May 01, 2019 12:50 PM UTC

William Barr Testimony Goes Very, Very Badly

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Rep. Diana DeGette calls on Attorney General William Barr to resign.

“The attorney general of the United States is the people’s lawyer, responsible for enforcing the nation’s laws evenly and equally, regardless of anyone’s title or position. Attorney General Barr has shown over and over that he is either unwilling or unable to do that when it comes to evaluating the actions of the president and, for that reason alone, he should resign immediately.”

—–

Kamala Harris forces Bill Barr to admit no one in his office looked at the evidence before exonerating Trump https://t.co/vd31b8ndT5

— Raw Story (@RawStory) May 1, 2019

Attorney General William Barr is testifying today in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on matters relating to the Mueller investigation. It has been an absolute disaster for both Barr and President Trump.

As conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin writes for the Washington Post:

Among Barr’s worst moments: Claiming there was a difference between seeking to remove special counsel Robert S. Mueller III for “conflicts” (which never existed), or firing him; claiming, despite the language of Mueller’s letter, that he did not think Mueller found Barr’s four-page letter from March 24 misleading; claiming that he did not release Mueller’s summaries because the entire report had to be released (yet Barr released his own four-page letter, which he refused to characterize as a “summary”); and claiming that Mueller refused to reach a prosecutorial decision (despite the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) guidelines prohibiting prosecution of a sitting president) because of insufficient evidence.

Again and again, the attorney general resorted to word games. He didn’t lie, he now argues, when he told committee members that he was unaware of the Mueller team’s objections because he was referring to the team, not to Mueller. (Isn’t Mueller part of his own team?)…

…“Barr’s testimony has been disgraceful,” constitutional scholar Laurence H. Tribe tells me.

There will certainly be much more to unpack from Barr’s testimony today. In the meantime…

Michael Tackett of the New York Times:

Barr now concedes he might have had some conversations with the White House about spinoff investigations. Says they were not “substantive”

— Michael Tackett (@tackettdc) May 1, 2019

CNN’s Manu Raju:

Harris: Has the President or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone?
BARR: Um, I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t –
HARRIS: Yes or no
BARR: Could you repeat that question? ..
BARR: Yeah but I’m trying to grapple with the word “suggest.”

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) May 1, 2019

Benjamin Wittes of the Brookings Institute:

Bill Barr’s inability to answer @SenKamalaHarris‘s question about whether the president or anyone in the White House suggested he open investigations on anyone is everything.

Everything.

— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) May 1, 2019

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) and Senator Kamala Harris (D-California) have now called on Barr to resign as Attorney General.