a speech this month at Hillsdale College in Michigan. Barr referred to some prosecutors as “headhunters” in the speech and criticized them for pursuing “ill-conceived charges against prominent political figures.”

While many former prosecutors have spoken out against Trump, it’s highly unusual for current federal prosecutors to express their political views. A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed to ABC News that Herbert is still a US attorney in Massachusetts.

Herbert explained at the end of his letter that, “For 30 years I have been proud to say I work for the Department of Justice, but the current attorney general has brought shame on the department he purports to lead.”

Read the full letter here

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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