June 11, 2021

Barr and Sessions “Must Testify” on the Trump Administration’s Secret Probe of Democrats

Democratic leaders say they’ll subpoena ex-Trump officials if they refuse.

Shane T. Mccoy/ZUMA

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Top Democrats on Friday demanded that two former Trump attorneys general, Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions, testify before the Senate Judiciary committee following reports that Trump’s Justice Department secretly seized communication records of Democratic lawmakers and their family members—including one minor—in order to uncover the source of leaks regarding the Trump-Russia investigation.

“This is a gross abuse of power and an assault on the separation of powers,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Durbin said in a joint statement. “This appalling politicization of the Department of Justice by Donald Trump and his sycophants must be investigated immediately by both the DOJ Inspector General and Congress.”

The statement comes after the New York Times described on Thursday how Trump’s DOJ launched secret probes targeting at least two Democrats on the House Intelligence committee, Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, subpoenaing Apple for data documenting their phone communications. Ultimately, the probes failed to turn up any evidence tracing the leaks to the committee. The revelation not only illustrates Trump’s obsession with leaks, but provides yet another instance of how Trump weaponized the Justice Department against his perceived political enemies, 

Schumer and Durbin said that they would issue subpoenas if Barr, Sessions, and other officials linked to the investigations refuse to testify, adding that they hoped Republican lawmakers would join their calls. None yet have.

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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.

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