Bill Barr, the most blatantly partisan attorney general since Nixon’s faithful servant, John Mitchell of Watergate infamy, got the reward that eventually befalls all slavishly loyal Trump sycophants: He lost his job. His reputation, too, and deservedly so. Before becoming Trump’s menial boot polisher, Barr stuck his nose into Iran-Contra and other Republican scandals (read about his sordid career here).
Here’s a partial tally of Barr’s recent offenses against truth, decency, democracy, and rule of law:
- Lied in his confirmation hearings
- Turned the Justice Department into Trump’s personal law; wanted DoJ to defend Trump from a sexual assault claim arguing that behavior was within Trump’s “official duties”
- Belittled career prosecutors as “children at a Montessori school” while doing the bidding of a corrupt president with less than a child’s understanding of government
- Sandbagged prosecutions of Trump allies (e.g., Roger Stone and Michael Flynn)
- Falsely claimed a U.S. Attorney fired for investigating Trump associates “voluntarily resigned”
- Withheld the Mueller report and lied about its contents
- Tried to conceal the Ukraine whistleblower’s complaint
- Made “wildly exaggerated claims to the media and to Congress about the potential for voter fraud” in runup to election as part of GOP’s vote suppression efforts
- Blamed riots on “antifa” while refusing to acknowledge violent rightwing extremism
- Authorized violent police assault on peaceful protesters to clear street for Trump’s Bible photo-op
Barr will be remembered as a hack and one of the worst attorney generals. (There’s a silver lining for him, though: He won’t have to defend his reputation, because he won’t have one left to lose.) Read story here. It’s tempting to say “good riddance,” but we’re warned to be careful of what we wish for. Read that opinion here.
Photo: Pour salt on it and it shrivels and dies
Hope Barr took good notes(as most attorneys do) and has a tell-all book ready to publish.
Barr can go on the news shows and disavow trump while he promotes the insider’s view of the trumpian white house shenanigans that would also land on the best seller’s list.