Barr resigns
There are no dull news days anymore.
Although of course it’s probably about 99% certain that Barr’s career as AG would be coming to an end anyway in a few weeks, he decided to get out of the heat of the kitchen a bit sooner:
Trump announced the departure in a Monday evening tweet.
“Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House. Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job! As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family,” Trump tweeted.
The president added: “Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, an outstanding person, will become Acting Attorney General. Highly respected Richard Donoghue will be taking over the duties of Deputy Attorney General. Thank you to all!”
Trump tweeted a copy of Barr’s resignation letter saying he will depart his job on Dec. 23. “I will spend the next week wrapping up a few remaining matters important to the Administration,” Barr wrote, in a letter that largely praised Trump.
“Your record is all the more historic because you accomplished it in the face of relentless, implacable resistance,” Barr wrote to Trump.
It all sounds so normal and polite, doesn’t it? But you can bet your bottom dollar that the MSM will spin it quite differently, to the detriment of Trump (and of Barr, if possible).
Who knows what’s really going on? After all, Trump has been criticizing Barr lately and the two are not what you’d call natural bedfellows to begin with. Barr might be trying to preserve his DC bona fides for the future. If so, it won’t work.
Or maybe he’s just exhausted and wants to have a nice long holiday.
More here
maybe Barr want to hang with his buddy Lon Horuichi
Is it too much to hope for, that Barr will appoint an independent counsel for the Hunter Biden corruption scandals before he leaves?
While Barr may tell himself that he has his reasons; disagreement with Trump, trying to preserve his DC bona fides for the future, or just exhausted and needs a long holiday…
There’s simply no other way to see this but as a betrayal of his oath of office. He took a sacred Oath to defend the Constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic. He was the foremost law officer in America at a time of the greatest threat to its very existence. After this long in office, Barr has to have extensive knowledge of the Deep State’s composition and membership.
You don’t quit just when that which you’ve sworn to protect is most threatened. Second only to mendacious intent is the moral coward who flees his post and leaves it unguarded.
I suspect this will not be the last of the resignations in the coming five weeks. Some will be out of frustration with Trump, some will be in hope, as Neo says, of “preserving their D.C. bona fides.” But again, as Neo says, that won’t work. No one who has worked in Trump’s administration will ever be able to work in a future administration.
Barr is simply not the trooper his president is.
He is old-school, frumpy and staid.
He will not turn over any tables.
A grave disappointment in his conduct of his office. Words but not deeds.
In so not-doing he is failing his duty to the country and to his office.
His designation of Durham was a farce, it turns out. Durham will be let go on Jan 21 by Sleepy Dopey Joe. Clinton fired ALL sitting US Attorneys by instruction to his wizard AG, Janet Reno, on taking office, remember? Why would Durham be kept in his job, except for Dopey Joe’s gratitude for doing nothing. That’s not how it works. Politics ain’t gratitude- based.
Barr just the last in a long line of what had been touted, one by one over the last couple of years–as supposedly courageous, straight-shooting public servants–as they were being reported about and presented; people who we were led to believe, were on Trump’s side, of like mind to him, and able to work with him.
But, in actuality—from their statements, their actions, and/or the lack thereof—we have discovered that they were, in one way or the other–Deep State actors, saboteurs, and individuals who have done their best to ignore, to block, to slow-roll, and to water-down whatever tasks and initiatives Trump had assumed they would be in sympathy with, and charged them with carrying out.
Barr is hoping the Chevy Chase cocktail party invitations return.
Many people on the right put their faith in the Barr/Durham duo to “save the day” and, finally, hold the nefarious actors in the Trump coup attempt accountable. I never shared those hopes. Barr/Durham live in the swamp; Barr was raised in the swamp. One apparently iron rule is that swamp creatures do not rat on fellow swamp creatures; they take care of each other and make sure none is permanently harmed if caught “doing the work.” I pity those who put their faith in these two; all that false hope wasted, all those hopes shattered by the cold light of reality, in Washington, D.C.
The 23rd huh? Maybe he doesn’t want to be around for Trump crossing the Rubicon on the night of 24th-25th.
Chase Eagles:
Or the Delaware.
I regard Barr as an honorable public servant of the old school. That is, as a tragic figure, sadly unequal to the situation that we have faced since 2016 at least. Like Andrew McCarthy, he was and is unable or unwilling to see that the institutions he identifies with are corrupt. All of them. The only one of Trump’s recent appointments who understood what we are up against, and who was willing fearlessly to call out and undercut the IC and the Deep State in public, was Richard Grenell. Had Grenell had another year as DNI, or had he been appointed FBI director, I think the events of the past half-year would have taken a very different turn. I hope he sticks around and remains active. Like Michael Flynn, he’s a fighter with inside knowledge, and a potential rallying point in the days ahead.
Solarwinds hacked and now raided. CEO and VP dumped stock. Connection to Bain. Provider for Dominion. WTF? 1.9 million CCP spies in the west. Vast infiltration. Where the hell is 007? Who is writing this crap?
Maybe Barr was fired, although he may have resigned in lieu.
It is my fervent hope that Trump is certain that the interim will appoint a Special Counsel to investigate the Biden crime family. However, since the guy is currently Deputy, or Assistant, or whatever, he is likely a career swamp denizen. Never trust them.
I am sure that Barr is honest and ethical to a fault. That just doesn’t hack it right now; honest and ethical officials are largely irrelevant.
Said elsewhere. Go scorched earth Mr President. You have nothing to lose; because the people with the megaphones are going to excoriate you anyway.
I too hope that Grenell can find a field to fight on. He is a breath of fresh air.
New thought. Hope that I will qualify as a high risk octogenarian for early Trump vaccine. Just for the hell of it. Although, by any logic of triage a more or less functional 85 year old should be near the end of the line. Just ahead of those in long term care facilities.
Well he left many of us pissed off. A pee tape of a sort
Oldflyer, did you perhaps mean to say that in general healthy 80 year olds should be just behind those in long term care facilities? I think most of us would endorse that decision. A lot of essential categories/ jobs to prioritize, but hopefully aimed at vaccinating first those most likely to be serving in an ICU or arriving at one.
Cicero:
Please see this:
So firing Durham is not a simple matter of firing a US attorney. However – and it’s a big “however” – if the Democrats decide it’s necessary in order to protect themselves, they will try their level best to do it. They have no fear of being inconsistent, and no fear of being criticized by the MSM.
Democrats decide it’s necessary in order to protect themselves, they will try their level best to do it. They have no fear of being inconsistent, and no fear of being criticized by the MSM.
A wag today has put text from USA Today about an accusation leveled at Andrew Cuomo side-by-side with that about an accusation contra Brett Kavanaugh, noting th contrast in the framing. They’ll do it because they’re garbage people. The press will cover for them because they’re garbage people. Democratic voters are perfectly content with garbage people in public office.
Slightly off topic, the media is casting about for a new set of lies to jump on.
I’m think some combo of the dangers of White Supremacists, Proud Boys and conservative bloggers.
“The chatter within the network is that there’s an appetite for a dramatic new storyline to replace Trump—most likely to be propagated, internal discussions have suggested, through punditry instead of more expensive and risky reporting.”
Perhaps Dems will give them their topics, though. That would save them the trouble of generating their own. Sample: the new “health emergencies”:
BLM,
Poverty and homelessness,
Gun violence,
Hate speech,
Global warming.
As Covid proved, any of the above would justify cancelling more of our rights.
Chases Eagles on December 14, 2020 at 8:57 pm said:
The 23rd huh? Maybe he doesn’t want to be around for Trump crossing the Rubicon on the night of 24th-25th.
* * *
Or the Delaware, as Hubert said.
Actually, you may be on to something here. J E Dyer thinks the resignation is much too convivial to be on the level. There may be something in the works.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/12/14/in-which-trump-and-barr-have-a-group-hug-and-barr-doesnt-actually-announce-hes-resigning/
Letting Barr get out of the line of fire would be a generous act.
And I’m all for putting Ric Grenell in charge of fighting off the alligators while Trump pulls the plug on the swamp on his way out.
Oldflyer, R2L, as to the vaccines, I’m reading Alex Berenson’s comments on the trials. The shot is going to make us feel pretty bad for a couple of days, twice, and the second dose may be rougher than the first. This was my husband’s experience with the Shingrix vaccine. He did it because shingles is worse.
I think those of us at higher risk should go ahead and get the shots, and young, healthy people may want to hold off, since their risk from the disease is so much lower. If all of us old people get the vaccine, the death rate should plummet, and that ought to be the end of the panic.
Edit is back!!
Now that Bidet will become prez., all the ongoing “investigations” (Trump is a Russian spy; Bidet Jr. payoffs ) are meaningless.
Barr’s resignation, at this point, means nothing.
Durham is sure taking his sweet time investigating the Russia hoax. He will probably complete his work the day after Bidet is sworn in. Then Durham can quit and make far more $$$ working for a big time schmancy-fancy law firm.
Bidet and whomever he appoints as his AG (Holder? Loretta Lynch?) will quash what remains of any investigations or just make sure the final reports are tossed into the trash bin and withheld from the public.
But even if it is made public, the MSM will either not report any of it or just claim the report was produced by Trump fascist stooges, so it’s all a big F’n lie anyway.
If the Republicans hold the Senate, they may get off their asses and hold hearings on any report emanating from Huber and others.
These hearings will be a waste of time, just as they were when they had Hillary, Zuckerberg, Holder, et.al. brought in to testify. They did testify, and they lied through their teeth multiple times and of course, none of the lying witnesses suffered any consequences.
True, Holder was found in contempt of Congress, but big F’n deal. Nothing at all came of this.
We have all heard by now how folks from Twitter and FB and Google will have new jobs working for the incoming Bidet admin. If you think the pro-demokrat propaganda was bad during Trump’s presidency, you have not seen anything yet.
“News” from the ENTIRE federal govt apparatus + the MSM will now be “directed,” from Bidet’s office by his official propaganda officials.
Bidet might as well just appoint an official “Minister of Propaganda.”
John Tyler:
Don’t disagree. I think the scenario you outline is accurate, with one caveat: Biden & Co. will certainly *try* to do all of those things. Whether they will succeed remains to be seen.
On Barr: consider the possibility that both Barr and Trump knew that Barr is not up for what’s coming down the pike. He’s just not that kind of cat. It doesn’t mean he’s a “traitor”, as some have alleged here and elsewhere. It means he knows he’s not the right guy for the job and he’s taking himself out of the way. His “resignation” letter (and thanks to AesopFan via J.E. Dyer for observing that he doesn’t actually say “I resign effective XYZ date”) is surprisingly complimentary of Trump and not-mincing-words about the campaign to unseat Trump. If Barr were angling to restore his Salonfahigkeit on the D.C. cocktail party circuit, he would have written a very different letter. This one is not going to score him any brownie points with the Establishment. Quite the opposite.
There may be something to all this, or it may be yet another damp squib. “The strong are saying nothing until they see” (from one of our gracious host’s favorite poets, Robert Frost).
Correction on my earlier note about Ric Grenell: what I meant to say was that if Grenell had been appointed sooner and served longer as DNI (instead of the useless Dan Coats), or been appointed FBI head (instead of the useless Chris Wray), the past six months would have played out very differently. Whatever Grenell does now–and I hope he does a lot–he can’t fix the past. Alas.
I do not know why Trump has this insane habit of trashing former cabinet members, it reflects badly on him. It is one of the worst things about him (and I voted for him).
I wish Barr well.
It would be foolish to expect great things from Durham at this point – but – he may yet come up with something that will surprise all of us – including the hobbled, phlegm-ridden grifter who made spittle-flecked noises before being comforted by his cocktail waitress consort.
I don’t wish the Biden family well.
The suggestion is being made that Barr resigned to permit the acting AG to appoint a special counsel. Also, to permit the acting AG to declassify everything relating to the Russian hoax and Biden corruption. We’ll see.
Barr’s goodbye letter full of praise for his boss makes it difficult to spin his resignation as anti-Trump, so NPR can’t seem to cover the resignation at all. Likewise for the slates of alternate Electors, and the findings of the forensic audit in Michigan. NPR “news” this morning was essentially a single story – vaccines are coming! Newsworthy yes, but perhaps a bit thin on the ground to stretch for a whole hour, which is all I could suffer.
Hubert at 9:31pm I think has it right.
Barr is still of the traditional Political Class, on the conservative side. But there are limits and while he acted to protect the presidency, he was bound by that traditional Code.
A Grenell or Flynn are outsiders– Disrupters, as was Trump the Disrupter. They had to be eliminated at all costs.
As an outsider, the President tried to assemble a cabinet using suggested members of The Code. In most cases, they served the interests of The Class more than ordinary Americans.
I agree with Snow on Pine:
“we have discovered that they were, in one way or the other–Deep State actors, saboteurs, “
Personnel, lack of allies, has long been Trump’s biggest swamp draining challenge. It’s really too bad Flynn was so well neutralized, so early, so completely.
Barr was the best – but not great, not even so good. On Turley’s blog, I read a comment – “Has the FBI uncovered the identity of any who set up bricks for the riots of BLM?” Unbelievably weak, er, all-too-sadly very believably weak against America hating internal Dem activists. But still seeming strong against any on the right.
I do hope Pres. Trump declassifies huge amounts of official stuff, so more folks see the reality.
So many Deep State crimes by criminals that are unpunished. Far more public protests are needed.
I also think there needs to be term limits on gov’t workers – like 10 years and an end to any raises or promotions, and after 12 years a 1% decrease each month, until they leave.