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 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 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.
Harris’ letter comes days after a heated exchange between the California Democrat and the attorney general, in which Barr parsed words to answer Harris’ question about whether the White House has “asked or suggested” that he open an investigation into anyone.
In her letter, Harris also points to details in Mueller’s report where he notes three occasions on which the President called for an investigation into a former presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton.