Yesterday a federal jury in the Eastern District of Virginia convicted Bijan Rafiekian on charges of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government, conspiring to make false statements and willful omissions in a FARA filing, and acting as an agent of a foreign government. Read the DoJ press release here.
CTH covers the story with a simply idiotic lede: U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr Successfully Convicts Flynn Intel Group – Sentencing October 18th. It's the type of hysterical reaction at CTH that I've decried in the past--despite the great services CTH has performed for conservatives.
I won't presume to provide a tutorial on the federal criminal justice system, but the simple fact is that Bill Barr didn't indict Rafiekian and didn't prosecute him. When a subject is indicted by a federal grand jury and prosecution is undertaken by a local US attorney--who is a presidential appointee--there is very little an attorney general can do. In fact, other authorities, other branches of the US government, are also involved. For example a US attorney must seek the leave of the court to dismiss an indictment. Overall, the overall principle of federal prosecution, as set out by the Justice Manual, which sets forth Department of Justice policy, and which delegates broad authority to US Attorneys, is this:
