Looks like the House Judiciary Committee is targeting William Barr for criminal charges
This evening we learned that Special Counsel Robert Mueller wrote a letter a month ago to Attorney General William Barr, accusing him of having misrepresented the Mueller report with his four page “summary.” Not only does this mean that Barr is in huge political and professional trouble, it also means he committed crimes. Now it looks like the House Judiciary Committee is targeting him for criminal charges.
William Barr has clearly committed obstruction of justice, though that’s a complex legal case to prove, and one that a defendant sometimes thinks he can defeat at trial. But House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler is taking a different approach. He just tweeted this: “I note with interest AG Barr’s 4/10 Senate testimony. ‘Q: Did Bob Mueller support your conclusion? A: I don’t know whether Bob Mueller supported my conclusion.’ Now it appears that Mueller objected in this 3/27 letter.” In short, Nadler is pointing out that Barr committed provable perjury.
While perjury is considered a lesser crime in most contexts than something like obstruction of justice, it’s a straightforward charge that’s far easier to prove. During the Mueller probe, we saw various people cut plea deals on all charges once they realized they’d been nailed for perjury, because that’s not something they could have beaten at trial. In this instance, Robert Mueller’s letter is a smoking gun that proves Barr guilty of perjury.
If the House Judiciary Committee were to make a criminal referral to the DOJ against William Barr right now, it wouldn’t go anywhere at the moment, considering that Barr is currently in charge of the DOJ. But it would set up a situation where Barr can be criminally charged the minute he’s no longer Attorney General. This would leave Barr with a choice of negotiating his resignation in exchange for immunity, or sticking it out with the knowledge that he’ll go to prison after his term is over. Nixon’s Attorney General went to prison under similar circumstances. Unless Barr is counting on a Trump pardon, he’ll need to cut a deal soon.
