Barr’s refusal to worsen his atrocious legacy is not praiseworthy
Opinion by
Columnist
Dec. 22, 2020 at 6:45 a.m. CST
Attorney General William P. Barr’s legacy as the worst attorney general in history (John N. Mitchell, who went to jail over the Watergate scandal, was a Boy Scout by comparison) is secure despite his last-minute attempts to salvage his reputation. The Post reports:
Barr said that while he was “sure there was fraud in this election,” he had not seen evidence that it was so “systemic or broad-based” that it would change the result. He asserted he saw “no basis now for seizing machines by the federal government,” and he would not name a special counsel to explore the allegations of Trump and his allies.
Barr also rebuffed the suggestion to name a special counsel to investigate President-elect Joe Biden’s son Hunter for tax issues. “Barr said the investigation was ‘being handled responsibly and professionally’ by regular Justice Department prosecutors, and he hoped that would continue in the next administration.”
His insistence that there was “some fraud” ultimately aids Republicans’ appalling efforts to undermine the election. If he is “sure” there is fraud, where is it? What jurisdictions, individuals and circumstances were involved? This is akin to saying he is sure there were some unicorns running loose, just not a whole herd of them. Declining to seize voting machines that he has no power to seize (under what authority? under what theory?) or to name a special counsel purely to aggravate his boss’s successor is nothing to crow about.
This minimal tip of the hat to reality does not absolve Barr of the innumerable ways he disgraced his office and undermined the reputation of the Justice Department.
To recall:
- Barr held up release of the report by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III on Russian interference in the 2016 election for weeks and then misrepresented its contents at a news conference.
- Barr gave misleading testimony to Congress under oath about, among other things, Mueller’s objections to Barr’s summary.
- Barr refused to recuse himself from the investigation of President Trump’s pressure on Ukraine regarding Hunter Biden’s activities there. Barr’s department maneuvered to prevent a whistleblower complaint from reaching Congress promptly, and then gave the president a clean bill of health after Congress reviewed the complaint.
- Barr stepped in to do the president’s bidding when he attempted to drop the prosecution of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
- Barr attempted to have the Justice Department intervene to defend the president in a defamation lawsuit concerning an alleged rape committed before Trump was president.
- Barr, in the lead-up to the 2020 election, echoed Trump’s false claims that voting by mail was rife with fraud, thereby setting the stage for Republicans’ attempt to delegitimize the election.
- Barr changed department policy and extended prosecutors’ powers to probe fraud before the election results were certified, prompting Richard Pilger, director of the Justice Department’s election crimes branch, to quit in protest.
- Under Barr, Justice Department lawyers made factually suspect representations regarding a legal case regarding adding a citizenship question on the 2020 Census and made ludicrous legal arguments asserting “absolute executive immunity” for the president.
- Barr denied the existence of systemic racism in police shootings, insisting that the country is seeing the actions of a few bad apples.
- Barr delivered a bizarrely partisan and religiously dogmatic speech deriding “militant secularists” and, verging on endorsement of a theocracy, heralding efforts to obliterate the divide between church and state.
- Barr went along with and defended the use of tear gas against peaceful protesters outside at the White House.
There were also the things a law-abiding and conscientious attorney general should have done, such as defend the FBI against Trump’s scurrilous attacks; put to rest Trump’s nonsensical allegations against President Barack Obama for “spying” on him; dismiss out of hand the Trump administration’s efforts to investigate political enemies; and denounce the president’s attempts to strong-arm local and state officials to change election results.
The new attorney general in the Biden administration should conduct a top-to-bottom review of Barr’s actions, establishing a definitive record of his egregious conduct and then promulgating reforms to prevent another attorney general and his subordinates from besmirching their offices and the Constitution.
So, no, Barr gets no credit for failing to add just a few more items in his serial disgrace of his office.