And of even greater importance to this decision, the affidavits are so inconsistent with evidence in the record, they are not worthy of credence. The review of the unredacted document in camera reveals that the suspicions voiced by the judge in EPIC and the plaintiff here were well-founded, and that not only was the Attorney General being disingenuous then, but DOJ has been disingenuous to this Court with respect to the existence of a decision-making process that should be shielded by the deliberative process privilege. The agency's redactions and incomplete explanations obfuscate the true purpose of the memorandum, and the excised portions belie the notion that it fell to the Attorney General to make a prosecution decision or that any such decision was on the table at any time.
There is also a problem with the "pre" portion of "pre-decisional."
-- US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, in a ruling (recently appealed) ordering the Department of Justice to release an Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memo that DOJ asserts was legal advice used to support AG William Barr's summary for Congress of the Mueller Report. Emails in evidence show the OLC memo was in fact completed after the Congressional summary, and written by some of the same people. 3 May 2021
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