William Barr’s behavior is becoming more self destructive by the day
William Barr continues with his self-destructive behavior. After announcing that he was starting an investigation into the counterintelligence surrounding the Russian investigation, he then picked a fight with Congress about releasing the Mueller report, arguing that he was bound by law to keep grand jury testimony secret. Bullshit. Palmer Report told us last week about Rule 6(e), which allows for the release of grand jury testimony in certain circumstances, most notably of which is for judicial proceedings.
Barr tried to continue this sham during his testimony before Congress, and one astute journalist was listening very closely. Jeremy Stahl of Slate revealed that Barr is blowing smoke in his piece entitled, “William Barr Accidentally Concedes His Reason for Withholding the Mueller Report is Baloney.” What’s even more baloney is Barr wanting to investigate the Obama administration, which he claims started the counterintelligence probes. What? He must be taking a page from Trump’s imaginary “Obama tapped my phone” playbook. We always knew Trump teetered on sanity, but Barr? He’s willing to risk his reputation and all his years of service for Trump? That’s a very frightening thought. But, back to Stahl’s take on Barr’s testimony.
According to Stahl, Barr acknowledged that precedent exists for releasing the full report to Congress. When he was being questioned by Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito about precedent, Barr responded: “I don’t know if it would be unprecedented since I’m not really sure what happened in the Watergate situation. I know the report came out 50 years later, I think.” Liar. William Barr is a lawyer. Surely, he knows about Rule 6(e). Barr then told Senator Capito that he believed releasing Mueller’s report would be “essentially unprecedented,” but he turned around and made reference to the special prosecutor’s cooperation with Congress during the Watergate inquiry, proving that he knows full well that the information can be released to Congress. So, what gives here? Is Barr trying to “play dumb?” Surely he knows how the Nixon special prosecutor was able to release grand jury materials. Yet, he’s trying to pretend that in the case of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the information cannot be released. This is the worst case of talking out of both sides of one’s mouth in history.
To make matters worse, while Barr is wasting time and money on an alleged act of spying, he admitted that he has no proof, according to NBC News. He has a “feeling.” I have a feeling that I might hit the lottery, but it hasn’t happened yet. Asked by NBC News for his opinion on Barr’s claims, James Comey, who began the investigation, said, “I have no idea what he’s talking about” but believes Barr is entitled to his “presumption.” He goes on to say, “So I still think he’s entitled to that presumption. Language like this makes it harder, but I still think he’s entitled to that presumption. And because I don’t know what the heck he’s talking about, that’s all I can say.”
I have long since given up on William Barr’s ability to do the right thing. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that anyone in the Obama administration spied on Donald Trump. That claim should go down in history as the most ridiculous allegation ever made, and Barr should go down as the worst Attorney General this country has ever seen.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years