Roy Cohen would be proud!
2
Donald Trump got rid of Jeff Sessions because he wanted a puppet as Attorney General. Now he has one. Donald Trump does not need "Hey, Google" or "Alexa" when he has "Hey, Bill".
4
The Trump, the AG, Nunes, the "three Amigos", Mitchell in the senate, the Supreme Court...the rot runs deep and wide. It's the kind of "democracy" Sauron of Mordor would put together.
I'm not sure the nation will recover.
6
"Mr. Durham has already unearthed some evidence that supports Mr. Barr’s uncertainty of the inspector general’s findings, according to a lawyer involved in the Durham inquiry."
So you called Rudy Guiliani.
4
I doubt Barr harbors any real hope of joining the Supreme Court -- ever:
"It certainly is clear that [Barr] is angling to become a Supreme Court justice."
Frankly, it never occurred to me that Trump might ever appoint Barr to the Supreme Court. Anything's possible, I suppose, but Trump is far more likely to pick someone from the Federalist list. If Trump gets another pick, I expect he'll pick Amy Berman Jackson. Maybe someone else, but not Barr.
1
"Barr believes ... Trump should have ... no oversight. That is in direct contradiction with the Constitution."
Incorrect. The Constitution doesn't grant Congress any "oversight" authority over Trump. Many NYT readers say that's in the Constitution, but they're just making that up. It's not. One can argue that it ought to be, but the fact remains that it's not. The Constitution grants Congress authority to pass laws, to impeach numerous officials (including the President), and I believe it implicitly grants Congress authority to enforce the emoluments clause.
However one may define the scope of Congress' authority under the Constitution, it does not include any "oversight" authority over any other branch of government. As I wrote above: Many NYT readers say that's in the Constitution, but they're just making that up. It's not.
As for Barr's "19-page unsolicited letter to Trump," I seriously doubt that Barr actually wrote that letter. He seemed very uncomfortable at his confirmation hearing when some Senator indicated he was going to ask Barr question about the letter (he didn't).
My very strong hunch is that that "19-page unsolicited letter to Trump" was written by some bright associate at Kirkland & Ellis, the law firm at which Barr hung his hat before his appointment as AG. The letter is actually quite impressive, and I'm confident that Barr read it carefully (whether he understood what he was reading is quite another matter), but I very seriously doubt that Barr wrote it.
1
Just because Barr doubts something, does not make it so. It appears Barr, being attached at the hip to trump, is setting himself out as a level an issue must pass muster before it reaches the Supreme Court. It certainly is clear that he believes that with trump's re-election (heaven forefend) he is angling to become a Supreme Court justice just as soon as there is an opening. Indeed, who in the wide, wide world of sports does this mortal man think he is?
2
Here, the least-surprising 'news flash' of the 21st century. I'm am impressed, though, that Trump's AG was able to contain revelation of his skepticism for a full six days. Must have been quite a challenge.
8
The DOJ is headed by Trump "fan boy", William Barr, who received his appointment by writing a 19-page unsolicited letter to Trump, voicing his fringe-element views that, essentially, any sitting President is above the law.
This is blatantly untrue. Barr purports an almost monarchical view of a President's role, claiming that that person even creates the law.
This is clearly not what the Constitution says. It, in fact, severely limits Presidential power to avoid having a "king-as-President", the Founding Fathers having so recently escaped an abusive monarchy.
Barr's letter was undoubtedly music to Trump's eyes, he being in the midst of an investigation into his campaign's coordinating with Russia to win the presidency, and Trump's obstruction of justice regarding this investigation.
To have yet another sycophant supporting him, and willing to subvert justice and the Constitution to do so, is identical to Trump's actions in office.
Read the Constitution. It's short and easy. Then an informed opinion can be made, not based on spinmeisters.
1
"according to two people familiar with the conversations."
Two ANONYMOUS people.
Since you have revealed yourselves as highly partisan and unreliable, why should we believe any of this report?
1
Barr is the defender of the Republican Party. He is the man who fixes messes by U.S. Presidents who are Republicans. Trump is a lying, cheating, and inane man who happens to be President and head of the Republican Party. Barr would defend Trump from any accountability for any misdeed for as long as he is a Republican President.
Barr is unconcerned that he has lost all personal integrity by his act of unconditional loyalty to a political party. He has no use for liberal democracy, anyway. A government by the consent of the governed seems to annoy him greatly. He seems to think that only anointed kings ought govern nations.
5
Barr clearly does not respect our form of government. He considers liberal democracy unjust and unsuitable, longing for a government that owes fealty to an autocrat.
6
It’s the Roy Cohn playbook.
5
@Kelly Sorry to disagree with you but Roy Cohn always operated within the confines of Trump's personal business and affairs.
But William Barr is Attorney General of the United States, and his influence and power extend far beyond what Cohn was capable of doing.
Compared to Roy Cohn the damage to the country that Barr has done and will continue to do is historic in magnitude.
6
@ernieh1 PS: What has Barr precisely done?
He has corrupted the role of Attorney General to uphold the Constitution for the singular purpose of becoming the president's personal defense lawyer.
In doing so he has violated his oath of office, and is therefore subject to impeachment.
In fact a group of conservative lawyers have already petitioned for his disbarment.
5
Intelligence reports, investigative findings, and testimony under oath are relevant when they support conspiracy theories, a re-election campaign, and the proclivities of The Base. Otherwise they are, in the immoral [sic] words of the Senator from Louisiana, just "opinions" or, more sinisterly, are yet more damning evidence of the Deep State. Everything is a "matter of opinion", we - say Trump and his myrmidons - have our "facts", you - our enemies - have yours. Besides the stock market is up. Let The Base decide!
3
@Martin Daly or perhaps the basest.
2
@tazio sez: same thing.
Of course he does, because he made up his mind long before he sat for his confirmation hearing.
5
The Republican strategy is to present the absolute opposite of reality as an alternative reality.
It’s a child’s game, with dangerous consequences.
7
Barr went to West Point. I guess he checked the Honor part of that at the door when he came on board with Trump. Once again, the Republicans show themselves to be deplorable.
4
If Barr publicly questions the findings of his own Inspector General, he will transgress beyond what he did with the Mueller report.
Since he took office, in his own words and actions, his conflict of interest has been clear. It began with his unsolicited memo even before taking office and knowing the facts, by discrediting the Mueller investigation. On that basis alone the Senate should have rejected his nomination.
He seems to keep crossing over into impeachment territory by abusing his oath of office, putting his authority into defending Trump instead of defending the law and the Constitution.
The House Judiciary should open a hearing on that possibility.
5
This article says "Attorney General William P. Barr has told Justice Department officials that he is skeptical of a conclusion by the department’s inspector general" and goes on to say that "Mr. Barr’s doubts are significant."
I have to disagree. To those of us whose opinions are based in truth, Barr has zero credibility and is a base dissembler. To those who support Trump - lord knows why - all that ever matters is being in lockstep with Trump, with or without Barr makes little difference.
4
Bending the law enforcement narrative to suit the whims of a would be despot leader is the hallmark of a Banana Republic.
It is remarkable how much damage to our core institutions and standing in the world a few bad men can inflict on our country. How much time until the damage irreversible?
America - great while it lasted?
5
I have great respect for Barr. I'll wait to hear what his concerns are. He has zero tolerance for unsubstantiated spying on Americans. This is a sentiment all Americans should share and support.
5
Specifically, what do you respect about Barr?
4
@AACNY
Knowing that trump campaign personnel and family members had over many contacts with Russians before and during the 2016 campaign, many contacts that they initially lied about or tried to keep secret, to NOT open an investigation into this would be malpractice.
4
The new explanation on the thin reed for a politicized investigation coming from Democrats and the press is that kicking off an investigation is a very low bar. Our vaunted FBI apparently needs close to no reason to launch a full-bore investigation into a political campaign. Where was that fact when the Democrats and media were breathlessly reporting the Russia collusion hoax for three years? Who knows. Anyway, the IG didn't look into the CIA's role under Brennan to spin up informants and spies to get dirt on a political campaign. Alex Downer's own explanation on Youtube shows he didn't think much of Papadopoulos's comments. Yes, you can see Alex Downer speak in his own words. I know Democrats consider people like Biden, speaking in their own words in public, to be fictional, but it's wide open for everybody to see. I want to know what Brennan was up to? He's awfully defensive for a man with nothing to hide. He needs to be hauled before the Senate. Richard Burr is a "useful idiot" for Mark Warner.
3
More "fake thinking" by the AG. Typical of the calibre of those who inhabit the White House under Trump...they have to be stupid so Trump is not shown up.
3
Barr needs to be impeached. He is acting as the President's personal attorney, NOT the Attorney General of the American people. What a disgrace!
5
Ladies and Gentlemen, King George's lawyer William Barr has determined that the King is innocent and must be bowed to.
Move along, now, and return to your workhouses.
6
Trump certainly got his Roy Cohn in William Barr. Disgraceful.
4
Lock him up!
3
Now that Giuliani is out f the picture Barr can formally step in as Trump's personal attorney. DISGUSTING!
2
Barr believes that Trump should have dictatorial powers with no oversight.
That is in direct contradiction with the Constitution.
Barr is trying to subvert the government and should be impeached and removed from office.
9
I think we need an investigation of the investigation of of the investigation.
4
@Jim I think you need to find the maturity and self-awareness to understand that your worldview does not fit the facts, and that no matter how hard to try to make the facts fit your worldview, your conspiracy theories will not be confirmed.
1
@ERC
I don’t think Jim is expressing a worldview, I think he’s making a joke. I don’t believe in conspiracy theories either but I thought the same thing—does this mean we have to investigate the investigation of the investigation??? We are entering the theater of the absurd.
4
Why is Barr so upset that evidence was found of Russian meddling in our elections? Why would he prefer that we did not discover this fact?
12
"Mr. Barr’s doubts are significant because they could be perceived as the nation’s top law enforcement officer siding with Mr. Trump."
They "could be perceived"?
Can we get real: Once Barr gave Trump and Fox News a news cycle "win" on the Mueller report by flat out lying, i.e. saying it exonerated the President when it in truth itemized numerous acts of obstruction of justice, we all knew that Barr has sacrificed his former good name and legal stature at the alter of the Trump kakistocracy.
10
@
Kakistocrasty. Very unusual word.
I had to look it up.
“A state or society governed by its least suitable or competent citizens.”
That’s trump administration in a nutshell.
3
We are witnessing the collapse of a great nation formerly based on the rule of law.
7
Barr will definitely go down in all history books. He will, also be featured in almost all law schools ethical classes. He will be the prime character in discussion of any political corruption classes.
It is amazing that this man is considered to be capable of any responsible position in our justice system.He is the poster boy of what not to allow.
12
Directly after voting on articles of impeachment for the president, an impeachment inquiry needs to be opened on Bill Barr. He has already gone around the world investigating debunked conspiracy theories. In Italy, the prime minister went on TV to announce that Barr's theories aren't true. In Britain, sources report that they have never seen anything like Barr trying to discredit his own agencies. If he disagrees with his own IG to curry favor with Trump, it is time for Barr to be censured and impeached followed by being disbarred in New York.
14
After reading the article then reading some of the comments, I’m amazed that such diverse opinions can be expressed.
Its a sad sign of the times when so minds are made up before reading the facts, so the truth of the matter is never allowed to sink in through their thick sculls.
4
The United States Attorney General applied for the job with a manifesto for a monarchy; and Pinocchio loved it. But, every day, Geppetto must wish for a real witch. One is never found. So as not to disappoint Pinocchio, Geppetto turns into the Red Fairy and puts all of the little boy's big lies into the national bedtime story.
Each night, before the little boy drifts-off to sleep - to dream-up something new for tomorrow's Fantasy Island, Jiminy Cricket whispers in Pinocchio's still-wooden ear "Remember, you are HRH Honest Donald John. Your subjects need to get over it, ..uhh I mean, 'Live Happily Ever After'".
All these people, especially Barr, are operating out of strong religious beliefs which supersede their allegiance to the Constitution. If you think God has put Trump into office so we can prepare better for the rapture, why should you care about anything else? The people who are more concerned with Jesus than with their objective execution of their job are more than dangerous, they are traitors.
We are in far more danger than most people realize. Since there is a good possibility that Trump will win again, there is no telling whatsoever, what will happen in those four ensuing years. W. Bush would look like trip to Disneyworld and I can hardly believe I wrote that sentence.
6
Barr is intoxicated by the unbridled power he believes should be vested in Trump. In Barr's mind, neither he nor Trump are accountable to anyone, which he shamelessly displays on a daily basis.
5
No surprise there. Remember Barr dismissed Mueller's numerous findings of obstruction perpetrated by Trump. Barr is all in on Trump coverup efforts.
3
Trump is Trump and Barr is, yet again, his vassal. The Attorneys General's Office has become yet another another vessel for Trump to deceive the world and the American public of his innate corruption. We, as Americans, must stop this collusion to bring back the rule of law demanded by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Otherwise, we will become yet another third world country.
4
He's finally found his new "Roy Cohn." Who would have thought the AG could've been so corrupted, so quickly?
3
Donald Trump + William Barr = Deep State
4
It looks as though Trump has finally found his Roy Cohn.
3
Suggested headline change:
"Whiney Barr Decries Another Debunked Investigation Myth"
4
Of all Trump's willfull staining of American values and institutions the co-opting of the justice department is the most unnerving. There must be a modicum of impartiality for our system of justice and the rule of law to work. This will take a generation to undo.
12
In the long run of history a remarkable lesson is leaders and prominent public figures can and do choose their legacies. Generally history is kind to those who choose wisely. Others, ensconced in their megalomania, do not recognize there are choices or choose poorly. Then history is brutal. DJT, Barr, Mulvaney, Miller et al will be replaced. Replacement is a matter of when and who the replacements are. The writing of the DJT administration history commences at their replacement. The betting line is history will not find a plethora of wise and measured choices nor will history be kind to their legacies.
4
After taking a world tour of Europe on the tax payer’s dime looking for dirt on “political enemies” the man has lost all credibility.
Supporting a despot and turning the people’s justice department into partisan theater will be what is written down in the history books about this man. Along with Giuliani, he has turned a respectable career into absolute disgrace.
There is always money causing such falls and maybe they also need their taxes looked at by Congress; in fact we need to look at “all of the president’s men’s” tax returns. And a few partisan Republicans.
7
Dear Congressional Republicans:
Yes, you. The ones quietly waiting for the right time to break with this President and get off the Trump Train alive. This is not going to get any better.
The Mueller Report was delivered, Part 1 showing that Trump gladly accepted help from the Russians to win in 2016. There wasn't enough evidence to clearly show conspiracy with the Russians, but he took the help and it wasn't an exhoneration, and you know it. Part 2 clearly showed the President obstructed justice, likely hindering the ability to show conspiracy in Part 1. Mueller dutifully honored the idea that the Justice Dept. can't indict the President, but can hand the evidence to Congress to act on it. Despite AG Barr's obfuscation, everything was laid out for you to hold the President accountable.
You took no action.
Now we have clear evidence of Trump withholding funds and a White House meeting from Ukraine, in a shakedown for a political favor in the form of more foreign elections interference.
Take action now. This is your chance to do the right thing.
If you don't, Trump will be further emboldened by the impunity. He might even be reelected. Given a second term, he will only get worse, and you will wonder how you can get off the Trump Train then, when you did nothing before.
You know this is wrong, and you know it's destroying the country. You can't keep waiting for someone else to go first. The time is now. Do the right thing.
10
Comey was right when he described his meeting with Trump as the president acting like a mafia chief asking personal allegiance. In Barr Trump has found the consigliere who will stop at nothing to do his bidding.
6
This is getting beyond ridiculous.
Barr misrepresented the Mueller report and then wouldn't let anyone see it for weeks while public opinion based on his spin solidified. Then he refused to investigate the whistleblower report and in fact tried to prevent congress from seeing it. He flew all over the world looking to discredit our own investigations into this corrupt president's connections with Russia and refused to recuse himself from investigations where he himself was implicated and now this?
This is an out of control AG that needs to be disbarred and removed immediately!
7
Trump’s impeachment must include Treason.
Having conspired with Putin, Trump is following Putin’s orders to denounce the findings of the Mueller investigation that were beyond doubt: Russia interfered in 2016.
Further, Trump falsely blames Ukraine for 2016, knowing it’s not true but following Putin’s orders.
Worse, Trump uses this “Ukraine did it, not Russia” pretext as a reason to weaken Ukraine, by withholding Ukraine’s military aid to defend itself against Russia.
Weakening Ukraine weakens Europe— Russia is breathing down their necks.
Trump is a Russian agent.
This is how America ends.
This is how Europe ends.
5
"Unfounded" has become the favorite word of this paper. Generally it appears as a qualifier for selected mentions of any well founded suspicions around activities by high level FBI or CIA functionaries, Joe/Hunter Biden, Nationalist Ukrainian U.S. bureaucrats, etc, reliably confirming there is a lot there to investigate.
4
@Edwin
Well founded according to whom? According Trump and his conspiracy theories? According to op-ed writers and fixers unwilling to make public the documents they claim to have? This paper and others have debunked your conspiracies. Career public servants and patriots have made clear that your conspiracies harm this country. No clear-eyed, reasonable adult would call that non-sense "well founded."
3
Why would anyone be surprised that Barr thinks this. My only surprise is that he did not start pushing this within an hour of his confirmation.
1
So Horowitz was trusted, until he wasn’t.
Bill Barr requires either impeachment or disbarment or both. He is not adhering to his oath of office. He is not serving as the nations/peoples top attorney, instead he is kowtowing to a crooked president who himself is either breaking some law or ordering his staff to break some law probably many each and every day. We have all had enough of this continuous attempt to dismantle our state department, justice system, national security system, environmental protection agencies, and public education. Yes our government has become a monstrosity but the culprits are the monied interests that have bought our elected representatives in congress to do their bidding. It's all the money honey. Obviously we even have a President who is owned lock stock and barrel by Putin's oligarchs. My question now is why should any American citizen continue to obey any law of the land with this common criminal squatting in our Whitehouse?
2
It seems Trump has found his Roy Cohn.
2
Barr lied about the Mueller report and accused the FBI of spying on Trump. Barr is a proven Trump lackey. I don’t see why anyone would be surprised at his latest sellout the Justice Department or care what Trump’s supporters say about the report. At this point the only question is whether the dictator will skate or not.
6
As someone has already explained:
//In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offense’s gilded hand may shove by justice,
And oft ’tis seen the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law.//
Doug Mill's photograph tells the whole story.
1
Barr is the real Pinocchio. Not only is he untruthful he is also having his strings pulled by Trump. Unlike Pinocchio, who became a real boy, Barr will be remembered as a puppet.
5
The great irony is not that the intelligence community was looking into Russian tampering with our 2016 election to the benefit of Trump. Rather, it's why investigations into Trump's continued love affair with Putin and Russia evidently are not currently being pursued. As yet, that relation remains unexplained. Kompromat??
5
Oh great, Democrats have William Barr to heap their scorn onto today. If variety is the spice of life Trump and his gang give Dems a full palate of flavors to drown their sorrows in.
2
@John Doe
It would be wonderful if the President's supporters would offer meaningful critiques rather than sycophancy and blind support of their team.
3
@John Doe They merely lament the Death of Truth in our Government.
2
And this man is "investigating" the Jeffrey Epstein "suicide".
2
Right!
2
Nixon's Attorney General John Mitchell did 19 months in a Federal Prison. Bill Barr deserves twice that.
6
Barr is at least as dangerous as Trump!
4
You are now dealing with an End-of-Days cult that has taken over Washington.
Doomsday is Tuesday - November 3, 2020.
Get your tambourine and religious caftan and dance! dance! dance!
2
William Barr, Donald Trump, and Rudy Giuliani are three peas in a pod.
4
Russia is the most corrupt country on Earth and the tentacles of its Mafia reach everywhere. Russia pushed, lied, and interfered in our election to get Trump elected. He champions them ever since. How peculiar.
4
AG Barr is playing to an audience of one -- just like all the other debased sycophants in the executive branch.
My nausea is rising.
4
Gee, the attorney general who engineered the pardons of the traitorous felons who illegally sold arms to Iran is back subverting justice again.
Do Republicans have any idea of how future generations may view their slavish devotion to the rich and powerful and service in the cause of white supremacy?
Do they care?
5
The FBI should check Barr’s financial records. He acts like he is on the Kremlin payroll.
4
Barr needs impeaching.
6
Who cares what Barr thinks about anything. He has zero credibility. What a pathetic way to end a career.
3
Well gahhhly! Isn’t this why Trump hired Barr in the first place???
1
Today's special! Barr and Trump, both impeached for the price of one!
Barr should be disbarred
4
When do we start addressing these people as traitors
They continue to do the bidding of Russia this is criminal
6
I guess trump has found his Roy Cohn.
4
My father often told the story of his Law School professor saying to him in dismissing his carefully prepared argument "What you say is interesting, Mr. Smith, but what the Courts say is Law!"
Members of the Justice Department should keep that in mind instead of pretending their lawyers and the Attorney General are a defacto second co-equal legal branch along with the courts. Lawyers at Justice may issue opinions that lead to policies, but these are not the law. What Barr or any AG thinks is not the law.
Sadly, from Comey's and Mueller's deference to a J. D. memo on sitting presidents all the way back to Hoover and the Palmer Raids of 1919 there has been a pattern of AG's and Justice agencies ignoring actual law for their preferred departmental alt-law, and here we are again. Justice's job is to enforce laws as created by Congress and the Courts. They are to execute the law, not legislate or adjudicate it. Do your jobs, not somebody else's. Mr. Barr, what the Federal Code and the Courts say is law!
3
So he personally disagrees. Why are we giving this guy press? Who cares? Let him disprove what his own Inspector General found and then let him speak. Not innuendo, but facts.
6
If Mr. Barr truly had a maximalist view of executive authority he would argue that Obama had the right to personally order an investigation of Trump for any reason he deemed fit, including vague concerns of corruption. That seems to be the current Republican defense of Trump's actions with Ukraine.
10
Barr is a wonderful example of the way power corrupts.
8
I trust Barr's judgement on this about as much as I trusted Reno's on Waco, TX.
Both hacks, and as an Independent, I can see the fools on both sides and make legitimate comparisons.
When George Orwell wrote "1984" he envisioned a government whose main modus operandi was to deceive the people. It was a great book that depicted much of what was to come. (He did not imagine that there would be an Internet and Twitter.)
But the book did not go far enough. It did not depict a government that also deceived itself.
This is what we have now with Trump and his followers both in high places and low.
3
William Barr's conduct as A.G. is disgraceful. He has consistently shown himself to be a partisan defender of the indefensible conduct of his patron, Donald Trump. The goal of pervasive Russian meddling in the American political arena is the destruction of confidence in American institutions. Barr's enabling of Trump's narcissistic buffoonery does enormous harm to the United States, and it is impossible to imagine that Mr. Barr does not know that. He is as guilty of high crimes as the rest of this putrid administration.
4
Barr is one of the (ever-changing) minions of the cult of personality of Trump.
He is not now, nor has he ever been, a representative of the American people.
He does the bidding of his Master - which is not the job description of an Attorney General - and has been instrumental in reducing the Department of Justice to rubble.
Too bad.
We might have had a use for that Department sometime in the future.
The White House is toast.
The Supreme Court is in part of a supplementary cult, the Federalist Society.
The Senate cowers if Mitch glares at them.
Ugh.
Frankly, I had more respect for this country when we were arguing about JE Hoover's red dress.
Now, with the President moaning an orgasm into a microphone at public rallies, I barely dare to turn the tv on.
"Where's my country, dude?"
5
This article reeks, of fear.
Wait for the report, don't tell us what you think is in it, wait.
Let the chips fall where they may.
3
Barr is deliberately feeding quotable fragments to state TV and to the gullible.
4
Judgement on AG Barr is being made without having a clue as to what he does not agree with in the Horowitz report. Did the liberals consider Eric Holder President Obama's attorney in many of the questionable decisions he made especially in the delivery of American arms on the Mexican border? It is because of the liberal Democrat Party's hatred of President Trump and fears that many of the suspect actions of those in the FBI and the CIA may be unearthed and discovered to be true that judgements are being made against AG Barr.
3
@SRH
Did it ever occur to you that we despise Trump for a multiplicity of good reasons. He has earned it. SWtop focusing on the fact of our objections to Trump and start focusing on why.
Also, Eric Holder has nothing to do with current events and his actions pale in comparison to Barr and his subversion of the justice department to Trump and his beliefs in executive privilege that amount to authoritarian rule, not democracy.
2
William Barr, the current Attorney General, is wading into dangerous territory that may be even unlawful, by doubting his own FBI investigations into Russia's meddling of the 2016 presidential election, to allow Trump's assault of the White House. He si acting, quite clearly, as the personal lawyer of the vulgar bully in the Oval Office. This is not only shameful but treacherous, as Barr lost all credibility. And without trust, we are lost.
2
Sad to watch Barr sink deeper into trumps cesspool of lies and corruption.
Vote my friends, this country is being torn apart from the inside.
3
Just keep "investigating" until Barr gets the answers he wants-- Saint Donald did nothing wrong.
2
It is incredibly ironic that Jeff Sessions may be our last principled AG.
We have become pathetic under Trump and Republicans.
1
So much for objectivity from AG Barr, he showed his hand when he wrote the June 8, 2018 memorandum, a bunch of distorted legal jabber to say the least. If the House and Senate fail to protect our institution it will be left to the voters to rid us of this traitor, I hope common sense will prevail.
1
Barr’s father gave Epstein a job teaching when Epstein didn’t even have a college degree. Both Trump and Barr go way back with Epstein. Barr coincidentally became AG just as the Epstein story was hitting the headlines.
Maybe Putin knows some secrets about both Trump and Barr.
5
At this point, I can only conclude that Putin is blackmailing Barr with compromising information so he defends Trump no matter what.
It seems that Putin can easily have a hold not only on Trump, but Barr, McConnell,Graham, Nunes, and the whole miserable lot of them.
That explanation is somewhat plausible given the insanity of this entire administration.
4
The whole purpose of having an Office of the Inspector General is to provide oversight to the DOJ. For Barr to step in and deny the findings of the OIG is akin to Trump saying he doesn't believe the findings of his own CIA when they looked into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Barr is interjecting his personal beliefs over the findings of an entire team which did the research and investigation. I suppose Barr is just following the lead of his boss, the would-be king.
1
News flash! Rightly or wrongly the report has already been dismissed by the voters who matter- the undecideds.
And what is the predication for Durham’s investigation?
And who is the source for these claims?
And why hasn’t Barr been impeached yet? Congress needs to let it be known that this conduct will not be tolerated.
Barr has proven a completely toxic partisan operative.
Dangerous.
4
This is surreal! Would it have been better if the FBI did not start the investigation and allow the meddling to continue, and let the crooked minds who are now indicted to go free? Any amount of evidence can be dismissed if we challenge the evidence rather than the criminals. After all, we see a lot of "could it not be ..." kind of reasoning among the Republicans for anything, ANYTHING that touches their boss, Trump. The same logic will be used by Barr because he wants to please his boss. Why? Oh, why?
Thank you for being the only decent player in this entire gross debacle, A.G. Barr. The truth will out.
It's pretty horrifying to see the Republican Party as it attempts to end the American Experiment.
2
Doesn't Barr's skepticism increase the credibility of the report?
3
Who exactly does Bill Barr think he is ?
Last time I checked, the IG was a professional, skilled, non-partisan office, the statutory mandate of which is to identify fraud, abuse and corruption in government.
Period.
Last time I checked, the US AG is paid by the taxpayers to enforce the laws of the United States, as passed by Congress.
Period.
It is not the job of the US AG to try to smear or undo the independent, dispassionate, and supported findings of the US IG, simply because those findings are not pleasing to King Donald.
Everything and everybody associated with the serial liar named Trump becomes stained with the tint of corruption and self dealing.
161
@r mackinnon
If no one stops these people, they will continue to ignore the law, it’s as simple as that.
That is why we are in danger of losing America.
The rule of law is not enforced.
16
@r mackinnon His name will go down in infamy in the history books. If he had a soul, it has now been sold to the conman.
12
How does William Barr reconcile his current conduct with the Christian belief that a good man leaves a legacy to later generations? This instruction is given, though the language may vary, in every Bible:
“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” — Proverbs 13:22
An inheritance is neither limited to earthly possessions, nor one’s own grandchildren. A good reputation, an excellent character or a sterling example of navigating adversity with honor — these can be our legacies, too.
I would not want to be William Barr on the Day of Judgment.
10
@Ginger M.
“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” — Proverbs 13:22
And that is how Trump justifies cutting inheritance taxes and capital gains taxes.
Trump and his GOP are still looking for that someone, anyone Democratic/liberal/elite/deep state to put in jail. This is what Trump wants because he is the 'victim' and he wants revenge.
Clearly the GOP see IG Horowitz's as a big disappointment which does not support any of their conspiracy theories.
So they will move on to the Durham inquiry directed by AG Barr to find the person they so desperately want to punish. Will this be a fair and independent inquiry or skewed to finding the conclusions they want?
2
@Elizabeth Easy answer: More corrupt propaganda.
So basically Barr is thinking that he knows all and that any evidence to the contrary, no matter how carefully and fully collected and analyzed, can be safely ignored.
So the Trumpian world view is now firmly ensconced in the Attorney General's office.
This will lead to huge economic savings - no need for trials, or lawyers and all their time-wasting with trying to get to the "truth". Just ask the A.G.
What could go wrong?
8
Where are we left if we are told to believe no one but the president? Are we to trust no one but those the president anoints? This is no longer oligarchy, kleptocracy, monarchy, or kakistocracy--this is a new theology.
9
"Should Mr. Barr rebut the inspector general’s assessment, due out next week in a highly anticipated report, Mr. Trump’s allies will most likely use that pushback to dismiss the work itself."
Trump supporters won't need Barr's rebut to dismiss the IG's report if it doesn't conform with the administration's conspiracy theory. Horowitz will be dismissed as an "Obama appointee," a "Deep Stater," etc. As to Barr, he gave the game away when he said that he didn't care about his legacy. He's the most compromised AG since John Mitchell.
5
We now understand that Barr has long been an advocate for authoritarian strong man rule by executive fiat and doesn't support the consitutional division of co-equal branches of government. We already know he is willing to lie and mislead the American people and that his commitment is to Trump. We already know there is no pretense to be independent of the white house and that he thinks the president is above the laws the rest of us are compelled to follow.
What I don't understand is why how the investigation started can derail the findings. Should the FBI have looked the other way when confronted with the information? Why would a federal prosecutor trump the inspector general's findings?
Barr has undermined the justice department and the civil servants that work there like Pompeo has undermined the state department.
Given his actions, behaviors and beliefs, Barr has no credibility except among Trump supporters - apparently half of which believe that Trump is a better president than Lincoln. They are lost in the Fox news wilderness where truth is darkness and they will not read the report, just like they didn't for the Mueller report.
7
Looking for typos and other grammatical errors does not change the meaning of the organized register of facts very much.
What it does do for those fans of Trump who are generally not in it for the facts is, it helps them dismiss facts and process as pointless.
Like rock star who gains so many followers after they begin presenting themselves as delinquents in the press. We love them for their position not for the facts they talk about or the cruelty and abuse of their lifestyles. The MeToo movement has brought multiple examples to light in the last few years.
Trumpites see Trump as a flawless act which they all find overwhelmingly entertaining and follow with all the willful and uncritical innocence of an adolescent fan. While the star uses all the money he has taken from his fans to cover up his abusive and cruel behavior towards them.
"Don't put your daughter on the stage Mrs Worthington" seems like good advice.
1
I nominate Barr for "Henchman of the Year" award. It's a tough pick, with so many worthy competitors, but he truly does stand out this time around. Graham, Guiliani, Pompeo, McConell et al., keep on trying.
3
“Contrariwise,' continued Tweedledee, 'if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
Barr is like the nonsense world in Alice in Wonderland: he twists facts to his discretion and to please his master.
5
What am I missing? The Russians DID interfere in the 2016 election. Members of the Trump campaign DID interact with Russians in coordinating the release of hacked data. Trump campaign staff HAVE been convicted in courts of law for lying to cover up their interactions with Russian spies.
If the FBI and the CIA did NOT open investigations of what can only be described as sabotage by the former Soviet Union, THAT should be investigated. They would have been derelict in their duty to protect us from foreign, Cold-War style spies.
Barr and Burr are in Benedict Arnold mold.
7
Barr, who continues to deep six (among other vital democratic institutions) the traditional nonpartisan independence of the DOJ, is putting a big fat grubby corrupt finger on the scales of justice. The Trumpy Republicans have been pushing the inspector general's report for ages, and foisting on the nation the baseless Trumpy lies and conspiracy theories that got that ball rolling in the first place. This just in about the Mueller investigation: No deep state. No political bias. No spying on the Trump campaign. The Mueller investigation was properly conceived, and for very good reason.
2
Trying to engage in discussion with this administration and Republicans in general is a waste of time. They lie about everything. It's worse than anything Orwell could have imagined.
7
Just cannot accept the fact that it doesn't say what he wants. If he wasn't trump's lackey & a real attorney general he would accept the findings of one of the investigative intelligence organizations. The attorney general should not be this partisan & this loyal to only the man & not the country. Did he not take an oath to uphold the Constitution & the laws of the country? Maybe he is currying favor with the dictator wannabe so he can serve his master in the 1984 world to come.
2
\\The F.B.I. can open a preliminary inquiry based on “information or an allegation” that a crime or threat to national security may have occurred or will occur, according to bureau policy.//
That is a simplification. The "bar" by it's very nature has to be much higher when it involves a presidential campaign and then the office itself. People in the Obama Administration, as has been shown repeatedly, had an unprecedented animus toward Trump as well as supreme confidence that they would be excused by the certain-to-be-elected Clinton administration once the election was over.
The report by an appointee of the Obama Administration apparently doesn't recognize that you need more than just rumor to spy on a presidential campaign. You need compelling evidence. The Steele Dossier was not that.
Barr is being accused in the WPost of "of acting like the president's personal attorney." That is false. He is acting as an attorney for the institution of the presidency itself. He has ample reason to do that. Below is a link to a speech Barr gave recently on the subject. It will explain to doubters that he is sincere in his beliefs and is acting as a defender of our constitutional order in these matters.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-william-p-barr-delivers-19th-annual-barbara-k-olson-memorial-lecture
3
Barr is as unfit to lead the Justice Dept as Trump is the country. Barr is willing to throw his own people under the bus to mollify Trump and do a “Mueller Report end run” again. Clearly, he would rather be corrupt than irrelevant, and he would be irrelevant if he wasn’t Trump’s lapdog. A second rate lawyer doing second rate work for a corrupt president — that is Barr’s legacy.
6
No sentient being should believe anything barr says.
8
Barr lost his credibility the day he decided that his job was to personally defend the president.
7
Why has Mr. Barr become Trump’s mouthpiece? What purpose does it serve for him? I would have thought he’d be smart enough to distance himself from this fake president, not align himself with his ignorance and crudeness.
His reputation has been sullied, as have everything and everyone associated with Trump.
3
Barr does not “doubt” the findings as the headline suggests. Barr is only attempting to fabricate doubt.
Historians will attempt to compare this man to Harry Dougherty and John Mitchell, but neither Warren Harding nor Richard Nixon asked their felonious Attorneys General to commit treason.
2
And to think Barr and Giuliani used to have esteemed legal careers.
The mind numbing incompetence, or maybe it is deliberate corruption, of formerly respected professionals really does make you doubt the "system." So in that perverse way, Trump's nihilism works.
Trump's Republican enablers are going down in history as cowards.
3
Barr, our nation's law enforcement officer, has joined those who denounce and defame the FBI. Why? When did we normalize lawlessness? NO MATTER WHO, VOTE BLUE.
1
Something is horribly wrong when the Justice Dept becomes an arm of the white House. In addition to the presence of so many cabinet members who have not been vetted and approved by the Senate, this is looking more like an autocracy every day. Cabinet members must choose whether they are part of the presidential election campaign or whether they are committed to governing for the public good. The same might be said of Congress and Senate members who have lost their moral compass and are more concerned about holding power and safeguarding the executive than representing their constituents.
204
@ThinkingCdn
Don’t you wonder if Trump’s and Barr’s mutual long-term relationships with Epstein somehow has something to do with all this? Trump may know a secret or two about Barr, and Putin may know a secret or two about them both.
Let’s hope some enterprising journalists are delving into this story.
13
@ThinkingCdn the Justice Department is part of the Executive Branch. Be definition your statement is incorrect, unless you propose almost 300 years of precedent is "horribly wrong".
1
@ThinkingCdn As AG RFK was the most personal of advocates for President JFK - yet both are revered with airports, stadiums, and the like named for them. Then you have the more recent “wingman” situation. Maybe we ought to lay off the “personal attorney” condemnations for a while.
1
Never believed this could happen in our country, especially after Watergate. Now it's the new norm! Can't imagine our future, and that of our children.
13
We could see the autocratic, probably fascist, administration coming probably 2 years ago. Read the Levitsky and Ziblatt book How Democracy Dies, which uses many examples — international— from the 1930s to the present.
Their analysis documents how the US —under Trump and his supporters in the executive branch, the courts, the legislative branch ( at least one part is now not under GOP thumb) some if the media, law enforcement, etc., — met all their criteria for a fascist takeover.
We can hope at least some states can stem this tide, and we can encourage people to vote the GOP out in 2020.
But: We know the Russians will do all they can to disrupt the elections and keep Trump where they can “run” him from afar.
Barr is certainly a key part of this picture, being in such a good position to undermine so much of what we want to believe about justice, or the Justice Department.
And: Whether he wants to turn the US into some kind of authoritarian “Christian/evangelical “ theocracy, as Pence does, remains to be seen.
2
Attorney General Barr speaks of a "unitary executive" with the same ardor and passion as he speaks of his own Catholic faith. I'm not sure why fealty to one particular political theory has turned Mr. Barr into such an obvious partisan, who will chase conspiracy theories for the President throughout the globe.
The Attorney General would rather just dispense with any investigators and just substitute the beliefs of his treasured "unitary executive." I hope Article II of the Constitution is placed in his casket when he passes from this world. It is the only thing that gives him peace it seems.
5
@Mike Ramsey
Barr and 5 members of SCOTUS are Catholic, likely in part for most of them because of the Church’s opposition to abortion.
1
I've re-written your sub-head:
WHEN the attorney general rebuts the finding that the F.B.I. had sufficient cause to open the investigation, the president’s allies WILL use his skepticism to dismiss the entire report.
At this point, William Barr has proven himself to be little more than a mob lawyer, willfully misinterpreting reality to favor his client. Barr has completely and absolutely discredited himself. These days, I am contenting myself with counting the days until he is indicted, tried, sentenced, and imprisoned.
13
It's simple; we just have to vote this widespread corruption out in November, unless of course, they change the rules... getting my torch and pitchfork ready.
10
@Maggie Coudriet
Agreed, but patriots need to vote in number slarge enough to counter Russian and Republican disinformation campaigns, propaganda tactics, and gerrymandering.
3
Whoa. What evidence has Durham already “unearthed” that disputes the Horowitz report we haven’t even seen yet? NYT please clarify. That statement comes off as innuendo.
6
I'm waiting for the four page Barr memo regarding the DOJ's IG report. It will, like Barr's Mueller report memo, make a mockery of the facts and further prove that William Barr is not the nation's lawyer. He will prove again that he is Trump's lawyer.
11
Are we kidding? Barr's role is that of Trump's spokesman and protector. He actually auditioned for the role. His views on the Russia investigation are pure partisan propaganda on behalf of Trump and have no credibility whatsoever in the real world. Barr's spin has the same weight as Corey Lewandowski's, Devin Nunes' Jim Jordan's, Paul Manafort's or Sean Hannity's.
11
Barr is a tool. After his mischaracterization of The Mueller Report findings, no one should believe any of his “conclusions” about the FBI.
14
AG Barr seems committed to what Paul Krugman called the Ukrainization of America. Perhaps, Zelensky should call Trump and tell him there's a cancer in his Justice Dept., as exemplified by a hack AG.
11
Don't get me wrong I know why you would write an article about this but Im not sure why it would be a surprise to anyone at this point.
Barr had to start this investigation cause Trump was demanding it. Now Barr has to distance himself from the finding cause they are not favorable. Truth and reality do not mean anything to an administration that gets it's talking points from Putin.
8
You are right. It really is that simple.
1
I doubt anything that this man says. Jail time for him after 2020.
8
Does this surprise anyone? Vote in 2020, people. Vote all of the Republicans out.
14
Barr and this cast of villains who are willing to lie, cheat and cover-up should all be indicted with the President.
8
barr is no more than a trump cronie that like trump is destroying america day by day. Just where is the point of no return? History will reveale what we as a nation should realize now. VOTE
8
I'm shocked, shocked!!
1
"Accused of siding with Trump" come on...Barr functions as Trumps Tom Hagen.
4
Trump, his todie,s and his GOP minions have never let facts get in the way of a useful narrative. It would be a shock if they did it this time. Like with Benghazi we will get a new investigation, and a new investigation and ....... until they find some clown who obey and (without evidence) reach the conclusion they want.
4
The Monsignor always has the inside line.
2
Of course he is going to say that. Because he was put in place by putin’s puppet, he is part of the problem. He needs to recuse himself.
As much as he wants to be, Trump is not king.
Jail!!!
3
The Ministry of Truth speaks out, "Innocence is guilty." Big Brother was spied upon by all those criminals like Mike Flynn, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone who were supervised by that "nasty woman" at the F.B.I., Lisa Page. And that is "the truth" Barr none.
2
William Barr has zero credibility. He's a Trump toady and nothing more.
4
I'm sure Barr has a bester brain than the IG, and just knows in his gut that that the IG, who conducted an in-depth investigation, is wrong. Because, after all, I would trust a guy who put a spin on the Mueller report than a non-partisan IG.
1
Whatever. He is an irrelevant and corrupt bag man for Trump. Nothing he says is to be taken seriously.
3
Next stop after Trump destroys this mans career like so many others: President of the Flat Earth Society.
What possesses a man to sell his soul to a lawless tyrant?
3
@Leslie
Some form of kompromat, money, the imagined chance for a Supreme Court seat, and/or pure fanaticism.
2
"Mr. Barr’s skepticism could place more pressure on John H. Durham — the federal prosecutor who is conducting a separate criminal inquiry into the roots of the Russia investigation — to find evidence backing Mr. Barr’s position."
There's a typo here. "find" should read "manufacture."
4
In this, Barr is not just protecting the increasingly incoherent and dangerous president, but himself, given his prior statements supporting the idea of "spying" and some imaginary conspiracy for which there is no evidence that anyone of sound judgement has found. Now, like his personal client, he apparently feels compelled to double down on the jabberwocky.
That Barr and an increasingly unhinged party of enablers have gone so far off the cliff that they actually believe in wild conspiracy theories generated by Russian intelligence and in defiance of our own and allied intelligence agencies is terrifying. It's like watching a plague of superstition and willful ignorance replicate growing more dangerous and destructive with each replication.
Barr should be at the least censured and his law license revoked. He is as destructive and unhinged as the man currently humiliating the country on the world stage.
195
@pixilated
Both Trump and Barr go way back with Epstein.
14
@pixilated the republicans & barr are a group of lemmings following the leader over the cliff & drowning the sea.
8
@pixilated
Is there evidence of "wild conspiracy theories generated by Russian intelligence"? If not (and it's not clear and specific), this assertion itself resembles a conspiracy theory.
Ahhh the totally predictable William Barr, our foremost monarchist and theocrat. It is clear that Barr doesn't believe in the rule of law (I'm not sure what they taught him at law school). Did anyone expect anything else? Is there any situation whatsoever in which Barr would accept findings that are damaging to Trump?
If I'm not mistaken, we already had a Horowitz report last year, and we have the forthcoming Durham-led witch hunt. It sounds to me like Trump and Barr are on a fishing expedition, and they'll keep going until the evidence is manipulated in a way that suits them.
Also, I'm sick of hearing people echo Barr and say the Mueller report exonerated Trump. It didn't. Regardless of the threshold for opening the inquiry, the inquiry found plenty of "collusion." Why was Manafort routinely sharing INTERNAL POLLING DATA with Kremlin agents? Riddle that, Trump apologists.
This whole situation should worry people. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think the next president's DOJ should prosecute William Barr for giving aid and comfort to Moscow.
13
@RB Unfortunately, if Democrats do not vote in great enough numbers, the next president may place Barr on the Supreme Court.
This election, like the last one will be rigged in Sharpie's favor.
3
@th In addition to thanking Repubs for voter suppression efforts, and their endorsement of foreign interference, we can also thank Bernie supporters and Twitterpated social justice warriors who expect the Democratic nominee to pass all of their ever changing litmus tests!
Why do reporters keep writing that Mueller "found insufficient evidence"? He was thwarted from obtaining all
evidence by the Trump Administration's obstruction! Big difference!
13
This is so scary. I saw these headlines and felt sick to my stomach. The damage that Trump and Barr are doing to our country is unfathomable. The future for my grandchildren under a dictatorship looks bleak. Please citizens of the United States. Wake up.
15
Is ANYone surprised by this? Mr. Barr has shown us who he is. We should believe that is who he is. A person so craven, so craven, that he is willing to go down in history as one of the henchmen of this immoral, sadistic, corrupt, heartless administration. Barr has shown that he honors his service to this President and dishonors our nation while doing so. He and every other human associated with this administration will be viewed and are a stain on our great nation. That goes for the quisling Republicans too.
4
King Donald I has Grand Vizier Barr to advise him and the Kingdom. Long Live The King! May He rule until January 1 2021!
2
Barr lied about the Mueller report. He is acting as Trump’s attorney. He has forfeited his allegiance to our country long ago.
5
If he was worth his salt, he would have recused himself long ago.
3
Barr bases "his uncertainty" on the necessity to prevent Trump and himself from being caught in the truth. Survival by any means necessary - and what does it matter to him anymore? Barr has already debased himself irretrievably.
@batpa says "Barr's pattern of challenging every report that contradicts the administration creates great doubt that we will ever learn the truth."
Actually, learning the truth is simple: it's always the opposite of what Trump and Barr say it is.
2
Fact: No one but Trumps minions really care what Bill Barr has to say, he is an irrelevant little man who has ruined any legacy he may have left. He is going to be disbarred as well.
There is something really creepy about Barr.
3
“Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”
It appears that Bill Barr is trying to deceive the public again like he did with the Mueller Report. He’s also trying to hide all the evidence which undoubtedly does not support his claims.
2
Old news.
Barr is corrupt. He is a Trump partisan and not at all impartial.
"... officials have also discussed putting in place procedures and guidelines that would force the bureau to get Justice Department approval before opening an investigation on someone like the president."
'Someone like the president'? What the heck does that mean? A candidate who lies every time they open their mouth? Who encourages foreign governments to hack their opponent's emails? Who refuses to release their tax returns? Who brags about sexual assaulting women? Who makes fun of the disabled? Who routinely violates business contracts?
Please tell us Mr. Barr.
1
Shame on us.....
How many times will we be told that down is up and that up is down? How many times will we be asked to deny what our eyes see so plainly?
We are dealing with a criminal enterprise where the president's attorneys (Cohen, Sessions, McGahn, Barr, and at least a half-dozen more) continually revise the truth of evident criminality.
Wake up America!
4
It sounds like the E-Mail Server "Investigation" keep investigating till you find someone to give you the answer you want to hear.
But Hay what do you expect when you put Crooks, Liars, and Crazy folk in positions of power
Barr is a company man.
1
Are we surprised? This IG report is already a hot political issue in our nation with Republicans and Democrats already having preconceived ideas on what the report will say. Both sides will interpret the facts differently and try to spin the report to support their partisan narrative. This is a politics plain and simple Barr is a Republican, regardless if he is Attorney General, he is not immune to political bias.
1
As long as Bill Barr is AG, Trump can shoot as many people on 5th Ave. As he wants and get away with it.
2
Why do you assume this is anything other than a lawless act of politics to protect a lawless President? The President is a recidivist criminal, and needs to be treated that way along with his lawless accomplices. Anything less legitimizes criminal acts and denies the truth of our current reality. Vote!
Barr will go down in history for all the wrong reasons.
He is an embarrassment to the American system of justice, and worse, a real danger.
What an awful smug corrupt man, certain god is directing him and trump, not the rule of law.
1
Whadya''spect? Willie to sit in the bar with the gang while The Don goes down the tubes...again?
Hah! He jumps off the stool, onto the streets, starting early creating another alternative reality story.
To all but a few, excluding Trump's 30-something percent base, that understand what an Inspector General does, you accept the findings and move on. Instead, he's firing up the Alt-Right' Evangelical Republican's propaganda machine.
1
Well of course he will doubt the findings. He wouldn't have ordered his separate investigations if he had any intention of agreeing with it. He was hedging his bets all along so he could come up with something to please the dear leader.
3
And up is down and down is up, right Mr. Attorney General?
4
Barr will go down in history as a primo sycophant to Trump.
It is disheartening to think how hard Putin must be laughing.
3
There was no collusion...... Period.
As the president repeatedly stated every person including so called reporters never had any evidence.. And yet pushed a hoax for two years based solely on malice and slander.
Now the same partisan fools are pushing another hoax.... Give it up and try an election in place of a coup.
2
It's getting real dark real fast.
4
And yes, William Barr is so honorable. Ho hum. Just more of Trump’s puppetry.
When are we going to get a real US democracy back instead of Trumpland?
2
Who would have thought that Michael Cohen would end up being the most "honest" lawyer in Trump's orbit?
6
Well guess what, Mr. Barr? We're all skeptical of you....
It's so disappointing when the story you have carefully made up is spoiled with dirty little facts.
Who need's facts if they have Trumps & Barr...
1
It is not an “if then” it is a “so that” when Barr doubts anything not fully supporting trumpian whim, the rest ofnthe cult gets reinforcement
I'm shocked, shocked!
1
How exactly was the absence of political bias by Comey McCabe and Stroch be
found not to exist.I guess Horowitz is a mind reader.Or did they all vote for Trump in 2016?
1
So the law and the truth are what Trump and Barr say they are. Just like China ... or Russia.
I think from here on forward, the comments form on NYTimes articles should include the following required checkboxes:
- have you contacted your state’s Congress members and let them know how you feel about this subject?
- have you donated any funds to the election campaigns of political candidates whose views you share?
(Because: the Trump Monarchy will not crumble based on the volume of critical comments it receives in the NYTimes.)
2
William Barr will replace John Mitchell as the most corrupt AG in US history. Can't wait until he's marched out in handcuffs.
1
I used to think that we could survive 4 years of Trump. But the damage he and his cronies have wrought on our Constitution, on the way our government functions, and the expectations we have of our elected leaders and civil servants might be permanent. In any case, it will take decades to begin to pick up the pieces of all the institutions he has broken.
9
I am taking a Business Law for Accountant course, and when I got to the chapter about the check and balances in the government, regarding the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches, for some reason all of a sudden I felt I was reading science fiction! All because this president has completely work his way into have the supposedly check and balance system to work on his behalf. How on Earth has he managed to bring these powerful governing organisms to obey his commands (or should I say whims?)! Hopefully the day will come when we the people will again go back to the way things should be. You can only hope, right?
2
Bill Barr is just a right-wing reactionary (like the vast majority of the Republican Party these days), which means facts, data, and reality itself are meaningless; ideology and partisan loyalty are all. From denying climate change, to doubling down on "voodoo economics", to ignoring Trump's unchristian behavior and proclaiming him a gift from God, to denying all of the evidence in the Mueller Report and the Impeachment investigation, and on and on, almost half of our country and half of our elected officials simply do not acknowledge reality. It may serve them well in the short term, but it is a disaster for our country, and, indeed, the entire planet.
8
Russian interference in the 2016 election has been confirmed by all of our intelligence agencies as stated in the recent report of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Other international intelligence agencies such as Australia have also concurred. When I see R. Breeze's comment, I wonder where he is getting his information (from Russia Intelligence obviously). It scares me that honest people are being swayed by what amounts to lies promulgated in conservative media.
2
It's ironic to discover that there is, indeed, a "deep state" -- just not the one that right-wingers have long feared. It is, in fact, the deep state of "maximalists" (a word that appears repeatedly these days and seems to refer to people who believe all power accrues to Trump) like Barr and toadies like Lindsay Graham, whose selective interpretation of facts in support of Trump's demagoguery is breathtaking, terrifying, and incredibly sad.
2
In total, Barr looks like he is trying to find facts that fit his narrative. He seems to have an internal self-bias, rather than a universal moral compass, that guides him.
I heard him described as a maximalist. I don’t know what that is.
He is not fallible, trump is not a king, and the United States of America is not owned by a minority of minions. Or is it?
3
He keeps appointing people to inspect the inquiry and then doubts them when they report. It’s happened twice now. Meanwhile the inspectors keep pounding down to confirm the corrupt actions and obstruction while trying to please the boss by highlighting the few sketchy mistakes they may have made. Is this how Barr plays out his ‘principled’ position on presidential power? He ducks and weaves. He can’t quite figure out how to end the rule of law. He just can’t quite confirm to his boss that yes he can shoot someone in Times Square without consequences. He has made himself inconsequential.
William P. Barr is a disgrace on every level. From his dismissive and minimizing summary of then special counsel Robert Mueller's findings - which prompted Mr. Mueller to conduct his own, separate testimony to Congress in which he said ..."had we believed that the President had not committed a crime, we would have said so..." to now undermining the Inspector General's point of view - the United States Attorney General William P. Barr has been and is compromised -he can not make impartial, unbiased, neutral judgments - regarding this Administration. When this is all over (please, soon!) he ought to be called out by a judicial ethics committee for what is tantamount to treasonous behavior masquerading as "the rule of law."
2
That William Barr would disagree with the entire US intelligence community with its far more resources, outreach. and experience is a testimony to his myopic placement of party over country and a veritable celebration of mediocrity of his own competence.
1
So what? He didn't investigate anything. He's just trying to protect Trump. He'll say the opposite of any finding that incriminates Trump.
It is about time to open an investigation on William Barr for dereliction of duty and for acting as a political hack to undermine our judicial system.
4
The war on the institutions of American government won a decisive battle with the appointment of William Barr.
1
Simply said. Barr needs to resign. He has compromised his position ,this country and more importantly ,”We,the People”
2
Mr. Barr, don’t forget that one of your predecessors, John N. Mitchell, served time in prison.
He genuflected at the altar of Nixon, rather than his dedication to the Constitution.
3
I guess Trump chose his A.G. well. Barr goes out of his way to demonstrate he is not Attorney General of the United States, he's Donald Trump's personal mouthpiece.
3
Even Kellyanne Conway is more credible (but, not by much...use a hair as a barometer)than Barr.
1
If you’ve had doubts about a ‘Deep State’ operation supplanting the rule of law in the United States, the blatant actions of these two unindicted conspirators should open your eyes.
Of course he does. No matter what truth is revealed, he and the GOP cowards will deny it. We expect nothing less.
2
Barr undermining his own again. Trump has manage to burn it all down, nobody believes in anything anymore. Congratulations GOP, you just did the heavy lifting for Putin.
4
So it appears that anything, from anyone, who does not for the Party line is suspect? Welcome to the American Oligarchy comrades.
2
Mr. Barr's skepticism is not evidence that the Inspector General's report is both accurate and appropriate. Quite the opposite. His silence might have been construed as the raising of legitimate doubt, but his partisan and predictable reaction, as a lawyer who was hired to be Trump's Roy Cohn, should focus our awareness that he's but a toady to his betters, and his betters are lowlifes.
1
Next, attorney general Barr will investigate notorious liberal bias of reality. Expect indictments.
4
Barr "doubts" the IG report ... based upon ... what facts?
All the GOP and Trump have are unfounded and debunked conspiracies, elusive servers, and shadowy foreigners, two of which have been indicted and one apparently "flipping" against Trump.
I think people are getting the idea that Trump, his Administration, and the GOP are corrupt and not working for the American people or Democracy. Doubts?
1
Well, at least Bagman Barr is consistent: If you don't like the facts, make new ones.
2
And who benefits?
Putin of course.
It is very beautiful to behold that Barr doesn’t even attempt to hide his fealty to Putin by blatantly carrying out Russia’s disinformation campaign right inside the DoJ.
Just beautiful.
1
An actual thought, and not just a pun: Barr should be disbarred.
2
Great, the Republican Trump Enabler Machine is throwing our intelligence and law enforcement agencies under the bus yet again to protect Trump and as far as I can tell, Putin.
Russia under the direct orders of Putin, attacked our elections systems and Trump and Team Trump had hundreds, not dozens, but hundreds of meetings with both Putin and Putin high level associates before during and immediately after the elections.
And how about that Russian mob figure, the one they call Little Taiwanese, setting up shop for illegal gambling purposes in Trump Tower? He was also conveniently a guest of honor at Trump's Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow. These are facts.
Did I wake up in Wonderland? Whats white is black and what's black is now white. Trump is our problem. He's the most corrupted president we've ever had. Wake up!
2
Headline should be.
Corrupt AG determined to absolve corrupt president at any cost.
Without a shred of integrity left to protect Barr goes all in for visibly broken president.
2
Orwell could not have imagined what this country has become under Trump and his lemmings.
1
@dba Sure he did. “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” George Orwell. 1984.
1
Barr has the legal right to fire the IG, forbid him from ever speaking about it and delete the report so no one will ever see it. There now, problem solved.
One used to believe that our Attorney General and Justice Department were a neutral party, where "justice is blind". We relied on this to make a judgement of how our democracy was doing. Not anymore, Barr's pattern of challenging every report, that contradicts the administration, creates great doubt that we will ever learn the truth. Trump's presidency has robbed our nation of trust and without trust, we are greatly diminished as a society. It causes one to wonder, "what's in it for Bill Barr to sell his soul?" Just think of the cost to all of us.
250
@batpa
Begs the question as to whether he HAS a soul to sell?
As to what's in it for him, I see occasional comments here that he figures his Trump-pleasing performance directing the Ministry of Justice will lead to a Supreme Court nomination. (Not sure how realistic that speculation is, but he's still on my list of people I'm hoping RBG will outlive).
17
@batpa
Is Barr looking for an appointment to the Supreme Court? This Senate would confirm him. Then Lindsey Graham can replace him as AG. This Senate would
confirm him. Mission accomplished.
10
Barr is following the same playbook as with the Mueller report. In that case, he issued a materially false "summary" of the Mueller report, then allowed that fraud to percolate in the press for several weeks before issuing the actual report, which showed his summary to be a fraud. By then, however, the import of the truth was effectively blunted. Same pattern here...the IG has independently made a conclusion that Trump won't like, so in advance of the actual report, he launches another blatant lie about its contents.
181
@In VA
Yes and corporate media was complicit in his lie, because they spent a month repeating Barr's lie than out zero effort into contacting it when the actual report came out.
8
Has anyone ever seen an administration that expends so much time and effort endlessly telling us not to believe what we and experts all see and hear, what serious investigations uncover?
Everybody else is wrong all of the time. Everybody. Doesn't that say something?
456
@dwiller
My thinking exactly. The rest of the world is wrong and they are right. Everybody’s out of step but my son Johnny.
No real progress in government, just one investigation after another and lies and smoke screens to cover it all up. Welcome to the Republican way.
The idea that Trump would surround himself with good people is long gone. Everyone who disagrees with his view of the world is gotten rid of and the lap dogs stay. There are no good people in his administration.
40
@JKile I was wondering when we get the TVs controlled by Big Brother. Only allowed 2 minutes of hate at a time. 1984 comes into 2020.
9
@dwiller
Yes, when I watched the Chernobyl mini series, and everyone was more interested in protecting the big lies than stopping a major nuclear meltdown.
14
AG Barr is skeptical because he doesn't like what the report says. He's trying to get out in front of the publication and throw shade on the findings. Sound familiar? This is the Mueller report, take two. Barr is simply extending the doubt surrounding any investigation concerning the President. I'm astonished anyone bothers listening to AG Barr anymore. Who cares what he thinks? You must be getting paid if you still trust Barr's legal opinion on anything.
150
Most of the country has grave doubts about Mr. Barr’s impartiality by now. His role in whitewashing Iran/Contra and the serious crimes uncovered in the Mueller investigations tell anyone all they need to know. Barr has no business being AG, he should be impeached and sent packing.
196
@Christopher In this administration he is the perfect AG. His history of cover up for prior Republicans and extreme views on executive authority made him a natural for such an unconstrained authoritarian.
27
Barr is graduating from enabler to something resembling a co-conspirator. Like the rest of his tribe, anything that fails to support his cherished academic view of an imperial presidency is dismissed and anything that supports it—no matter how trivial or flimsy or quasi-legal—is amplified. Despite the cumulative weight of phone transcripts, emails, testimony or official reports into Russia and Ukraine, Trump is held to be untouchable while anyone offering evidence of his depravity or criminality is written off as part of a vast left-wing, deep-state conspiracy. Right and wrong, during this administration, have become quaint notions with little meaning. We are so through the looking glass.
572
@angus Barr is a co-conspirator not "resembling". Barr is leading the cover-up.
29
@angus
This is exactly it. Bill Barr is trying to force fit reality into his fanatical and fantastical theories about executive power and a liberal threat to Western civilization. So rather than seeing Trump for the crass, corrupt, treasonous criminal he is, Barr turns Trump into a beleaguered executive victimized by an overreaching liberal Congress that has no respect for the traditions of power.
Barr (much like Steve Bannon) is a Raskolnikov—obsessed with the crazy theories and the fantasies of heroism swimming in his head and wielding an ax against our increasingly feeble democracy.
17
@angus
Co-conspirators clearly now include Barr, Pompeo, Pence and Mulvaney, not to mention the minions they've planted to infect the integrity of our government.
Add to this the sickening realization that the so-called Republican Party is lock-step with Moscow's disinformation campaign.
Americans should be furious and doing all we can to yank these malefactors from office.
17
We can fast forward this a bit. Assuming both Barr and Trump are in office come next August, and the FBI knocks on Barr's Justice Dept door stating they have in their possession solid evidence that French operatives are helping the Democratic nominee, and that Russian operatives are back at it helping Trump - which investigation do you think Barr would pursue?
10
@Rick Morris It's amazing to see how many people spout views against Barr. Any case that DOJ brings against people from the FBI, DOJ, CIA and Obama administration will have to be backed up with facts to prove their case. It would be wise for everyone to wait and see what facts Barr and Durham have uncovered. FISA abuse is a small portion of the big picture.
1
@Rick Morris
Hahaha. Justice would be a huge apple stuck in his mouth while doing a very, very slow, methodical turn over and over an extremely hot bed of coals.
1
@Chad: "Any case that DOJ brings against people from the FBI, DOJ, CIA and Obama administration will have to be backed up with facts to prove their case."
Maybe you should tell Barr that he should pay attention to the facts that the IG used to prove his case.
2
Russian collusion has been found to be a false narrative. Impeachment is viewed as politics. I believe the public as a whole couldn't care less. For every fanatic on the left who is motivated by impeachment there is probably at least one on the right motivated in the opposite direction. Most voters must wonder what good Congress is doing to solve the many issues this nation must address. I think impeachment is bad politics for the Democrats. It is probably too late to escape but I think the Democratic parties majority is in jeopardy in the house and hope for a majority in the senate is lost if nothing is done to address our serious issues.
1
@Robert Breeze Your first statement is a lie.
Russian collsion has found to be fact. People may disagree with the impact, but it happened. And it is happening again.
6
It seems to me that you either do not know how to read/listen or don't want to read/listen. The rule of law should be more important than anything else. The USA has become the World's most important nation because of that. Just look at countries where Presidents become the state. Why would any normal, intelligent, rational person want to change that.
5
@Robert Breeze
The problem is that solving most of the issues you refer to requires a sane, competent, president and a Senate with at least a tenuous grasp on reality. The only path towards those leads through impeachment.
4
Barr is Attorney General in name only. He is nothing more than Trump’s personal lawyer with allegiance only to his client. He should be prosecuting his boss instead of abetting him. He’s doing everything he can to destroy DOJ from within and turn it into a private Republican security organization. Once again the GOP chooses party over country.
27
Anyone who agrees to work in Trump's government is not someone I'd trust with the Constitution. Even those people claiming to be adults in the room are complicit. Are people actually surprised by Barr's behavior?
19
Barr eagerly took this job to support trump. That's all I need to know about his objectivity. Why hasn't his department done more to protect election integrity? Could it be because he is OK with Uncle Vladdy supporting trump?
10
Barr is going to"Muellerize" the report. It will fly with the Trumpian universe but, hopefully, rational people will ignore the partisan AG.
9
I'm not surprised Barr "disagrees" with a report that proves him wrong in its main finding. The IG made the mistake of thinking his job was to find out what actually happened and why when Barr wanted him to show loyalty to the President. Barr "knew" all he needed to know to before even taking the AG job, based on his careful review of the facts as explained on Fox news. The IG was supposed to just translate Hannityese into proper legalese.
Barr seems confident that Durham will prove to be the partisan hack Horowitz was not. Let's hope Mr. Durham, like Mr. Horowitz and unlike Mr. Barr, does his job in service of his Country not in service of it's narcicistic, ethically challenged leader.
9
Columbia Law needs to publicly condemn Mr. Barr.
20
Where did all the good assessments of Barr come from during his nomination? He seemed to be a decent, balanced person. Where was this partisan monster hiding?
9
@Barry Lane no he didn't....and in plain view.
Was there ever any doubt that Barr and his fellow Trump toadies would dismiss their long-awaited report if it did not confirm their lies?
11
Let's face it, the U.S. government is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Trump, Inc.
15
@Lisa Simeone , to be more precise, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Putin, Inc. Everything leads to Putin.
Recalling the movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, the inmates have truly taken over the asylum.
10
If the Great Leader says the sun rises in the west, that must be true. And Barr will do as the Great Leader directs.
9
Horowitz was the darling of the right wing when they believed he would deliver the FBI on the end of a stick.
Now that Horowitz has essentially exonerated the much aligned FBI, the right is claiming the Horowitz report “got it wrong”.
Does Barr consider reliable ANYONE in federal law enforcement by his standards?
9
"...according to two people familiar with the conversations."
Loose sourcing at best. We'll see.
Seems an awful like someone is trying to frontrun the release of the report.
2
Of course he will. Truth doesn't matter to these people. That should be your headline.
8
John Mitchell. Edwin Meese. William Barr.
See a pattern?
11
“Just remember what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening.”
6
Not just Barr. The Republicans at all levels are trying so hard to erase the facts and replace them with an alternative narrative that erases the stink from Trump and his sycophants (read: ALL republicans). Even to the point of parroting conspiracy theories put forth by Putin and Russia designed SPECIFICALLY to destablilize our government and elections. They are not only despicable, craven animals for the depths they are willing to go, but also for the obvious risks to national security. They would actually go so low as to work with a hostile foreign power just to achieve long-term political dominance. Vladimir is the defacto President of the United States, and Trump sycophants and supporters either are too stupid, or too corrupt, to care.
15
Barr's motivations have seemed murky, but this latest clears it up for me:
It's not personal ambition that drives him. Instead, he's a true believer, genuinely fascistic. He's drunk the kool-aid.
9
Not only should Barr be impeached, he should be disbarred. It is remarkable how many of Trump's appointees have turned out to be just as corrupt as he is. Well...birds of a feather...
14
Trump henchman and personal attorney Barr is not an independent observer. He is muddying the waters to create doubt and appease Trump. In turn, this will he used in the media to help Trump’s lies seem credible.
Barr is a cover up artist and a liar. He should be reported as such.
10
It’s disturbing to know that the AG is so partisan and so corrupt. He is as dangerous as Trump.
9
Mr. Barr's misleading representation of Mueller's findings disqualifies him from 'dissenting' with the findings of the report that he, himself, commissioned. It disqualifies him from further serving as attorney general, for that matter.
35
"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."
9
It never ceases to amaze me how the left has flipped on governemnt spying, investigation and Kafkaesque procecussions of people on charges related to the investigation of unfounded and ultimately debunked accusations. I understand the hatred of Trump but without the Left in this country as a bulwark against government how do we ever put this genie back in the bottle.
1
@Mkm Which part of the splintered left at you referring to?
How about supporting our government entities when they are working for our benefit- such as trying to uncover and protect us from foreign interference in our elections and from those within our country, namely Trump and his minions, further those interests above the safety and well being of the United States?
2
Proof, not skepticism, is what is called for. This is from the good old playbook, used when they don’t have another subterfuge. They have learned from the Master.
4
Barr is simply a Trump tool, not a servant of the law, and he has dangerous notions about presidential powers. The last three years provide ample evidence that elections do have consequences...something the Right gets only too well, but decades of cynicism (as well as the fecklessness of the Democratic Party) among potential voters at the left of the spectrum has left the system hostage to the forces of authoritarianism.
12
This is the equivalent of a toddler saying "nuh uh." He didn't conduct the investigation; he's just trying to mislead.
13
Does AG Barr have an offer from Fox News to join their team when his legal career is over?
He has what it takes. A frown for every occasion, love of the "Unitary Executive theory" of Presidential powers, denial of factual information, and interpretations of our laws, investigations or whistleblower complaints and the enforcement of laws that leave legal scholars baffled.
13
@JMT He believes in Unitary Executive Authority, until he doesn't. All it will take is a Democratic president. Hypocrisy.
1
How do we stop this degradation of our government, our country? Is voting enough?
11
Without knowing the particulars of Mr. Barr's question, nothing can be reliably speculated regarding illegality and charges. We all have to hear Mr. Barr's concerns. And all the chatter about him not actually being interested in real justice is just that, chatter. We can only hope that this paper will be able accurately report on all the coming information, from Mr. Horowitz and Mr. Barr. Having reporters like Mr. Schmidt, who won a Pulitzer for his work on Russian collusion and the President, doesn't bode well. I don't recall Mr. Schmidt actually digging into the very possibilities that Mr. Barr and Mr. Horowitz and Mr. Durham are now finally investigating. How could he earn a Pulitzer for his work when such a story, which certainly out there already, was totally ignored? Fortunately now there are other news sources that seem to have a more friendly relationship with truth.
1
Hahahaha! You're joking, correct!?
Don’t like the facts? Call them fake news.
Don’t like the witnesses or whistleblowers? Call them deep-state never-trumpers.
Don’t like your reelection chances? Solicit foreign interference in our elections.
Attack, dissemble, deny, lie.
Welcome to the new Republican Party.
27
Trump, in his infinite ignorance and egomania, believes there is one branch of government, the Executive, and that Congress and the Judiciary are mere subservient departments that must obey his every whim. And, it seems the Trump shill, Barr, agrees. Has any president ever been this lawyered up and buried in lawsuits while running from impeachment?
11
What we really need is an investigation into the investigators investigating the investigation!
8
What’s there to get? Trump & Co took meetings with Russian agents, they solicited from WikiLeaks hacked information that Russia stole, and they benefited immensely (i.e. won) due to coordinated Russian propaganda. Of COURSE there was sufficient information to investigate Trump. And of COURSE Barr proves himself to be highly unethical and serving Trump and not the American People, as he is supposed to.
7
We are in deep, deep kimchi as our entire system of government has been compromised by DJT and his cronies. I have no hope that the US will recover from this. We are doomed.
11
I’m not sure which alternate reality barr is existing in, but I certainly don’t live there nor do I trust a word from him.
My grandfather used to say that if three people tell you that you’re drunk, sit down.
How many does it take for barr? 17 isn’t enough? Is there any number that’s sufficient?
barr is a disgrace and should be removed from office. Can’t the attorney general be impeached? He’s already in contempt of congress. It’s time to “say when.”
12
Bill Barr is the kind of intellectual mediocrity that graces a declining empire and hastens its fall.
I'm not sure Barr likes Trump all that much or wants to defend him personally. But Barr is devoted to his theories of expansive and unitary executive power and motivated by his own personal resentments against liberals and liberalism. Much like Steve Bannon, he's created a fanatical and fantastical theoretical construct into which he tries to force fit reality. Because of this a corrupt, treasonous, buffoonish president like Trump is seen not as the dangerous lout he really is, but as an icon of the beleaguered and heroic executive whose Constitutional powers are being unfairly abused by an overreaching Congress. Because Barr has blinded himself with his theories and his resentments, he ignores the blatantly obvious fact that Trump is a serious threat to our democracy—and instead acts as if the efforts to mitigate the threat presented by Trump are in fact the real danger. This absurdity now animates our Department of Justice, making a mockery of that institution, destroying its reputation and its legitimacy and therefore furthering the erosion of our democracy.
Trump is the true threat to our democracy. But it is men like Barr and Bannon who play the part of Raskolnikov, feverish with his theories and wielding an ax.
20
Quality comment.
1
If any member of the current administration so much as told me the sky was blue, I'd go outside to check.
Serious people in the FBI have and the Justice Department spent time and effort and applied their professional prowess in reaching the conclusions they presented to us.
The skepticism of a sycophantic apologist for the President's rampant criminality and conspiracy-mongering means nothing.
6
The IG was the Right's prince in shining armor. Until he wasn't. Now they will simply say he got it wrong and say it over and over until the base believes them. Its how they roll.
It goes without saying that Bill Barr is just another loyal cheerleader du jour, until he says the wrong thing.
8
Grounds for investigation?
As soon as he said “Russia steal my opponents emails and release them” he should have been arrested.
9
George Washington Law needs to publicly condemn Mr. Barr.
10
Of course he is. It's almost like he's not working for America at all.
5
What's the big deal?
Mr. Barr should simply reject IG Horowitz's report, at least the part he disagrees with, and write his own finding on the point. And if it includes criminality, turn it over to Durham.
Reject it? Based on what? His own two year investigation? Like when he totally mischaracterized Miller’s report based on nothing but his sycophancy for Trump?
Ask yourself why it's so important to discredit Barr.
Crossfire hurricane was based on Popadopoli's contact with Joseph Mifsud. Who somehow knew about the stolen emails before it became public. This is the official story not fox or Breitbart.
Is it true? If so who is he and who did he work for? If false what was the investigation based on? These details are important. I sincerely want to know the truth watever it is. I hope that's what Barr is searching for.
This is just Barr being Barr: muddying the waters, as he did when he released an inaccurate and biased summary of the Mueller report. Barr has no integrity. None.
6
Unfortunately, the DOJ is headed by a Trump "fan boy", William Barr, who received his appointment by writing a 19-page unsolicited latter to Trump, voicing his fringe-element views that, essentially, any sitting President is above the law.
This is blatantly untrue. Barr purports an almost monarchical view of a President's role, claiming that that person even creates the law.
This is clearly not what the Constitution says. It, in fact, severely limits Presidential power to avoid having a "king-as-President", the Founding Fathers having so recently escaped an abusive monarchy.
Barr's letter was undoubtedly music to Trump's eyes, he being in the midst of an investigation into his campaign's coordinating with Russia to win the presidency, and Trump's obstruction of justice regarding this investigation.
To have yet another sycophant supporting him, and willing to subvert justice and the Constitution, is identical to Trump's actions in office.
Read the Constitution. It's short and easy. Only then can an informed opinion be made, not based on spinmeisters.
27
At this point, all that seems to matter is whether the Supreme Court will (rapidly) read the Constitution the way many in the country do, with an eye that the President is not above the law.
2
Bill Barr, as Attorney General, is a political appointee. This does not make him an expert on law enforcement or intelligence work.
His questioning of the findings is as a political operative not as a law enforcement expert.
In short, his pronouncements are as credible as Trump’s twitter tirades. That he uses fancier words and is grammatical shouldn’t fool anyone.
He gaslit the nation on the Mueller Report and he is trying to do it again. He is loyal to Trump but not the Constitution and the rule of law.
293
I wish I were capable of this kind of articulation right now. I find myself almost completely reduced to obscenity whenever this “president” and his lackeys are mentioned.
30
One must not forget that Mr. Barr is your old school GOP establishment with deep ties to the party. What this tells you is that the rot in GOP goes deep and is not limited to what Mr. Trump has inflicted on it. Which also means that there’s no hope that GOP will be able to fix itself anytime soon even if Mr. Trump departs the stage either through impeachment or elections.
36
@Vikas Chowdhry
Exactly, the dismantling of democracy and setting up of one party rule has been a GOP project for close to six decades starting with Nixon's Southern Strategy and their goal since FDR's New Deal.
7
"Mr. Durham has already unearthed some evidence that supports Mr. Barr’s uncertainty of the inspector general’s findings, according to a lawyer involved in the Durham inquiry".
Hmm, imagine that. EVIDENCE has emerged that causes AG Barr to be skeptical of Horowitz's work.
7
@tim k
I hear that Trump’s investigators are finding some very interesting things in Hawaii, too.
“I have people that have been studying it and they cannot believe what they’re finding,” Trump said in 2011.
Asked if he has assigned people specifically to search in Hawaii, Trump said, “Absolutely.”
Evidence!
3
@tim k
Very telling that you are one of extremely few here to note this......
Donald Trump's new fixer, Bill Barr, has shown that we cannot have an independent judiciary as long as the President gets to hire and fire the Attorney General.
Like many states in America, we should choose our Attorney General by popular vote and not by executive appointment.
22
The problem seems to be in the Senate confirmation process. (Direct election could be unwieldy, too.)
2
This is a huge distraction and confirmation.
Russians influenced 2016 elections. There is no factual doubt. But fixing a problem requires acknowledging a problem. As long as Trump supporters argue about why we know about Russian influence, Russians have free reign over our next election.
Barr's latest remarks, and almost all others, confirm he is Trump's lawyer not the American public's lawyer. Trump is king.
18
Earlier this year, the Trump administration initially objected to Judge Sabraw’s orders to reunite the thousands of refugee and migrant families that it had separated starting in 2017 because of the tremendous amount of time and effort that it would take them.
Ironically, the Trump administration has found ample time to send its people all over the world to conduct investigations into its own intelligence agencies and its own FBI agency in the attempt to discredit their findings.
12
Barr seems bent on destroying the FBI as an independent investigative agency. He has said he wants to make sure the Russian/Trump investigation never happens again. Destroying enough careers at the Bureau will do that. The OIG won’t save them. The only winner will be Russia.
22
It must be increasingly difficult for long-time employees of the Justice Department, the FBI, and in all branches of federal government, pre-Barr and Trump, to show up for work each morning, knowing that these once legitimate institutions have become a mockery.
Checks and balances are quickly becoming a construct of the past as our former democracy careens toward dictatorship.
19
“Careen” is not a strong enough word to describe what is happening to our democratic system of government. That ship has sadly sailed. I’m afraid we are living in a broken system that is no longer a liberal democracy with adherence to the United States Constitution or the rule of law.
4
This is extremely dangerous to our republic. Our justice system is based upon seeking the truth, not outcomes. For example, if a prosecutor finds exculpatory evidence that would clear a suspect, they are required to hand that over to the defense or the case gets thrown out. Barr is claiming that the evidence does not support his claims so the evidence must be wrong. That's not justice, that's tyranny. That's the kind of thing that happens regularly under dictatorships. Barr's maximalist executive authority is not a legal theory under our constitution. It's a justification for tyranny.
23
So Barr isn’t happy with the IG’s report, gee is anyone surprised since it doesn’t favor the story his client living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave wants us to hear and believe. I hope that Barr isn’t able to take the IG’s report like he did the Mueller report and give us his biased spin, so it favors his boss. I can’t wait for the only Christmas present I want this year, that’s the House Impeachment of Trump. I understand the Senate won’t convict, but in 2018 the voters put the Democrats back in control of the House, so trump would be held accountable for the last 3 years. I keep hearing about trumps base, which had been flat in growth, isn’t a reason for the House Democrats to be concerned about regarding the Impeachment of trump. They have shown no interest in the rule of law or the US constitution, that trump has walked all over. I have confidence that in November 2020 the blue wave will continue, as those who stayed home in 2016 won’t sit out and there added votes will give us the White House back. The GOP members who have become trumpers, “hard core”, to believe Russia over our own intelligence agencies, will learn soon that the history books will so there legacy’s as failed causes.
11
History will not treat Trump, Barr, DeVos, Perry, Kavanaugh, McConnell, and the rest of these corrupt people well.
In the meantime, the US will suffer major, potentially permanent wounds due to their active decisions to undermine our democracy.
17
Barr's desired conclusions are so far removed from reality I wonder why he even bothers with investigations or even law itself.
11
It's funny because not more than a few weeks ago the same administration was touting the IG report as "proof" of the various "deep-state" conspiracies against it. Now that this is not the case, it's of course suspect.
Sure thing.
13
In Barr's "job application", he said that Trump should be left alone but that Hillary needed to be investigated for Uranium One. Did he make these assertions without having access to any evidence? Or did someone in the DoJ provide possibly classified evidence to Barr, a private citizen?
Barr's "summary" of the Mueller Report was a spurious yet unfortunately effective act to poison the well of public opinion. Having no effective jurisdiction over the IG, he has instead preempted the release of the IG's report to again poison the well.
For much of his career, Barr served as a corporate legal counsel; his validity as a competent arbiter of criminal justice should be questioned.
Finally, he subscribes to the concept of the unitary executive, one whose powers are unchallengeable. Having jurisdiction over federal entities such as SDNY, however, he has quietly terminated investigations into non-presidential organizations that include the Trump Organization.
Criminals who are white, Republican, male, and Christian have little to fear from this AG.
Barr and Trump have been operating from Day One with the (smug) knowledge that they are untouchable, because unimpeachable by a Republican Senate. This affords them a level of power that is truly frightening. If they are allowed to continue in office, I believe that Trump (and Barr) will feel totally unconstrained, and I fear for our democratic republic. An Enabling Act in January of 2021 could happen.
12
@MdGuy
Barr knows a lot about criminal law. He engineered the presidential pardons of the traitorous felons who illegally sold arms to Iran.
(It’s about time for a long retrospective into this despicable chapter of our history.)
Trump got exactly the man he wanted: a shameless shill for Republican criminality.
Trump got his Roy Cohn.
What kind of leverage does Trump have over Barr to inspire such loyalty?
This will only cast further doubt in the minds of Trump’s supporters no matter what the findings in the impeachment investigation and ultimately in the House.
The only way out of this mess is in November.
9
@Bronx Jon
Barr has been a shameless defender of Republican criminality for decades. It just took Trump awhile to find his Roy Cohn.
1
Mueller by not communicating properly the results of his own finding in the Russia investigation Mueller let the country down as did Barr when they went on national TV to announce the findings. They gave fodder to the GOP that allowed them to say that the whole thing was a hoax. Public perception means everything.
I believe Mr. Mueller purposely said as little as possible. He had worked with during the HW Bush years and did not want to step on his toes. Mueller turned to be a GOP operative..
8
@Scott Kurant ` Mistake in next to last sentence, I left out Barr's name.
Don't install bad faith actors into positions of power and responsibility, and expect them to act in good faith.
If these folks don't end up in prison, this is just the warmup act for what the next republican administration does.
9
“Rather than speculating, people should read the report for themselves next week, watch the inspector general’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and draw their own conclusions about these important matters.”
Many people believe that the Mueller report exonerated trump. They know because FOX told them so.
9
This is so sad. Decline and fall of a nation in real time.
15
Don’t you wonder what secrets Trump knows about Barr or Barr’s family?
He was put in the AG job just before the Epstein story hit big. His father gave Epstein a job teaching at an upscale private school when Epstein didn’t even have a college degree. Trump also has a long past relationship with Epstein.
There’s a very interesting story in there somewhere. I hope some good reporter is pursuing it.
10
The truly sad part of all of this is that all of us on both sides don't trust anything our own government says or does. For example, most liberals would not believe a report by Durham even if there were evidence that there was irregularity at the root of the Russia investigation. The continual lying and spin of the administration has forced us to question everything the office says and does. Likewise, conservatives have been fed a steady diet of confusing and inflammatory rhetoric to the point where everyone who does not fall in line with their agenda is untrustworthy and worse, a traitor. Just look at the recent impeachment hearings and the shameful denigration of nonpartisan career foreign service employees and a decorated military officer. If trust in our government is completely eroded, what do we have left?
5
@PK
Democrats didn’t deny that Bill Clinton had sex with an intern in the White House. It was entirely plausible.
Republicans have a far greater capacity for gaslighting.
2
Barring a pleasant surprise, Bill Barr is likely to yet again provide unsubstantiated support to the conspiracy theories that are all the rage in conservative circles.
It is unsurprising that Trump embraces lawyers like Giuliani and Barr whose sole specialty seems to be an inordinate ability to spin tales that do little more than make the rounds of right wing radio and Fox News.
8
Barr is morally compromised and complicit in Trumps shenanigans. Barr should recuse himself from performing any of his duties, or even from getting out of bed in the morning. Resignation might be more appropriate, but then he couldn't collect that pay he doesn't deserve.
9
All in favor of hypocrisy , vote Republican! If there was not enough evidence to start an investigation into Russian ties with the Trump campaign then surely there is not enough evidence to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden.
This will be the final straw for democracy as we know it. If we are unable to question the President's actions we have created a dictator. I never thought I would live to see this day.
The Republican party will go down in history as the people responsible for the decline of democracy in the US. Of course only if we can still write about true events, which is already doubtful as the Trump administration continues it's assault on the press and truth.
12
Barr essentially works for the president, even if he isn't supposed to. This is not surprising that he has this opinion, but it also means very little.
5
If TV phenom Ryan Murphy was looking for an idea for the next installment of "American Horror Story," this is it. This president has challenged the legitimacy and veracity of journalism, news organizations and intelligence agencies. And now, the country's top attorney has seized that ridiculous mantle and gone sprinting with it...
9
His Majesty Donald Trump has declared that the FBI was wrong to investigate him. So any evidence to the contrary will be of course buried by his servants. The next President must absolutely clean house in the DOJ. This blatant attempt to undermine both the Constitution and rule of law must be investigated, punished and most importantly shared with the American public.
7
Does anyone believe that this is actually normal? The deep state does exist; it is composed of the president, the AG, the Senate majority leader, fox, and the cabal of others who support this regime. An entirely corrupt regime determined to establish a permanent tyranny of the minority, willing to tear down the wall between church and state, and destroy our democratic republic with misinformation and lies. I feared for our survival the day trump was installed in office by the electoral college, those fears have not receded, they have only grown stronger.
9
Barr proclaimed that there was “spying” by the FBI on the Trump campaign before any serious fact finding began. His sole function seems to be to protect Trump from any accountability for his conduct no matter how reprehensible.
9
Barr should dismiss himself from this since he's not able to be impartial. Of course, he won't because he's also a corrupt member of one of the most corrupt administrations in American history.
9
AG Barr’s conclusions, once again, are not surprising. His job, as he understands it, is to shield Trump, not follow the constitution and law. His best friend, Jonathan Turley is one of the “legal experts” who will debate the legality of Trump’s impeachment based on the “evidence” and constitutional interpretation. In the entire country, Jerry Nadler couldn’t find anyone else to debate the merits. The country needs to exorcise these demons.
5
When this corrupt regime is rooted out of our lives, there needs to be an accounting for the wrongs they have committed against our democracy. Is it a criminal act to turn the “Justice Department” into the “ministry of disinformation”? Hopefully so...
7
How can this be "news"? Barr, an old white man with a long history of supporting unethical and illegal governmental behavior (e.g. justified G.HW Bush's invasion of Panama, promotes the thoroughly illegal view of 'anything the president does IS legal) sees the younger generations, who are more populous than his own, challenging the unethical-illegal policies he promotes. It is only rational to conclude he would become a follower of the Trump-Pence cult, a true believer.
The most dangerous aspect of Barr's behavior, and similar behavior within the T-P-GOP government is their refusal to accept factual reality; instead follow and promote self-serving fictions. As Voltaire observed, 'those who can be convinced to believe absurdities, can be convinced to commit atrocities'. Barr's behavior is atrocious, as is that of his boss.
6
Yes, let us not believe our own intelligence community. What do they know? FBI, CIA, NSA, military intelligence; it’s all a vast conspiracy.
There isn’t a bus big enough to throw them under so maybe, just maybe they might be right and the President has no clothes? Or, he’s the smartest man in the room. You choose.
Rather, it is more than proper to dismiss their findings in the name of defending a President and Republican Party who prove themselves on a daily basis to lack any respect for the Constitution, rule of law or anything other than their own self interest. It is a foregone conclusion the Senate will hold a mockery of an impeachment trial.
The question is whether we voters will do our job, send a clear message we want our country back and vote he and his lemmings out of office. We are edging closer to the cliff.
I know I’m not jumping. Are you?
8
If Barr disputes and refutes the IG report he deserves any criticism he receives as a trump lackey. Ultimately blame for much of the corruption in this administration is in the lap of trump’s lap dogs in the Senate who confirmed Barr and others. Considering the histories of those cabinet members and other appointees who have left under a cloud of suspicion, the Senate Republicans were negligent in approving them. Corrupt intent was clear from the start.
4
"Mr. Barr’s doubts are significant because they could be perceived as the nation’s top law enforcement officer siding with Mr. Trump, who has long cast doubt on the legitimacy of the Russia investigation, over law enforcement officials."
Oh yeah? What else does Barr do but side with this president, acting as his legal shield for any behavior short of murder?
He auditioned for the job, and now every single move he makes is to protect Donald Trump.
Furthermore Barr is the antithesis of a keen legal mind, letting facts speak for themselves in helping him reach a conclusion. Barry's approach is far different: start with a conclusion, and rearrange facts until youncan get them to support said conclusion.
10
Trump's publicist's doubling down is so unprofessional.
Will he eventually be DisBarred?
4
Barr is a remarkable guy. At once, full of doubts and brimming with certainty. And utterly predictable.
5
It is almost certain Barr will dismiss the report.
He is no longer attorney general of the US in practice, he is a top lawyer for Trump.
11
Could this be William Barr's Quid Pro Quo for the Attorney General's job?
9
So Mr. Barr gave Mr. Durham a job. And he told him what the right answer was to be. But the facts don’t lead to that answer. What to do? Disagree with the facts and disagree with Mr. Durham. Quite Trumpian, eh?
7
Most of the republicans in congress and the administration can now be considered russian assets. They consistently believe russian and fox propaganda over every other reliable source of information. Historians will not be kind to them.
11
For anyone with critical thinking skills this should be a giant red flashing warning light. How can the Attorney General trash his own Inspector General's Report? Oh, I forgot, this is the same AG who misrepresented his own special counsel report. And yet none of these enemies of the "deep state" can be bothered to address Trump's illegal behavior that got us here in the first place. The next few years are going to be a painful lesson for our nation.
7
Good. I don't believe it either.
They cover for each other. Whitewash.
3
Like everything else out of this administration this is a joke.
What the DOJ should be doing is looking into what Putin has on Trump because there is no doubt that he has.
Trump's actions toward Russia make him totally unfit for office.
9
How does this end?
Not just Trump, but the massive corruption that is baked into the American political system. Things just seem to be getting more and more crazy...and the structural problems are not going to be easy to reverse. One party seems to want to die on a hill defending these probelems as it allows them to govern with a minority.
How does a meaningful reset happen without insane levels of violence?
2
why would anyone ever listen to a Republican ever again?
“The IG report will show criminal conspiracy by a the deep state.” It doesn’t.
“The tax cuts will pay for themselves!” They didn’t.
“The tax cuts will increase wages!” They didn’t.
“Mexico will pay for the wall!” They’re not.
“Trade wars are easy to win!” We are now in our 3rd year, and farmers have been forced to take over $20 Billion in welfare.
“There was no collusion with Russia!” There was, a lot of it.
Trump: “My parents were born in the European Union.” His father was born in New York.
Trump: “I didn’t know about the Stormy Daniels payoff!” He was on tape discussing the payments to her.
And on, and on, and on. I’m so, so sick of this.
10
If Barr and the GOP decide they are accepting that foreign meddling in a US election, let's say.....doesn't matter......I am willing to provide services to help only the Democratic candidate in the 2020 campaign.
What is good for the goose is good for the gander.
4
Barr is a hack. He is only concerned with acting as Donald Trump's consligliere, as opposed to representing the American people and upholding the rule of law. Barr has extremist and retrograde sociopolitical views, based on his recent speeches. He has acted as Trump's smokescreen artist, obscuring and attempting to bury the conclusions of the Mueller report. He has extremist views of presidential power, essentially arguing that a president is equivalent to a monarch, which is not only insulting but false.Barr also acted as a coverup artist for the crimes committed in the Iran Contra scandal. Now, Barr is bolstering wild conspiracy theories all to appease Trump's delusions and attempt to shelter Trump from responsibility for his crimes. William Barr is an utter disgrace, he is a stain upon the American legal system and our Justice Department.
8
Apparently, Barr has decided he doesn't need any credibility and can fade into obscure retirement. Maybe he can make it before he's disbarred.
3
There is a new Russian virus affecting the cerebral neurons of this administration and the majority of GOP members. This still microscopically undiagnosed virus is causing abnormal perception of reality , errant behavior and total detachment from the rule of law and Constitution. Many researchers are hoping to identify this virus soon to be able to treat it once and for all .
3
Mr. Barr is hardly an independent, unbiased or non-partisan observer. Indeed, based on past performance he is just about the last person to look to for an objective evaluation.
151
@JJM
Mr. Barr is the Attorney General though. He does have the constitutional authority to go beyond what Horowitz was willing to go if the facts warrant it.
Putin could write a report denying his involvement and THAT report, by a foreign adversary, is one that Barr and trump would believe.
Putin has gained far more citizen disbelief in our system of government than he ever planned on when he had hundreds, perhaps thousands of Russians meddling in our election.
As was said during the McCarthy hearings, where is your decency?
72
Lie and deny. We know the pattern. They are undermining all sense of trust and integrity in our political system.
64
If Trump believed in the rule of law and in maintaining the security of the United States, Trump would say "You know. It was the job of the intelligence agencies to be suspicious. And I am glad that they were because I sure don't want foreign agents in my employ!"
But he never has, has he?
77
@Christine - you have flipped American Jurisprudence on its head. Trump did not have foreign agents in his employ so why should he thank a Government Bureaucracy for three years of tumult that has rippled through our country at great expense to our Democracy.
1
@Christine - you have flipped American Jurisprudence on its head. Trump did not have foreign agents in his employ so why should he thank a Government Bureaucracy for three years of tumult that has rippled through our country at great expense to our Democracy.
@Mkm Mueller found 10 cases of obstruction of justice by Trump, which is worse than having foreign agents in his employ, and he solicited Ukraine (and China) to interfere in the 2020 election. That’s the tumult that is a great expense!
4
Barr sold out. His position requires that he uphold the Constitution before party, or presidential, loyalty. His intention to dismiss findings of all of the intelligence agencies for which taxpayers have paid a lot of money over decades in order to give public servants, like Barr, the best information upon which to make critical decisions for the country represents his lack of intent to do what he took that oath for.
Can the AG be impeached? Trump is a mafia with the keys to a very big purse. Barr is his facilitator and displays no sound judgment. What is very clear is that Barr, Trump and the GOP are a den of thieves and are prepared to do whatever they can to rip control over everything they can for their self-interest. Looks, walks and smells like a Putin play.
108
Barr doesn’t need any laws to know what the boss wants. Trump is his Constitution.
75
How much more corrupt can this so-called administration be?
87
Who would not have predicted this?
44
Mr Barr along with many Republicans seem to have ignored Michael Cohn's warning. "If you stay loyal to Trump you will end up like me." The more he pushes the envelop to help Trump evade justice the close he will come to criminal liability. It helps me to start picturing Trump loyalists in orange jump suits.
60
What is going on here?
I lived through Watergate and for the most part I developed immense respect to everyone involved in the investigation--including the Justice Department.
Almost 50 years later we have turned into a banana republic filled with sycophants who will discard any shred of self respect but more importantly any shred of morality to promote a narrative of corruption, lies and deceit by this administration.
This is indeed our founding fathers worst nightmare especially given the locksteep or goose stepping Republicans, it will be up to the voters to right this aberation.
95
I lived through Watergate too and I share your sentiments. I’m a former DOJ employee and I’m watching all this with disbelief.
9
@Billybob73 unfortunately we will probably have to beat Trump & the GOP by a lot of votes to ensure that election interference from Russia won't win the day. It was very telling that the GOP Senate refuses to take up a bill which would help safeguard our elections. The GOP is banking on a combination of Russian interference, gerrymandering and voter purges to win in 2020. That tells you more about their lack of accomplishments as a party than anything else. I agree that this is the nightmare of the founding fathers. The founding fathers thought of almost everything back in the 18th century. Unfortunately they didn't count on an entire party using propaganda, misinformation and blatant interference from a foreign government to keep a criminal regime in office.
8
@Billybob73 A coup. That's what's going on here.
3
Mr. Barr is not a law enforcement officer let’s get that fact straight. He is just Trumps appointed toady and does NOT represent law enforcement officers around the country and has zero respect from any respected law enforcement officials. He’s a temporary jerk in a suit, a short old man and will be gone in a year. He’ll go down in history as the WORST AG in America’s history.
70
I don't understand why Americans are not taking to the streets. You are watching your democracy being destroyed before your very eyes.
125
But it's so crazy and dangerous that half of us simply can't believe it, and the other half greet our burgeoning dictatorship with wild paroxysms of joy.
7
@Clearheaded
"half of us simply can't believe it."
Yes, The Emperor's New Clothes was written for this moment.
Unfortunately, those of us crying "the President is trying to make himself Emperor," are ignored by the media and the Democrats.
2
@McGloin That is completely untrue. Both the Democrats and the non-Trump media sound this alarm every day.
Bill Barr is Trump's Water Boy.
If he can mischaracterize the Mueller Report, he can certainly cast doubt on the inspector general’s assessment of the FBI inquiry.
35
The term "Criminal Justice System" has a new meaning in the TRUMP/FOX universe, as in CRIMINAL Justice System.
24
At the time the FBI began to investigate the Trump campaign I recall hearing or reading, quite possibly in this paper, that it was done, in part, to protect the candidate and the integrity of election campaigns in general. It wasn’t about the candidate himself, a novice
In American politics, but out of abundant concern that those around him had histories of shady dealings with Russia. It was also predicated on the knowledge that the FBI had of Russia’s desire to undermine American democratic processes during an election year.
This seems like a common sense explanation to me yet I’ve not heard it given by anyone since that time. It has all become a political pile on.
14
Mr.Barr is hoping to get nominated for Supreme Court justice and is hoping that RBG will get off the bench one way or the other during trump's term. In this process, he is crushing all the hopes of American democracy, decency and hopes of future generations.
54
@Climate Change We are doomed!
America has been lead to jump to conclusions before we know what if going to be said. The legacy of swiftboating and Newt Gingrich politics.
We seemed to be being trained that the best lie is the winner.
The best lie is truth. 2 + 2 +5.
The Truth,the whole truth, the truth for my side.
18
I’m not surprised by any of this. We have partisan based preemptive reactions to these investigations. Minds are made up before final reports are released. All in the name of “news”.
Let’s wait until we see what’s released before we render our own verdicts.
6
The Attorney General of the United States has unique erhical and legal professional obligations that supercede and transcend their politically partisan President nominated Senate advice and consent Cabinet position.
The client of the Attorney General is supposed to be the American people. Faithful execution of the laws of their elected representatives along with preserving, protecting and defending their Constitution is the prime directive of the Attorney General.
Avoiding even the appearance of impropriety is the basic ethical obligation of the legal profession.
The lawyer for the Presidency is the White House Counsel. While the lawyer for the President as a person is any private lawyer that they choose to hire
Bill Barr's actions have been the essence of impropriety. From his running inteference against the Mueller Report to this IG Report to the Durham investigation you have conflation and deflection.
Indeed, Barr seems to be acting as the Attorney General for Vladimir Putin. Putin's professional academic training was in the law of the Soviet Union.
42
I can’t deny that I find articles like this — which could be described as breaking speculation — a tad pointless.
That said, it will be no surprise at all if the AG finds no substantial wrongdoing and Barr then and therefore criticizes the investigation and report.
The takeaway message for the alt-right will be that the anti-trump deep state is all the more alive and well.
Meanwhile, in the real world, Barr’s misrepresentation of the report will demonstrate yet again that he is one of trump’s most loyal aid-and-abettors.
It’s anybody’s guess what will be the takeaway message for the fence-sitters (those who are not Kool-Aid drinkers but for some reason have not yet realized what a disaster trump is).
One thing is for sure: there will be a juicy, thick chapter on Barr in some future historian’s book on trump’s assault on American democracy.
24
@RickyDick
"Meanwhile, in the real world, Barr’s misrepresentation of the report will demonstrate yet again that he is one of trump’s most loyal aid-and-abettors".
That sounds a bit like speculation to me.
@RickyDick
Hysterical that you (accurately) characterize this "article" as breaking speculation, but then continue on with speculating about what Barr might do.
1
@tim k and @Wondering
Glad you appreciate the irony.
2
Mr. Barr, I am impressed. Who would have thought anyone could make Jeff Sessions look so good?
64
Loyalty is called Corruption when it’s valued at the expense of Integrity.
133
This is the single most corrupt regime in American history, Barr none.
Anyone who needs to have it explained to them why nothing that's happened on the GOP side of the aisle since DJT was elected (including the very fact that they chose him as their candidate) does not understand rule of law or how founders' vision.
Our crisis from the onset is that we've set the bar insanely low for the crimes we'll tolerate in elected officials --DJT had committed, been found guilty of, and charged for five crimes when he took office and had already lied 3,000 times on the campaign trail, a number that now tops 12,000 official White House lies-- and insanely high for accountability.
Over the past three hideous years I have listened to, read, and watched literally hundreds of presidential historians, Constitutional experts, former and current prosecutors, and informed pundits explain repeatedly why DJT's crimes are of a different order and magnitude. Common *informed* consensus is that the Ukraine debacle ( just one tentacle of the innumerable crimes committed in breaking the Emoluments Clause) is incomprehensibly worse than Watergate. But does anyone actually need that explained? The man sold out this nation for personal gain.
Tolerating this level of dysfunction and wrongdoing has normalized it. If DJT gets away with this there will be no norms that hold. Now even the AG office is contaminated.
Barr, carrying water for criminals is no light matter. It makes you one, too.
286
Whom should we believe? A highly trained and independent professional with decades of experience charged with policing an executive branch organization ... or a servile presidential appointee at the top of that organization? Which is more likely to be compromised?
We live our lives comfortably without knowing how inspector general investigation and reporting call out and check abuses of government power.
This AG wishes to disable and disgrace that check in the name of expedient politics. It is a position that, if successful, we may all live to regret.
80
He also doubts the world is round, the earth revolves around the sun, and gravity exists. Sadly, if not in this position of excessive power and influence we would just dismiss him as a crack pot.
50
No one with a drop of understanding considers Barr more than unprincipled hack. He has repeatedly betrayed the professionalism and integrity of the nation's highest law enforcement office.
The man himself is shameful, as is the man who nominated him. But equally shameful are congressional Republicans, who need not have confirmed an unqualified choice for the office. It seems that in the quest for partisan advantage, they will willingly allow the destruction of the democratic institutions that made this country what it is.
77
@Josh Hill Barr makes Jeff Sessions look like a saint, and I never, ever, thought I'd say that about anyone.
8
@Josh Hill
Look with your eyes.
He called for Russian help, publicly. He sought "dirt" on Hillary. He seeks "dirt" on Biden. What makes you think he doesn't have "dirt" on each and every Republican in Congress? They are protecting themselves.
The press is reporting that all Republicans talk about Trump in the negative, behind his back.
All we can do is comment on what we see openly. But that doesn't mean we don't know enough to put 2 + 2 together.
They all took NRA money, which was Russian money--and that's just the money we know about.
Don't vote them back into office if they have no spines to openly support our Constitution.
They are not Americans.
6
Wow, what a surprise. Actually, the only surprise is that Barr didn't insert his preferred lies into the report. And while his disapproval may actually resonate with some, for the most part Americans will take this report as not worth thinking about for more than five minutes. Just another failed Trump attempt at deflection.
29
Whatever "reputation" Barr once may have had -- and it is doubtful that he had much to begin with -- has been completely washed away at this point.
This legal has-been has only solidified his standing in history as a Trump boot-licker and saboteur of the rule of law.
57
So the IG, like Mueller, comes up with some creative middle ground to keep the party (parties) going and allow the unelected bureaucracy to perpetuate its ineffectualness.
4
Or, Ms. Benner and Mr. Schmidt, maybe Attorney General Barr already knows additional facts uncovered by US Attorney Durham's criminal investigation, which raise doubts about the alleged, partial, leaked contents of the IG's report.
It is astonishing that some reporters and editors think one can pick and choose to investigate some alleged government interference in political campaigns, but not others.
Let's be clear. The Mueller investigation found insufficient evidence to support allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Trump-Russia collusion has been debunked. Officially.
But some persons at the Obama FBI, possibly enticed by some persons at the Obama CIA (possibly the same person in the Obama CIA who lied to Congress under oath), saw fit to seek a FISA surveillance warrant against the Trump campaign, quite possibly on the basis of Russian disinformation. And these reporters and their editors are eager, even desperate, not to look into it.
4
This comment is replete with inaccuracies, half-truths, and logical fallacies, sadly. For one, though Mueller could conclusively find collusion, he did identify numerous instances of obstruction of justice. He left it to Congress to act. With Mitch McConnell at the helm, of course that ship was dead in the water.
36
@Frank
Mueller found "insufficient evidence" of conspiracy but plenty of obstruction of justice, which could explain why evidence was insufficient to reach a conclusion on the conspiracy. That does NOT "debunk" Trump/Russia
collusion.
25
@Frank, Have you read the Mueller Report? On page 2, it says, "... we applied the framework of conspiracy law, not the concept of 'collusion.' " It found no evidence of criminal conspiracy; but it did not address collusion; and it said, "The investigation also identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign." On page 6, the report says that Paul Manafort gave Konstantin Kilimnik (linked to Russian intelligence) polling data and discussed election strategy with him. No, collusion was not debunked by Mueller.
31
Mr. Barr would go against any legitimate investigation that did not fit Trump's narrative. He's a lackey and everybody knows it.
41
And to think that I was initially happy when Jeff Sessions got forced out...
37
We have a president who cheated his way into the WH and he has selected as Attorney General, William Barr. Barr is a malcontent who wants to undermine our justice system and he is doing very well at that. He supports his criminal boss and sees no problem with that. So now we have the criminal element in our most important departments of our government. They will not be happy until a full dictatorship like that of Putin is in place. This is only the warm up. Put this president in again for another 4 years and we all lose. Get rid of Trump and the likes of Barr and others are gone as well.
38
What exactly is Barr's end-game?
He once had a reasonably good reputation now he's just another hack in dumpys despicable gang of grifters.
32
Truly I believe he is repelled by the changes he sees in our country since his youth. He has said as much in private speaking engagements. He wants it whiter, more religious, more male-centric. And he sees Trump as one avenue to that place.
25
@Bob Gorman
As others have said, he wants to be appointed to, or to otherwise control SCOTUS and all who are appointed to SCOTUS. The end-game is to fulfill his belief in extremely radical, right-wing Catholicism and to sit at the right hand of the almighty in heaven. If he has his way, he will turn this country into a Christian theocracy that will criminalize abortion and birth control and dismantle the rights of women and LGBTQ individuals. There is a darkness to this man that suggests a fear of personal freedom and, perhaps, his own impulses.
It should be noted that five of the SCOTUS justices are Catholic, not including Gorsuch who was raised as a Catholic but converted to Episcopalianism. Justice Sotomayor is Catholic but seems to respect the separation of church and state. With the exception of Sotomayor, all were appointed by Republicans.
Remember when JFK was running for office and the Republicans called him a threat to the constitution, because they feared that the pope would be controlling
the country? Well, he was a Democrat...so that was different.
3
@Bob Gorman
Trump knows some secrets about Barr, as he appears to about Graham.
That’s my guess.
3
Barr makes John Mitchell look like a choirboy.
259
Does anyone with a shred of objectivity believe anything Barr says?
229
Trumps base does.
14
@Louise
Note the qualifying phrase "shred of objectivity."
6
@Louise
I'll take that as a "no."
5
Barr will be another inmate at the Trump Penitentiary & Towers, which is currently under construction on the site of the former Mara Loco in Florida.
45
It’s going to be difficult to untangle our country from this web of evil.
419
@Hddvt I'm glad you used that word - evil. It's really apropos.
10
Everyday now we find our democracy dancing on the edge of a razor. Some new revelation pushing us into uncharted waters. In normal times the DOJ is so isolated from the President it's practically a fourth branch. Now we have an AG whose sole focus is protecting Trump. All the while the GOP keeps pouring their credibility into the hole that is Trump. Doubling down on the sunk cost of supporting him like a Dutch tulip investor in the 17th century.
94
It strikes me that Attorney General Barr is playing a long game to become Supreme Court Justice Barr through his sycophantic support of the President. We can only wish for the continued good health of Justice Ginsburg. Vote Democratic in 2020!
329
@Brynniemo -- The Supreme Court is already staggering under the weight of prior insults to its integrity, some self-inflicted, others from the appointment process. Adding Barr would be a tipping point. After that, Congress would have little choice but to reform the Court.
37
@Brynniemo We also need to turn the Senate blue again in 2020.
Blue all the way down.
9
Maybe. But a huge mystery to me is: What motivates this person to do what he is doing?
2
I doubt Trump had ever heard of Barr until he needed a new,complacent AG. What we are seeing here is the beginning of the end of Democracy as we have known it.
128
@John Lusk
Get it back. No apathy, no rest for the weary. This cannot stand.
4
Any report that doesn't support Trump must be false.
Barr is just following the guidelines Putin gave him - they work so well over in Russia.
Blame Democrats.
Blame Ukraine.
Blame the press.
But never, ever blame Trump or Russia.
If Russia was involved, Putin would have told Trump.
But Vlad said he didn't do anything.
And his word means more than any U.S. Intelligence agency's finding ever will.
Do you think Barr will book another party at Trump's hotel to celebrate? Maybe Trump will give him a discount as a reward for his good work.
107
@D. DeMarco
Yeah, for such a loud mouth, straight-talkin', rootin'-tootin' rebel (a brand which we had hoped would crash and burn with Palin), Trump chooses his words veeeeery carefully around Putin. Ya know, like in that old country favorite
"where seldom is heard, a discouraging word .... and old Vlad will always get his waaaaaayy"
1
Barr works just like Trump. He starts with what he “knows.” He then strives to find evidence to “prove” his knowledge.
It is a logic of confirmation. We already know what we know, we merely need to confirm it.
It is the direct opposite of a logic of discovery, which starts with what we do not yet understand, but seek to inquire. We move in discovery from limitation to fuller awareness.
Barr—like Trump—will never discover anything. He already knows everything.
It is sadly a very small universe, ripe with self-deception.
164
@Paul C. McGlasson
The Senate has the same disease. They will hold an impeachment trial after they have decided that trump is innocent of all wrong doing.
1
Perhaps the king’s hand could publicly present the alternative facts that have led him to doubt the report.
49
If he served a democratic president his views about presidential power and authority would be adamantly and viciously the complete opposite.
30
@Tom J
This is incorrect. Democratic AGs have had an expansive interpretation of executive power. All AGs have for some time. The executive branch consistently expands its power.
None of this is meant to excuse Barr or the Trump administration. Abysmal treasoners and their shills, the lot of them. But we should not look the other way when any president or DOJ expands executive authority. Other administrations have just been more subtle in their push, while this one is so flagrantly corrupt and in defiance of the law that they can only act in these nakedly egregious ways.
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Attorney General William P. Barr has told Justice Department officials that he is skeptical of a conclusion by the department’s inspector general that the F.B.I. had sufficient information to open the investigation into whether any Trump associates conspired with Russia during the 2016 presidential race, according to two people familiar with the conversations.
READ: Don't confuse me with the facts. I've already made up my mind.
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No surprise here. I hope that he is disbarred soon.
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Barr wants the next opening on the SC - stay strong Justice Ginsburg!
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Personal lawyers side with their clients. If anyone believes Barr is nothing more than Trumps personal lawyer, they are deluding themselves. Barr has made a mockery of the role of US Attorney General and will go down in history as such.
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@Kim Agree but even personal lawyers are supposed to act according to the law with integrity and honor and not participate in fraud and a conspiracy to deceive. Barr does not.
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@Kim
Yes, but you stop have to compare his negative to the Constitution and his job description, not just "expect" him to act like Trump's "fixer."
Don't normalize corruption!
Rule of law is a thing of the past with this AG. He has also sided with Trump on refusal to turn over Trump's tax returns based on an unconstitutional expansion of executive privileges.Impeachment cannot proceed due to Barr's interference and coverups.
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Shocked. Shocked! Round up the usual suspects.
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This is sickening. Revolting actually. Where and when does the insanity stop? When we devolve into anarchy and a full blown Civil War?
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@Marko Polo
Yes. Won't be long now, I'm afraid.
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~"Should Mr. Barr rebut the inspector general’s assessment, due out next week in a highly anticipated report, Mr. Trump’s allies will most likely use that pushback to dismiss the work itself."~
William Burr, Chairman of Senate Intelligence, just contradicted the finding of his OWN report that there was no "top-down" effort from Ukraine to help Hillary Clinton, so anticipating William Barr to contradict the Inspector Generals findings is certain to happen.
The Republicans are fully in Putin's camp: spread disinformation...make things up.
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@Allen82
But don't predict that they will commit a crate ahead of time, because then when they commit the crime, it is not news
Crime in The White House is suppose to be news, not a foregone collusion.
Don't normalize High Crimes by expecting them.
@Allen82 Richard Burr?
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"Mr. Barr’s doubts are significant because they could be perceived as the nation’s top law enforcement officer siding with Mr. Trump, who has long cast doubt on the legitimacy of the Russia investigation, over law enforcement officials."
And ... ?
Barr sides with Trump. We've established that many times over.
Comically, he traveled all over Europe recently trying to get our allies to discredit our own intelligence agencies.
He misrepresented the Mueller report to such an extent, millions of Americans think it exonerated Trump when Mueller took pains to emphasize that it did NOT.
In every instance, Barr has stood for Trump and against settled law and the Constitution. The only question worth asking is: Why does William Barr still have a license to practice law, when he is so clearly uninterested in upholding it?
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@Bystander
Weary of reading the complaints about Barr since he was confirmed as Attorney General. Although Democrats did not have the votes to stop his confirmation, they failed to use their collective voice to discredit Barr during the hearings. A bold assertive Democratic Congress stood some chance of swaying public opinion. Complacency gets us nowhere. We knew Barr was a Trump lackey... there is nothing surprising about Barr's behavior.
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@Tom, "There is nothing surprising about Barr's behavior" is precisely the kind of cynicism that dems need to stop cultivating. Just look at climate change. Like most liberals I've expected for 20 years that Republicans would at some point come around. I didn't expect they'd prefer American fascism first. And that doesn't make me naive. It makes the efforts dems have made to reach out to religious voters and pierce the Fox News bubble completely inadequate. They wanted to overturn Roe v. Wade, and they got Mussolini. There's a disconnect there, and dems aren't building a big tent strategy to welcome in conservative defectors. Nope, they're creating purity tests and elevating abortion as a wedge issue. Yes, now it's us waging the culture wars. Crazy! I don't believe in head count politics. We don't have the numbers to just talk to our own. Mayor Pete is on the right path.
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@Bystander
Exactly correct.
Why is this being presented as if Barr conducted some thoughtful, independent review of the issues instead of just supporting Trump?
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