President Donald Trump could only be delighted to have his attorney general in El Salvador, dealing with his biggest issue: illegal immigration. Yet Barr did even better for his boss. In interviews from the Central American country, hes been offering cryptic comments suggesting the Russia probe unfairly targeted Trump.
More and more, Barrs becoming Trumps favorite lawyer. Hes not only enthusiastically embracing Trumps political agenda, hes also gone all-in by casting special counsel Robert Muellers report as vindication for Trump and hinting that the real wrongdoing was committed by those who launched the investigation.
Serving as attorney general is traditionally a balancing act, carrying out the presidents agenda as a member of the Cabinet while also trying to avoid political bias in enforcing the nations laws. As a nominee, Barr cast himself as above the political fray. But as attorney general, hes turned out much as Democrats feared.
Hes defied subpoenas from Congress and a House panel has voted to hold him in contempt. He provided the White House with the legal case for not giving lawmakers an unredacted version of Muellers report. And this week, he baited House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, asking her during a Capitol Hill event if she brought her handcuffs to arrest him.
All the while, Trump has cheered him on.
After attending a Trump law enforcement speech in the Capitol where he encountered Pelosi Barr flew to El Salvador for meetings on some of Trumps biggest talking points: the MS-13 street gang and illegal immigration.
Barr toured a jail outside San Salvador as a crew from Trumps favorite television network, Fox News, followed alongside and held a news conference to tout collaboration between U.S. and Central American officials that led to the indictments of thousands of gang members who otherwise might have reached the U.S.
Just a month after taking office in February, Barr was defending Trump in an Oval Office ceremony, as the president issued his first veto, rejecting Congress efforts to block an emergency declaration to fund his border wall. Barr declared that Trumps national emergency was clearly authorized under the law.
Then he went further.
And from the standpoint of protecting the American people, its imperative, Barr said.
Trump handed Barr the signed veto. Afterward, he told advisers that he was impressed that Barr stepped forward to not only legally validate the wall, but support it.
That moment, according to four White House officials and Republicans close to the West Wing, began to solidify Barrs loyalty in the presidents mind. Trump had spent months raging at his first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, for recusing himself from the Russia probe, which ultimately led to Muellers appointment.
After Mueller submitted his report to Barr in March, the attorney general released a four-page summary letter to Congress. Barrs letter framed the debate about the probe over the next few weeks and, White House officials believe, allowed Trump to declare victory before the release of the full report, the contents of which are far more ambiguous.
Trump also appreciated Barrs combative stance with lawmakers and reporters as he has defended the Justice Departments handling of the report, and again when he declined to appear before Congress and defied a subpoena, drawing a possible contempt charge. Trump has told close confidants that he finally had my attorney general, according to two Republicans close to the White House who were not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.
In El Salvador, Barr again talked about spying in the 2016 presidential race one of Trumps favorite talking points and noted that Mueller didnt look into the governments actions against Trump. But he neglected to mention that this wasnt Muellers mandate, which was to investigate Russian election interference, possible coordination with the Trump campaign and any obstruction of that investigation.
Barr hinted at wrongdoing, saying that some of the explanations hes been told about the start of the investigation dont hang together. But he didnt elaborate.
Barr has already asked John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, to examine the origins of the Russia investigation to determine whether intelligence and surveillance methods used during the probe were lawful and appropriate. Barr is also working with CIA Director Gina Haspel, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
The inquiry is the third such review of the matter.
The Justice Departments inspector general is investigating the probes origins and the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the government to conduct surveillance in some of the most sensitive investigations. Sessions had appointed another U.S. attorney, John Huber, of Utah, to review aspects of the Russia investigation, following grievances from Republican lawmakers.
Barr told Fox News that he appointed Durham because no one has really looked across the whole waterfront.
Barr has provided no details about what spying may have taken place but he could be alluding to a surveillance warrant the FBI obtained on former Trump associate Carter Page and the FBIs use of an informant while investigating ex-Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos. He has said he didnt mean anything pejorative when he used the term in congressional testimony.
Democrats have accused Trump of using the spying allegations to divert attention from Muellers findings that Russia tried to help Trump get elected and that Mueller did not exonerate Trump on the question of whether he tried to impede his investigation. Mueller didnt find a criminal conspiracy between the campaign and the Kremlin.
FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress this month that he has no evidence the FBI illegally monitored Trumps campaign and doesnt consider court-approved FBI surveillance to be spying.
James Baker, who was the FBIs general counsel when the Russia probe began, defended the investigation to the Lawfare podcast last week, saying it wouldve been highly inappropriate for the FBI not to pursue allegations of foreign election interference.
In the Fox News interview, Barr discussed another frequent subject of Trumps tweets: a dossier cited in the application for a warrant to monitor Page under FISA. Trump has claimed incorrectly that the dossier is what started the Russia investigation.
The FBI had been interested in Page as early as 2013 and he again attracted the bureaus interest when he joined the Trump campaign as the FBI began looking at Russian interference. The FISA warrant used to investigate Page cited the dossier, a collection of memos authored by former British spy Christopher Steele that contained uncorroborated allegations of ties between Trump and his associates and Russia.
Steeles research was funded by Clintons campaign, a fact congressional Republicans have seized on. That was disclosed in a footnote in the FISA application, which was approved by judges four times.
Barr said taking opposition research that had a number of clear mistakes and using it to conduct counterintelligence against an American political campaign is a strange, would be a strange development.
(AP)
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One Response
Nice smear attempt by the AP.
Jeff Sessions was an absolute disgrace. He should be made to pay back every penny of his taxpayer funded salary. The worthless Rino was beaten down by the minority, Schiff and the boys, before he even got started. He wanted to be a little goody two-shoes and bend over backwards for the minority democrats who had just LOST the elections. Thank God we finally have a normal decent AG in office. He’s not as vicious and unrelenting as Eric Holder was for his master, Obama.