The prosecutors also noted that Mr. Trump’s public comments about Mr. Stone and other witnesses and targets were an obvious signal. The Justice Department had withheld passages dealing with Mr. Stone in order, it said, to protect the ongoing criminal case against him. The plaintiffs in the case argued there was no reason to withhold any information about Mr. Stone because his criminal case is over. An appointee of President George W. Bush, Judge Walton has sympathized to some degree with the FOIA plaintiffs. He wrote in his March opinion that Attorney General William P. Barr’s overall handling of the Mueller report made him question the department’s motivations for redactions.

Source: New York Times June 19, 2020 22:18 UTC