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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Breaking: Bill ‘Ever Lower’ Barr Was All In With TFG’s Obstruction of Justice

Breaking: Bill ‘Ever Lower’ Barr Was All In With TFG’s Obstruction of Justice

by Anne Laurie|  August 24, 20228:50 pm| 38 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Republican Crime Syndicate, Republican Venality

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BREAKING: Nicolle and I cover the just-released Barr DOJ memo on how to whitewash the then non-public Mueller report. Memo says our report can be read to say Trump committed obstruction.
Memo ignores facts, misrepresents facts, and gets law wrong. A DOJ low point- shame on them. https://t.co/jNmSpzqFeU

— Andrew Weissmann (@AWeissmann_) August 24, 2022

BREAKING: We just got the secret memo Barr used to undercut the Mueller Report and not charge Donald Trump. It significantly twists the facts and the law to benefit Trump. It is clear why Barr did not want the public to see it.

Read it here: https://t.co/gFO1rQuDlr

— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) August 24, 2022

Smart Nicolle Wallace point: if the Mueller Report was so weak, and not implicating Trump, why did Barr/Engel/O'Callahan need to concoct a tortured memo absolving him? Answer: they knew, when made public, the Report would inculpate Trump in obstruction.

— Andrew Weissmann (@AWeissmann_) August 24, 2022

"“Not only was the Attorney General being disingenuous then, but DOJ has been disingenuous to this Court with respect to the existence of a decision-making process that should be shielded by the deliberative process privilege,” she wrote." https://t.co/KEbUpD1eQ2

— hana martin (@nitramanah) August 24, 2022

Some of this analysis has now been incorporated into this conventional news story: https://t.co/3HnPxEXtkd

— Charlie Savage (@charlie_savage) August 24, 2022

The Barr Memo Relied on Covering Up the Ongoing Roger Stone Conspiracy Investigationhttps://t.co/So1IDaRl6W

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) August 24, 2022

In the summer of 2020, when he believed Trump would lose (per a recent interview), investigations into Erik Prince, 2 investigations into Manafort, the investigation into the Egyptian bribe, and at least one investigation into Stone were killed.

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) August 24, 2022

⚖ Kamala Harris caught Barr & Rosenstein red-handed pic.twitter.com/71G7I0sP9w

— 🌻 Justice Matters ⚖🌟🇺🇸 (@ChrisJustice01) August 24, 2022

I apologize that I cannot contain my disgust with which the DOJ press corps protected Bill Barr from criticism. But holy shit did that man roll a whole bunch of people playing journalists on the TV.

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) August 24, 2022

As attorney general, William Barr was always a loyal enabler https://t.co/VIO8KBrGat pic.twitter.com/mJYHZvPwqB

— Ann Telnaes (@AnnTelnaes) August 25, 2022

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Reader Interactions

38Comments

  1. 1.

    Spanky

    August 24, 2022 at 8:57 pm

    I know we’re all shocked by this shocking news.

    Is it too much to ask if Barr can go to jail for this  or whatever this leads to? I’m thinking not.

  2. 2.

    japa21

    August 24, 2022 at 8:59 pm

    There are times when I read a “breaking story” and go “Well, DUH!”  Like, man, who didn’t know this?

  3. 3.

    Spanky

    August 24, 2022 at 9:00 pm

    Also re emptywheel’s statement about Barr “rolling” journalists:

    No one was fooled. They all fell obediently into line, just like their paymasters wanted.

  4. 4.

    RepubAnon

    August 24, 2022 at 9:01 pm

    One wonders whether “accessory after the fact to obstruction of justice” could get Bill Barr dis-barred…

  5. 5.

    lowtechcyclist

    August 24, 2022 at 9:04 pm

    Lock them up.  (After indictment, trial, and conviction, of course.)

    ‘Them’ who? Sounds like there’s plenty of obstruction of justice to go around. Certainly Trump and Barr, for starters.

    AG Garland’s going to have to hire a bunch more staff.

  6. 6.

    Dan B

    August 24, 2022 at 9:05 pm

    @Spanky: I await what attorney Jackals have to say.  Since this testimony is two years old it is not “News”.  But it grounds the newly public memo in a trail of deception and failure to follow the oath of office.

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    August 24, 2022 at 9:05 pm

    Russia interfering in the 2016 election would be huge.  Is it still possible to investigate and prosecute?

  8. 8.

    HumboldtBlue

    August 24, 2022 at 9:06 pm

    At this point, I think it’s fair to say the Trump administration was not only the most criminal regime this nation has endured, it was also a regime used by foreign actors to negatively impact our country. Trump is the greatest traitor we have ever seen.

    Oh, and DougJ is hitting balls clean out of the park.

    From the archives | But if President Lincoln were to free the slaves—a preposterous idea—how would that be fair to slaves who risked life and limb to escape or who actually bought their emancipation the old-fashioned way: through hard work?

    The Editorial Board, 1863

  9. 9.

    Dan B

    August 24, 2022 at 9:06 pm

    @lowtechcyclist: Do we have to organize a bake sale to fund part of an attorney for the DOJ?

  10. 10.

    Alison Rose 💙🌻💛

    August 24, 2022 at 9:08 pm

    @Spanky: I’m shocked, shocked, to find…

  11. 11.

    Scout211

    August 24, 2022 at 9:19 pm

    Marcy Wheeler putting into context all the investigations that the DOJ had to drop to be able to continue to protect Trump is beyond appalling.

    It brings to mind the video of Barr being interviewed by the J6 committee and his arrogance throughout that interview.  So NOW you are against crime, former AG Barr? Disgusting.

  12. 12.

    Chief Oshkosh

    August 24, 2022 at 9:19 pm

    Bill Barr is just the fixer and mouthpiece. Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society are the actual evil society, right out of central casting. And it’s all happening right now.

  13. 13.

    ian

    August 24, 2022 at 9:21 pm

    O/T great ruling out of Virginia in 4th circuit regarding gender affirming care

  14. 14.

    Gravenstone

    August 24, 2022 at 9:26 pm

    A reminder that Barr directed the strategic pardons that shielded Bush the elder from the Iran Contra fallout. He’s always been a toady whose professional and personal goal has been furthering Republican power. And sometimes that means quashing threats to that power, even if self inflicted by the idiots having to be protected.

  15. 15.

    patrick II

    August 24, 2022 at 9:27 pm

    I guess people could defend Garland for refusing to publish the memo before being ordered to by a court in the name of institutional integrity.  But I’m not.

  16. 16.

    Scout211

    August 24, 2022 at 9:33 pm

    @ian: yes, wonderful.

    I think it was last week, though. There was a discussion here on it I believe.

  17. 17.

    Poe Larity

    August 24, 2022 at 9:33 pm

    BCCI and Iran-Contra lackey is lackey.

  18. 18.

    Another Scott

    August 24, 2022 at 9:40 pm

    We have known this, even if we didn’t know the particulars.  Barr was hired to protect TFG and that’s what he did.  His obsequious 20 page letter to the DOJ effectively applying for the AG job and trashing Mueller’s investigation is proof of that.

    That clip with MVP is great.  Kamala had his number, but the DC press corpse didn’t care.

    In an ideal world, Barr would be serving time with the rest of them for obstruction, lying to Congress, and all the rest.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  19. 19.

    eclare

    August 24, 2022 at 9:45 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:   Oh my, that is good.  I graduated from college several decades ago with around 10k of debt.  I think helping kids get a start in life financially is a positive thing.

  20. 20.

    Danielx

    August 24, 2022 at 9:54 pm

    Fuck that guy.

    Which, I repeat, should be a rotating tag line.

  21. 21.

    James E Powell

    August 24, 2022 at 9:56 pm

    @eclare:

    I’m similar. My law school debt was $15K. I did not need to borrow money to pay for my undergraduate degree at the publicly funded state university now know as The Ohio State University. We really need to return to that world.

  22. 22.

    p.a.

    August 24, 2022 at 10:02 pm

    Will this even cause a stutter in the Bill Barr rehab tour?  A ding in his book sales/deal?  Downturn in cocktail party invites?

    Let’s at least hope he’ll get some shit on his restaurant jaunts.

    Fucker

  23. 23.

    Barbara

    August 24, 2022 at 10:03 pm

    @eclare: Yes, the utilitarian or perhaps cynical view is that erasing student debt will free now-working adults to assume other kinds of socially approved debts, like for cars and houses.  In other words, there will be quite a few beneficiaries in addition to the debt holders themselves.  This is the theory behind U.S. bankruptcy laws, which are quite a bit more redemptive than what are found in other countries.  You should be free to shed unproductive debt under certain circumstances.  Which is also why holding student loans to an infinitely harsher standard of non-forgiveness is so wrong.​

  24. 24.

    Ken

    August 24, 2022 at 10:09 pm

    @Spanky: Is it too much to ask if Barr can go to jail for this  or whatever this leads to?

    Maybe, but I think a strict reading of this memo, together with Barr’s other output, indicates that the President can have Barr imprisoned at an undisclosed location, block any attempt to investigate his fate, and be completely immune to any investigation or prosecution for his actions.

  25. 25.

    Suzanne

    August 24, 2022 at 10:11 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Trump is the greatest traitor we have ever seen. 

    TRUFACTS.
    His legions of sycophants are almost as bad, and they deserve to be rejected from society.

  26. 26.

    Urza

    August 24, 2022 at 10:16 pm

    https://www.nytimes.com/1863/01/03/archives/the-presidents-proclamation.html
    This was linked on a reply in DougJ’s Twitter.  It really doesn’t ever change does it.  Ending slavery was only ok with the editors of the time as a military action to deprive the enemy of resources.  Nothing else was a legitimate reason to them.

  27. 27.

    StringOnAStick

    August 24, 2022 at 10:22 pm

    @patrick II:  I think Garland played this the way he did so that the court ruling would force the release; if he’d done it without it then the screaming that he released it for political reasons would have been good for several news cycles.  Note that he could have asked for an appeal of the decision forcing the release, and he directed the DOJ to not appeal.  Now the focus is on the report, not on Garland playing politics by releasing it on his own, because you know the Villagers would have all spent hours on their fainting couches if he had.  The timing is great too, coming right on the heels of the classified documents issue hitting the news.

  28. 28.

    Captain C

    August 24, 2022 at 10:29 pm

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    Bill Barr is just the fixer and mouthpiece.

    @Gravenstone:

    A reminder that Barr directed the strategic pardons that shielded Bush the elder from the Iran Contra fallout. He’s always been a toady whose professional and personal goal has been furthering Republican power.

    Barr is a coverup artist in the service of the Republican Party and its funders and controllers, and always has been.

  29. 29.

    eclare

    August 24, 2022 at 10:32 pm

    @James E Powell:   For my first two years of college, I went to a private college.  Most of the debt was from that.  I transferred my junior year to the University of Tennessee.  I don’t remember what my tuition was, but my family could afford it, so it couldn’t have been much.

  30. 30.

    patrick II

    August 24, 2022 at 10:41 pm

    @StringOnAStick:

    Excellent points.  I suppose after a year and a half I am just awfully tired of Barr joining with Comey’s self-righteous “man of principle” smugness.

  31. 31.

    prostratedragon

    August 24, 2022 at 10:41 pm

    @patrick II:  With all the ducks to be lined up, he might have had more practical reasons to use the delay, including wanting something that defused the charge of acting politically.  The weakness of caterwauling this last week suggests that that’s happened.

    I don’t think we yet know how big is this whale we’re standing on.

  32. 32.

    catclub

    August 24, 2022 at 10:42 pm

    @patrick II: ​
    &nbsp

    ;I guess people could defend Garland for refusing to publish the memo before being ordered to by a court in the name of institutional integrity. But I’m not.

    Does this mean that the Mueller report has still never been released in complete form? And this release of the memo is just a sub-case of the release of the Mueller report?

  33. 33.

    prostratedragon

    August 24, 2022 at 10:48 pm

    @Captain C:  Didn’t he possibly inherit that function from his father?

  34. 34.

    jonas

    August 24, 2022 at 10:52 pm

    @japa21: ​
      To be honest, most Americans. As Marcy Wheeler points out, this was one of the most egregious derelictions of duty by the DC press corps during the Trump years. Harris had him dead to rights with her question about whether they had actually evaluated any of the underlying evidence Mueller had assembled. No, they just said it was no biggie and left it at that and the press reported it as such. The vast majority of Americans think the whole thing was a big nothingburger. Mission accomplished.

  35. 35.

    jonas

    August 24, 2022 at 10:59 pm

    @catclub: ​
      I don’t believe a fully unredacted version of the Mueller report has been released, and probably won’t be for a long time. Trump tweeted a bunch of times that he had “declassified” everything about it but, of course, as he’s learning now, that’s not how it works.

  36. 36.

    BruceFromOhio

    August 24, 2022 at 11:41 pm

    I apologize that I cannot contain my disgust with which the DOJ press corps protected Bill Barr from criticism. But holy shit did that man roll a whole bunch of people playing journalists on the TV.

    I do not apologize. My disgust is open to all. ‘playing journalists’ seems to be a source of many problems as well.

  37. 37.

    Jim Appleton

    August 25, 2022 at 12:02 am

    @prostratedragon:

    I don’t think we yet know how big is this whale we’re standing on.

    OK, I’ll join the endless parade of, “this should be a rotating tagline.”  (TSBART?)

  38. 38.

    Paul in KY

    August 25, 2022 at 8:50 am

    @Ken: I agree! Hopefully, Pres. Biden will heed our legal opinions :-)

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