Whose “bad faith”?
Attorney General William Barr said he still believes the FBI may have operated out of “bad faith” when it investigated whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, and he contends the FBI acted improperly by continuing the investigation after Donald Trump took office.
In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Barr essentially dismissed the findings of the Justice Department’s inspector general that there was no evidence of political bias in the launching of the Russia probe, saying that his hand-picked prosecutor, John Durham, will have the last word on the matter.
Except that’s not how it works. The inspector general oversees the Justice Department, not the other way around. Barr’s personal prosecutor doesn’t get to have the last word.
“I think our nation was turned on its head for three years based on a completely bogus narrative that was largely fanned and hyped by a completely irresponsible press,” Barr said. “I think there were gross abuses …and inexplicable behavior that is intolerable in the FBI.”
“I think that leaves open the possibility that there was bad faith.”
I think Barr is acting as Trump’s bag man rather than the Attorney General for the whole country.
Barr’s blistering criticism of the FBI’s conduct in the Russia investigation, which went well beyond the errors outlined in the inspector general report, is bound to stoke further controversy about whether the attorney general is acting in good faith, or as a political hatchet man for Trump.
I don’t see much room for “controversy.” He’s all but carrying a hatchet in each hand and one between his teeth.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz, after reviewing a million documents and interviewing 100 people, concluded that he “did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the decisions to open” the investigations into Trump campaign aides.
But Barr argued that Horowitz didn’t look very hard, and that the inspector general accepted the FBI’s explanations at face value.
Shall we have a controversy over whether or not Barr is a total hack?
With respect, that could not possibly be right. Because that would imply that, like Richard Nixon before him, the pouting POTUS Trump was a crook.
Might even be unconstitutional.
When can we do something about gangland consigliere Billy Barr? He deserves worse than impeachment for his disembowelment of the federal justice system.
I see the US Government have just allowed Russia to use the US Government platform (a press conference with For Min Lavarov and SS Pompeo) to flat out lie by attributing 2016 election interference to Ukraine. Without challenge. This despite 17 US Intelligence agencies concluding it was Russia.
Oh ffs.