#william-barr

[foreverlogical]

William Barr Takes a Wrecking Ball to the DOJ, Former Officials Respond with Stern Letters

In lawyer-speak, this was the equivalent of setting oneself on fire.

[spinelessdemsandwhinyrepublicans]

What Did Barr Mean When He Said Ungrateful “Communities” Could “Find Themselves Without Police Protection”?

One way to read Barr’s comments is as a not-so-thinly-veiled threat to communities of color.

What in the God-Given-Fuck is this man saying?

[porterdavis]

The Justice Department’s Disgraceful Effort to Shield Trump From Congressional Oversight

The DOJ’s bizarre brief conjures pseudo-constitutional rules out of thin air.

This is truly banana republic stuff. Trump and his lapdog AG Barr have subverted the Justice Department into an arm of the Trump Criminal Organization.

[tilde44]

William Barr’s Lame-Duck Execution Spree Is Unprecedented

Since 1889, every outgoing administration has halted the federal death penalty during the transition period.

Last week, the Trump administration announced that it would continue to carry out executions in the days and weeks leading up to the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, with the last one now scheduled just five days before Biden takes office on Jan. 20, 2021. This bloodthirsty decision is another and particularly grotesque way in which President Donald Trump and his Justice Department are defying the norms and conventions for modern presidential transitions. 

[...]

Since [1889], every outgoing administration has halted the federal death penalty during the transition period. Trump and Attorney General William Barr are not merely failing to engage in a merciful pause: They are rushing to execute persons who might be spared by a new administration.

Indeed, the Biden administration intends to try to abolish the federal death penalty and provide incentives for states to abolish it as well. A spokesperson reaffirmed this intention on Saturday: “The president-elect opposes the death penalty, now and in the future, and as president will work to end its use.”

[posttexasstressdisorder]

Goodbye, Bill Barr

There was never any reason to believe Bill Barr had a shred of honor.

GOOD RIDDANCE, MOBBED-UP SACK O’ OPUS DEI SHIT!

[saywhat-politics]

Goodbye, Bill Barr

There was never any reason to believe Bill Barr had a shred of honor.

In just two years, Attorney General William Barr transformed the Department of Justice into a sleazy, third-rate law firm devoted to shielding Donald Trump and his friends from the consequences of their crimes. A coterie of attorneys with prestigious law degrees and sterling résumés joined Barr’s crusade to place Trump above the law. The attorney general’s tenure played out as a natural experiment: What happens when the embodiment of the right-wing Federalist Society becomes the nation’s chief law enforcement officer? The answer has been a ghastly disaster for the rule of law.

Now that Trump has lost reelection, Barr will soon step down. His departure will not undo the immense damage that he inflicted upon the Justice Department, which is supposed to enforce federal law fairly, impartially, and independently from the president’s whims. He has turned the principle of prosecutorial independence into a farce. It will take years to persuade Americans that the attorney general is anything more than a glorified bag man for the president.

[saywhat-politics]

Trump’s Rush Limbaugh Interview Was Perhaps His Most Deranged of the Week

To be clear, the week was already extremely deranged.

President Donald Trump’s COVID-19-infected tour of right-wing media continued on Friday afternoon with an appearance on Rush Limbaugh. The conversation with the conservative radio host followed interviews with Fox hosts Maria Bartiromo and Sean Hannity on Thursday. On Friday night, Trump is scheduled to appear on Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News and participate in a “medical evaluation” on live TV. (This is not actually a joke.)

With the Limbaugh appearance, which lasted a full two hours, Trump had perhaps his most generous interlocutor since leaving the hospital on Monday. Indeed, Rush billed the episode not as an interview, but as a “virtual rally” for the president’s reelection campaign.

By recent standards, it’s hard to say this was more or less insane than the rest of Trump’s apparently drug-addled media appearances this week. There were a few notable moments, including the president saying “fuck” on live radio—something his Federal Communications Commission might have to look into. Here are the most deranged portions of Friday’s interview.

[saywhat-politics]

Impeach Bill Barr

No, he won’t be removed from office. But that’s not the only purpose of impeachment.

After years of attack, Attorney General William Barr and President Donald Trump landed the final blow on congressional oversight on Tuesday, eliminating it as we know it.

The Department of Justice sent a stunning letter to the House Judiciary Committee, refusing to bring the assistant attorney general and Bureau of Prisons director to testify as the committee had requested, because—according to the department—when Barr testified in July the committee used its time to “air grievances.” Since the Democrats did not stick to the script, the DOJ argues, the hearing did not serve a “legitimate legislative purpose,” and DOJ decided it was in its right to ignore any future request.

That’s not how oversight has ever worked. Barr’s unilateral declaration—that any attempt by Congress to question him or his officials is illegitimate—is just the latest effort to place the executive branch above its constitutional obligations. The administration has spent recent years refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas for executive documents, most notably during the impeachment inquiry, but the refusal to even appear is a complete rejection and dismantling of oversight altogether. This latest effort calls for the only possible proportionate response: William Barr should be impeached.