The Republican Utopia

[Moiraine]

I’m concerned what an acting A.G. would do that Barr isn’t willing to. 

[Archy1221]

Why so much hatred for Barr.  He has been a fine AG.  Much much better than Obama’s “wingman” 

[knapplc]

Barr has been a terrible AG to anyone not immersed in the cult. 

 

Here's just his first two months in office:

 

• MARCH 5, 2019

  Barr Orders Antitrust Investigations of Cannabis Industry Despite Career Officials’ Advice

  Type of Misconduct: Interfering with Impartial Prosecutions; Prioritizing Politics over Justice

   

  The recently confirmed attorney general meets with the leadership of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division to discuss mergers within the cannabis industry. Barr rejects career staff’s arguments that the merger did not raise significant antitrust issues, and ordered additional investigative activity. For the next several months, at Barr’s direction, the Antitrust Division continues investigating cannabis companies.

   

   

  Flash forward: In testimony provided the following year, career Justice Department employee and whistleblower John Elias will explain, “The rationale for doing so centered not on an antitrust analysis, but because he did not like the nature of their underlying business.” According to Elias, “career staff was not permitted to take customary fact-finding steps. For example, staff was instructed not to conduct interviews of customers or competitors—a necessary step in any bona fide antitrust investigation.”

• MARCH 24, 2019

  Barr Mischaracterizes the Mueller Report’s Findings

  

   

  Type of Misconduct: Undermining the Special Counsel; Prioritizing Politics over Justice

   

  Barr announces he has received the special counsel’s report on Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election and on the Trump administration’s efforts to inhibit investigations of Russian interference. In a publicly released, four-page letter, Barr offers what he describes as “the principal conclusions” of the 400-page report.

   

  Flash forward: Weeks will pass before Mueller’s full report is publicly released as it undergoes declassification review. Barr’s letter will be revealed not only to have omitted basic context and detail, but to have used quotes in a manner that contradicts their real meaning in the report. Thus Barr’s letter sows significant confusion about the special counsel’s findings and conclusions, and effectively undermines a basic goal of the independent investigation: increasing public knowledge about Russian interference and Trump’s response to it.

• MARCH 27, 2019

  Mueller Expresses Concerns over Barr’s Characterization, and Requests Release of Report’s Executive Summary

  

   

  Type of Misconduct: Undermining the Special Counsel

   

  Mueller sends a letter to Barr—which was not released publicly until April 30, 2019—stating that Barr’s publicly released summary letter “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of [the special counsel’s] work and conclusions.” Mueller writes that Barr’s statements had created “public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation.” Mueller also requests that the introduction and executive summary of the report be released, and notes that his office provided them to Barr with redactions that would preclude the need to delay their release due to any classification concerns. Although Mueller writes that the release of the executive summary his office included with the report would “alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen,” the attorney general takes no action in response, allowing confusion and error regarding the special counsel’s conclusions to persist.

• APRIL 1, 2019

  Trump Tells Turkish President that Barr and Mnuchin Will Resolve the Halkbank Prosecution

  

   

  According to sources cited in a Bloomberg article, Trump tells the president of Turkey that he has assigned Barr and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to resolve the prosecution of Turkish state-owned bank Halkbank. That prosecution was under the jurisdiction of attorneys for the Southern District of New York.

• APRIL 9, 2019

  Barr Makes False Statements to House of Representatives on Mueller Investigation

  

   

  Type of Misconduct: Undermining the Special Counsel; Hindering Congressional Oversight

   

  During a House Appropriations Committee hearing, Representative Charlie Crist (D-FL) notes that members of Mueller’s team have expressed frustration that Barr’s letter “does not adequately or accurately, necessarily, portray the report’s findings,” and asks if Barr understands what this statement was referring to. In response to Crist’s question, Barr falsely says he did not know what the complaints were referring to, and gives the misleading impression that he was not aware of concerns raised by the special counsel’s office, or the remedies—specifically release of the report’s executive summary—that Mueller’s team wanted Barr to implement.

• APRIL 10, 2019

  Barr Makes False Statements to Senate on Mueller Investigation

  

   

  Type of Misconduct: Undermining the Special Counsel; Hindering Congressional Oversight

   

  During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) asks Barr whether Mueller supports the conclusion Barr made in his summary letter. Again, rather than acknowledging that Mueller had expressed concerns to him about the accuracy of Barr’s portrayal of “key findings of the report” and its conclusions, the attorney general falsely states that he does not know whether Mueller supports his conclusions.

• APRIL 10, 2019

  Barr Makes False Statement to Senate on Political “Spying”

  

   

  Type of Misconduct: Interfering with Impartial Prosecutions; Hindering Congressional Oversight; Prioritizing Politics over Justice

   

  During the same April 10 Senate hearing, during questioning about allegations that the Obama Justice Department authorized surveillance of the 2016 Trump campaign, Barr states that “spying did occur.” Barr proceeds to give contradictory answers on what he means by “spying.” He first follows up on his spying claim by stating “the question is whether it was predicated”—meaning whether it was legally authorized surveillance. Yet later in the hearing, when asked to clarify what he means by “spying,” he states that spying is “unauthorized surveillance.” (Barr would later contradict himself again, stating in an interview, “There is nothing wrong with spying, the question is always whether it is authorized by law and properly predicated. … It’s a perfectly good English word, I will continue to use it.”) Regardless of how the term “spying” is interpreted, the damage was done: Barr’s baseless claim seems to have permanently muddied the waters on what type of surveillance actually occurred.

   

  Flash forward: Although a Justice Department inspector general investigation—released in December 2019—would later find serious flaws in the department’s applications for warrants to surveil former Trump campaign staffer Carter Page, there is no evidence of there ever having been any unauthorized government surveillance of the Trump campaign or people working for the campaign. (Note that surveillance of Page began several months after he left the campaign.) Neither the inspector general, the special counsel’s team, nor the Senate Intelligence Committee found any evidence that could reasonably support Barr’s claims.

• APRIL 18, 2019

  Mueller Report Released

  

   

  Nearly a full month after Barr releases his summary letter, the Justice Department releases a full version of the special counsel’s report to the public, although it includes redactions for matters such as ongoing prosecutions. Contrary to Barr’s framing, the report is not an exoneration. The report states, “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” While the investigation did not find elements of criminal conspiracy with Russian agents in election interference, the report shows significant interactions between Russian government affiliated entities and the Trump campaign, efforts to reap Russian aid in the election, and numerous acts that could constitute obstruction of justice, including multiple acts by Trump himself.

• APRIL 19, 2019

  Justice Department Blocks Congress from Reviewing Full Mueller Report

  

   

  Type of Misconduct: Undermining the Special Counsel; Hindering Congressional Oversight

   

  The House Judiciary Committee subpoenas Barr to compel him to provide the full, unredacted Mueller report, including grand jury materials related to the investigation. The Justice Department refuses, beginning a standoff with the committee and denying Congress access to relevant information as it continues to review Mueller’s investigation and findings. The department and the committee will fight through litigation over the next year; the issue is still pending in court.

• APRIL 30, 2019

  Mueller Letter to Barr Publicly Disclosed

  

   

  The Washington Post publishes Mueller’s March 27 letter to Barr, making public the extent of Mueller’s concerns, and showing the misleading nature of Barr’s statements to Congress earlier that month.

•  

 

 

Source

 

 

 

[BigRedBuster]

@Archy1221 That's a joke right?  Please tell me you're joking.  Please???

No...he has been a pathetic AG and the only thing he has accomplished is protecting dear leader....which is NOT his job.

[Guy Chamberlin]

I don't know how anyone can talk about justice, or due process, or the curtailing of free speech until HuskerBoard leadership fixes the Quote function. 

[Archy1221]

@BigRedBusternot a joke.  

[knapplc]

Oh, it's a joke all right. 

[BigRedBuster]

@Archy1221 Seriously???

 

Do you understand that it's not the AGs job to protect the President and lie to congress and the public?

[Archy1221]

No, no it’s not.  The Mueller probe into Trump on the other hand.   Yes, yes that was a clown show. I don’t think a single charge about what the probe was actually supposed to be about related to anyone close to Trump.  
mans Mueller is  pretty much your entire beef with Barr 

[Archy1221]

“And”

[knapplc]

"Mueller is pretty much your entire beef with Barr"

 

Says the guy who didn't read the link provided. 

[BigRedBuster]

@Archy1221 So you are happy that he lied to congress and the public to protect the President.

 

[Archy1221]

@knapplc well all but 2 were about the Mueller report.  One was about Weed and the last was about a report with no named source.  So ya, it’s pretty much all about your hatred the Mueller fiasco did work out for ya.   

[Archy1221]

@BigRedBusterdid he lie?  Did Mueller testify that Barr was lying when he spoke about their interactions?  

[knapplc]

@Archy1221 Read the link and get back to us. 

 

https://www.pogo.org/analysis/2020/09/injustice-tracking-bill-barrs-misconduct-as-attorney-general/