Report: Barr’s ‘unmasking’ probe ends without charges

[Whateverman]

Or Barr is not sure of the election outcome, and playing it safe lest he face the wrath of Biden and his people once they take control

Nothing Barr can do is going to keep him from getting fired. He'd get fired even if he was a perfect AG up to the point when the opposition took office.

"Playing it safe" isn't an option.

[Stoic]

Or... Barr is a fraud and has fulfilled his role in misleading the political right, and maybe even Trump, for four years with false hope.

Yeah, Barr may not be as crooked as the right thought he was.

Not much likelihood of that, though.

[Tassman]

Because the last thing Barr wants is to be accused of using the DOJ to influence the election.

The whole point of this Inquiry was to influence the election - and, as ever it failed. Yet another Trump conspiracy accusation is shown to be without substance.

[oxmixmudd]

I trust Barr only slight more than I trusted Mueller, which is to say not much at all. In both cases, I suspect their intent is to conceal rather than reveal.

Sometimes I wonder if you are Trump himself.

[Mountain Man]

Sometimes I wonder if you are Trump himself.

As much as I appreciate the compliment, I must confess that I am not Mr. Trump.

[shunyadragon]

I trust Barr only slight more than I trusted Mueller, which is to say not much at all. In both cases, I suspect their intent is to conceal rather than reveal.

That's what QAnon claimed.

[Starlight]

Or... Barr is a fraud and has fulfilled his role in misleading the political right, and maybe even Trump, for four years with false hope.

Article today...

Assistant U.S. Attorney Leaves DOJ After 36 Years Due to ‘Lap Dog’ Bill Barr’s ‘Slavish Obedience to Donald Trump’s Will’

An Assistant U.S. Attorney who worked in the Department of Justice for more than three decades and under “19 different attorneys general and six different presidents” is leaving the department because he’s had enough of Attorney General Bill Barr’s “slavish obedience to Donald Trump’s will.”

Phillip Halpern wrote in an op-ed for the San Diego Union-Tribune on Wednesday that Barr is a “well-trained bureaucrat” and a “career bureaucrat” who “seems determined to turn our democracy into an autocracy.” This is a criticism that has been levied against Barr more than a few times during his second stint as attorney general of the United States.

In “I won’t work in Attorney General William Barr’s Justice Department any longer,” Halpern painted a picture of Barr, a person who has “never actually investigated, charged or tried a case,” pulling the strings of the criminal justice system in order to help the 45th president and his allies...

“Unfortunately, over the last year, Barr’s resentment toward rule-of-law prosecutors became increasingly difficult to ignore, as did his slavish obedience to Donald Trump’s will in his selective meddling with the criminal justice system in the Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn and Roger Stone cases,” he wrote. “In each of these cases, Barr overruled career prosecutors in order to assist the president’s associates and/or friends, who potentially harbor incriminating information.”..

“Rather than representing the interests of the American public, Barr chooses to act as Trump’s lap dog,”

That's been a pretty common criticism of Barr throughout Barr's career. Barr has always publicly championed an extremist view of the supreme power of the presidency, that other people view as making the President a dictator who is above the law. (At the start of his political career, Barr was putting this into practice by helping the President cover up the Iran-Contra scandal) What we've heard from people who have worked with him is that he also follows this view in private and it's not merely a public persona.

So it's rather problematic to have him as Attorney General, since the DoJ is supposed to be relatively independent, and not simply a servant of the President's whims nor there to cover for the wrongdoings of the President or the President's allies.

[seanD]

Article today...

Assistant U.S. Attorney Leaves DOJ After 36 Years Due to ‘Lap Dog’ Bill Barr’s ‘Slavish Obedience to Donald Trump’s Will’

An Assistant U.S. Attorney who worked in the Department of Justice for more than three decades and under “19 different attorneys general and six different presidents” is leaving the department because he’s had enough of Attorney General Bill Barr’s “slavish obedience to Donald Trump’s will.”

Phillip Halpern wrote in an op-ed for the San Diego Union-Tribune on Wednesday that Barr is a “well-trained bureaucrat” and a “career bureaucrat” who “seems determined to turn our democracy into an autocracy.” This is a criticism that has been levied against Barr more than a few times during his second stint as attorney general of the United States.

In “I won’t work in Attorney General William Barr’s Justice Department any longer,” Halpern painted a picture of Barr, a person who has “never actually investigated, charged or tried a case,” pulling the strings of the criminal justice system in order to help the 45th president and his allies...

“Unfortunately, over the last year, Barr’s resentment toward rule-of-law prosecutors became increasingly difficult to ignore, as did his slavish obedience to Donald Trump’s will in his selective meddling with the criminal justice system in the Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn and Roger Stone cases,” he wrote. “In each of these cases, Barr overruled career prosecutors in order to assist the president’s associates and/or friends, who potentially harbor incriminating information.”..

“Rather than representing the interests of the American public, Barr chooses to act as Trump’s lap dog,”

That's been a pretty common criticism of Barr throughout Barr's career. Barr has always publicly championed an extremist view of the supreme power of the presidency, that other people view as making the President a dictator who is above the law. (At the start of his political career, Barr was putting this into practice by helping the President cover up the Iran-Contra scandal) What we've heard from people who have worked with him is that he also follows this view in private and it's not merely a public persona.

So it's rather problematic to have him as Attorney General, since the DoJ is supposed to be relatively independent, and not simply a servant of the President's whims nor there to cover for the wrongdoings of the President or the President's allies.

Only your post doesn't really square with what I said. He's covering for the swamp, and his role is to mislead the right into thinking otherwise, was my point.

[Starlight]

Only your post doesn't really square with what I said. He's covering for the swamp, and his role is to mislead the right into thinking otherwise, was my point.

My point was that your theory doesn't square with any of the known evidence about Barr's character.

[seanD]

My point was that your theory doesn't square with any of the known evidence about Barr's character.

Your reference only affirms the idea that Barr serves the swamp, which agrees with what I said. That Trump is part of that swamp is a matter of partisan debate. That Trump has expressed dissatisfaction with Barr contradicts that notion and further affirms what I said.

[Ronson]

36 years as a bureaucrat? Good riddance to Halpern.

[NorrinRadd]

... the DoJ is supposed to be relatively independent, and not simply a servant of the President's whims nor there to cover for the wrongdoings of the President or the President's allies.

I realize you said "relatively," but I'm not sure that qualifier matters. When the DoJ was created, it was placed in the Executive branch. The very opening line of Article II of the Constitution basically says POTUS *is* the Executive branch, what some people refer to as a "unitary" Executive branch. So the extent to which any component of the Executive branch can be "independent" of POTUS is *extremely* limited.