It appeared for a few hours Tuesday morning that there was a shred of integrity left in William Barr, since ABC News reported Barr saying, “I’m recused from that matter,” meaning the Epstein case. Now, Barr is singing a different tune altogether. He’s recused from the old case, in Florida. But he’s very much a part of the new one. Bloomberg:
Attorney General William Barr won’t recuse himself from involvement in the new charges filed against alleged sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein by federal prosecutors in New York, according to a Justice Department official.
Barr made the decision on Tuesday after consulting with career ethics officials at the department, said the official, who asked not to be identified discussing a sensitive matter.
Barr weighed whether he would have to remove himself from involvement in the case in part because Epstein had previously hired lawyers from the law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Barr served as counsel to the law firm before becoming attorney general.
But Barr has recused himself from any retrospective review of the Justice Department’s decision more than a decade ago letting Epstein avoid prosecution on federal sex-trafficking offenses in Florida and the decades of prison time that he could have faced if convicted.
So, now we’re back to where we were Sunday, where Barr could conceivably interfere in the U.S. Attorney’s office in New York, because he oversees it. As you may recall, former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi said that it would be obvious that Barr was interfering, but that it was conceivable that he could do so. With today’s development, I was say it was more than conceivable, I would say that’s Barr’s intention. Wow. The attorney general of the United States might tamper in the prosecution of a convicted sex offender, because his boss, the president, used to party down with said offender — party down translating as molest and rape underage girls. I said in the earlier Barr piece today, this could be a cultural watershed moment for America. Now, I’m thinking the same thing, only not in the context that I meant it this morning. Now I’m thinking that we might find out how down and dirty and corrupt our country really is — or really can be, now that the worst candidate for any public office in the history of the nation has been elected to its highest, under the GOP banner, and the Republicans fully support anything he and his sycophants do, no matter how venal or base.
In medicine, there is a dreadful malady called Epstein-Barr syndrome. It’s a class of chronic fatigue syndrome, and it is debilitating. I’m thinking that the governmental equivalent of said disorder has just been cobbled together, and America is soon to suffer from a grave affliction.
I find that it is hard work sometimes fighting the hopeless syndrome. Awful and frustrating things are happening so fast. How many people must be feeling this, watching the slimeballs seem to get away with everything we don’t believe in.
It’s at such hopeless moments that I find history–both my own and the bigger picture–a soothing balm. The one repeated lesson of it was expressed by Alan Moore better I ever could: “Stones crack, hanging gardens rot/Tis only change that changes not,/In this life, there is only one lesson to be learned/That things will change, the wheel will turn.” So hang tough…nothing, not even the bad times, are forever.
Thank you for posting that. Here’s another one: “Tough times never last but tough people do.”
He’s not recusing himself from the NY stuff only the Florida stuff. Which makes no sense.
What does Barr know, and how long has he known it?
Makes all the sense in the world to me. Epstein did business on Mar-A-Lago grounds, I’d bet. Anything unrelated to Epstein that gets uncovered there can be fed back into the three million and seven other ongoing investigations into Trump.
Agree. Epstein was a procurer of children and the Russian mob is very big into sex trafficking. And we know how many dots in Trumpworld connect back to Russia.
I’ve read that he tried to solicit a girl whose father was a groundskeeper there. No way that Tr*mp didn’t find out about it – he had phone access to all the rooms, at least.
He’s by now dug out his crib notes and file folders with little tabs that say, “EPSTEIN” … will have to remember all the weaknesses in the pursuit of Epstein before he approved the Epstein deal …
I think if Barr wiggles things around too much, he may get to prison faster than DJT … the marshal’s will have to pry DJT’s fingers off the inside door trim at the WH to cart him off …
A very bad day for Trump, can’t happen soon enough … 🙂
In any kind of a normal world I would agree with you. But the GOP is signing off on all this corruption. That’s what terrifies me. I’m frankly amazed that Barr took this position. He would have been better off staying out of it. He’s scary. He is the second coming of Roy Cohn.
Let’s see, a US AG that I thought was supposed to be the chief of police in the DOJ and solve little problems there in OUR name, (the People) ….
Now, there appears to be a subtitle in his job description, [ special defense lawyer for the POTUS ]
This change of heart and shopping the DOJ’s ethics pros for the OK to go forward, is in WHAT capacity?
Will he just hover over the DOJ lawyers and investigators to sink any pursuit of DJT …. if HARD evidence of Trump’s play times with young girls via Epstein arise, there is NO WAY that evidence can be altered or disappear, RIGHT?
There will, IMHO, be a massive political flash fire in Congress, the WH, and even there may be some State/s involved with uncovered places/times if DJT is caught dead to rights guilty … there is a LOT of bad things out there, but the huge majority of the US citizens, regardless of party take a very dim view of underage sex slave abuse, ( which blows my mind that there is not more outrage with little kids in cages, some actually dying ) ….
All the possible leakage that might occur if and when evidence is found, will be appreciated by the majority, not Trump …
The neatest thing is the scramble we will know more about in a couple days, when all the biggest money/famous people that get an invite to the biggest party of guilty old white guys that played on the Epstein Island or other places like Mar-o-golf in Florida …. lined up at the designated sign-in desk ….
Trump is probably sleeping in an oxygen tent now …. eating handfuls of soda crackers chased down with Pepto-Bismol, that magic pink cure-all for rectal earthquakes ….
So many fun things can happen with this new can-oh-worms for Trump, a nastier, least qualified supposed POTUS that was EVER in the WH … we HAVE to WIN
GOTV !!
I’m not sure of what will happen, but I think it’s going to make Watergate look quaint by comparison — and I well remember how outraged we were at the time, that that level of corruption was in our government.
Just a thought, and it’s by no means original to me: do you suppose this was the “emergency” that called Mike Pence to the White House? Do you suppose Barr found out about Epstein, and told Trump and Trump flipped and so they called Pence? Not trying to do CT here, just trying to connect dots.
That makes sense. Connecting the dots forms the picture.
Barr has always thought that the AG’s job is to defend the president – he wrote that 19-page job application last summer laying out his views on absolute executive privilege, which the courts don’t accept.
I’m with the courts, I do not accept Barr at all in any capacity, neither the Orange idiot in the WH, also, I’ve been thankful that there still are at least a few judges left, not contaminated by Trump/Barr … doing the right things against the orange noodle face/Barr and now a few good hits on the Repubs as well, (about time)
… the mystery surrounding that other nasty turd’s sudden return to DC was a click in my mind, because of two things, 1) DJT has been fuming in tweets lately and was totally lost on his 4th speech, shows his fear of what might be coming from Mueller in a few days … where is DJT’s breaking point actually ?
2) His sudden change in tweet intensity as the public news was shifted to Epstein, like Dkos and here, there ARE several photos of DJT with his friendly arm across his friend of 15 years, Epstein’s shoulders … I truly believe DJT can see that dim writing on the wall of his nonsense …
Burnt toast anyone? His eyes will roll back in his head and his frustrated malignant narcissism, will be telling him, take it easy big fella, you have to get out of the Epstein Thing, then retire to Epstein’s Island