It appears that AG Bill Barr has become concerned about his legacy and possibly even about the president he has been collaborating with to undermine our democracy. After all, Trump has gone stark, raving, batshit over the past few weeks. Anyway:
Outgoing Attorney General William P. Barr said Monday that he saw no basis for the federal government seizing voting machines and that he did not intend to appoint a special counsel to investigate allegations of voter fraud — again breaking with President Trump as the commander in chief entertains increasingly desperate measures to overturn the election.
At a news conference to announce charges in a decades-old terrorism case, Barr — who has just two days left in office — was peppered with questions about whether he would consider steps proposed by allies of the president to advance Trump’s claims of massive voter fraud.
Barr said that while he was “sure there was fraud in this election,” he had not seen evidence that it was so “systemic or broad-based” that it would change the result. He asserted he saw “no basis now for seizing machines by the federal government,” and he would not name a special counsel to explore the allegations of Trump and his allies.
“If I thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool and was appropriate, I would name one, but I haven’t, and I’m not going to,” Barr said.
Similarly, Barr said he would not name a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden, President-elect Joe Biden’s son, who revealed earlier this month he was under investigation for possible tax crimes. Barr said the investigation was “being handled responsibly and professionally” by regular Justice Department prosecutors, and he hoped that would continue in the next administration.
“To this point, I have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel, and I have no plan to do so before I leave,” Barr said.
The story goes into Trump growing disappointment with Barr for failing to help him sabotage Joe Biden and steal the election for him. I hadn’t heard about this though:
Trump told Fox News recently that Barr “should have stepped up” and publicized the case — which would have violated Justice Department policy.
“All he had to do is say an investigation’s going on,” Trump said, adding later, “When you affect an election, Bill Barr, frankly, did the wrong thing.
I’m sure that sounds familiar. It’s what Donald Trump extorted the Ukrainian president to do — and why he is only the third president in history to be impeached.
In addition to breaking with Trump on election fraud, Barr also seemed to put himself at odds with Trump in attributing recently uncovered cyberhacks of the U.S. government to Russia. Though Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had already done so, Trump later suggested on Twitter China might be the culprit.
“From the information I have, I agree with Secretary Pompeo’s assessment,” Barr said. “It certainly appears to be the Russians.”
That’s big of him, after everything he did.
I’ll just let Marcy Wheeler have the last word:
He gets no credit for “breaking” now that Trump is 30 days away from being a permanent resident of Mar-a-lago. He’s Trump’s top henchman. Unless he confesses to everything he did and spills the beans on what he knows, we don’t need to hear from him.
It’s Happy Hollandaise time. If you’re of a mind to drop something in the old Hullabaloo Christmas stocking, you can do so below.
cheers,
digby