[William] Barr’s path into the apparatus of the state is one on which he followed his father’s footsteps. Donald had worked at the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor of the Central Intelligence Agency. While William was still a student at Columbia, where his father had also enjoyed a distinguished career as a teacher and administrator, he worked as a summer intern at the CIA and in 1973, took up his first full-time job there as an analyst.
That same year Donald Barr published an atrocious science fiction novel called Space Relations and dedicated it to his wife as a token of “thirty years’ love.” It is a probe launched from conservative, white, male America into the strange inner worlds of its own psyche in the Nixon years. As literature, it is excruciating. But it deals in a usefully unguarded way with themes that bear heavily on William Barr’s present position as Trump’s most formidable enabler: the legacy of slavery, Catholic sexual dogma, the proper response to revolt from below…
…Space Relations is really a thinly disguised plantation novel in which (Planet} Kossar serves as the Old South. Readers are being pointed in the direction of some allegory of American history…”
“The literary sins of the father—especially ones as grave as Space Relations—should not be visited on the son. There is, however, a very strong connection between Donald Barr’s hard-line Catholicism and William Barr’s present position as the main (perhaps the sole) intellectual buttress of Trump’s presidency. That connection lies in the idea of authority.”
And so it goes…
“President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr had a “contentious,” lengthy meeting inside the West Wing this week after Barr told The Associated Press in an interview that the Justice Department had uncovered no evidence of fraud that would change the election outcome, one person familiar with the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity told CNN.
The interview had caused his boss to erupt, multiple people familiar with his reaction said.
On Thursday, Trump wouldn’t say whether he had confidence in Barr.
“Ask me that in a number of weeks from now. They should be looking at all of this fraud,” Trump said after pausing a moment to answer the question posed by reporters in the Oval Office for a Medal of Freedom ceremony.” https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/03/politics/trump-william-barr-attorney-general/index.html
“President Trump remained livid at Attorney General William P. Barr on Wednesday, with one senior administration official indicating there was a chance Barr could be fired — not just for his public comments undercutting Trump’s unfounded claims of election-shifting fraud, but also for steps he did not take on a probe of the FBI’s 2016 investigation into Trump’s campaign.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-barr-election-fraud/2020/12/02/5717626c-34e2-11eb-a997-1f4c53d2a747_story.html
Warms the cockles of my heart it does, eh?
“I don’t care if you don’t want me…I’m yours!”
Secret William Barr memo saying not to charge Trump must be released, judge says https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/04/politics/william-barr-memo-trump-memo/index.html
The Mueller probe thoroughly investigated several episodes where Trump tried to impede or end the inquiry into his campaign’s ties to Russia. But the special counsel left the indictment decision to Barr and his top political appointees. Mueller partly found that Justice Department policy blocked the prosecution of a sitting President. After closing his office, Mueller later told to Congress that an ex-President could be prosecuted for obstruction, yet Barr had already reached a definitive conclusion in Trump’s case.
See also “Mueller had everything he needed to charge Trump with obstruction, but didn’t” (April 18, 2019) https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/18/politics/obstruction-charge-trump-mueller
Another federal judge previously slammed Barr in another public records case following the Mueller investigation, saying the attorney general had a “lack of candor” that was helpful to Trump politically when the then-attorney general told Congress and announced to the public what Mueller had found, without releasing Mueller’s nearly 500-page report. https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/05/politics/judge-mueller-report-barr/index.html
Why are we seeming to still protect Trump by protecting the strange doings that enveloped Justice Department decision-making? https://www.dcreport.org/2021/05/27/biden-justice-department-some-topsy-turvy-reasoning/
“…Neal Katyal, the former solicitor general, argues in a New York Times essay that it is to protect Justice Department protocols, ignoring the wider Trump issues here, an argument with which he disagrees.
But the best answer would seem to be that if Justice were to do so, it would set up a chance to revisit the decision not to prosecute. And that would force Garland, Justice and the White House to decide that they indeed could, and should prosecute Trump today on obstruction of justice charges that Barr had thrown aside.
And that would cause political chaos, of course, or a repeat on a larger stage of the Jan. 6 insurrection attack on the U.S. Capitol.” https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/26/opinion/trump-barr-obstruction-justice-doj.html
“Trump raised firing Barr in White House meeting on Friday” https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/12/politics/william-barr-donald-trump-white-house-meeting/index.html
“Bill Barr says Trump is a ‘deposed king ranting’ after president ‘raised prospect of firing him’” https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/bill-barr-trump-election-biden-b1772174.html
Mr Barr has angered Trump supporters, and the president himself, for failing to overturn the election. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/bill-barr-attorney-general-us-election-fraud-b1767032.html
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 3:39 PM · Dec 14, 2020
“Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House. Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job! As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family…
[continues] ……Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, an outstanding person, will become Acting Attorney General. Highly respected Richard Donoghue will be taking over the duties of Deputy Attorney General. Thank you to all!”
Barr’s letter of resignation (click to enlarge) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EpO2zCBXYAIp9u1?format=jpg and https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EpO2zCHW4AYrwj7?format=jpg
“William Barr’s exit is bad news for Trump’s hopes of an 11th-hour pardoning spree” https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/15/william-barr-exit-bad-news-donald-trump-post-presidency-pardons
“Attorney General Barr says special counsel not needed for Hunter Biden investigation, undercutting Trump” https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/21/attorney-general-barr-wont-name-special-counsel-for-hunter-biden-probe.html
“It’s likely upcoming Trump pardons, executive orders drove AG Barr to quit” https://bangordailynews.com/2020/12/20/opinion/contributors/its-likely-upcoming-trump-pardons-executive-orders-drove-ag-barr-to-quit/?
“Bill Barr Quit. What Finally Spooked Him? The attorney general’s sudden departure raises alarms about what Trump might do next.” https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-12-15/william-barr-has-resigned-what-finally-spooked-him
An examination of Judge Jackson’s ruling re: the March 24, 2019 Memo on prosecuting Trump for obstruction appears to contain evidence of former United States Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein having played a particularly ugly role in the conspiracy to obstruct justice in order to protect Trump. https://twitter.com/DirkSchwenk/status/1389958502907535360
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson MEMORANDUM OPINION Filed 05/03/21 https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.207679/gov.uscourts.dcd.207679.27.0_1.pdf
Former Attorney General William Barr on Friday distanced himself from reports that the Trump Justice Department seized communications records belonging to two prominent Democratic lawmakers who were spearheading investigations into then-President Donald Trump.
In a phone interview, Barr said he didn’t recall getting briefed on the moves. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/11/barr-distances-democratic-subpoenas-493491
Opinion: Bill Barr’s despicable conduct is now on full display https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/11/opinions/bill-barr-despicable-conduct-honig/index.html
On May 1, 2019, Attorney General William P. Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. [TRANSCRIPT: 5/1/19, The 11th Hour w/ Brian Williams] https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/msna1225886
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, (D) CALIFORNIA JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Has the President or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone?
ATTORNEY GENERAL BILL BARR: I wouldn’t — I wouldn’t —
HARRIS: Yes or no?
BARR: Could you repeat the question?
HARRIS: I will repeat it. Has the President or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone? Yes or no, please, sir.
BARR: The President or anybody else?
HARRIS: Seems you’d remember something like that and be able to tell us.
BARR: Yes, but I’m trying to grapple with the word, “suggest.” I mean, there have been discussions of matters out there that they’ve not asked me to open an investigation, but —
HARRIS: Perhaps they’ve suggested?
BARR: I don’t know. I wouldn’t say suggest.
HARRIS: Hinted?
BARR: I don’t know.
HARRIS: inferred? You don’t know? Ok….
Former Attorney General Bill Barr said the Justice Department always knew Trump’s claims of election fraud were “bullsh*t,” according to an excerpt from journalist Jonathan Karl’s upcoming book published in the The Atlantic.
Why it matters: Barr’s new comments come as Trump continues to propagate the lie that the 2020 election was “rigged.” Republicans in swing states now are conducting “audits” of election ballots based on false conspiracies about the election. https://www.axios.com/bill-barr-trump-election-8f6e5b4a-906f-4fb2-a20e-60d8f1e54b7b.html
“Inside William Barr’s Breakup With Trump : In the final months of the administration, the doggedly loyal attorney general finally had enough.” By Jonathan D. Karl, The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/06/william-barrs-trump-administration-attorney-general/619298/
7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 28th