{"id":5766,"date":"2021-08-07T21:15:54","date_gmt":"2021-08-07T21:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=5766"},"modified":"2021-08-07T21:15:54","modified_gmt":"2021-08-07T21:15:54","slug":"dont-buy-bill-barrs-attempt-to-rehab-his-image","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=5766","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t buy Bill Barr\u2019s attempt to rehab his image"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“William Barr began his tenure as Donald Trump\u2019s attorney general with extremely evasive testimony<\/a> during his confirmation hearing. He may be best remembered for giving a highly misleading summary of the Mueller report<\/a>, and he spent much of 2020 trying to substantiate Trump\u2019s conspiracy theories<\/a> about the election being rigged against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now, more than six months following his departure from government, Barr is trying to do some image damage control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In interviews with journalist Jonathan Karl for a book excerpted in the Atlantic<\/a>, Barr details how his final break with Trump finally came after he went public with claims undermining Trump\u2019s last-ditch effort to overturn his election loss to Joe Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,\u201d Barr told an Associated Press reporter on December 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barr told Karl that comment prompted an angry Trump to summon him into a meeting in which the president unloaded on him, saying things like \u201chow the fuck could you do this to me?\u201d and \u201cyou must hate Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barr indicates that not only was he not intimidated by Trump\u2019s outburst, but he fired back, comparing the Rudy Giuliani-led effort to overturn the results to a circus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know, you only have five weeks, Mr. President, after an election to make legal challenges,\u201d Barr told Trump, according to Karl. \u201cThis would have taken a crackerjack team with a really coherent and disciplined strategy. Instead, you have a clown show. No self-respecting lawyer is going anywhere near it. It\u2019s just a joke. That\u2019s why you are where you are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barr ended up leaving the Department of Justice days before the January 6 insurrection. The new account of the weeks leading up to his resignation has led some to describe him as a \u201cpatriot<\/a>.\u201d But that\u2019s going way too far even when Barr\u2019s account is read in the most charitable light.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Barr spent the run-up to the 2020 election serving more as an arm of Trump\u2019s campaign than he did as an independent arbiter of the rule of law. Barr was happy to amplify Trump\u2019s lies about mail voting and voting fraud up to the point where it was clear to all but the most fanatical Trump supporters that he had lost the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider, for instance, the disastrous interview Barr did with CNN\u2019s Anderson Cooper on September 2, when he couldn\u2019t produce any evidence of mail voting fraud and resorted to saying its general existence is a \u201cmatter of logic<\/a>.\u201d Or his DOJ\u2019s decision a few weeks later to issue a factually incorrect press release<\/a> announcing an investigation into alleged mail voting irregularities in Pennsylvania \u2014 an announcement that violated DOJ\u2019s policies. Or Barr\u2019s move three days after the election to authorize<\/a> investigations into \u201csubstantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities,\u201d even though there was no evidence of such irregularities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his interviews with Karl, Barr portrayed his decision to authorize fraud investigations despite a lack of evidence as a strategy he used to make sure he would be able to tell Trump that his conspiracy theories were baseless when the time came.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“it\u2019s not normal for the DOJ, which is ostensibly supposed to operate with a modicum of independence from the executive branch, to pursue investigations based on \u201cbullshit\u201d conspiracy theories favored by the president. But Barr spent years turning the DOJ into something akin to the president\u2019s personal law firm<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It\u2019s not even clear to what extent \u2014 if at all \u2014 Barr\u2019s break with Trump was motivated by a desire to protect American democracy. Instead, Karl\u2019s piece makes it seem as though Barr and then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were primarily interested in helping Republicans win special elections in January for two US Senate seats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karl writes that McConnell had been urging Barr throughout November to speak out against Trump\u2019s election fraud conspiracy theories, because those theories were complicating the argument Republicans wanted to make about how maintaining the Senate majority was important as a check on Biden\u2019s power. But McConnell was reluctant to speak out himself for fear that if he did so, an embittered Trump would sabotage the Republican candidates”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“while it\u2019s good that Barr ultimately stood up to Trump, it\u2019s worth keeping in mind how abnormal it is for the US attorney general to be scheming with the Senate leader on ways to ensure their political party retains power.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/22554319\/bill-barr-jon-karl-the-atlantic-break-with-trump<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“William Barr began his tenure as Donald Trump\u2019s attorney general with extremely evasive testimony during his confirmation hearing. He may be best remembered for giving a highly misleading summary of the Mueller report, and he spent much of 2020 trying to substantiate Trump\u2019s conspiracy theories about the election being rigged against him.<\/p>\n

But now, more than six months following his departure from government, Barr is trying to do some image damage control.<\/p>\n

In interviews with journalist Jonathan Karl for a book excerpted in the Atlantic, Barr details how his final break with Trump finally came after he went public with claims undermining Trump\u2019s last-ditch effort to overturn his election loss to Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,\u201d Barr told an Associated Press reporter on December 1.<\/p>\n

Barr told Karl that comment prompted an angry Trump to summon him into a meeting in which the president unloaded on him, saying things like \u201chow the fuck could you do this to me?\u201d and \u201cyou must hate Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barr indicates that not only was he not intimidated by Trump\u2019s outburst, but he fired back, comparing the Rudy Giuliani-led effort to overturn the results to a circus.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, you only have five weeks, Mr. President, after an election to make legal challenges,\u201d Barr told Trump, according to Karl. \u201cThis would have taken a crackerjack team with a really coherent and disciplined strategy. Instead, you have a clown show. No self-respecting lawyer is going anywhere near it. It\u2019s just a joke. That\u2019s why you are where you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barr ended up leaving the Department of Justice days before the January 6 insurrection. The new account of the weeks leading up to his resignation has led some to describe him as a \u201cpatriot.\u201d But that\u2019s going way too far even when Barr\u2019s account is read in the most charitable light.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Barr spent the run-up to the 2020 election serving more as an arm of Trump\u2019s campaign than he did as an independent arbiter of the rule of law. Barr was happy to amplify Trump\u2019s lies about mail voting and voting fraud up to the point where it was clear to all but the most fanatical Trump supporters that he had lost the election.<\/p>\n

Consider, for instance, the disastrous interview Barr did with CNN\u2019s Anderson Cooper on September 2, when he couldn\u2019t produce any evidence of mail voting fraud and resorted to saying its general existence is a \u201cmatter of logic.\u201d Or his DOJ\u2019s decision a few weeks later to issue a factually incorrect press release announcing an investigation into alleged mail voting irregularities in Pennsylvania \u2014 an announcement that violated DOJ\u2019s policies. Or Barr\u2019s move three days after the election to authorize investigations into \u201csubstantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities,\u201d even though there was no evidence of such irregularities.<\/p>\n

In his interviews with Karl, Barr portrayed his decision to authorize fraud investigations despite a lack of evidence as a strategy he used to make sure he would be able to tell Trump that his conspiracy theories were baseless when the time came.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“it\u2019s not normal for the DOJ, which is ostensibly supposed to operate with a modicum of independence from the executive branch, to pursue investigations based on \u201cbullshit\u201d conspiracy theories favored by the president. But Barr spent years turning the DOJ into something akin to the president\u2019s personal law firm.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s not even clear to what extent \u2014 if at all \u2014 Barr\u2019s break with Trump was motivated by a desire to protect American democracy. Instead, Karl\u2019s piece makes it seem as though Barr and then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were primarily interested in helping Republicans win special elections in January for two US Senate seats.<\/p>\n

Karl writes that McConnell had been urging Barr throughout November to speak out against Trump\u2019s election fraud conspiracy theories, because those theories were complicating the argument Republicans wanted to make about how maintaining the Senate majority was important as a check on Biden\u2019s power. But McConnell was reluctant to speak out himself for fear that if he did so, an embittered Trump would sabotage the Republican candidates”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“while it\u2019s good that Barr ultimately stood up to Trump, it\u2019s worth keeping in mind how abnormal it is for the US attorney general to be scheming with the Senate leader on ways to ensure their political party retains power.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[817,820,660,221,372,249,661,714],"class_list":["post-5766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-bill-barr","tag-bullshit","tag-dictatorship","tag-donald-trump","tag-election","tag-fraud","tag-tyranny","tag-voter-fraud"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5766"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5767,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5766\/revisions\/5767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}