Congress, as well as the American public, has been leery of Attorney General Bill Barr since he released his 4-page summary of the Mueller report nearly a month ago — and for good reason. Barr has made it no secret that he disagrees with the president ever being investigated in the first place and it’s fairly common knowledge that he was elevated to the top by none other than Trump himself. Not to mention his proclamation of exoneration regarding charges of obstruction was sketchy at best.
But as it turns out, there’s even more reason not to trust our Attorney General. According to a report by Just Security, Barr has a history of misleading Congress.
Ryan Goodman wrote, “On Friday the thirteenth October 1989, by happenstance the same day as the “Black Friday” market crash, news leaked of a legal memo authored by William Barr.”
“He was then serving as head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). It is highly uncommon for any OLC memo to make headlines,” Goodman continued. “This one did because it was issued in ‘unusual secrecy’ and concluded that the FBI could forcibly abduct people in other countries without the consent of the foreign state. The headline also noted the implication of the legal opinion at that moment in time. It appeared to pave the way for abducting Panama’s leader, Gen. Manuel Noriega.”
When members of Congress requested to see the full legal document all those years ago Barr promised to “summarizes the principal conclusions.” Goodman pointed out the likeness between this situation and today’s current news.
“Sound familiar?” he wrote. “In March 2019, when Attorney General Barr was handed Robert Mueller’s final report, he wrote that he would “summarize the principal conclusions” of the special counsel’s report for the public.”
Barr has made it strikingly clear that he cannot be trusted with the Mueller report resting in his hands. He has absolutely no intentions of working in good faith.
Featured image via screen capture
