Attorney General William Barr resigns, effective Dec. 23 Published Mon, Dec 14 2020 5:44 PM EST Updated Mon, Dec 14 2020 7:33 PM EST Kevin Breuninger @KevinWilliamB
By the former metric, Barr is arguably the worst attorney general in American history.
Trump also had accused the attorney general of disloyalty when he refused to publicly disclose an active investigation into Hunter Biden — Joe Biden’s son — during the presidential race, The New York Times reported. “Why didn’t Bill Barr reveal the truth to the public, before the Election, about Hunter Biden.
Bill Barr was a historically bad attorney general. His resignation shouldn't rehabilitate him. Bill Barr was a historically bad attorney general. His resignation shouldn't rehabilitate him. Trump wanted an attorney general who would act like his personal attorney rather than serve the interests of the American people. In Barr, he got that.
197719832000GTE2008Verizon Communications, Verizon CommunicationsWilliam Barr/Left dates
Barr is sworn in as Attorney General by Chief Justice John Roberts in 2019.
Matthew WhitakerPreceded byJeff SessionsSucceeded byWilliam BarrChief of Staff to the United States Attorney GeneralIn office September 22, 2017 – November 7, 201822 more rows
Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015. Holder, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama, was the first African American to hold the position of U.S. attorney general.
K. K. VenugopalThe 15th and current Attorney General is K. K. Venugopal....Attorney-General for India.Attorney General for IndiaAbbreviationAGResidenceNew Delhi, IndiaSeatA-144, Neeti Bagh, New Delhi-110049AppointerPresident of India on advice of the Union Cabinet9 more rows
Rod Jay Rosenstein (/ˈroʊzənˌstaɪn/; born January 13, 1965) is an American attorney who served as the 37th United States deputy attorney general from April 2017 until May 2019.
2019-2023Contract:5 yr(s) / $67,500,000Signing Bonus$13,000,000Average Salary$13,500,000Total Guarantees$33,000,000Guaranteed at Signing$15,900,0001 more row
On Saturday, Trump retweeted a post that said Barr “should be fired by the end of business today” if the attorney general had worked to keep a criminal investigation of Hunter Biden secret during the election, as The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
The end of Barr’s tenure is the final step in the deterioration of Trump’s relationship with his attorney general, an alliance that was once considered to be among the strongest Trump had with any member of his Cabinet.
Barr’s ouster deepens an ongoing leadership crisis at the Justice Department. The attorney general had faced intense criticism, including from current and former DOJ officials, that he had politicized the department.
Attorney General William Barr, the head of the Department of Justice, will leave office before Christmas, President Donald Trump said Monday. The widely anticipated announcement of Barr’s departure came just moments after President-elect Joe Biden ’s victory over Trump was formalized by the Electoral College.
William Barr takes a seat after a break in his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination to be attorney general of the United States on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 15, 2019. Yuri Gripas | Reuters.
Attorney General William Barr, the head of the Department of Justice, will depart the Trump administration before Christmas, President Donald Trump said. The widely anticipated announcement of Barr’s departure came just moments after President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over Trump was formalized by the Electoral College.
Barr also faced scrutiny over his handling of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, as well as the termination of Geoffrey Berman, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. At times, however, Barr publicly pushed back on Trump.
Back then, Barr’s recommendation for the pardon helped insulate the president from the criticism that he was being self-serving. But things would be different now.
CEO Pay Is the Last Temptation of Shale. The most likely possibility, however, involves presidential pardons, and perhaps legally questionable executive orders designed to make more permanent some of Trump’s policies. The president can issue pardons without the attorney general or the Department of Justice.
The president can issue pardons without the attorney general or the Department of Justice. The Constitution gives the pardon power to the chief executive alone. But there is a pardon office in Justice, and a president who entirely ignores or sidesteps its recommendations could taint his attorney general.
Barr knows all about late-term pardons. He made his own reputation at the end of George H.W. Bush’s administration by recommending pardons for Iran-Contra figures. Those pardons effectively ended the investigation into the scandal -- and insulated Bush, who might have been implicated had the investigation continued.
In other words, instead of the attorney general insulating the president by recommending pardons, the president would be discrediting the attorney general by issuing outrageous pardons without the top lawyer’s consent.
William Barr Has Resigned. What Finally Spooked Him? - Bloomberg
Trump also announced who will be replacing him come Dec. 23. "Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen , an outstanding person, will become Acting Attorney General," he wrote. "Highly respected Richard Donoghue will be taking over the duties of Deputy Attorney General. Thank you to all!"
Barr quit his position on the same day the Electoral College officially called the 46th presidency for President-elect Joe Biden, which Trump continues to dispute. (Barr notably told the Associated Press on Dec. 1 that there was no evidence widespread voter fraud occurred.)
Still, as per CNN, a White House official revealed that Barr "wasn't asked to resign," and that the meeting between Barr and Trump on Dec. 14 was "amicable," which Trump echoed in his announcement of Barr's departure. Sen. Mitt Romney revealed his theory behind Barr's exit, as per NBC.
Trump was angry that Barr ordered a classified investigation on Hunter Biden without letting Trump know .
Barr could legitimately have reached his conclusion on obstruction by rejecting the legal theories and said as much. He would be correct to do so. Instead, he analyzed the matter by assuming that the legal theories were right and applied them to the facts and concluded, again rightly, that they did not amount to legal obstruction even under the novel novel theories. If the subject of the investigation were a private party or even an uncontroversial public figure, no one would question that Barr acted properly. Why should he act differently because the subject was a Trump, a highly controversial public figure. Isn’t Trump entitled to be treated like every other citizen? Had Barr acted differently he would then have violated his oath. Justice is supposed to be blind for a reason. Who we are in terms of wealth or lack thereof, exalted position or humble, public or private, etc., are supposed to be treated as irrelevant. Had Barr treated Trump differently because of his political position, party affiliation, or his unpopularity in certain circles the Barr would not deserve his office. Funny how people are willing to overthrow their desire for fair treatment for all when they don’t like someone.
In the aftermath of the election, President Trump is trying to push the fantasies of a stolen election and fraud by the Democratic Party.
Barr loves, loves authority figures with a devout if not fellating zeal, and Trump has no chance of remaining one past January, so may as well abandon ship and enjoy the holidays. I have little doubt Barr would eagerly help Trump overturn the election by whatever means necessary and assume increased executive powers if there was a chance of succeeding, but the lack of a supportive SCOTUS ruling or collaboration from Republican governors ruled that out, and Barr himself was likely to get blamed for that, so Barr cut his losses. I have no expectation that Barr suddenly grew a conscience or becam
He specifically asked Mueller on three different occasions whether Mueller declined to indict Trump based on the opinion of the Offce of Legal Counsel (OLC) that a sitting President cannot be indicted. Mueller repeatedly said no. Mueller, it seems clear, punted on the obstruction question because he believed was no case and wanted to not take the heat of making the call. Further, it seems likely that the strongly anti-Trump members of Mueller’s team were pushing hard for an obstruction case. His chief investigator, Andrew Weissman, is well known for his creative interpretations of statutes in order to create new crimes. He was slapped down by the Supreme Court for this behavior at least twice. He is also noted for fudging on turning over Brady material.
AG Barr is a very intelligent and thoughtful man. He certainly had a purpose in resigning when he did (although I do not claim to know those reasons).
It is difficult to be the subject of Trump’s temper tantrums when he says that the election was basically fair. Barr has considerably more intelligence than his present boss ; it is hard to be the focus of Trump’s ire.
Attorney General William Barr announced his resignation on Monday, effective next week, shortly after the Electoral College formally confirmed that Joe Biden would be the next president.
Most notably, he ordered the top federal prosecutor in Pittsburgh to investigate the conspiracy theories about Joe and Hunter Biden brought to the FBI by Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor turned Trump personal attorney. While in marked contrast to the disastrous decision by then-FBI Director James Comey (who was fired by Trump in 2017) to ignore departmental norms and inform Congress about the briefly reopened investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server in 2016, Barr did not make these investigations public during the campaign. But giving a personal Trump employee special access to the FBI is a highly corrupt act, and “handled FBI investigations of a presidential candidate better than James Comey” is the lowest bar imaginable.
Barr's resignation letter, in fact, reminds us of his original sin: covering up the Trump campaign’s cooperation (if not collusion) with Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election, which Barr referred to as “the effort to cripple, if not oust your administration with frenzied and baseless accusations” in his letter.
In the other case, Alfred Bourgeois was executed although he had a strong claim for being mentally handicapped, which would make his execution illegal both under federal statute and controlling Supreme Court precedent. But Barr was determined to make sure all of these prisoners died on his watch.
Bill Barr was a historically bad attorney general. His resignation shouldn't rehabilitate him. Bill Barr was a historically bad attorney general. His resignation shouldn't rehabilitate him. Trump wanted an attorney general who would act like his personal attorney rather than serve the interests of the American people. In Barr, he got that.
While in marked contrast to the disastrous decision by then-FBI Director James Comey (who was fired by Trump in 2017) to ignore departmental norms and inform Congress about the briefly reopened investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server in 2016, Barr did not make these investigations public during the campaign.
And what’s worse, both of the most recent executions are legally shaky. As observed in the dissenting opinions of the indefatigable Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Brandon Bernard was executed despite the fact that the prosecution made patently false claims about his involvement in a gang, and those claims were critical to his capital sentence for a murder that he did not personally commit. In the other case, Alfred Bourgeois was executed although he had a strong claim for being mentally handicapped, which would make his execution illegal both under federal statute and controlling Supreme Court precedent. But Barr was determined to make sure all of these prisoners died on his watch.