In his accusations Wednesday of government “spying” on the Trump campaign and his hints of investigating the investigators of the Russian intervention, Attorney General Barr has pushed partisanship in Washington to new levels, threatening a heightened civil war within the government.
Barr has finally exposed himself for all to see – especially those who supported his confirmation because he was an honorable guy – as the unquestionable puppet of Donald Trump at the Department of Justice. By the charge of “spying” Barr has very publicly stated his support and confirmation of Trump’s narrative – a narrative that sees the investigation as a “hoax” and that “really bad people” at the FBI spied on his campaign.
In his testimony to a Senate panel on Wednesday, April 10 Barr stated he believed “spying did occur” by the U.S. government on Trump’s 2016 campaign. When asked why he plans to probe the origins of what would become special counsel Robert Mueller’s almost two-year Russia investigation, Barr replied:
“For the same reason we’re worried about foreign influence in elections … I think spying on a political campaign — it’s a big deal, it’s a big deal.”
“I’m not suggesting that those rules were violated, but I think it’s important to look at that. I’m not talking about the FBI necessarily, but intelligence agencies more broadly.”
NBCNews reported:
[Barr] said that he’s not launching an investigation of the FBI and is not suggesting there is a problem that’s “endemic” to the agency, but “I think there was a failure among a group of leaders at the upper echelons.”
“I feel I have an obligation to make sure that government power isn’t abused,” he added.
When asked what was the basis for his concerns, Barr refused to elaborate and replied:
“There is a basis for my concern, but I’m not going to discuss the basis.” He also stated later, “I have no specific evidence that I would cite right now, I do have some questions about it. I have concerns about various aspects of it.”
Barr made these outrageous statements in front of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee Wednesday as he pushed back on queries from Senators very concerned about the comments he made the day before in front of another subcommittee. At that hearing Tuesday before a House Appropriations subcommittee, Barr declared he is “reviewing the conduct” and origins of the FBI’s Russia probe during the summer of 2016.
William Barr, by parroting Trump’s narrative, by clearly now becoming Trump’s Man at DOJ, has permanently damaged his reputation, his legacy, his credibility and the very Department of Justice he heads, a department that is supposed to be independent of the White House. He flushed any semblance of independence down the toilet on Wednesday. He will be remembered as one of the worse, although briefly-tenured, attorney generals in modern American history.
It’s as if the man behind the curtain pulls the strings himself and emerges as a petty, squatty troll with glasses and sour expression. He doesn’t care if we know, he’s going to come after Dorothy anyhow.
With his implied threats of investigating the investigators, going after the government whistleblowers, Barr’s stance will push the showdown between the warring parts of Government into a confrontational mode – all the while and importantly receiving Trump’s adulation. The Executive and Congressional branches are on a collision course. Subpoenas and court hearings no doubt will be forthcoming.
But – the good news, if there is any good news here – is that Barr has completely bared himself. He is nakedly protecting the president. While barring the truth by holding back the Mueller Report, Barr has shown there is not one reason to believe him. His credibility has been shot – and he did it himself – with his unflinching defense of the Trump narrative. No longer can he be believed about anything to do with the special counsel’s 400-page report. Nor anything else for that matter.
We know there were plenty of reasons for the FBI to be freaked out by Trump and his surrogates back in 2016 and they had plenty of reasons to begin their justified investigations of people like Flynn, Manafort and Page. (See here for more.)
But for Barr now to question all of that, he is trying to continue the cover-up, clearly and obviously doing Trump’s bidding. He is implicitly saying he could go after elements within the national intelligence community, or investigate the top echelon of the FBI. These types of actions would continue to open wounds inflicted by these past 2 years of Trump’s disparagement of the FBI and the national intelligence counterparts. The warfare within the government will only be more visible, more public.
And the rule of law and democracy will continue to be threatened by the instablizations of the institutions forced to do overtime because of Trump’s authoritarianism.
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