Bill Barr - Feckless Coward
Donald Trump had, in his term as President, seven Attorney Generals; but five were Acting AGs (placeholders essentially) and only one of the Acting AGs was there for any substantial amount of time.1
Republicans Presidents, since I was a child, have had a pernicious habit of appointing political loyalists and friends to the Office of Attorney General. From John Mitchell (Nixon) to William French Smith and Edwin Meese (Reagan) to John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzalez (George W Bush), the Department of Justice has had a hard political tilt in Republican Administrations.
Never one to be outdone, Donald Trump changed the DOJ into his own law personal law firm and he ordered the prosecutors there around like Boss Tweed. His first Attorney General Jeff Sessions proved to be a reliable toadie, who only pushed back of a couple of things. Those things were not firing Robert Mueller and taking legal ethics too seriously more than once.
William Barr, a former Attorney General under George H.W. Bush, wrote a memo in August 2018, in which he advertised his interest in Jeff Session’s job; and stated rather plainly, he would enpower the Office of the Presidency by arguing no one else had any authority.2 The infamous Barr Memo, which is is linked below in the preceding footnote, is frightening and one one point all too realist — if the DOJ has the President’s back politically, the President can do anything he or she wants.
But when Bill Barr was Attorney General, he too refused to concede an important point in Donald Trump’s favor — the 2020 election results. In fact, he kind of resigned over it. Barr saw the legal ilk that had surrounded Donald Trump and swooned over his desire to remain in office and bailed before his resume took a ethical hit.
Before you assume that Bill Barr has a political spine of his own, you might want to review this3 and this4 from Raw Story.
The fact that Bill Barr is attacking Joe Biden, one of the most centrist Presidents in my lifetime, for pushing “a collectivist socialist agenda” and sees the Progressive movement as a threat to democracy is all the proof one needs that Bill Barr is a coward and a feckless one at that.
And any non-MAGA Republican who saw the January 6th Insurrection and what preceded it5 should check their inclination to endorse Donald Trump for another term.
NOTE: I strongly urge you to read the second footnote which summarizes the Barr Memo well and shows the danger of another Trump term.
TOMORROW: Donald Trump’s trial enters its third week with Hope Hicks on the stand.
Matthew Whitaker served from November 2018 to Fenruary 2019.
https://www.acslaw.org/expertforum/the-barr-memo-and-the-imperial-presidency/
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-bill-barr-2667904303/
https://www.rawstory.com/bill-barr-donald-trump-endorsement/