Attorney General William Barr defended the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision Thursday to move to drop the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn for charges of lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia in 2017.
Barr dismissed accusations that he’s doing the “president’s bidding” in moving to drop the case.
“I’m doing the law’s bidding. I’m doing my duty under the law, as I see it,” Barr told CBS News in an interview Thursday.
Barr said he was “not at all” influenced by President Trump regarding the case.
“I made clear during my confirmation hearing that I was gonna look into what happened in 2016 and ’17. I made that crystal clear,” Barr said. “I was very concerned about what happened. I was gonna get to the bottom of it. And that included the treatment of General Flynn.”
After new documents were unsealed in Flynn’s criminal case last month, Trump tweeted that “what happened” to Flynn “should never be allowed to happen to a citizen of the United States again.”
Documents released last month fueled conservative claims that the FBI was out to entrap Flynn. The DOJ said in a court filing Thursday it no longer believed it could make a case against Flynn, a former three-star Army general.
Prominent Democrats, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Kamala Harris (Calif.), renewed calls for Barr to resign Thursday after the DOJ moved to drop the case against Flynn. Democrats accused Barr of making the decision out of Trump’s interest, rather than the nation’s.
Barr said he is “prepared” to face backlash.
“I also think it’s sad that nowadays these partisan feelings are so strong that people have lost any sense of justice,” Barr said. “And the groups that usually worry about civil liberties and making sure that there’s proper procedures followed and standards set seem to be ignoring it and willing to destroy people’s lives and see great injustices done.”