Government

What To Watch For As Bill Barr Prepares To Gaslight America

I mean, you should watch for the lulz because there won't be anything else of value.

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Attorney General William Barr

The right answer is, of course, not to watch at all. Attorney General William Barr will testify in front of Congress this week, perhaps twice, and the best thing we could do as a nation would be to not watch it, not cover it, and pretend like he doesn’t even exist. Watching and re-broadcasting Trump’s legal propaganda minister serves no purpose. All Barr is going to do is lie, and we know that because all he has done since he got his job is lie to the American people.

But, we will watch. Our elected representatives have invited this grimacing clown to tell Trump’s side of the story, and habit suggests that we will listen and cover it, if for no other reason than to counter the lies and obfuscations that tumble out of his mouth. Here then, are some things to keep in mind as Barr further sacrifices his reputation and dignity in service of Donald Trump.

* Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Hearing is about defending Trump from the obstruction of justice charge. Robert Mueller decided that he didn’t have the authority to charge the President of the United States with obstruction of justice. Instead, he explained how the president committed obstruction of justice, and hoped Congress would do the rest.

Congress does not want to do the rest. The Republicans have already decided that Trump didn’t commit obstruction. Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham has literally said that. He’s holding this hearing to show his master just how hard he stans for him. The whole goal from Republicans is to exonerate Trump and, failing that (because they will fail that), exonerate themselves for their dereliction of duties. They want Barr to explain why all of this obstruction Mueller found isn’t really obstruction, based on the incorrect theory that “attempted” obstruction isn’t a crime (it is!), or that the President of the United States is singularly unable to commit obstruction of justice (he can!).

But Democrats on Senate Judiciary ALSO don’t want to do their jobs. Democrats would have you believe that Barr is the only person who can charge the president with obstruction, and his failure to do so is why we’re in this mess. Democrats would like you to forget that Congress has every Constitutional authority to charge Trump on their own, and that the Mueller report is basically begging them to start impeachment proceedings against the president. They want to blame Barr, and not their own weakness. You should notice when they try to pass the buck.

* There are three Democrats running for President on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Given the fact that Democrats could be moving forward with impeachment if they really want to, it’ll be interesting to see how Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris, and Corey Booker handle their chances to question Barr. Will they use their time to build a case for impeachment like, I don’t know, a leader? Or will the act like Barr, and Barr alone is the one man who could bring the president to heel?

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I would expect the Democrats to make their questions sound fierce, but actually be useless. Then again, if I were on the committee, I would spend all my time screaming at Lindsey Graham and pretending Barr wasn’t even there, so I might not be the right guy to judge.

* Will Barr throw a hissy fit if he is treated like Dr. Christine Blasey Ford? Barr’s testimony on Wednesday in front of Lindsey Graham’s friendly Senate Judiciary Committee is going forward. His testimony on Thursday in front of Jerry Nadler’s House Judiciary Committee is still up in the air. Apparently, Barr objects to Democrats using a staff attorney to question him. Yes, having Barr questioned by staff attorneys would be the exact same treatment Republicans gave to Dr. Ford during the Kavanaugh hearings. Remember their “female assistant”? I do.

Regardless of who is doing the questioning, Barr has shown himself to be quite prickly in public when lawmakers or the press call him out on his bullshit. Like so many who work for the Trump administration, Barr seems almost weirdly uncomfortable answering difficult questions, especially when those difficult questions are posed to him by women. I’m not expecting Barr to “blow his top” or anything that dramatic. But I think it’s unlikely that Barr gets through potentially two days of Congressional testimony with the grace and stamina of, say, Hillary Clinton during the Benghazi farce.

I doubt any media organization will point out how “unlikeable” Barr appears to be during his testimony, so you’ll have to remember that one for yourself.

Look, the next two days of William Barr on your TV will be a dumb show. He is unlikely say anything truthful, much less important. No minds will or should be changed based on anything he has to say. He has disgraced himself and watching him spend two more days publicly wallowing around in his own filth shouldn’t really move the needle either way.

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There is only one relevant question before Congress: Will the House impeach Donald Trump based on the Mueller report? This Barr testimony is an irrelevant sideshow on the road to answering that question.

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and a contributor at The Nation. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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