Defiled hard
by Tom Sullivan
Why did Barr do it?
Last night’s news that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III wrote to Attorney General William Barr to complain about Barr’s four-page, non-summary summary of the special counsel’s findings in the Trump-Russia investigation unleashed a flood of commentary. Left unanswered is why Barr has risked himself for Donald Trump.
Natasha Bertrand tweets, “Something I’m hearing from lots of former DOJ/FBI folks tonight is just how rare & significant it is for a DOJ official, especially an institutionalist like Mueller, to ‘go to paper’ like this. ‘We are conditioned not to’ do that, Chuck Rosenberg told me.”
In the letter obtained by the Washington Post, Mueller complained that Barr’s characterization of the findings “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of the special counsel team’s work, leaving the public with a distorted view of what the Mueller report contains. Barr’s April 18 press conference describing the findings in “Trumpian language” prior to releasing the redacted report solidified the perception that Barr was Trump’s new Roy Cohn.
Unnamed sources told the Post Mueller did not take issue with public discussions of the Russian investigation section of the report. Meaning Mueller is unhappy with seeing the obstruction of justice investigation into the president’s campaign spun as exoneration.
Mueller followed up his letter with a fifteen-minute phone call to Barr:
Justice Department officials said Tuesday that they were taken aback by the tone of Mueller’s letter and that it came as a surprise to them that he had such concerns. Until they received the letter, they believed Mueller was in agreement with them on the process of reviewing the report and redacting certain types of information, a process that took several weeks. Barr has testified to Congress previously that Mueller declined the opportunity to review his four-page memo to lawmakers that distilled the essence of the special counsel’s findings.
Barr appears to have misled Congress as well as the American people on that. The leaked letter has spurred calls for Barr’s resignation or impeachment, especially if he refuses to appear before the House Judiciary Committee. One theory on the timing of the leaked letter by “we didn’t know” anonymous sources is that Barr allies in the department hope to dampen the impact of his scheduled testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning at 10 a.m. EDT. Barr used strategic delay and disinformation to manage perceptions for the president’s benefit before. The leaked letter will dominate the news for days and keep Democrats focused on Barr rather than on the president. (His prepared statement is here. He doubles down on his decision to declare Trump innocent.)
But why Barr would accept this job and defile his reputation and that of his department to protect Donald Trump is as much a mystery as what the sitting president is hiding in his taxes. Barr does not have to face Trump voters in the next election as Republicans on Capitol Hill do. Why did Barr do it?
Trumpism has characteristics of a cult. The power Trump wields over followers is something to behold, and not just among his red-hat, rally faithful. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the former military lawyer, has become a full-fledged, fawning acolyte. Republicans such as Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, and Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida are far lesser intellects who live to touch the hem of their master’s garment. They will go down with the ship if Trump asks.
But Barr volunteered for this job. While uniquely qualified to run interference for a president, the former attorney general came out of “retirement” to take the attorney general’s job Trump offered. His behavior suggests he too is a true believer. In what is unclear.
Now he risks himself to protect the most corrupt president in American history.
First, let’s do a head count of Trump associates already caught in the Mueller probe. Here is a list via Vox of those already convicted:
- Michael Flynn, Trump’s national security adviser, on one count of lying to the FBI
- Rick Gates, Trump’s former deputy campaign manager and Manafort protégé, on one count of conspiracy against the United States and one count of making false statements to FBI agents
- George Papadopoulos, a low-level Trump foreign policy adviser, for making false statements to the FBI about his contacts with Russians during the campaign
- Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, who pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about a possible Trump Organization real estate project in Moscow that was under consideration during the 2016 presidential campaign.
- Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chair, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy against the US and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone remains the subject of investigation.
Barr’s motivations remain a mystery. The fate of many of Trump hangers-on is not. Knowing the list of the indicted keeps growing, last night’s news brought to mind John McClane of the Die Hard franchise telling Trump, “I mean, you’ve GOT to be running out of bad guys by now, right? … I mean, how does that work? Got some kind of service or something? Some kind of 800 number? 1-800-HENCHMEN?”