Critics worry Trump may push Barr’s successor for huge favors

Former US Attorney General William Barr’s sudden departure from his post just days ago has prompted concerns among Justice Department (DOJ) veterans that lame duck President Donald Trump will pressure his inexperienced successor to do him big and potentially risky political and legal favors.

Trump will likely lean on Barr’s less experienced replacement, Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to drive through policies which Trump desires, such as using the DOJ to investigate his allegations of widespread election fraud and naming special counsels to probe President-elect Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, the UK-based daily The Guardian reported Saturday, citing former justice department officials.

According to the report, critics further fear Rosen may also be pressured by Trump to help obtain a legal opinion that would allow Trump to pardon himself by reversing a justice department opinion that dates back to the Nixon era and forbids a presidential self-pardon. Such a move, according to the report, “would probably trigger widespread outrage.”

The growing concerns that Trump will attempt to squeeze favors from Rosen -- who became Barr’s deputy AG in early 2019 without previous DOJ experience -- stem partly from Trump’s post-election ire at Barr, despite being among his strongest cabinet allies in the run-up to the November presidential race.

Following his election defeat, however, Trump has become furious at Barr for refusing to publicly disclose that Hunter Biden’s taxes were being looked at by a US attorney in Delaware during the 2020 campaign. The outgoing president also grew furious over Barr’s statement that there was no sign of significant voting fraud in the polls.

Prior to becoming Barr’s deputy attorney general, Rosen had been the transportation department’s deputy secretary, and spent many years doing corporate legal work at Kirkland & Ellis, where Barr used to work.

The daily further cited former DOJ inspector general Michael Bromwich as predicting that Trump will try to pressure Rosen to do him favors, while calling on Rosen to ignore Trump’s pleas. He further noted that Trump may act on his own too in some matters.

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“I don’t think we can fully imagine the range of inappropriate actions Rosen could be asked to undertake,” Bromwich emphasized. “Unlike Barr, Rosen is an unknown and enigmatic figure to the outside world, with no reputation outside the narrow circle of people he has worked with. I doubt that he wants his legacy to be kowtowing to the whims of a president who has taken leave of his senses.”

 “I don’t think an OLC opinion on the issue of self-pardon would be worth the exercise for anyone. If it were to conclude that a self-pardon is constitutional, it would be dismissed as a coerced opinion and would further degrade the reputation of OLC,” Bromwich further observed.

“I doubt whether he [Trump] will feel the need to obtain such an opinion. He will choose instead to rely on the legal advice of Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and the rest of the legal misfits he has surrounded himself with.”

The report further cited other DOJ veterans as noting that any Trump pressures on Rosen to name special counsels to probe Hunter Biden or allegations of major election fraud had a good chance of being overturned by Biden’s Attorney General, considering Barr’s statements rejecting the need for them.

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Paul Pelletier, a former acting chief of the DOJ fraud section in two administrations, said any of Biden’s reported candidates for AG would have the power to remove a special counsel for “good cause,” including “obviously politically motivated investigations.”

In addition to pressuring Rosen for favors, former DOJ officials also stated that Trump’s own actions involving potential pardons of family members and political allies -- which he is reportedly considering on top of others he made this week -- could generate legal headaches for him after his term ends.

Some pardons may even lead to charges of obstruction of justice, or spur incriminating testimony in investigations of Trump and his business by two New York prosecutors when he leaves office.

Meanwhile, Barr noted during his 2019 confirmation hearing that a president’s broad powers to pardon carry risks. While presidents have the right to pardon family members, Barr said that if a pardon to a family member is “connected to some act that violates an obstruction statute, it could be obstruction.”

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