AG Barr is part of the whistleblower complaint, but he did not recuse himself from DOJ's work on it.
The whistleblower says that Barr "appears to be involved as well."
— Sam Vinograd (@sam_vinograd) September 26, 2019
Not quite fast enough this time, I’m hoping! He was invaluable when it came to covering up Iran-Contra, and he did yeoman service during the Great Clenis Hunt, but he was younger then. And “we” were more naive about just how irretrievably corrupt the GOP had become…
Rep. Schiff says AG Barr is "implicated" in the whistleblower complaint and that Barr is not acting as the chief legal official in the country but as essentially President Trump's personal lawyer and legal fixer.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) September 26, 2019
"Barr’s ethical nihilism, his utter indifference to ordinary norms of professional behavior, means that he’s retaining the authority to stop investigations into crimes he may have participated in," writes @michelleinbklyn https://t.co/kh7aCt16Ih
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) September 27, 2019
Nah. Bill Barr has some resigning to do. https://t.co/zISiYg35cM
— Molly Knight (@molly_knight) September 27, 2019
cc: William Barr https://t.co/Ox2HrypUce
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) September 26, 2019
Here's John Mitchell's mug shot. I can't wait to see William Barr's. pic.twitter.com/RU03T1wuk5
— Invisible Stealth Resister (@JTMontgomery8) September 27, 2019
I would say “we should give the Iran Contra fixer guy who got the position by writing an authoritarian mash note to the president the benefit of the doubt” takes have aged badly except that they were fully rotten at the time https://t.co/hzA1saSoLt
— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) September 27, 2019
Cohen: [used, repudiated, sent to federal prison]Giuliani: [used, turned from a once-hero to a babbling laughingstock]
Barr: Mmmmmm yeah, got to get me some of that
— IAMTHEHEROHat (@Popehat) September 26, 2019
Bill Barr is the Roy Cohn of John Mitchells https://t.co/U6HO9rEKAV
— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) September 25, 2019
I mark it as a tiny, tiny positive step that he had to publish this shit at Fox News, while is tribute to the unimpeachable integrity of Bill Barr appeared in the august pages of the New York Times https://t.co/sM9Hjbfn9r
— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) September 26, 2019
also the revelation of a secret storehouse of all of the president’s problematic phone calls is kind of perfect pic.twitter.com/CWZXb2s1bX
— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) September 26, 2019
lamh36
Mary G
LOCK HIM UP!
lamh36
Wag
If Barr is indicted for his role in this nonsense , can we then open inquiries into his past malfeasance as well? I know the statute of limitations has long since passed on his past crimes, but can we use them to get him a harsher sentence this time around ?
lamh36
First paper out w/headline about Chump resigning
Kay
Imagine being that whistleblower. Nine pages and the floodgates open.
I hope Barr goes to prison. He’s much worse than Giuliani. At least Giuliani admits he’s Trump’s lawyer.
Mai naem mobile
Barr is in Italy. I am guessing Italy has an extradition treaty. Ivanka and Jared were also in Italy very recently. Steve Bannon is also apparently in Italy, Maybe they’re making a deal with the Vatican over limiting financial liability in the sex abuse stuff in exchange for asylum for the whole Famiglia Trumpov?
Kay
@lamh36:
It’s about time.
SFAW
It will be a good Infrastructure Day/Week/Month/Quarter if Shill Barr resigns in disgrace, to be followed by numerous indictments.
Would it be petty of me to hope that Barr be placed in stocks, primarily so that people can piss on him? That evil fuck.
Jeffro
I know it’s only been 4-5 days or so (ok a week or two since first hints of whistleblower complaint started surfacing) but jesus it feels like forever. Can we just call the House vote next Friday and the Senate vote the following Monday? I want Psycho Boy out of the WH and I wanna see Barr do a perp-waddle very. badly.
John Revolta
Starr is literally babbling. Maybe he’s in on it too! A guy can hope!
Well it’s not a secret recording system in the Oval Office but it def gots potential……………………..
Jeffro
@Kay:
Well, they say ‘less is more’…
Never doubt the power of a well-done short story ;)
SFAW
@Kay:
Spot on, as usual.
Mai naem mobile
@lamh36: whatever happened to the investigation into the NY Trumpland FBI branch?
Yarrow
@Mai naem mobile: Steve Bannon was in Italy but they revoked his permit for using the monastery for his right wing Nazi training school. Bannon was in NYC a day ago at a dinner party that included Bill Gates and Epstein’s butler. Also, the FTC tried to serve him a subpoena a day or so before that.
As for the others in Italy, there’s a significant relationship between Italy’s right wing and Russia. So…
Yarrow
@Jeffro: I’m on the opposite side. I want it dragged out. Force those guys to testify. Get them to lie to Congress, then leak some more dirt that proves they lie. Do that over and over and show just how deep the corruption goes.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
It feels like the dam is breaking. I guess it most likely shouldn’t surprise me, since it seems to happen this way rather often, but, damn, this is happening fast. I think that as important as the ugly shit that’s oozing out is, the shattering of this misplaced picture so many people ahd of Donald Trump as some kind of political genius is at least as important.
I get the feeling that two things are happening: Those within Trump’s orbit are beginning to ask themselves just how badly they’d like to go to jail for this guy, and those outside his orbit are beginning to see that it might before long be worth more to turn on him than it is to stick with him.
Once people in Congress begin peeling away, I think things are going to happen mighty fast. I wouldn’t be at all shocked if we don’t even get to impeachment. It’s going to take a month and a half to two months before there’s a vote in the House. I kind of expect senators are going to begin falling away. And when that happens, if he has any fucking brains at all, he’s going to just bail. I could easily see him not even resigning, just flying off somewhere and hiding.
Cheryl Rofer
@Mai naem mobile: Or it’s a good place to meet with representatives from another country.
Cheryl Rofer
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): The game theory folks point out that the premium spots for leakers are the early spots. Being the last to leave the sinking ship carries no distinction.
Jeffro
@Yarrow: I hear you…I guess I want trumpov out as soon as possible, AND for all the other investigations to continue until every last root of evil is ripped out (publicly)?
I know, I know…can I have a pony too? ;)
Yarrow
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
It’s not really possible. As President he can’t just decide to fly somewhere and stay there. The pilots and crew of Air Force One work for the United States, not Trump. They won’t just fly him to Russia and let him off the plane to defect. Not going to happen. He’s more trapped than he can imagine.
Kay
@Jeffro:
It IS powerfully written. I read it last night. The plain language is shocking. You get so used to everyone hedging and qualifying it’s a relief to read something so straightforward.
If Barr has a scrap of integrity left he should resign, but he doesn’t, so he won’t.
I don’t think any of them will. They’re going to have to be dragged out of there. They are all Donald Trump now.
JGabriel
@lamh36: Link from Will to Connecticut Post (Or Twitter? Not sure where it was supposed to go) didn’t work for me, so I’m reposting a direct link to the Post’s editorial – in case anyone else runs into the same problem I did:
Editorial: President Trump needs to step down
(PS – Not blaming your link, could easily be one of my browser extensions causing the problem.)
Jeffro
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): I think you’re right in a way – it’s more likely that he just ups and runs than resigns.
But I think each of those possibilities is pretty minimal. He seems to think he can do the ‘scorched earth’ thing, but the cracks are indeed showing. What will he offer Nancy on the day that the impeachment votes are being counted? What threats will he issue against GOP Senators as the ‘guilty/convict/remove’ numbers start piling up? Will it all come out in a special, 42,368-character Twitter rant?
I still see him at that police interrogation table, trying to save his last (only?) million and the adoration of his blessed Ivanka by spilling EVERYTHING he knows…oh what a day…
Yarrow
@Jeffro: He’s a narcissist. He will throw everyone under the bus, including Ivanka, to save himself. He has never had to face the consequences of his actions. That time is over. He will pay now. He doesn’t have any idea how to deal with that because he’s never had to.
jl
@Yarrow: ” The pilots and crew of Air Force One work for the United States, not Trump. They won’t just fly him to Russia and let him off the plane to defect. ”
Oh dear. Wait until poor Mr. Trump finds out. I can imagine of a sad video of Trump waddling off Air Force One and over to Marine One to see if they’ll take him some place.
psycholinguist
Trump becomes more and more the obvious stooge and lackey to Putin with each revelation. I want to see a Democratic candidate seize that and make very clear that Russia and Putin will have a bullseye on its back from day one. Treat Trump for what he is, the useful idiot in an attack on the US by a hostile power.
Yarrow
@jl: And it’ll be, “No, Mr. President. We can’t take you to X. We haven’t done advance security work and it’s not safe.” And then they won’t. They’d probably fly him to Mar-a-Lago or Bedminster or some other property of his in the US. You know, some place that’s easily accessible by federal agents.
cain
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
It’s a stupid calculus because Trump is completely unpredictable. This entire thing being exposed was entirely his doing. There is no telling what he will do next. He’s not disciplined, he’s not on message, he’s just chaos. So either they have some weird ass loyalty to him, the money is still really good, or Russia has them by the balls.
cain
@Yarrow:
Can you imagine our entire nation’s shame if he managed a way to defect? Never mind the Republican party would be in utter shambles as well, and there will truly be a witch hunt at that point going after everyone who is remotely connected. I’m sure it would trigger a number of other folks to leave as well.
RobMassing
Problem here is not that he’s moving the goalposts, but that he can’t move them far enough.
Sister Golden Bear
@JGabriel: Link fixed: https://twitter.com/Will_Bunch/status/1177761115423625218
jl
@Kay: ” the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election. This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President’s main domestic political rivals. ”
Note: My emphasis.
I wonder what the ‘among other things’ refers to. I wonder if the WB was fairly recent to the WH and saw this unfolding and felt had to be reported. Or, they were there a long time and this was the first thing that was a slum dunk smoking gun that meant had to go with the WB report asap.
People were wondering how much of the WB was related to the Biden smear attempt with Zelensky. Looks like now some of the more explosive, and still classified was not. But it all apparently had to do with soliciting foreign aid for the election. And we don’t know the big promise yet either, do we?
pattonbt
Barr will never resign or go quietly. He is devoid of a soul. So I hope it goes down painfully for him for his past, present and, surely, future sins and treason
Another Scott
@cain: Google Maps tells me it’s a short 6.1 mile trip from the US Capitol to the Russian Embassy. 18 minutes by car. (5.1 miles via Mass Ave., but slower.)
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
jl
@Yarrow: But the Marines always dress like central casting soldiers and always saluted and called him Sir.
psycholinguist
interesting: the Saudi conversations were selected for the secure compartment and participants were limited,prior to the conversation taking place. That must have been the big ask for Jared.
Yarrow
@jl: Big burly men and crying, as well?
Gvg
Barr can’t recuse himself. Trump would go ballistic and fire him, even though that would get trump into instant bigger trouble. He hated Sessions recusing himself and got madder as time went on.
I was worrying about someone killing the whistle blower yesterday. If Trump were rational, he would never have said that, because I think it would cause nearly instant impeachment.
kindness
Sure we’d like to see Barr among many of this Administration in a perp walk on the evening news but it ain’t gonna happen. He won’t resign and no one currently in the Justice Dept will challenge him or Trump. We won’t be free till 1/21/21. Hold on. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.
Yarrow
@psycholinguist: It’s going to be terrible for Jared. He may be surprised by how far under the bus Donald is happy to push him.
Mai naem mobile
@Yarrow: I thought maybe he would be going for tips and training from La Cosanostra on being a snitch in the Mafia. Guess not.
phdesmond
@JGabriel: yours worked for me. thanks!
Mai naem mobile
@Yarrow: at least he has his dad who can give him tips on surviving in prison from personal experience. I’m just being a helper here looking for silver linings in a crappy situation for Prince In Waiting Jared. Hopefully Ivanka won’t divorce him while she is doing her time in the womens penitentiary. Maybe Ivanka can design some haute couture prison fashions while she is doing time.
Yarrow
@Mai naem mobile: Really good of you to be looking out for them like that. So thoughtful.
I don’t think they have any idea what’s coming for them. They’re used to business corruption. Treasonous corruption on this level is something they don’t understand and certainly haven’t considered in terms of its consequences for them.
JGabriel
@phdesmond: Yr. Welcome! Glad it helped someone.
sukabi
@lamh36: fixed the link
https://twitter.com/Will_Bunch/status/1177761115423625218?s=20
The Palm Beach paper’s is all in on the impeachment inquiry.
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/20190927/editorial-impeachment-inquiry-is-fully-warranted
sukabi
@Jeffro: this is moving at warp speed compared to Watergate. Patience.
Yarrow
Heh. No surprise here.
Sebastian
@Yarrow:
That shitstain has the nuclear codes.
MisterForkbeard
@Yarrow: So basically, just like every other Friday.
Yarrow
@MisterForkbeard: Yeah, except I think he knows he’s in trouble. He’ll be most dangerous when he’s cornered.
Ruckus
@cain:
How many of the active people in his orbit actually have anywhere else to go? Especially now. Most of them are at the end of whatever careers they may have had and they are not likely to find anywhere else to go. Even faux news has reports about them. Sure their go to boys and girls are still singing the praises of the shitgibbon but the damn has burst or is at least leaking badly. When the fan really gets going this is not going to be pretty for anyone who hasn’t already jumped out the window.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
To paraphrase the Algonquin Round Table (Mrs Parker?) response to the death of Coolidge: How will they tell?
Kent
@Ruckus: Hope Hicks jumping to the high priced Hollywood job was the smart one.
Ruckus
@Kent:
She may be less exposed than the people still there but everyone brought in by trump since he started running for office should be at the very least scrutinized – given the once over. Maybe she got out early but she still knowingly told lies for his dumb ass and admitted as much.
And she went to work for him in the first place, that doesn’t make her very smart.
Amir Khalid
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Ah, the Beeblebrox manoeuvre.
Ruckus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Don’t know specifically how they could tell but I’d still bet it would be obvious to anyone that has been around him for any length of time. None of this is going to be pretty. There really isn’t anyone there that can or will be able to do much other than body block him if he gets too far out of line. The office really doesn’t allow anyone to stop him from doing pretty much anything. They can stop him from continuing to hurt people or himself but a first attack would be impossible. If he orders a military exercise, the military might consider it an unlawful order. That’s about the extent of it. He could actually shoot someone on 5th Ave and until the gunshot who can stop him, all he has to do is grab a gun. Now being the chickenshit that he is, that probably won’t happen. But there are a lot of ways he could do harm, unless someone just doesn’t do whatever.
Bonnie
Russia is more dangerous to the United States now than it ever was as a Communist country.
Chief Oshkosh
@lamh36:
McMaster, and who else would be in that position of knowing and lying? Surely others. They need to be subpoenaed, and if unwilling to testify, indicted and prosecuted.
MisterForkbeard
@Chief Oshkosh: I think you can make a case (and McMaster may have) that Trump was just telling the Russians what they wanted to hear: “I don’t think you did anything in the 2016 elections”. Trump had already said similar things publicly.
smike
@Chief Oshkosh:
That’s the ticket right there.
RedDirtGirl
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): “As far as I’m concerned, I’m not even president any more”.