Judges postpone emergency meeting to discuss Trump/Barr concerns
A group of federal judges hastily postponed an emergency meeting that was scheduled to take place Wednesday to discuss concerns about President Donald Trump and the Justice Department’s intervention in politically charged cases.
Megan Cruz, the executive director of the Federal Judges Association, said the meeting was set to occur Wednesday afternoon and the group was considering whether to issue a statement afterwards. But later in the day, Cruz said that the conference call between the 14 judges who serve as officers on the Executive Committee had been postponed.
Cruz offered no further details and did not respond to questions asking whether the group had been asked to reschedule the meeting.
The fact that the little known independent group — originally established in the 1980s to respond to issues concerning judicial compensation — was having the meeting in the first place drew the attention in Washington on Tuesday and Trump made it the subject of one of his tweets.
“I hope the Federal Judges Association will discuss the tremendous FISA Court abuse that has taken place with respect to the Mueller Investigation Scam, including the forging of documents and knowingly using the fake and totally discredited Dossier before the Court. Thank you!” the President tweeted.
Judge Cynthia Rufe, the group’s president, told USA Today that there were “plenty of issues we are concerned about.” Her comments drew some criticism as judges are barred from commenting on pending controversies.
The cancellation came after a source told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Tuesday night that Attorney General William Barr had considered resigning over Trump’s tweets discussing ongoing controversies and attacking the judge hearing the case.
