After Trump comment on Huawei, official
says Justice Dept. sticks to law enforcement
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[December 13, 2018]
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - A top U.S. Justice Department official pushed back on
Wednesday against President Donald Trump's comment that he might
intervene in a legal case involving an executive from the Chinese
telecommunications firm Huawei Technologies Co [HWT.UL] if it would help
secure a trade deal. |
Assistant U.S. Attorney General for National Security John Demers
addresses a news conference to announce a criminal law enforcement
action involving China and a new Department of Justice initiative
focusing on China’s economic activity, at the Justice Department in
Washington, U.S. November 1, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst |
Assistant Attorney General John Demers told a U.S. Senate
hearing on Chinese espionage that the Justice Department is not
"a tool of trade."
"What we do at the Justice Department is law enforcement. We
don't do trade," Demers said when Democratic Senator Richard
Blumenthal asked him about Trump's comment.
Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, the 46-year-old
daughter of Huawei's founder, is in Canada fighting an
extradition request from the United States. She faces U.S.
claims she misled multinational banks about Iran-linked
transactions, putting the banks at risk of violating U.S.
sanctions.
She was released on bail by a Canadian court on Tuesday after
being arrested at the request of the United States as she was
changing planes in Vancouver on Dec. 1.
Trump said in a Reuters interview on Tuesday he would intervene
with the Justice Department in the case against Meng if it would
help secure a trade deal with Beijing.
Blumenthal said the comment by Trump made it look like U.S. law
enforcement "is a tool of either trade or political or
diplomatic ends of this country."
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and
Sandra Maler)
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