I have written many posts over the last three months talking about what a dangerous man President Trump is and how he threatens our democracy. While I stand by those statements, I am thinking that the man, at this moment in time, who is possibly even more dangerous than Trump is his attorney general, William Barr.
Most of the political analysts expect, and both campaigns are preparing for, a big legal fight over the election results. There is the whole assault on the integrity of mail-in voting so there is no doubt that mail-in ballots will be the subject of litigation in many states. There are ongoing efforts to ‘purge’ voter rolls, primarily in Republican states, with the express purpose of suppressing the vote from some segments of the population. That could well lead to litigation. And if there is a close vote in the Electoral College, there could conceivably be legal battles over ‘rogue electors’ or other questionable practices. The bottom line is that there is a very high probability that there will be a lot of litigation.
In a normal world, the character of the Attorney General of the United States would not even be an issue, even given all of the above. However, we don’t live in a normal world these days. We live in Trumpland and his attorney general, William Barr, has shown a distinct tendency to interfere in cases in such a way that Trump is the beneficiary and normal DOJ processes get thrown out the window. Let’s review.
Michael Flynn was Trump’s first National Security Advisor who lasted about two weeks and ultimately pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts. He became a witness against Trump in the Mueller probe. After Trump’s impeachment acquittal Flynn tried to withdraw his plea. As this was percolating through the judicial system leading up to Michael Flynn’s sentencing, William Barr intervened and said the DOJ was going to drop the case. This resulted in several of the key prosecutor’s in the Flynn case to resign. Although this is still pending a final resolution in court, the fact that Barr intervened was widely seen as a politically motivated abuse of the office.
We all remember Roger Stone. He was one of Trump’s minion’s who had been a Republican operative for years and prided himself on his reputation as a ‘dirty trickster.’ He was convicted of several felonies and was awaiting sentencing when Barr once again intervened in the case and went against his own prosecutors recommended sentence for Stone and instead proposed a lesser sentence. This led to more prosecutors resigning. Stone’s sentence was ultimately commuted by Trump but the fact that Barr intervened to help out a Trump friend was once again seen as a politically motivated abuse of Barr’s office.
Barr launched his own probe into the Russia investigation that was the subject of the Mueller probe and did this in spite of the fact that both the Mueller probe and the Republican led Senate intelligence Committee concluded that in spite of some mistakes being made, the investigation into Russian interference in our election and possible links to the Trump campaign was a legitimate investigation. Barr is pushing to have his investigation concluded prior to the election and has not committed that he will adhere to the DOJ policy of not releasing controversial information within 60 days of an election. I believe it is near a 100 percent certainty that Barr will release a report – or portions thereof – prior to the election if that information is seen as benefitting Trump. If that occurs, it will be a huge abuse of his office.
Most recently, Barr wants the DOJ to takeover a case to defend Trump in a defamation suit from a woman Trump allegedly sexually assaulted. The alleged assault took place years before Trump took office and Barr’s attempt to have the DOJ takeover the case is unprecedented. Our tax dollars at work! And yet another example of William Barr turning the DOJ into Trump’s personal law firm.
On the flip side, Burr is turning the DOJ into a weapon to go after Trump’s ‘enemies’. There is an investigation into John Bolton regarding the book he published and Trump tried to stop. Burr has floated the idea of charging mayors of cities where protests have taken place – no coincidence I’m sure they are all Democrats. It is a well known tactic in authoritarian regimes around the world to arrest, harass and prosecute dissidents. Here we go!
So, back to the upcoming election. If Barr has been willing to intervene in all of the above cases (and others) where the clear beneficiary is Trump or his close friends, what do you think Barr is capable of in an election year legal battle?? He has already shown a willingness to stretch his interpretation of the law in ways that legal scholars say is unprecedented. This election could really test his ability to push the legal boundaries.
The Department of Justice, although a part of the Executive Branch, is supposed to dispense equal justice under the law for ‘We the people’. Barr’s DOJ has just become another corrupt tool in Trump’s arsenal for further attacks upon American democracy along his path to an authoritarianism. The reason that Barr is so dangerous is because, although Trump acts more and more like a despot, Barr could actually enable him to become one.