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AG Barr Orders The FBI To Get Direct Approval Before Investigating 2020 Candidates

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Attorney General Bill Barr has blasted out a memo to the FBI ordering them to clear any investigations into 2020 presidential candidates with him first.

Barr issued the current restrictions on Wednesday, requiring the agency to get his full, direct approval before launching any investigations into candidates in order to help prevent the same kind of debacle that happened in 2016 from happening again.

Here’s more from The Washington Examiner:

In 2016, the FBI was accused of influencing then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign after then-FBI Director James Comey cleared her of criminal wrongdoing in her email scandal but reopened the investigation days before the election.

The agency has also been criticized for its investigation into President Trump, which included obtaining a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to investigate Trump aide Carter Page. An investigation into the FISA process found that the FBI had broken protocol several times while obtaining the warrant, and the Department of Justice has since ruled that two FISA orders into Page were invalid.

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Barr’s memo said it was the Justice Department’s duty to ensure elections are “free from improper activity or influences.” As a precaution, he required that all investigations into candidates or campaigns be approved by his office.

“In certain cases, the existence of a federal criminal or counterintelligence investigation, if it becomes known to the public, may have unintended effects on our elections,” Barr wrote, referencing Comey’s decision to make several public announcements about the investigation into Clinton.

Barr went on to say that the FBI should still respond “swiftly and decisively” to any potential wrongdoing, but said the agency “must be sensitive to safeguarding the department’s reputation for fairness, neutrality, and nonpartisanship.”

The memo requires written notification of any investigation into 2020 presidential candidates to be handed in to the attorney general’s office and any other relevant department so that concerns involving foreign security or criminal behaviors are given to the right leaders in authority.

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