Donald Trump has a whole new kind of problem
One positive that we can take away from the debacle of William Barr’s testimony is that we have some pretty powerful women taking active roles in our government. The performances of Kamala Harris and Mazie Hirono require special mention. Both women appeared fearless as they asked pointed questions of a man who was obviously lying to protect “President” Donald Trump.
Kamala Harris, relying on her prosecutorial skills, had Barr squirming, drinking water like Matthew Whitaker, and stumbling over his words. “President” Trump then went on Fox News and called her “nasty,” and Harris, still showing no fear, responded to Alisyn Camerota on New Day: “My primary interest is to pursue justice, and you can call that any name you want, but I think that’s what the American people want in a leader.”
That pursuit is the polar opposite of the so-called “president,” who continues to obstruct, line his pockets at our expense, and tear our country apart. Harris rattled Barr so much that he got caught in a huge lie when he claimed that no one asked him to open any new investigations. In his previous appearance before this body, he clearly said that he wanted to look into “spying” on Trump’s campaign. Who do you suppose asked him to do that? He certainly doesn’t appear to be capable of thinking on his own.
Mazie Hirono, after apologizing to Adam Schiff for “stealing” his line, asked Barr if he thought all of the things Trump has done were okay. She point-blank told Barr, “You lied,” as she pointed her finger. She told Barr that he did “exactly what I knew you would do. That’s why I voted against your confirmation.” She also pointed out to Barr his history of protecting Republican presidents, mentioning both his recommendations of pardons of pivotal members of the Iran Contra scandal in 1992 and Barr’s refusal to show an OLC opinion that led to the arrest of Noriega to Congress in 1989.
Then she brought up the 19-page job application Barr wrote (which he called a “memo”), where he basically said that a sitting president couldn’t commit obstruction, which sounds an awful lot like his interpretation of Mueller’s report. Finally, Hirono revealed to Barr that she and a group of her fellow Senate members have asked the DOJ Inspector General to look into Barr’s handling of the report. To say Hirono “pulled out the big guns” would be an understatement.
We have been let down by this administration too many times to count. Repeatedly, Donald Trump appoints people to cover his hide, none of whom have any qualms about screwing over the American public to protect their savior. Hirono and Harris have shown that they are not taking this unethical, unscrupulous behavior lying down. We should be very proud and happy to have both women in the Senate. As Beyoncé would say, “Who run the world? Girls.” These two surely did.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years