The Farcical Bill Barr Scandal

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An investigation into whether the president of the United States committed treason has devolved into a squabble over Attorney General Bill Barr’s brief letter saying that he didn’t.

We’ve gone from Donald Trump allegedly betraying the nation to Bill Barr allegedly betraying the nation, from potential Trump impeachment to potential Barr impeachment.



Barr’s offense, of course, is writing a quick letter summarizing the top-line conclusions of the Mueller report. Ever since, he’s been the focus of conspiracy theories and the target of smears.

The anti-Barr fury reached a new level with the news that Robert Mueller wrote him a letter complaining about the summary. Not since the Zimmermann telegram has a missive so exercised Washington, at least the segment of it that’s been in a perpetual lather of outrage since November 2016.

Let’s be clear: If Barr wanted to cover for Trump, he could have crimped the Mueller probe, sat on the report or redacted the report into meaninglessness. He did none of the above.

No one can claim his summary of findings was inaccurate. According to Barr, even Mueller conceded as much in a phone call. Mueller instead complained about the press coverage of the Barr summary, which isn’t, strictly speaking, the attorney general’s responsibility.

Barr’s conduct is defensible on its own terms. He wanted to get the basic verdict out because the investigation had so roiled our national life, especially the possibility that there was collusion with the Russians.

When Mueller came back to him with a request for release of the summaries from the report, Barr declined because he didn’t want to get into piecemeal releases when the full report would soon be available.

That’s what makes the controversy so nonsensical. Barr went further than required by the regulations to release the entirety of the report, letting everyone decide for themselves. What else was he supposed to do?

Of course, Barr’s summary letter inevitably lacked the narrative force and details of the 400-page report, but we know that . . . because he released the report.

The notion that Barr was deceptive in congressional testimony is similarly absurd. In an exchange with Senator Chris Van Hollen last month, he was asked if Mueller supported his “conclusion,” meaning his judgment that the president didn’t obstruct justice. Barr accurately said he didn’t know.

Representative Charlie Crist asked Barr if he knew what Mueller officials anonymously complaining about his letter were referring to. Barr said he didn’t (he presumably hadn’t talked to these anonymous officials), but volunteered that they probably wanted more information out.

Ultimately, the firestorm over Barr’s letter is a misdirection, and he’s a scapegoat. If Robert Mueller wanted to recommend charging Trump with obstruction of justice, he could have done so. Instead, he punted, and now he — or people around him — is upset that the Barr letter accurately stated his convoluted not-guilty/not-exonerated bottom line.

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Mueller and the Democrats didn’t want anyone investigating any of the claims of collusion, so they decided to totally erase the accusations… and presumably all the memories of the certainty of all the evidence readily on hand that so completely proved Trump and his team had colluded with Russians. The LAST thing they want is investigations into how such absolute, definitive evidence turned out to be… nothing.

They couldn’t find obstruction, either, but they left the definitive conclusion open-ended so Democrats could dig through it and find some political utilization of their non-conclusion.

The fact that Mueller couldn’t find anything to convict Trump with can’t be Mueller’s fault; he is an honorable god. So, it must be the evil Barr (nefariously hand-picked by Trump, against all historic precedent) that has employed mass-hypnosis that prevents people from finding treacherous crimes committed by Trump delineated in his report.

The Zimmermann telegram was intended to align enemies against the United States. Mueller’s report was supposed to do the same. It failed.

one has to appreciate that 99% of demorats in the Congress are one sandwich short of a picnic basket. the idea is to spin and more spin to remove the focus of any real investigation of the demorat’s spying on Trump and other issues. really, whore dog billy and elephant lynch meeting on tarmac by accident-what shit but the radicalized muslin terrorist-gay obama did nothing but protect what he thought would be his predecessor

@MOS#8541: OMG Trump called Putin and they chatted about the Russian hoax, laughing so hard! A very productive call, the media will have seizures.

@kitt: Putin probably wanted Trump to extend his heartfelt thanks to the Democrats for doing his work for him.