Attorney General Bill Barr either resigned or was fired by outgoing President Donald Trump on Friday. Either way, the legal world is not sad to see him go.
Throughout Barr’s tenure, he tried to turn the Justice Department into a partisan weapon to attack Trump’s enemies while covering up or ignoring Trump’s crimes, beginning with Barr’s attempt to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final Russia investigation report and insisting that it fully exonerated Trump even though the report listed ten instances of obstruction of justice he committed.
Barr also interfered in prosecutions of Trump minions such as former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, conducted persecutions, lied to Congress, and enabled Trump’s abuses of power.
Needless to say, the list of Barr’s misconduct is long, but his time as Attorney General will come to an end later this month because Trump announced that Barr has tendered his resignation and will step down on December 23rd.
Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House. Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job! As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2020
…Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, an outstanding person, will become Acting Attorney General. Highly respected Richard Donoghue will be taking over the duties of Deputy Attorney General. Thank you to all! pic.twitter.com/V5sqOJT9PM
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2020
Barr’s letter of resignation can be best characterized as a master class in boot-licking to stroke the boss’ ego. Barr not only credited Trump with achievements when there were none, he had the gall to call him a uniter, and once again attacked the legitimate Russia investigation. He even seemed to walk back his earlier statement debunking Trump’s election fraud claims.
It was all complete bullsh*t, but Barr’s resignation is definitely an early Christmas present for Americans, especially legal experts who were all too eager to take parting shots in response.
Barr’s “letter of resignation” characterizes the Trump administration’s “accomplishments” as accurately as his summary of the Mueller Report characterized the results of that investigation.
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) December 14, 2020
Bill Barr ruined his reputation by deliberately misleading the public and politicizing the DOJ.
Because he wouldn’t repeat Trump’s lies about the election, he’s out less than a month before Trump’s presidency will end.
Trump used Barr and tossed him aside. Good riddance. https://t.co/qhmCVu0QxU
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) December 14, 2020
Vaccine arrives. Biden clinches. Barr leaves. Pretty good. Pretty pretty pretty good.
— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) December 14, 2020
From William Barr’s personal perspective the only relevant question is whether he bothered to say “Pardon me, Mr. President” on his way out the door.
— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) December 15, 2020
Attorney General Bill Barr misled the American people about the Mueller report; intervened in cases to protect the friends of @realDonaldTrump; and used the @TheJusticeDept as Trump’s personal law firm. History will not be kind to Bill Barr. https://t.co/UVEVMYWR4F
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) December 14, 2020
What an absolute embarrassment this letter is – as was his whole tenure at DOJ. https://t.co/3d7xYO9yRM
— Mimi Rocah (@Mimirocah1) December 15, 2020
Here are my thoughts tonight on Bill Barr as Attorney General in under 2 minutes. pic.twitter.com/LhGgXQsa3u
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) December 15, 2020
Make no mistake, Barr may be leaving early but he should still be investigated, arrested, and prosecuted for his multiple abuses of the Justice Department. That’s the only way to clean up Barr’s abuses and prevent future Attorneys General from repeating them.
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