Judge rebukes former AG William Barr, orders Justice Department to release Trump obstruction memo

A federal judge blasted the Trump Justice Department for misleading the court about the nature of its internal deliberations before concluding that then-President Donald Trump had not obstructed former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered the release a 2019 legal memorandum to a government accountability group, ruling the document prepared for then-Attorney General William Barr as he prepared to issue his conclusions, did not qualify as protected attorney-client communications.

In the ruling, Jackson characterized the memo as a "strategic" document, asserting that Justice officials had come to a pre-determined conclusion that Trump would not be charged with obstruction of justice.

"In other words, the review of the document reveals that the Attorney General was not then engaged in making a decision about whether the President should be charged with obstruction of justice; the fact that he would not be prosecuted was a given," Jackson ruled.

The memo had been requested by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government under the Freedom of Information Act.

Berman, who presided over Mueller prosecutions involving former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and political adviser Roger Stone, also aimed scathing criticism at Barr for his handling of the Mueller report, citing the attorney general's decision to issue a brief summary of its findings only days after receiving the voluminous.