PrairiePundit

 Fox News: Former AG Barr slams 'pathetically weak' legal theory behind Trump indictment: 'An abomination' Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office indicted Trump on Thursday ...  "It's the epitome of the abuse of prosecutorial power to bring a case that would not be brought against anyone else. They are going after the man, not a crime. And the legal theory, frankly, is pathetically weak," he argued. ... "The claim is that [recording the Cohen reimbursements as legal payments] is false and therefore violated a misdemeanor statute in the first instance against false documents," Barr said. "I actually don't think that's a valid claim in this case, because the statute actually requires that it be done with the intent to defraud." "They're assuming that the payments were a campaign finance violation because they were effectively a contribution to the Trump campaign. I can tell you that's not the law. I don...

  Red States: Pay No Attention to the Drama Queen at DOJ who Resigned After AG Barr Authorized Fraud Investigations As with the Obamagate, too many at DOJ headquarters were more hostile to Trump and the truth to be trusted to investigate the abuse of power in the coup attempt against the President.  That is why Barr used US attorney's like Durham and others to gather evidence of the abuse.

Washington Post:   Trump criticizes Barr and calls for Justice Dept. action against Democrats President Trump complained that Attorney General William P. Barr is not doing enough to deliver the results of a probe into how the Obama administration investigated possible collusion between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. I suspect the problem is the massive scale of the coup attempt by those in the deep state and by Hillary Clinton supporters who were behind the false narratives and feeding the Russia collusion hoax to the media.  Durham may not want to tip his hand and give the perp's an opportunity to change their story before he is ready to prosecute. I do not think the lack of activity is because they have found no criminal activity.  In fact, it is likely the opposite.  There is so much criminal activity by those behind the coup that it is taking time to corral all the evidence. I can understand the President's impatience.  I share it.

NY Times: Barr Defends Right to Intrude in Cases as He Sees Fit The attorney general’s remarks scanned as a rebuke of career Justice Department lawyers who have questioned his level of involvement. As a former general counsel, I understand case management and I had the benefit of working with top lawyers around the country.  That is even more important at DOJ where deep state actors have their own agenda which sometimes conflicts with that of the executive branch leadership.  Considering how so many at DOJ were involved in the plot against the President and his agenda, Barr is right to keep a tight rein on the crew. The WaPo has more on the problem at DOJ: Barr accuses Justice Department of headhunting and meddling with politics In a sweeping speech at a conservative college, the nation’s top law enforcement official said the Justice Department has engaged in political headhunting. From going after an Alaskan Republican Senator, Ted Stevens using false evide...

Red States: This latest news is going to just cause the left to go into a screaming meltdown and call Attorney General Bill Barr “Hitler.” That’s how you know it’s good and appropriate. Barr is reportedly now recommending to prosecutors to charge sedition if it is appropriate with violent rioters. According to the Wall Street Journal: Attorney General William Barr told the nation’s federal prosecutors to be aggressive when charging violent demonstrators with crimes, including potentially prosecuting protesters for plotting to overthrow the U.S. government. [….] Barr warned that sometimes violent demonstrations across the U.S. could worsen as the November presidential election approaches. He encouraged the prosecutors to seek a number federal charges, including under a rarely used sedition law, even when state charges could apply. Now this of course makes a lot of sense when in fact you have a group chanting for revolution and saying they want to bring down the govern...

Katie Pavlich: Wrapping up a three-day tour in Chicago, Phoenix and Cleveland Friday, Attorney General Bill Barr took on the media during an exclusive interview with Townhall. "They're basically a collection of liars. Most of the mainstream media. They're a collection of liars and they know exactly what they're doing. A perfect example of that were the riots. Right on the street it was clear as day what was going on, anyone observing it, reporters observing it, it could not have escaped their attention that this was orchestrated violence by a hardened group of street fighting radicals and they kept on excluding from their coverage all the video of this and reporting otherwise and they were doing that for partisan reasons, and they were lying to the American people. It wasn't until they were caught red-handed after essentially weeks of this lie that they even started feeling less timid," Barr said on the flight back to Washington Friday afternoon. "T...

PJ Media: ... “They talk about the rule of law, they talk about the accordance of the federal legal system to protect civil rights, but the heart of that is our court system, and they’re not willing — not one of them piped up to say it’s not OK to be burning down federal courts,” Barr explained to Levin. “Why? Some of them are true believers. Some of them are essentially revolutionary, and they may not believe in tearing down the system, but many of them are just cowards who are mostly interested in getting reelected and are afraid of a challenge from vote.” Barr also criticized the violent Black Lives Matter protesters. “They are a revolutionary group that is interested in some form of socialism, communism. They’re essentially Bolsheviks. Their tactics are fascistic.” The media, Barr says, shares blame for what’s happening, for “projecting a narrative” that the demonstrations are peaceful. “You don’t see it on the networks, you don’t see it on the other cable stations, and ye...

David Marcus: Democrats Refused To Let Barr Speak Because They Know He’s Right If the Democrats had anything on William Barr, they would have forced him to answer questions. They don't, so they just talked over him. This mad dogging of a witness is incompatible with democracy.  The Democrats shamed themselves with this demonstration and changed no one's mind.

Fox News: A House Democrat who’s a frequent critic of the Trump administration submitted a resolution Tuesday calling for the impeachment of Attorney General William Barr. House Resolution 1032, filed by U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee, accuses the nation’s top law enforcement officer of using his job to pursue political goals. “Today, I introduced #HRes1032, which would authorize an impeachment inquiry into Attorney General Barr,” Cohen wrote on Twitter. “He has politicized the DOJ, undermined the rule of law, abused his power, obstructed justice & violated the first amendment. He is not fit to be Attorney General.” Cohen specifically cited Barr’s role in Justice Department decision to change sentencing recommendations for former Trump adviser Roger Stone -- who was convicted on charges of obstruction, lying to Congress and witness tampering – and Barr’s role in the removal of protesters from Lafayette Square near the White House on June 1, prior to a Trump photo op out...

Washington Examiner: A ttorney General William Barr announced that President Trump had removed Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, following a  standoff  over the Justice Department’s removal of the federal prosecutor. “Unfortunately, with your statement of last night, you have chosen public spectacle over public service,” Barr said in a one-page letter on Saturday. “Because you have declared that you have no intention of resigning, I have asked the President to remove you as of today, and he has done so.” Trump briefly  spoke  with reporters Saturday afternoon, saying “I’m not involved” in the Berman firing, seeming to distance himself. "That's all up to the Attorney General, Attorney General Barr is working on that," Trump  said . "That's his department, not my department... So that's really up to him." ... Barr pushed back against Berman on Saturday, telling him that “your statement also wrongly impli...

Mollie Hemingway: Key details on violent riots near the White House were removed from the broadcast of an interview of Attorney General William Barr on CBS News’ “Face The Nation” Sunday. Anchor Margaret Brennan repeatedly described protests as “peaceful” and the clearing of protesters to set up a stronger perimeter as unnecessarily rushed, contentions Barr strongly denied. Left out of the interview that aired on CBS on Sunday morning was Barr’s detailed accounting of much of the violent context of that perimeter expansion, including that “bricks and inflammable liquid” were being thrown at police in Lafayette Square near the White House as rioters “were trying to get entry” over the fences, the five dozen officers guarding Lafayette Square who were “lost” the night prior in the violence, and the individuals who at the time of their forced dispersal “wrestled with the police officers trying to tear their shields from them, in one case, struggling to get one of the police officer’s g...

Axios: Attorney General Bill Barr defended his decision to forcibly remove protesters from outside of the White House last week, claiming on CBS News' "Face the Nation" Sunday that the media is lying about the protesters being peaceful and that there was no connection between the incident and President Trump's visit to St. John's Church. Why it matters:  Barr has faced calls for accountability over the use of irritants and smoke balls on  protesters in Lafayette Park  on Monday before Trump's photo op at St. John's. A number of reporters on the scene insist that the protesters were peaceful, but Barr called it "one of the big lies that the media seems to be perpetuating at this point." "All I heard was comments about how peaceful protesters were," Barr said, referring to protests that had turned violent the previous day. "I didn't hear about the fact that there were 150 law enforcement officers injured and many taken to ...

Daily Wire: Attorney General William Barr’s office slammed far-left NBC News host Chuck Todd on Sunday for “deceptive editing” after Todd took remarks that Barr made out of context and used the distorted remarks to smear the Department of Justice (DOJ). On “Meet The Press,” Todd used a deceptively edited portion of Barr’s interview last week with CBS News investigative reporter Catherine Herridge. Todd focused in on the following exchange between Barr and Herridge: HERRIDGE: In closing, this was a big decision in the Flynn case, to say the least. When history looks back on this decision, how do you think it will be written? What will it say about your decision BARR: Well, history is written by the winner. So it largely depends on who’s writing the history. But I think a fair history would say that it was a good decision because it upheld the rule of law. It helped, it upheld the standards of the Department of Justice, and it undid what was an injustice. Todd only played the...

NY Times: Dropping of Flynn Case Heightens Fears of Justice Dept. Politicization Across the country, rank-and-file prosecutors cringed at another extraordinary intervention by Attorney General William P. Barr. The Flynn case was an illegitimate political hit job by the Obama administration on its way out of the door and what Barr did was absolutely the right thing to do.  There was never a legitimate reason to even question Flynn or open a case as numerous prosecutors have pointed out.  The Obama administration was notorious for political hit jobs by the DOJ from its attacks on Republican Congressman Steve Stockman, to its pursuit of Romney donors.  And don't forget their illegitimate attacks on Tea Party groups.  Obama had one of the most corrupt administrations in history and the NY Times blithely ignores that. What Barr did was correct a political hit job on Flynn that should have never happened.  The DOJ should now those responsible for this tr...

NY Times: In Flynn Case, Barr Again Takes Aim at Mueller Inquiry The Justice Department’s move was the latest example of the attorney general’s effort to chisel away at the special counsel investigation and emphasize an alternate narrative. The reason the media is upset about this is that they were co-conspirators in the coup attempt from the beginning and they have been reluctant to admit their role. Flynn and others whose lives have been ruined by this shame should seek redress in the courts against those responsible for this coup attempt.  The Muller probe turned out to be an exercise in attempted extortion of testimony against the President by manufacturing process crimes and pushing unrelated crimes.  It was a bad-faith effort by Democrats to try to overturn an election result. In retrospect, the Muller teams' efforts look unethical at best. Bill Barr is a real profile in courage to take on these coup plotters who abused the court system to harm innocent...

Wandrea Widburg: ... The FBI's and DOJ's conduct included, but isn't limited to, plotting how to catch Flynn in a lie, blindsiding him at the White House, hiding from him the transcript of his call with the Russian ambassador, trying to sneak into the conversation notice to Flynn that lying to the FBI is a felony, illegally changing the interview notes, threatening Flynn's son to get him to plead guilty and then hiding that fact from the court, and withholding exculpatory documents. Kurt Schlichter highlights  that this reprehensible behavior continued with Robert Mueller and his posse: And let's not forget the crimes of the Mueller gang, that team of consummate pros that we were dutifully informed by the rump-bussing media was made up of the bestest and the brightest of American law enforcement. It was not bad enough that they threatened to prosecute of LTG Flynn's son on false charges to coerce a guilty plea and cooperation again Trump, et. al. No, th...

Washington Examiner: Attorney General William Barr shed new light on U.S. Attorney John Durham’s review of the Russia investigation. He told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that Connecticut's top federal prosecutor is unearthing troubling evidence and vowed prosecutions if laws were broken and a case can be made. “My own view is that the evidence shows that we’re not dealing with just mistakes or sloppiness. There is something far more troubling here, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it. And if people broke the law, and we can establish that with the evidence, they will be prosecuted,” Barr said in the segment of the interview that aired Thursday evening. ... “He is looking to bring to justice people who are engaged in abuses if he can show that they were criminal violations, and that’s what the focus is on,” Barr said. “And as you know, being a lawyer you yourself, building these cases — especially the kinds of sprawling case we have between us that went on for two or ...

Rich Lowry: Can the republic survive William Barr? The question has seized the media and center-left, which have worked themselves into a full-blown panic over an attorney general who is, inarguably, a serious legal figure and one of the adults in the room late in President Trump’s first term. Some 2,000 former Justice ­Department employees have signed a letter calling on Barr to resign. An anti-Barr piece in The Atlantic opined that “it is not too strong to say that Bill Barr is un-American” and warned that his America is “a banana republic where all are subject to the whims of a dictatorial president and his henchmen.” This is impressive heavy-breathing over an AG whose ­alleged offense doesn’t hold a candle to the greatest hits of his predecessors: Woodrow Wilson’s attorney general A. Mitchell Palmer carried out raids to arrest suspected leftists in the wake of World War I. Bobby Kennedy, serving as his brother’s attorney general, authorized the wiretapping of Martin Lut...

Red States: All eyes have been focused lately on Andrew McCabe taking a victory lap on CNN after DoJ declined to prosecute him for “misstatement of facts” based on a referral from a 2018 DoJ inspector general report. But not so fast! Since October 2019 (if not before), John Durham, US attorney for Connecticut, has been conducting a criminal investigation into the origins of the counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign in 2016, as reported here : [A] new criminal inquiry will proceed to find out how the investigation of Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election and Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia “all began.” Attorney General William Barr has closely reviewed how the department handled the Russia investigation. But shifting the administrative review to a criminal inquiry would allow the prosecutor presiding over the inquiry, John H. Durham, to subpoena for witness testimony and documents, people familiar with the matter told the Times . T...

Sharyl Attkisson: Barr: Criminal probe of intel community looking at “private actors” too ... “[Durham is] not just looking at the FBI. He’s looking at other agencies … and also private actors, so it’s a much broader investigation.” ... “Also, [Durham] is not just looking at the FISA aspect of it. He is looking at all the conduct both before and after the election,” said Barr in the Fox News interview. I would look at the spies used by the FBI against the Trump supporters.  I think there were also people at the DOJ involved in the matter as well as Democrat operatives who were pushing the Russian collusion hoax.