More is being learned about President Donald Trump‘s reported process for withdrawing the Treasury nomination of Jessie K. Liu, the the former U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C. Republican Senate staff Barbara Ledeen, a member of an influential network of conservative activists, wrote a memo that detailed 14 sections for why Liu shouldn’t have the treasury job, according to sources in an Axios article. Among other things, the prosecutor was reportedly criticized for not following up on criminal referrals on some accusers of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and didn’t indict former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Andrew McCabe. What Liu did do was ask for jail time for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn (a Ledeen friend), and dismissed charges against “violent” inauguration protesters, according to the reported memo. Ledeen declined to comment in the article. Liu and the White didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Nonetheless, it’s worth mentioning that the memo in question reportedly left a mark on Trump. The president pulled the Treasury nomination earlier this month just before she was about to testify before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Liu was up for a position as Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes. As U.S. Attorney, she had overseen much of the prosecution of Trump campaign surrogate Roger Stone.
It was previously reported by CNN that according to a source, the issue was that Liu hadn’t done more to get involved in the cases of Stone and McCabe.
Liu was replaced as U.S. Attorney by Timothy Shea, an adviser of Attorney General William Barr. A New York Times report on Sunday detailed the reported strain between the Washington office and the main department. In this account, Liu had been pushing for a McCabe prosecution even though prosecutors told her they couldn’t win. Her relationship with AG Barr soured when the second team still couldn’t get an indictment, according to “people close to them.” Both Liu and Barr, however, said that she left the DOJ on good terms.
[Image via Department of Justice]