Attorney General William Barr Still Favors Trump Over DOJ Findings on Russia Investigation
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Attorney General William Barr Still Favors Trump Over DOJ Findings on Russia Investigation
Since it’s been a few months — and at least one presidency-defining international scandal — since President Trump’s last presidency-defining international scandal, let’s review the behavior of Attorney General William Barr regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Foremost, Barr’s creative interpretation of the Mueller report shielded Trump from clear examples of obstruction of justice, leading to the president’s false claim of “complete and total exoneration.” Aside from that bail-out, he also called the Mueller investigation into potential obstruction a “political operation to overthrow the president;” claimed that the FBI was “spying” on Trump; had multiple conversations with White House lawyers prior to the report’s release benefitting the president’s cause; and compared the Russia investigation to the racist birther movement, although it was forwarded primarily by Trump.
In light of the Attorney General’s past actions safeguarding the president from accountability for his campaign’s conduct, it’s no surprise that Barr continues to prioritize Trump over findings from a Department of Justice investigation. According to the Washington Post , Barr privately disagrees with the DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s determination that the FBI had enough information to open an inquiry into the Trump campaign in July 2016. The IG report on the origin of the investigation, which will be released next week, is expected to find that the FBI was justified in its investigation, which was opened after Trump aide George Papadopoulos spilled that Moscow had hacked Clinton emails prior to the announcement that DNC servers were compromised by Russian assets.
As the Post notes, it’s common for an AG to disagree with an element of an Inspector General’s report, but “typically those disagreements occur because senior leaders at the department believe the inspector general has been too critical. In this case, Barr has conveyed to others his belief that Horowitz has not been critical enough, or is at least reaching a conclusion prematurely.” And as the paper puts it, perhaps a little too mildly, the image of the Attorney General “suggesting the FBI may have wrongly opened an investigation into a presidential campaign, even after the inspector general announces they were justified in doing so, will probably generate more partisan battles over how the Justice Department and the FBI operate.”
Other “partisan battles” are likely to arise over another DOJ determination moving into the election year. According to a Politico report, Barr will have to determine how to navigate a “potential criminal probe” into the Trump administration’s actions in Ukraine. Barr, who has already undermined the credibility of the historically independent department, may soon have to determine if the Department of Justice will actually seek justice in this critical instance. Past examples of the Attorney General’s diligence may prove prescient.
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Barr is disgracing America's justice system. Again.
The AG disagrees with a finding of the IG. It involves FISA applications. I think we need to wait until all the facts are out instead of responding to the framing of people and events by the leftist media that LIED to us for 3 years!
And the AG disagrees with the IG, WITHOUT EVEN INVESTIGATING. Amazing how that works.
The AG sits atop two investigations into this matter. I think he knows quite a bit. Or maybe you just don't like who's being investigated?
What are they being investigated for?
FISA abuse and spying on American citizens as well as a political campaign among other things.
Now you've done your job. I await the orchestrated response from the left.
That's hilarious, bogus, and hilarious.
Even more hilarious is the idea that someone wouldn't know the reasons for the Durham investigation.
He is doing the exact job Trump hired him for.
Funny how former AG Eric Holder's almost slavish devotion to President Barak Obama in the wake of Fast and Furious gets a free pass by the left and seems to almost never gets mentioned, but the left can certainly try to crucify AG Barr. Almost comical and bizarre to say the least...
Barr is a disgusting POS hack
We need Holder and Lynch back./S
Why should Americans give a crap if William Barr, Trump's lackey, disagrees with the Inspector General's findings? Barr has zero credibility.
OK,
Let me be more blunt. Is the DOJ a Presidential appointee; and can be removed by the President at any time. Simple yes or no answer.
The DOJ is not a person, thus is not susceptible to "removal" by the president.
Ok, Attorney General, thank you for the correction. Is the AG a presidential appointee, and can be removed by the president at any time?
Once again, nice attempt at at deflection but still no cigar....
You must because you are the one that seeded it. Do you disagree with your own seed, now?
From the "mind" of a liberal.....President 1 through 44..yes President number 45...Hell no
Let's wait and see what the report(s) say. The DOJ appending a statement to an IG report is not unusual. second, the facts may well contradict the conclusions of the IG. In the past, the IG's conclusions have been excessively deferential to the agency, despite reporting facts that seem to contradict the IG's opinions.
William Barr deliberately misrepresented the findings of the Mueller report to make them look better for Trump. He has no credibility.
No, he didn't.
As we learned, the biggest misrepresentation about the Mueller report came from the people who claimed Trump would have been indicted but for the DOJ guidelines preventing it.
No you explain what you mean. I'm tired of explaining the well known and the obvious to you.
One: Barr made it sound like Mueller was iffy about the evidence against Trump on obstruction when in reality it was constitutional and prudential concerns that kept him from indicting, not the strength of the evidence. Two: Barr made it sound like the collusion case was a big fat baseless zero when in truth there were various “concerning” contacts between the campaign and the Russians, albeit not anything that reached the level of probable cause. Three: Barr played dumb before Congress when he was asked if anyone on Mueller’s team had concerns about his summary, as Mueller himself had sent Barr a letter a few days after the summary was published saying exactly that. Four:
This seems like one of those conspiracy theories that works because it can't ever really be resolved. The AG is never going to do or say anything that satisfies Democrats with regards to these investigations because there's nothing for him to actually do regarding them. It's not as if DOJ is going to prosecute the president. Congress is already doing that because they are the ones constitutionally empowered to do it.
Barr is an idiot, the perfect poster boy for Trump's base.
In addition to Trump, I would like to see Barr impeached as well.