Washington: Democratic presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris has sent a letter to the Justice Department’s inspector general, requesting a probe into whether Attorney General William Barr has acted upon requests or suggestions from US President Donald Trump to investigate his “perceived enemies”.
In a letter addressed to Department of Justice Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz, Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent, cites the findings in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report and Barr’s Wednesday congressional testimony as to the reasons, reports CNN.
“Such inappropriate requests by the president have been well documented,” Harris wrote. “Special Counsel Mueller documented a disturbing pattern of behaviour on the part of the President — repeated attempts to target his perceived opponents.
“There must be no doubt that the Department of Justice and its leadership stand apart from partisan politics, and resist improper attempts to use the power of federal law enforcement to settle personal scores,” the letter said.
Barr has on Wednesday declined to testify before the Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee over his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russia meddling the 2016 US presidential election.
The development came after Democrats asked Barr to face questions from the body’s lawyers, a decision was taken after a referendum on Wednesday. Barr had previously objected to a plan for lawyers to ask questions at Thursday’s hearing, the BBC reported.
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