Bill Barr laid low for the requisite period of time between his tenure as A.G. and an attempt to come back as a respectable citizen. But he has a horrific record in two Republican administrations (George H.W. Bush and Trump) from which he cannot hide.
There is no denying that he’s a brilliant attorney, well qualified for the job, and – at times, the only one who knew what he was doing. His instincts kicked in just in time to save himself from the worst of the post-2020 election stuff. His decision to announce there was no fraud in the election before he went to meet with Trump (The ketchup incident) was smart.
And now he’s out, trying to rinse the stain from his real work within the administration. It will work with some who will only remember Barr refusing to go along with the “fraud” charges and then resigning. But it certainly didn’t work with the New York Times essayist David Firestone, who writes:
Former Attorney General William Barr has spent the last year in a desperate salvage operation for what’s left of his legal and ethical reputation. During his 22 months in office, he allowed his Justice Department to become a personal protection racket for his boss, Donald Trump, and left prosecutors, the F.B.I. and other law enforcement officials subject to the worst impulses of the president. But then, in his 2022 memoir, Mr. Barr did an about-face, bashing Mr. Trump for lacking a presidential temperament and singling out his “self-indulgence and lack of self-control.”
Have no doubt the brilliant Bill Barr knew that Trump’s self-indulgence and lack of self-control made him unfit for the presidency when Barr basically applied for the A.G. job by writing a memo defending a president from obstruction of justice charges and simply “circulating it” to the DC Bar community, meaning DOJ and the White House Counsel’s office, too.
Barr just wanted to be A.G. again, like he was during the George H.W. Bush term. He said he could “land the plane” coming out of the Mueller investigation. He had done it before, ensuring no Republican got hurt due to Iran Contra.
In the book, he urged Republicans not to renominate Mr. Trump in 2024, accusing the former president of going “off the rails” with his stolen-election claims by preferring the counsel of “sycophants” and “whack jobs” to that of his real advisers. Clearly concerned that history was paying attention, he was even stronger in his videotaped testimony to the Jan. 6 committee, loosing a variety of barnyard epithets and bitter insults to describe Mr. Trump’s legal strategy. He said the president had become “detached from reality” and was doing a disservice to the nation.
Yet again, Barr is far too smart not to know that Trump was “detached from reality” and doing a disservice to the nation before Trump or Barr took their jobs. Barr wanted to be A.G. We can allow for the fact that perhaps Barr thought he could stop some of the worst damage. He was wrong and arrogant ever to entertain the idea, and he certainly went against the country in protecting Trump.
On his handling of the Mueller report, we still don’t know how bad it was:
The [Mueller] report later showed just how strong the links were between the campaign and the Russian government, which worked to help defeat Hillary Clinton. A few months later Mr. Barr assigned John Durham, a federal prosecutor in Connecticut, as a special counsel to investigate Mr. Mueller’s investigation, hoping to prove Mr. Trump’s wild public allegations that the federal intelligence officials had helped instigate the claims of Russian interference to damage him.
Attorneys general are not supposed to interfere in a special counsel’s investigation. The whole point of the system is to isolate the prosecution of sensitive cases from the appearance of political meddling. But the new Times reporting shows that Mr. Barr did the opposite, regularly meeting with Mr. Durham to discuss his progress and advocating on his behalf with intelligence officials
I am at the very edge of the bounds of fair use. I highly recommend reading the entire article, lest Bill Barr’s attempt to rewrite history have some success with you. Or, if you just want to read a brutal takedown of the real Bill Barr, it’s worthwhile.
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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, SUBSTACK: MUCH LEFT ADO
I was wondering if his rehab tour would be successful. At the time of his appointment as AG for TFG, only a few very left leaning sites kept saying he was an awful choice because of his role in the Iran Contra cover-up. The MSM, especially all the legal talking heads, said he was an institutionalist and would uphold the integrity of the DOJ. They were all wrong. It is surprising that the NYT, former home of Judith Miller and current home of Maggie Haberman, finally told the truth about Mr. Barr.
Part of it was that prior to Barr, the temporary guy was that absolute moron “Matt” somebody, the “thank you for your question…” guy, the “I see your time has expired” guy. So, next to him, even I would look qualified to be Attorney General.
He is an institutionalist, the problem is that his institution is the imperial presidency, fascist light. And I think that in Trump he saw the doorway. Trump was 100% unfit but if Trump could establish the pattern of a president who could do whatever he wanted, then the “next guy” would be a real president and a real fascist.
Not to worry, the second and I mean second they figure fluffing him will bring in attention & therefor big time ad revenue the NYT will be both-sidering the hell out of any misdeeds of Trump they have to. As CBS’s Les Moonves famously said, Trump might be bad for the country but he’s good for ratings. If sucking up to him some is what it takes to get enough access to provide coverage that will draw in readers that’s what the NYT will do.
EQUALJUSTICE UNDER LAW! That qualifies as the most ridiculous propaganda shoved up the asses of the American public. I wonder how many poor kids are sitting in jail as I type for smoking weed? Meanwhile the real criminals are wealthy white and free to get richer off of book deals and lobbying jobs. This country’s moral compass, if we ever had any, is in the shitter. Until barr, Trump and the other traitors are sitting in jail, we will remain a monument to hypocrisy! Fact!