Attorney General Barr’s Indefensible Performance

FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | May 2, 2019

Attorney General William Barr is a dangerous person to be serving as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.

The Attorney General is supposed to embody and stand for the Justice Department’s stated mission to “ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.”

Instead, Barr has made clear since March that he sees his role as serving as defense counsel for President Trump rather than as the public servant of the American people.

Barr so mischaracterized the Mueller report in his March 24 letter to Congress describing the report that Robert Mueller sent him a letter on March 27. Mueller wrote:

“The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this office’s work and conclusions. There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation.”

There are numerous examples of Barr’s misrepresenting and distorting the Mueller report to benefit President Trump as he did repeatedly in his testimony yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

There are 14 ongoing investigations being conducted by the Justice Department that stem from Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Given Barr’s indefensible performance in discrediting and undermining the Mueller report, there is no way that he should have any role in overseeing or being involved in these 14 cases.

The House is soon expected to pass a resolution holding Attorney General Barr in contempt of Congress. This may well not be enough to prevent him from continuing to abuse his office to advance and protect the interests of President Trump.

Barr has dishonored his office, destroyed his credibility, and should now resign his position as Attorney General.   

__________

Fred Wertheimer is the Founder and President of Democracy 21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to strengthen our democracy and ensure the integrity and fairness of government decisions and elections. See previous Notes from Fred here.