Another Head Bounces Down the Steps at Department of Justice

President Donald Trump points to a member of the media while speaking in the lobby of Trump Tower, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017 in New York. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Donald Trump points to a member of the media while speaking in the lobby of Trump Tower, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017 in New York. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

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There was an unexpected postscipt to the saga of the Roger Stone sentencing recommendation. What started off as a petty and vindictive effort by three members of the Mueller team to embarrass Attorney Bill Barr and their own boss by handing what would basically be a life sentence to Stone ended up in all four prosecutors resigning from the case–one resigned from the Justice Department–and the Department of Justice delivering a scathing repudiation of the original sentencing recommendation to the court. Now the body count has increased by one. Former US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie Liu.

Liu had worked in Justice during the Bush administration and became a member of Trump’s transition team and was appointed US Attorney for the District of Columbia. Last year, Bill Barr tried to promote her to the Number Three slot in justice, but that plan ran into a buzzsaw named Mike Lee. As it turned out, Liu was a pro-abort and she had opposed the confirmation of Samuel Alito (READ: Mike Lee and William Barr Get in a Shouting Match as Justice Nominee Is Blocked for Not Being Conservative).

In what seems like an effort to reshape the US Attorney for DCs office, probably due to the number of Mueller’s creatures who had managed to affix themselves, barnacle-like, to that organization once his bad-faith investigation had run its course, Liu resigned her position as US Attorney in December and was nominated to be Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes at the Department of the Treasury. She was replaced by a personal staffer of Barr, Timothy Shea. This raised eyebrows because the deputy US Attorney is at least given pro forma consideration for the job. Not this time around.

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For all of her pedigree, questions, as they would say, were raised:

Lots of very good questions there. And you can add to that laundry list the fact that Liu did allow several Mueller staffers to join her office after the investigation curled up, whimpered and died. So it is safe to say that Liu was booted upstairs because of severe doubts about her loyalty to the administration.

Now, just a few hours after four Muller minions self-deported from the Stone case, the axe fell on Liu.

President Trump is withdrawing his nomination for former U.S. attorney for D.C. Jessie Liu to serve as the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes, a top position overseeing economic sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge.

Behind the scenes: This was “the president’s call,” according to a former administration official familiar with the situation. The decision, which was made today, has administration officials questioning the circumstances that led to Trump changing his mind — with the developments in the Roger Stone case today being the only new information they are aware of.

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The fact is that Liu has shown either incredible weakness or major league duplicity and she has done so apparently thinking she was bulletproof. No sane US Attorney would have allowed refugees from the Mueller probe to coagulate in her office. She would have sent them back to wherever spawned them. Her actions with the Awan crime syndicate remains inexplicable if you rule out hostility to the Trump administration as a motive. The dog’s breakfast that is the Flynn case should never have been allowed to happen.

I think Trump and his closest advisers are finally coming to the grips with the fact that hiring Republican apparatchiks may not be much better than hiring Democrats. I think they are way, way past the point of giving the benefit of the doubt or accepting excuses. One hopes there are more dismissals in the offing.

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