Trump’s AG Bill Barr has a history of cover-ups — and he just struck again
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Back in 1992, the last time Bill Barr was U.S. attorney general, iconic New York Times writer William Safire referred to him as “Coverup-General Barr” because of his role in burying evidence of then-President George H.W. Bush’s involvement in “Iraqgate” and “Iron-Contra.”
General Barr has struck again—this time, in similar fashion, burying Mueller’s report and cherry-picking fragments of sentences from it to justify Trump’s behavior. In his letter, he notes that Robert Mueller “leaves it to the attorney general to decide whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime.”
As attorney general, Barr—without showing us even a single complete sentence from the Mueller report—decided there are no crimes here. Just keep moving along.
Barr’s history of doing just this sort of thing to help Republican presidents in legal crises explains why Trump brought him back in to head the Justice Department.
Christmas day of 1992, the New York Times featured a screaming all-caps headline across the top of its front page: Attorney General Bill Barr had covered up evidence of crimes by Reagan and Bush in the Iran-Contra scandal.
Earlier that week of Christmas, 1992, George H.W. Bush was on his way out of office. Bill Clinton had won the White House the month before, and in a few weeks would be sworn in as president.
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He's gotten real big and fat and ugly since then - just like Rump.
He has gobs of plaque on his teeth. I bet his breath stinks of sulphur...
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It seems as the day has gone by critics are finding more and more flaws in what Barr did.
The most serious perhaps. If Mueller did not intend for Barr to have the last word, but rather he intended for Congress to have the last word. People are saying Barr exceeded his role in all this in order to protect Trump. Sounds about right.
So the new belief is Mueller doesn't understand his job, the Constitution, or the role of Congress?
Talk about harsh.
Well, with the disappointment being felt by some because the Mueller Report didn't do what they had hoped for, they have to have something new to complain about.
Remember when it was all "Just you wait until the Mueller Report comes out. That'll fix Trump!"?
That's right. This man, about whom they have been singing praises for two years, is suddenly the most wildly incompetent person to ever undertake a federal investigation.
Remember tex we don't know what's in the report. Just a made up summary
So you freely admit that you don't know what is in the report.
What we DO know without a doubt that is there was no collusion between Trump and the Russians outlined in the report.
But yet, you claim that the summary is made up.
Pray tell, WHAT DO YOU BASE YOUR CONCLUSION ON?
Did somebody's second cousin's third aunt twice removed boyfriend give you the scoop?
I read what he gave and looked into his background. Too bad you won't do the same
So nothing more than your feelings.
I didn't figure you based it on any facts.
Mueller does not work for Congress. He works for the AG. Consequently, he submitted his report and his work to the AG. Congress has no part in this process.
Those people are wrong. Deciding this kind of thing is exactly his role.
I doubt it. Mueller did not give an opinion because Trump cannot be indicted (by DOJ past practice) and so Mueller left it up to the appropriate venue (Congress).
Barr would not ever indict Trump, therefore it was not his place to give an opinion on something he would never do.
Not true.
Mueller left it up to the appropriate venue (Congress).
Venue for what?
Dealing with presidential misconduct.
We need to see the entire report , and let people other than Trump loyalists characterize it.
If you mean impeach him, sure. But that's all Congress does. Impeachment is a political act, with no legal ramifications.
Mueller did not give an opinion because Trump cannot be indicted (by DOJ past practice)
That's still not true. While the President can't be indicted, special counsel reports do list crimes they believe the President has committed. See Starr's report alleging Clinton obstructed justice and perjured himself.
Actually, a president not being indicted hasn't been tested yet, its not the law. And until the Mueller report goes beyond Barr and the republicans, it means nothing. Mitch McConnell just obstructed the release of the report. Now why would republicans not want a report that they say exonerates Trump? This won't fly, and there will be legal filings. No way they keep this secret forever. And no way Trump is innocent. Actions speak louder than words. What are they hiding? Subpoenas will be issued. And thank god for the other investigations, including the FBI, congress and the states.
Yup I don't trust a four page report from hundreds of pages of documents from a Rump ass kisser.
You are totally wrong.
Barr has only been on the job as AG for about one month, how does he have an opinion, when did he have time to review the work done by Mueller and his team, work done for 22 months..
That is what I'd like to know as well. He only supposedly got the report on Friday, and by Sunday he had a 4 page letter summery. How did he review all the documents involved in that short a time frame. Even a speed reader would need more time to review it all, digest it and then come up with a 4 page summery. It just don't jive.
Unless, he got the report earlier than reported. Or....he merely based his letter on what others with insight of the report told him was in the report. It would be far more reasonable and believable if he had a week to review the report and then provide a more detailed report.
And now the GOP is refusing to allow the report to be made public. What are they afraid of and trying to hide from the public. It was taxpayers money that paid for the darn thing, and the public has a right to know what is in it. If not, then it will continue to create a lack of trust in the report and look like a conspiracy to try and dupe the public.
They just don't seem to get the idea that you can fool some of the people all of the all of the time. And you can fool all of the people some of the time. But, you can't fool all of the people all of the time. And obviously, they have something they are trying to hide from all of the people.
JMOO
HA! The Mueller report did not crush Trump .. so now individuals are trying to establish what Mueller's intent was ..? The report goes to the AG, the AG decides what is released, if anything to Congress, yet somehow Mueller intended for Congress to decide if Trump was obstructing? and it is all Barr's fault?
Very interesting...
You summed it up pretty well, if inadvertently.
If all this is such good news, why did McConnell just move to stop the release? No way in hell this stops with a 4 page Trumpspin. Release the report.
At least Mueller passed on all the nefarious information he got on Trump that wasn't within his narrow scope. I think more information will be coming out no matter how hard republicans try to stop it.
Mueller had a narrow mandate about proving Russian collusion, but he passed on all the information about other crimes that came his way to entities that do have the jurisdiction. And they are working on it. So is congress. So is the FBI actually, in another capacity, a different Russian investigation. Oh, no, this is not over by any stretch. Don't you remember how long Benghazi went on far after reports were released? Think back a bit, we've all learned how to do it from Mitch, Gowdy and other pubs. It ain't even remotely over. Not even half over.
Narrow scope? The scope of the Mueller investigation was far from narrow - he was given the reins to a counterintelligence investigation into possible collusion between the President of the United States and Russia (to investigate a possible 'plot' to get then candidate Trump elected) and you think his scope was narrow ..? wowza, my head shaking condition may never subside! .. Mueller was appointed to investigate something that was not much more than a conspiracy - there had to be an explanation for why H. lost .. turns out the investigation was a prosecutor in search of a crime, not an investigation of an actual crime committed by the now president... a no there there kind of thing.. regarding collusion and obstruction.
Republican's trying to stop the release of information? … Again, Wowza! Give it up! Like it or not the results are in, no collusion, unable to conclude there was obstruction .. thus no obstruction... was a special counsel needed to bust Manafort, Flynn, Gates and Cohen … Roger Stone ... ? Information on other possible crimes needs to be handled appropriately .. if they bring down Trump later, that will be dealt with then. There are plenty of other investigations still ongoing.
It is sad the way the members of the 'Mueller is so great' club have turned on him … (D)'s are looking foolish! So convinced that the down fall of Trump was within grasp .. time to stop beating the dead 'but Benghazi' mantra and govern .. years have been wasted by both parties, the nation is stalled, mired in conflict and division … time to heal a wee bit! …. However, this is far from over ………… there will be, yet another horse offered up and beaten to death! It appears to be the partisan way of governing...
… hmmm what shall 'we' investigate this time? perhaps there is a need to investigate the investigators …? HA! I still question how the email scandal was handled by Comey … or how about a counterintelligence investigation into whether Barr is trustworthy or not?
Biden / Buttigieg 2020
At least Mueller passed on all the nefarious information he got on Trump that wasn't within his narrow scope. I think more information will be coming out no matter how hard republicans try to stop it.
Barr is AG over all Federal Agencies, he will put a pause to the investigations, NYS AG can still prosecute Trump's family and others, Trump and the AG cannot stop those..
And that appears to be just what McConnell is trying to do by blocking the release of the report. What is he and the rest of the GOP so freaking afraid of. It is totally stupid, as it may be the end of Mueller's investigation, but, others are still on-going and he and the GOP can't stop them. Talk about stupid. But, fear obviously breeds that kind of mentality.
Here is some interesting information that speaks of the on-going investigations as a result of Mueller's investigation;
And the beat goes on......
McConnell and his Cronies' reach is not long enough to silence the courts and other legal entities. So no matter how much they try to deny the public the right to know the full facts of the Mueller investigation, they will not be able to silence everyone.
While McConnell is arrogant enough to think he has the last word on things, he could be buying his own exit ticket come next election. Not everything lasts forever, especially, in politics.
And in order to prove his Orange God is totally innocent, he should be begging the public to read the full report instead of trying to hide it from them.
Correction, the Barr summary did not crush Trump.
Remember, as Trump has shown over and over, it is not illegal to lie to the people or the media, so without seeing the report we have no idea if Barr's summary is accurate. His history shows that he has no issues with cover ups.
Once a cheesy lawyer always a cheesy lawyer, no matter what the title of a new position. And to be sure, Trump only appoints those he thinks will cover for him. When their own hide comes into question, Trump has no qualms in making them his scapegoats. Barr is not exception, just a new goat to be sacrificed as needed.
Its the Mueller Truthers!
This is the spin today? The AG is covering up a crime? And apparently got the Deputy AG and the Independent Counsel to go along with it. I wonder how many bong hits it took to decide to publish this story.
Sure, why not? That is literally his job.
Maybe they are just used to an AG who would let the FBI decide what is a crime to be prosecuted and what isn't?
That isnt really what the story says.
Sounds like perhaps some are accepting of the Mueller Report and all of its ramifications as they are of election results.
"General Barr has struck again—this time, in similar fashion, burying Mueller’s report and cherry-picking fragments of sentences from it to justify Trump’s behavior."
I'm real curious to know how the author of this article got ahold of the actual Mueller report so he could compare it to Barr's summary. It's especially funny considering nearly everybody wants the report released anyway.
That's hilarious. The entire point is that we don't trust Barr and so nobody really knows jack except that Barr is protecting Trump and the republicans are circling the wagons and lighting the gas lamps. Why would we believe Barr? WE DON'T. Release the report, period. Otherwise we know Barr is hiding bad things from the public.
Oh those were lit a lonnnnggg time ago, they just haven't been very effective, except for a small percentage sentient beings.
I just read where the Republicans block U.S. Senate Democrats' move on making Mueller report public.
What are they so afraid of that they won't allow it to be made public?
Why now are the Republicans so afraid to have it made public? What is in the report that they don't want the public to know?
Last I checked Mueller was a private citizens free to speak his mind. If he thinks the summary isn't right all he has to do is tell a reporter. I'm sure he wouldn't have any problem getting air time on cable news. This is just doubling down by the left on a failed attempt to get rid of Trump.
The work good for hatching chicks
I do believe he will end up before a congressional committee, with or without a subpoena. And that is a start. But the more Barr hides the real report, the less we believe it is good for Trump. What is he hiding? RELEASE THE REPORT.
I'm still waiting for any proof Barr is hiding anything at all. Calling for the report is just another delay tactic by the left to keep the collusion fantasy on life support. Once it comes out Democrats will just start attacking Mueller and claiming somehow Trump "got" to him. Or Putin did. Or maybe the Easter Bunny. There are no limits to the power of denial.
And the Trump worshipers are experts at that.
So since Trump has Mueller who is a Republican, has Rosenstein who is a Republican, and a host of other Republicans who were part of this investigation, then why not RELEASE THE REPORT?
If I had been "exonerated" then I would want that report out there full front and center.
Yet they cover it up, vote against releasing the report and say it is a free pass but won't release the information that actually proves the total "exoneration".
It makes absolutely no sense at all.
No one needs to "apologize" and unless Trump is willing to apologize for all the nasty things he has said about these Republicans doing their jobs then just shut up.
The purpose of the Mueller Report was not to exonerate anyone. That wasn't what he was supposed to be doing. He was supposed to be looking to see if any Americans colluded with Russia. He couldn't find any that did.
Next?
From what I read, the people who are "not releasing" the report really have nothing to do with the report. Mitch McConnell has no responsibility towards releasing the report. The person responsible for that is the AG. And by law there are some items in the report that should not be released, like information from the grand juries and sources and methods.
Barr is on record as wanting to release as much as can be released, within the scope of law and Justice Department guidelines. That takes time to work thru as this is a several hundred page report. From what is reported, Barr is working with Rosenstein and Mueller to review what can be released.
All this constant beating of "release the report" and the effort to "block" votes on it to my mind is nothing more than party politics. If congress spent even half their time actually working for the country just think how many broken things could be fixed by now.