Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) issued a joint statement Thursday evening accusing President Donald Trump of politicizing the Department of Justice (DOJ) through a criminal investigation into the origins of the Russia probe.
Nadler, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, and Schiff, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, issued a statement via Twitter: “If the Department of Justice may be used as a tool of political retribution, or to help the President with a political narrative for the next election, the rule of law will suffer new and irreparable damage.”
If the Department of Justice may be used as a tool of political retribution, or to help the President with a political narrative for the next election, the rule of law will suffer new and irreparable damage.
Joint statement w/ @RepAdamSchiff
— (((Rep. Nadler))) (@RepJerryNadler) October 25, 2019
The two Democrats were reacting to a report in the New York Times that the DOJ had “shifted an administrative review of the Russia investigation closely overseen by Attorney General William P. Barr to a criminal inquiry.” The inquiry has been conducted by U.S. Attorney John Durham.
There is no evidence that the inquiry is being used as “political retribution,” though the Times took a similar line: “The opening of a criminal investigation is likely to raise alarms that Mr. Trump is using the Justice Department to go after his perceived enemies. … Mr. Trump has made clear that he sees the typically independent Justice Department as a tool to be wielded against his political enemies,” it reported (original link). – READ MORE