aN Monday, Donald Trump Announced the exit of William Barr from the Ministry of Justice. Finally, the president has succeeded in imposing his will on someone, after weeks of repeated failure. On the same day that he distinguished 300,000 American deaths To Covid-19 and The Electoral College endorses Joe Biden’s victoryTrump fired the attorney general again from his post. Jeff Sessions is no longer a single club.
However, Barr will also not be present if and when he hands the president his final round of pardons, which is likely a comfort to the president’s legal spear carrier but also a reason for Trump to be anxious: Barr knows a thing or two about pardons at the eleventh hour. Mike Flynn is just the latest.
As attorney general for George H.W.Bush, Barr succeeded in urging the late president to grant an amnesty in the wake of the Iran-Contra scandal and Bush’s 1992 loss to Bill Clinton. In fact, in Barr’s talk that he has been a driving force for nearly three decades, he has been running roughshod over the “naysayers” in the Justice Department.
Specifically, Barr fought for amnesty for Caspar Weinberger, Ronald Reagan’s defense secretary who was accused, and five others, including Elliott Abrams. In time, Abrams will join the George W. Bush administration and eventually serve as Trump’s special representative for Iran and then Venezuela.
In a 2001 interviewBar Law & Order put it this way: “Obviously the big things were Iran-contra. I certainly didn’t oppose any of them. I preferred the wider.”
As for limiting Bush’s pardon to only Weinberger who was facing charges of perjury, Barr had none of that. He explained, “There were some people arguing just for Weinberger, and I said, ‘No, for a penny, for a pound.'”
At the time, Abrams had already pleaded guilty to withholding information from Congress, but Barr did not deter him. Instead, Barr “felt” that Abrams had “been treated extremely unfairly”. As expected, Lawrence Walsh, the independent advisor at the time, He saw things differently“The Iran-Contra cover … is now complete.”
Years later, Barr distorted the findings of the Mueller report, Muller’s wrath gained, His only friend and Reggie Walton, appointed by George W. Bush to the federal bench. In view of 23 pages, Walton Questioned “seriously” Whether Barr “made a calculated attempt to influence public discourse around the Mueller report in favor of President Trump despite findings specific in the revised version of the Mueller report to the contrary”.
It certainly wasn’t the last time Barr had come under fire from the courts. Following the Justice Department’s tortured efforts to drop the government’s case against Flynn and Trump’s amnesty, Another federal judge, Emmett Sullivan, defeated Barr’s leadership. Like Walton, Sullivan was also troubled by the government’s ability to misrepresent to please Trump.
Even as he dismissed the charges against Flynn, Sullivan said: “In light of the previous government’s argument in this case that Flynn’s false statements were“ completely material ”because his false statements“ went to the heart ”of the FBI investigation, the face change, without explanation, raises concerns Regarding the regularity of the decision-making process. “
When Barr leaves the Chief Justice, he gets paid for his urgent retirement. Against the backdrop of Trump’s unfounded allegations of electoral fraud and theft, Barr punched his boss in the eyes. His resignation letter He declared that “it is imperative for all levels of government and all agencies operating within their competence to do everything in our power to ensure the integrity of the elections and to enhance public confidence in their results.”
Without a bar by his side, Trump now faces a long list of beggars. In addition to Trump considering pardoning himself, he is also facing the issue of granting amnesty to Javanka, and two of his sons, Rudy Giuliani and Ken Paxton, a Texas attorney general who is under an active FBI investigation. Here, too, Barr’s words may come back to haunt the president.
In the 2019 confirmation session, Barr testified that the president has the power to pardon family members, but he could also face trial if the pardon is linked to a broader effort to obstruct justice. Barr explained that while the president has “the power to pardon a family member,” if it is “related to some acts that violate the suspension law, that may be an obstruction.”
Come 12:01 PM on January 20, 2021, Trump loses immunity and becomes a fair game for prosecutors. Indeed, Cyrus Vance, Manhattan’s attorney general, is passionately spinning about Trump and his business. As for the Southern District of New York, they described Trump as an unconvicted conspirator.
What comes next remains.
