Off the Record with James Bell

Winfield Ong is an experienced federal litigator and the former criminal chief for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana. In addition, he is a President Obama judicial nominee for the U.S. District Court, and he is a current white collar criminal defense attorney at Dentons Bingham Greenebaum. During this interview, the main topics of discussion were Winfield's journey through the judicial nomination process and Attorney General Bill Barr's decision to move to dismiss the criminal case against General Michael Flynn. Since then, unrest has swept the nation as a result of the killing of George Floyd. Though this interview took place several days beforehand and the topics seemed unrelated at first, many themes included are relevant and valuable to the situation we find ourselves in today: the rule of law, the power and discretion that lawyers have, and how that power should never be abused.