Deplorable
Jennifer Rubin is pissed at William Barr.
William P. Barr’s Tuesday interview with NBC News was certainly the most dishonest, frightful and deplorable given by an attorney general in modern times. He attacked the just-released inspector general report and excoriated the FBI for a “travesty” in investigating Russian manipulation of our 2016 election. His false — deliberately false — assertions were jaw-dropping:
Barr claimed, “From day one, it generated exculpatory information and nothing that substantiated any kind of collusion.” False. Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III found substantial evidence of interaction but did not pursue the noncriminal charge of “collusion.” He could not prove criminal conspiracy. Since then, at the Roger Stone trial, evidence has arisen confirming a line of communication from WikiLeaks to Stone to the campaign.
Barr impugned inspector general Michael Horowitz: “All he said was, people gave me an explanation and I didn’t find anything to contradict it … he hasn’t decided the issue of improper motive,” Barr said. “I think we have to wait until the full investigation is done.” False. In his report, Horowitz wrote, “We also sought to determine whether there was evidence that political bias or other improper considerations affected decision-making in Crossfire Hurricane, including the decision to open the investigation.” He found no “documentary or testimonial evidence” of bias in those decisions.
Barr declared, “I think there were gross abuses … and inexplicable behavior that is intolerable in the FBI.” False. The nonpartisan inspector general found fault with certain actions (specifically the application to conduct surveillance on Carter Page) but obliterated conspiracy theories that the FBI was biased, that it spied on Donald Trump’s campaign, etc. (“All of the witnesses we interviewed told the OIG that the FBI did not try to recruit members of the Trump campaign as [Confidential Human Sources], did not send CHSs to collect information in Trump campaign headquarters or Trump campaign spaces, and did not ask CHSs to join the Trump campaign or otherwise attend campaign related events as part of the investigation. Using the methodology described above, we found no information indicating otherwise.”)
Barr accused the Obama administration of using “the law enforcement agencies and the intelligence agencies, both to spy on political opponents, but also to use them in a way that could affect the outcome of the election.” He claimed this was a bigger threat than Russia. False. None of this was substantiated in any fashion by the inspector general. This is akin to claiming Obama bugged Trump Tower.
I don’t understand these people. I keep trying but I just don’t. I can’t see how it’s worth it to defend Trump at all, let alone to do it by telling all these lies about people who, unlike Trump, are not evil.
Barr’s conduct is nothing short of disgraceful and continues his pattern of misstating facts and out-and-out lying about documents to protect President Trump. The House Judiciary Committee should call him up to the Hill and make him explain his remarks, this time under oath. While impeachment of Barr is likely too much to ask, a motion of censure would be entirely appropriate. The next president should conduct a thorough investigation of Barr’s antics and identify those who enabled him in violation of ethical obligations.
I would like to see Warren do that.
It’s all about cognitive dissonance. If you think you are a smart and principled person, you think you make smart and principled decisions. If you make a mistake, it’s hard to admit it. So you retrospectively justify your decision, twist the history until it resembles something you can reconcile with your self image.
That’s what I see here. Republicans hated Trump, didn’t want him as the nominee but once he grasped the nomination they thought there was nothing they could do but go with it, write off 2016 as a bust and work on undermining a Hilary Clinton presidency from day 1. Then, horror of horrors, Trump actually wins. And they’re fucked. They have to keep supporting him because he’s a Republican president and they are dyed in the wool Republicans so they can’t oppose him, at least not openly. They’re terrified of the RINO accusation, of Fox News and their base.
But they figure it’ll be OK. They have control of the House and the Senate. Between them, McConnell and Ryan can keep him in line. He’s a moron, he’ll sign anything they put in front of him. In fact, this could work! Tax cuts for the rich! Pack the courts with right wing judges! Guns for everyone!
Turns out, Trump is both stupider and more malevolent than they’d thought. Slowly, they have to give in to his monstrous decisions because they’re commited now. And it’s not so bad. Yeah, OK, they’ve garnered some bad headlines. But Fox is still on board and that’s all that matters. Each time Trump does something awful, they defend it because they defended him last time and if they change their mind now, they’ll have to explain that and admit they were wrong in the past.
So they dig and dig and dig. It’s the sunk cost fallacy, writ large. There’s no bottom because they cannot, will not admit that they fucked up.
I’d love to see the Judiciary Committee call Barr up to the hill and swear him in as well, but I think we all know he would just refuse to do it. What then?
[Note: for some reason I haven’t been staying logged in recently, and so I’ve had to re-enter my name and email. I posted this with a slightly misspelled name, and it’s under moderation. Apologies to Ophelia for clogging things up.]
Claire,
I’ve said all along that I don’t get their unquestioning attachment to Trump when they could be rid of him and have Pence in his place. They’d still get the judges and the tax cuts, along with a somewhat different brand of misogyny and homophobia.
All I can think is that they’d miss the blatant racism, venality, and criminality.
No problem. Sorry about the not staying logged in! Probably because of the recent WP update that changed a lot of things.
A few threads ago, in response to a Trump statement, a commenter here (can’t remember who) said “Every accusation is a confession.” Well, I’m thinking that in the coming campaign, Barr is going to try to use the FBI in exactly the way that he’s saying Obama did. (If Obama had, he’d have done a better job of it and Trump wouldn’t be in the Oval Office.)
Ophelia, I think it’s the browser. I’m on my phone now and don’t have to log in. Anyway I appreciate how you keep an eye on the comments and clean up our messes.