{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/senators-press-doj-leaders-on-trump-tweets-aimed-at-influencing-justice-department", "Senators Press DOJ Leaders on Trump Tweets Aimed at Influencing Justice Department", "2017-12-05", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "RI", "Sheldon Whitehouse", "W000802", "www.whitehouse.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "12.05.17\n\t\t\t Senators Press DOJ Leaders on Trump Tweets Aimed at Influencing Justice Department \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWashington, DC \u2013 Following a pattern of President Donald Trump\u2019s tweets apparently intended to direct the work of the Department of Justice (DOJ), Senators are asking top Department leadership what they are doing to safeguard the Department\u2019s operations and prosecutions from Oval Office influence.\u00a0 Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Al Franken (D-MN), Chris Coons (D-DE), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) posed their questions in letters sent to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray.\r\n\u201cWith the power of his position, amplified through social media, the President need not have actual communications with any person at DOJ to make his opinions perfectly clear.\u00a0 He knows that.\u00a0 The public knows that.\u00a0 And ultimately, federal judges who may be called upon to hear cases brought by DOJ know that,\u201d the Senators write in their letter to Rosenstein.\u00a0 \u201cAs a lifelong prosecutor, you must appreciate that if the Department were to develop a reputation as making litigation decisions based on presidential tweets, it would cast a shadow on every action DOJ and FBI take.\u00a0 New measures of attempted influence require new counter-measures to \u2018ensure that partisan considerations do not influence the handling of particular cases.\u2019\u201d\r\nThe Senators ask each official:\r\n \r\nDo you believe public statements by President Trump about particular matters that are being, or could be, investigated or prosecuted by DOJ or the FBI are consistent with relevant policies governing contacts between the Department and the White House?\u00a0 If so, please explain your answer.\r\n \r\n \r\nDo you believe such public statements by President Trump could inject improper partisan considerations into the handling of particular cases by DOJ attorneys? Please explain your answer.\r\n \r\n \r\nDo you believe such public statements by President Trump could undermine\u00a0 prosecutions or other litigation before federal courts?\u00a0 Please explain your answer.\r\n \r\n \r\nHave any federal courts cited the President\u2019s comments as factors contributing to their rulings or decisions?\u00a0 If so, please explain the circumstances of each case and any specific steps the Department has taken to address the courts\u2019 concerns.\r\n \r\n \r\nDo you believe public statements by President Trump could erode public confidence in the integrity of Department decisions?\u00a0 Please explain your answer.\r\n \r\n \r\nWhat specific steps have you taken as Deputy Attorney General to ensure that those DOJ officials who have \u201cprimary responsibility to initiate and supervise investigations and cases\u2026are insulated from the influence that should not affect decisions in particular criminal or civil cases\u201d such as social media messages or other public statements by the President?\r\n \r\n \r\nHave you raised any concerns about the DOJ\u2019s independence with the White House?\u00a0 If so, what steps if any have been taken to address those concerns?\r\n \r\nFull text of the letter to Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein is below.\u00a0 PDF copies of all three letters are available here, here, and here.\r\nDear Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein,\r\nIn your confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, you were asked by several members of the Committee, orally and in writing, whether you understood and were prepared to enforce the policy governing contacts between the White House and DOJ related to ongoing investigations and prosecutions.\u00a0 You referenced a 2009 memorandum by Attorney General Eric Holder as the operative policy and wrote in response to a question from Senator Coons that \u201cit would be my responsibility to ensure that partisan considerations do not influence the handling of particular cases.\u201d\r\nThe 2009 policy states:\r\n\u201cThe Assistant Attorneys General, the United States Attorneys, and the heads of the investigative agencies in the Department have the primary responsibility to initiate and supervise investigations and cases.\u00a0 These officials, like their superiors and their subordinates, must be insulated from the influence that should not affect decisions in particular criminal or civil cases.\u201d\r\nIn order to insulate key law enforcement officials from improper political influence in prosecutorial decisions, the policy limits initial communications on investigations and cases to the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General and Associate Attorney General (for civil matters only) at DOJ and the Counsel to the President, the Principal Deputy Counsel to the President, the President and the Vice President at the White House.\r\nIn just the past month, the President has made numerous public statements that appear intended to influence DOJ\u2019s and FBI\u2019s activities.\u00a0 For example:\r\n \r\nOn November 2 and 3, President Trump made a series of posts to his Twitter account calling on DOJ and FBI to investigate a variety of matters related to the 2016 election:\r\n\r\n\u201cEverybody is asking why the Justice Department (and FBI) isn't looking into all of the dishonesty going on with Crooked Hillary & the Dems..\u201d\u00a0\r\n\u201c[Senator Warren] just stated that the Democrats, lead [sic] by the legendary Crooked Hillary Clinton, rigged the Primaries! Lets [sic] go FBI & Justice Dept.\u201d\r\n\u201c....People are angry.\u00a0 At some point the Justice Department, and the FBI, must do what is right and proper. The American public deserves it!\u201d\r\n\u201c....This is real collusion and dishonesty. Major violation of Campaign Finance Laws and Money Laundering - where is our Justice Department?\u201d\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\nIn a letter dated November 13, 2017, to Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Robert W. Goodlatte, Assistant Attorney General Stephen E. Boyd confirmed that the Attorney General \u201chas directed senior federal prosecutors to evaluate\u201d several matters related to Hillary Clinton, including the sale of Uranium One and the Clinton Foundation.\r\n \r\nAs DOJ has reviewed under the antitrust enforcement authority the proposed merger between AT&T and Time Warner, President Trump has made a series of disparaging comments about Time Warner subsidiary CNN:\r\n\r\n\u201cWhile in the Philippines I was forced to watch @CNN, which I have not done in months, and again realized how bad, and FAKE, it is. Loser!\u201d (Nov. 15)\r\n\u201c@FoxNews is MUCH more important in the United States than CNN, but outside of the U.S., CNN International is still a major source of (Fake) news, and they represent our Nation to the WORLD very poorly. The outside world does not see the truth from them!\u201d (Nov. 25)\r\n\u201cWe should have a contest as to which of the Networks, plus CNN and not including Fox, is the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite President (me). They are all bad. Winner to receive the FAKE NEWS TROPHY!\u201d (Nov. 27)\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\nOn November 20, the Department announced it would be seeking to block the proposed merger in federal court.\u00a0 The case is now pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.\r\n \r\nThis past weekend, following General Michael Flynn\u2019s plea of guilty to making false statements to the FBI, President Trump tweeted the following:\r\n \r\n \r\n\u201cMany people in our Country are asking what the \u201cJustice\u201d Department is going to do about the fact that totally Crooked Hillary, AFTER receiving a subpoena from the United States Congress, deleted and \u201cacid washed\u201d 33,000 Emails? No justice!\u201d (Dec. 2)\r\n\u201cAfter years of Comey, with the phony and dishonest Clinton investigation (and more), running the FBI, its reputation is in Tatters - worst in History! But fear not, we will bring it back to greatness.\u201d (Dec. 3)\r\n \r\nWith the power of his position, amplified through social media, the President need not have actual communications with any person at DOJ to make his opinions perfectly clear.\u00a0 He knows that.\u00a0 The public knows that.\u00a0 And ultimately, federal judges who may be called upon to hear cases brought by DOJ know that.\u00a0 As a lifelong prosecutor, you must appreciate that if the Department were to develop a reputation as making litigation decisions based on presidential tweets, it would cast a shadow on every action DOJ and FBI take.\u00a0 New measures of attempted influence require new counter-measures to \u201censure that partisan considerations do not influence the handling of particular cases.\u201d\r\nSo we can better understand what steps DOJ is taking to protect its credibility in the federal courts and with the American people, we request you respond to the following questions not later than December 15, 2017:\r\n \r\nDo you believe public statements by President Trump about particular matters that are being, or could be, investigated or prosecuted by DOJ or the FBI are consistent with relevant policies governing contacts between the Department and the White House?\u00a0 If so, please explain your answer.\r\n \r\n \r\nDo you believe such public statements by President Trump could inject improper partisan considerations into the handling of particular cases by DOJ attorneys? Please explain your answer.\r\n \r\n \r\nDo you believe such public statements by President Trump could undermine\u00a0 prosecutions or other litigation before federal courts?\u00a0 Please explain your answer.\r\n \r\n \r\nHave any federal courts cited the President\u2019s comments as factors contributing to their rulings or decisions?\u00a0 If so, please explain the circumstances of each case and any specific steps the Department has taken to address the courts\u2019 concerns.\r\n \r\n \r\nDo you believe public statements by President Trump could erode public confidence in the integrity of Department decisions?\u00a0 Please explain your answer.\r\n \r\n \r\nWhat specific steps have you taken as Deputy Attorney General to ensure that those DOJ officials who have \u201cprimary responsibility to initiate and supervise investigations and cases\u2026are insulated from the influence that should not affect decisions in particular criminal or civil cases\u201d such as social media messages or other public statements by the President?\r\n \r\n \r\nHave you raised any concerns about the DOJ\u2019s independence with the White House?\u00a0 If so, what steps if any have been taken to address those concerns?\r\n \r\nThank you for your prompt attention to this important matter.\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/senators-press-doj-leaders-on-trump-tweets-aimed-at-influencing-justice-department"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0863891802728176, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}