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- THE WEEK, Page 21NATIONJustice Under the Gun
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- Nasty questions at the FBI and Iraqgate plague the Attorney
- General
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- Attorney General William Barr finds himself presiding over a
- Department of Justice beset from every quarter. Dragged early in
- the week into a probe of its own FBI director for ethics
- violations, Barr's Justice Department must now endure the
- attentions of an "independent counsel," drafted by Barr to
- investigate the roiling dispute between his department and the
- CIA over whether the government obstructed the investigation of
- an illegal scheme to funnel $4 billion to the Iraqi regime
- before the invasion of Kuwait.
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- The FBI's William Sessions is under scrutiny for violating
- relatively minor ethical rules, like questionable business
- travel with his wife. But Sarah Munford, Sessions' personal
- assistant, was put on leave and escorted out of the J. Edgar
- Hoover Building on Thursday because of the more serious charge
- that she had exceeded her authority. Munford denied it,
- contending she was "an unfortunate pawn" in a power struggle.
- Sessions' lawyer says Justice was engaging in a campaign of
- leaks against his client. Alice Sessions complained to the San
- Antonio (Texas) Light that her husband "was waking up out of a
- stupor, realizing he's been had."
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- On Friday, after weeks of pressure over his handling of
- the Iraqgate affair, Barr named Frederick Lacey, 72, a
- formidable ex-prosecutor and federal judge from New Jersey, to
- serve as an in-house "independent" investigator. Still,
- congressional Democrats are demanding a court-appointed special
- prosecutor with full autonomy. Lacey insists that he would
- resign if Barr or the White House blocked him.
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