A former Marine was pulled over for following a truck too closely. Without charging him, police took nearly $87,000 of his cash. washingtonpost.com/national-secur… Civil asset forfeiture has long been controversial. In the Obama administration AG Holder curtailed one particularly thorny practice: federal "adoption" of local seizures, which helped agencies skirt state laws & ultimately keep the cash for themselves washingtonpost.com/national-secur…

NEW: Bill Barr denies he muzzled former US Attorney William McSwain on voter fraud. He alleges McSwain made such a claim so Trump wouldn't ruin his gubernatorial ambitions.
“I can’t have Trump attacking me,” McSwain allegedly told Barr in a phone call.
washingtonpost.com/national-secur… This is a bit complicated, so I’ll do a thread to try to unspool it. Yesterday, Trump publicly released a letter sent to him in June by William McSwain, the former US Attorney in the Eastern District of PA. You can find links to the letter & the @PhillyInquirer’s coverage here:

https://twitter.com/jeremyrroebuck/status/1414734015836442630

I've been thinking a lot & talking to people about how it could be that Sessions, Rosenstein & Barr could all honestly be asserting no knowledge of the subpoena for Schiff & Swalwell's records. I don't have a definitive answer but here's a theory... washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trum… The crux of this theory is that the focus on the actual tactic used in this investigation - the subpoena - might be a little misplaced, and, as I mentioned last night, the underlying reckoning the Justice Department will have to face is whether & when to pursue leak cases at all

House Democrats want Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions to testify about subpoena for data of House Intel Committee members.
Barr, Sessions and Rod Rosenstein have told people they don’t remember hearing about the subpoena while at DOJ. washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trum… The Justice IG is investigating this, along with recently disclosed demands for media records. The problem: the IG can’t compel testimony from former DOJ employees. And almost all of this occurred in the last administration.
washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trum…

Interesting new disclosure today, in that CNN had been secretly negotiating for months - mostly in the Trump administration - over a Justice Dept. request for one of its journalists' records. A few points worthy of highlighting... washingtonpost.com/national-secur… Only a few at CNN (including lawyers & President Jeff Zucker) knew about this, and they say they were bound by a court from informing the news network's journalists or even the journalist whose records were at issue: Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr

The Biden administration has tapped a whole slate of folks to serve in acting capacities at the Justice Department while their nominees await confirmation. Here are the names we know so far: The acting AG is Monty Wilkinson. He had most recently been working as a human resources official at the department, and before that, worked as a counselor in Eric Holder's office and as the head of the Executive Office Office for U.S. Attorneys. justice.gov/jmd/staff-prof…

Barr delivering a broadside to career prosecutors tonight, & making the case that the AG intervening in cases is appropriate and proper. Says letting junior people set agenda "might be a good philosophy for a Montessori preschool, but it is no way to run a federal agency.” Of FBI agents, Barr says, "These people are agents of the attorney general ... whose agents do you think you are? I don't say this in a pompous way. But that is the chain of authority and legitimacy in the Department of Justice."

Like Rod Rosenstein, former DAG Sally Yates says she wouldn't have signed Carter Page FISAs if she knew of the errors uncovered by the IG. "If I had known that it contained incorrect information, I certainly wouldn’t have signed it." Also of note: Yates has been quite critical of Flynn. She said his call with Kislyak "essentially neutered" the Obama administration's attempt to deter Russia from election interference with sanctions.

AG spox tells @seanhannity that Bill Barr has appointed another US Attorney to probe issue of interest to POTUS. At Barr request, @USAttyBash will look at “unmasking.” AG spox notes unmasking “inherently isn’t wrong,” but “frequency” & “reasoning behind unmasking” can problematic In total for Trump admin...
US Atty Huber tapped to investigate Clinton & other GOP concerns
US Atty Durham to investigate Russia investigators
US Attys Donoghue & Brady to handle Ukraine/Giuliani
US Atty Jensen to probe Flynn & other DC cases
US Atty Bash to explore “unmasking”

Asked on Fox News last night about the letter from more than 2,000 former Justice employees calling on AG Barr to resign, a DOJ spokeswoman said: "I don’t think anyone’s losing any sleep over it at the Department of Justice." video.foxnews.com/v/615620153000… The spokeswoman, @KerriKupecDOJ, also confirmed John Durham is looking at the issue of "unmasking" and that, if relevant, he's consider the list ODNI just gave Justice. But Kupec said it will be up to ODNI to release that list, not Justice.

In interview with @hughhewitt, AG Barr says "the idea that you have to stay in your house is disturbingly close to house arrest." But he quickly adds, "I’m not saying it wasn’t justified," & talks extensively about balance between powers during emergency & constitutional rights Here is the full transcript: hughhewitt.com/attorney-gener…

AG Bill Barr, on Fox News, refers to current restrictions as "draconian measures" and says at end of April, he thinks we should "allow people to adapt more than we have, & not just tell people to go home and hide under their bed." Barr, a major proponent of executive power, adds "I am concerned that we not get into the business of declaring everything an emergency & then using these kinds of sweeping, extraordinary steps. But given where we were back in March, I think the president made the right decision"

My dad, a newspaper photographer, told me yesterday he was writing a column, but would only say of its content, "My favorite child is mentioned." Neither my sister nor I make an appearance. The picture tells you everything you need to know. @davezapphoto toledoblade.com/local/Coronavi… In all seriousness, dad wrote about how coronavirus has affected his life & those of other news photographers. Dad is lucky. He mostly does assigning now, & can do that from home. But photographers *have* to venture out to do their important work. toledoblade.com/local/Coronavi…

AG Barr, speaking to NRB Christian Media Convention: "Politics is everywhere. It’s omnipresent. Why is that?" He says it results from conflict between 2 views: (1) limited govt that preserves liberty (2) govt that submerges individual in "collectivist agenda" The speech is pretty broad and philosophical, but the upshot seems to be themes that Barr has hit previously: He supports a small government, and he does not believe a political system can be substituted for religion.

At Auburn University event, FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich says, "The public should always be able to question our work."
The FBI in recent years has restricted contact between bureau officials & reporters, who ask questions of interest to the public cnn.com/2017/04/20/pol… On public corruption, Bowdich says: "Do we have it? Yes, we do." Then stresses it's a bi-partisan problem.
"Both sides believe it’s the other side... If you look at the numbers, it’s about the same.”

"...this was a demand that President Zelenskyypersonally commit, on a cable news channel, to a specific investigation of President Trump’s political rival," David Holmes says. Follow our live coverage of today's hearings here: washingtonpost.com/politics/impea… Fiona Hill opens testimony declaring that goal of Russians was to "put whoever became the president…under a cloud."

"This," she says, "is exactly what the Russian government was hoping for."

Sondland so far is a lot like the infamous Mulvaney presser:
Yes, there was quid pro quo, meeting for investigations. Trump was the driver of everything
But so what? Top officials were looped in, & those involved didn't think they were acting improperly washingtonpost.com/politics/impea… Might be a hard line to walk, as Dems press him to concede impropriety. But we saw some witnesses walk hard lines yesterday. Volker disconnected 'Burisma' from 'Biden.' Morrison didn't think July phone call was improper, yet reported it to WH lawyer so it could be locked down...

Wonky, but interesting. Justice Dept. is no longer using law enforcement exception to try to hold back McCabe records in a FOIA case brought by @CREWcrew. Judge in that case had told them to decide by Nov. 15 whether they were charging McCabe, or he'd order release of records... @CREWcrew This likely means that the Justice Dept. just doesn't want to tip its hand about where it is at in the McCabe criminal investigation. They don't want a prosecutor on that probe to have to appear in the FOIA litigation. There's a hearing set for tomorrow at 3 p.m.

When one bad call went against the Saints in a playoff game, the @NFL got sued and rules changed before the next season began. But if you’re a fan of a non A-list team, you know officiating incompetence isn’t a fluke or a rules adjustment away from fixing, it’s a weekly reality The @Lions, up 22-13, have a phantom illegal hands to the face called on a 3rd down sack. Packers score on the now-continuing drive. Soon after, Packers attempt the choke slam on a Lion with the ball in the air. No flag.

Mueller's team told the Hill three different times Mueller's acuity wouldn't be an issue. Lots of news and nuggets, including some color from inside the special counsel's office, in this latest story with @rachaelmbade washingtonpost.com/national-secur… @rachaelmbade People familiar with the investigation told us Mueller was an engaged leader. He showed up before 8 a.m. each day, and worked 9-10 hours. Though his office didn't leak, he was interested in the news & would ask about what was being reported on his team. washingtonpost.com/national-secur…

At Senate Judiciary hearing, FBI Director Chris Wray says no country poses greater counterintelligence threat than China. Russia, he says, is No. 2. He says FBI has 1000+ open investigations on attempted intellectual property theft "almost all leading back to China." Wray, on AG Barr's review of the Russia investigation, "I think that’s part of his job -- it’s part of mine -- to get those questions answered."