Barr says DOJ won't be 'partisan' days after dropping Flynn charges for Trump

On Monday, Attorney General William Barr said he would not allow the justice system to be “used for partisan political ends.”

Barr’s statement came just days after the Justice Department, under his leadership, chose to drop charges against Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to FBI about his contacts with Russian officials.

Trump and other his Republican allies have spent months campaigning against Flynn’s guilty plea, which they claim was coerced.

The Justice Department, under Barr’s leadership, also intervened previously in the case of Trump ally Roger Stone, prompting all of the federal prosecutors on his case to resign in protest.

Nearly 2,000 former Justice officials have since called for Barr’s resignation, signing a joint letter last week criticizing him for “repeated assaults on the rule of law in doing the President’s personal bidding rather than acting in the public interest.”

From a May 18 press conference:

WILLIAM BARR: As long as I’m attorney general, the criminal justice system will not be used for partisan political ends. And this is especially true for the upcoming elections in November.