Attorney General William Barr will testify before the House Judiciary Committee this morning to answer whether he has inappropriately politicized the Justice Department and to defend the latest use of excessive federal force against counter protestors in Portland. The committee is also expected to question Barr about his recent bias, that includes giving Trump ally Roger Stone preferential treatment, his efforts to dismiss the criminal case against Gen. Michael Flynn and the recent dismissal of top prosecutor from the Southern District of New York, Geoffrey Berman. Berman was in the midst of investigating the president’s personal attorney and friend, Rudy Giuliani, when he was forced out of his position by Barr and the Trump administration.
(Attorney General nominee William Barr testifying at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee January 15, 2019 in Washington, DC. Barr previously served as Attorney General under President George H.W. Bush, and is confronted here about his views on the investigation being conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller. Photo by Chip Somodevilla, via Getty Images.)
Congressional Democrats launched an investigation earlier this year into the various actions by Barr that reveal an agenda far from the one he is charged to uphold. Many accuse Barr of acting beyond his limits as an attorney general, likening his behavior to that of a mob captain, who is determined to appease his Trump mob boss at any cost.
The panel has also subpoenaed Aaron Zelinsky, a career Justice Department prosecutor who was part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team and worked on the case against Stone. Zelinksy left the DOJ earlier this year after that he was told by supervisors that political considerations influenced the decision to overrule the recommendation of the trial team and propose a lighter prison sentence for Roger Stone.
Zelinsky was one of four lawyers who quit the Stone case after the department overruled their sentencing recommendation, and he is expected to testify on Wednesday about the actions of acting U.S. attorney Timothy Shea. Zelinksy claims Shea was “receiving heavy pressures from the highest levels of the Department of Justice to give Stone a break.”
(Attorney General William Barr and President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on Nov. 26. Photo by Drew Angerer, via Getty Images.)
John Elias, a career official in the department’s antitrust division, has also been subpoenaed as part of the Congressional probe into the politicization of the department under Barr. Elias is expected to provide details to the committee about antitrust investigations that he says were started over the objections of career staff. Elias says he asked the department’s inspector general to investigate “whether these matters constituted an abuse of authority, a gross waste of funds, and gross mismanagement.”
The ongoing actions of the current attorney general create ongoing cause for alarm and seasoned legal professionals have made many attempts to speak out and warn the public about how unprecedented Barr’s actions have been. In February, more than 2,000 former Justice Department officials who served in Republican as well as Democratic administrations signed a statement calling on Attorney General Bill Barr to resign.
Here’s my question for you — will you be watching? Is there anything William Barr could say to justify the legal missteps he has made on behalf of Trump? Barr is the legal architect of Trump’s latest plan to use excessive federal force against protestors in the name of preserving property, and other DOJ employees have warned of Barr’s distortion of the rule of law in America. But are you too tired to watch any more of it? If you are watching, why are you watching? Let me know below and feel free to continue the conversation during the testimony over the next few days.
Barr’s testimony is scheduled to begin at 10am/ET. You can read his entire opening statement here and you can watch his live testimony below:
Barr will lie, lie and then lie some more. His only goal is to act as the President's publicly-paid personal attorney. He will continue to do so today.
Bill Barr has blatantly violated the constitution and has acted as Trumps personal attorney instead of performing the duties of the Attorney General. He needs to be removed from office. I am encouraged that congress is investigating his actions. I am skeptical that the spineless Republicans will actually take any meaningful action. I expect that Barr will repeatedly lie and distort the truth in an attempt to justify his actions. I will watch the testimony as my schedule allows, probably won't see all of it.
Great job putting context around today's witnesses and activities. I am glad to see Congress trying to be effective and trying to hold people whom we KNOW to be complicit responsible. I find, however, that I am too invested in outcomes now. The protests, the DOJ corruption, the pandemic, Trump, and now Biden's VP choice are all weighing on me, as I know must be true for everyone else, too. This has happened before. It is easy to lose objectivity and to become emotional. So I will take a few days to recalibrate and then come back with a steadier perception. Thanks for putting this stuff in context and in perspective. Your work is always appreciated, even when reading it DRIVES ME CRAZY! <smile>
I am not optimistic, at all, about this. If something does happen, whatever that may be, I will be shocked. The corruption is so vast and deep, it will take years to clean up.
Great headline. Ha ha ha! What COULD he possibly say? He's already published his introduction. He is creating a dictator. How can he have advanced as far as he has career-wise with this skewed view?
Dear Amee, I tried, I really tried, but I can´t listen anymore to the deflections, denials, the wheeling and dealing of Bill Barr or Trump. I´m raised & educated to be open minded and to see both sides in a “discussion” but for me this goes beyond any form of comprehension or empathy.
And again, I know I´m repeating myself, I really don´t understand that still 40% of Americans approve of Donald Trump. How big a mess can he make?
But for me that begs the question: How is it possible that the 60% that disapprove are completely unable to communicate this to the rest?
You have Lincoln project, Meidas Touch, Eleven Films, Don Winslow, Vets … etc etc. But they´re all preaching for their own parish. The 60% stays 60% …
I understand there will always be a % of hardcore racists/fascists, we have ´m here in Europe too. But 40%? I find that hard to imagine.
Shouldn´t some different tactics or strategies be applied? This way Trump will go into the elections with 40% secure support? Damn
Nah, I don’t need to waste my time listening to that lying, traitorous sack bluster and BS while repugs waste time with procedural machinations, objections, and childish disruptions. They make a mockery of their oaths. I’ll be watching Law & Order reruns.
I held down my gorge while Jordan rapped drivel. Again. I stayed with it until Barr said there was no cause to investigate Flynn because he had not committed a crime. But he knows better than I do that the charging of a crime follows an investigation, not vice versa. He cares only about his chance to create a theocracy. Which church got gobs of relief money? “His” church.
Barr will lie, lie and then lie some more. His only goal is to act as the President's publicly-paid personal attorney. He will continue to do so today.
Bill Barr has blatantly violated the constitution and has acted as Trumps personal attorney instead of performing the duties of the Attorney General. He needs to be removed from office. I am encouraged that congress is investigating his actions. I am skeptical that the spineless Republicans will actually take any meaningful action. I expect that Barr will repeatedly lie and distort the truth in an attempt to justify his actions. I will watch the testimony as my schedule allows, probably won't see all of it.
Great job putting context around today's witnesses and activities. I am glad to see Congress trying to be effective and trying to hold people whom we KNOW to be complicit responsible. I find, however, that I am too invested in outcomes now. The protests, the DOJ corruption, the pandemic, Trump, and now Biden's VP choice are all weighing on me, as I know must be true for everyone else, too. This has happened before. It is easy to lose objectivity and to become emotional. So I will take a few days to recalibrate and then come back with a steadier perception. Thanks for putting this stuff in context and in perspective. Your work is always appreciated, even when reading it DRIVES ME CRAZY! <smile>
He'll lie, nothing will be done.
Rinse.
Repeat.
I am not optimistic, at all, about this. If something does happen, whatever that may be, I will be shocked. The corruption is so vast and deep, it will take years to clean up.
Great headline. Ha ha ha! What COULD he possibly say? He's already published his introduction. He is creating a dictator. How can he have advanced as far as he has career-wise with this skewed view?
Dear Amee, I tried, I really tried, but I can´t listen anymore to the deflections, denials, the wheeling and dealing of Bill Barr or Trump. I´m raised & educated to be open minded and to see both sides in a “discussion” but for me this goes beyond any form of comprehension or empathy.
And again, I know I´m repeating myself, I really don´t understand that still 40% of Americans approve of Donald Trump. How big a mess can he make?
But for me that begs the question: How is it possible that the 60% that disapprove are completely unable to communicate this to the rest?
You have Lincoln project, Meidas Touch, Eleven Films, Don Winslow, Vets … etc etc. But they´re all preaching for their own parish. The 60% stays 60% …
I understand there will always be a % of hardcore racists/fascists, we have ´m here in Europe too. But 40%? I find that hard to imagine.
Shouldn´t some different tactics or strategies be applied? This way Trump will go into the elections with 40% secure support? Damn
Nah, I don’t need to waste my time listening to that lying, traitorous sack bluster and BS while repugs waste time with procedural machinations, objections, and childish disruptions. They make a mockery of their oaths. I’ll be watching Law & Order reruns.
I’m feeling particularly pessimistic this morning; probably the excellent, but uncompromising report I listened to this morning here: https://youtu.be/DtLDrskGLqU https://youtu.be/DtLDrskGLqU
He's an idiot, plain and simple and a corrupt one at that.
I held down my gorge while Jordan rapped drivel. Again. I stayed with it until Barr said there was no cause to investigate Flynn because he had not committed a crime. But he knows better than I do that the charging of a crime follows an investigation, not vice versa. He cares only about his chance to create a theocracy. Which church got gobs of relief money? “His” church.