Barr - The Trump Toad - Goes Berserk With Authoritarian Babble (Applying Sedition Law To Protesters? Seriously?)

The bombastic 'Brat-in-chief' pleads with his Top Toad to go after DOJ prosecutors, medical experts, protesters and others - to help him sneak into  the Oval Office again.

Attorney General and Primo Trump Toad, errr. Toady, William Barr, told the nation’s federal prosecutors to be aggressive when charging violent demonstrators with crimes, including potentially prosecuting them for plotting to "overthrow the U.S. government", people familiar with the conversation said.  

In a conference call with U.S. attorneys across the country last week, 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, the people said.     

This is, of course, totally deranged  and the calling card of an all out extremist authoritarian,  totally following in the footsteps of his authoritarian master, Dotard. It was also a prelude to more recent batshit crazy rhetoric (as media commentator Charlie Pierce noted on All In last night) showing how dangerous this guy is.  What rhetoric?  Well, appearing at Hillsdale College, in a "Breitbart-laden"  brain fart fest,  this fat toad compared pandemic lockdowns to "slavery" and  "house arrest", babbling:

"This is one of the greatest intrusions on civil liberty in American history."

Which is choice, given this is the same toad  wanted to use sedition law against protesters.   Barr in his harangue also went after DOJ prosecutors, saying:  

"Individual prosecutors can sometimes become headhunters all too often and are consumed with taking down their target.  When the most junior members set the agenda might be a good philosophy for a Montessori pre-school but it's no way to run a federal agency."

The  Trump Toad didn't mention any specific cases by name but he has been rightly criticized for moving to drop the prosecution of Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn - for his collaboration with the Russkies and even admitting guilt.  Indeed,  the report from the FBI Flynn interview, known as the FBI 302, showed clearly Flynn was not coerced in any way, and further was given every chance to take an honorable out.   To that end during the interview the agents gave Flynn every opportunity to come clean, even parroting back his own words to try to jog his memory. But Flynn insisted on lying about his conversations with the Russian ambassador Kislyak - regarding U.S. sanctions and a UN vote.  Given the FBI had intercepts of the phone conversations the FBI couldn't help but notice they conflicted with the public account. 

So Barr is yapping bare bullshit. What's more, the statement filed at the time of Flynn's guilty plea showed Flynn coordinated the substance of his calls to Kislyak with a senior member of the Trump transition team.  A collusion no brainer, hell a conspiracy no brainer.

Barr in his meltdown against his own DOJ prosecutors (none of them "juniors" - but rather seasoned career civil servants) also clearly chafed at the criticism he took for wanting to lighten the sentence of career criminal and pathological dirty trickster, Roger Stone.  Recall at the House Judiciary Committee hearing in July, this  bloated Toad had the effrontery to ask (WSJ, July 29, p. A3):

"Let me ask you, do you think it is fair for a 67-year old man to be sent to prison for seven to nine years?"

When a perceptive onlooker could have pointed out that Bernie Madoff - at age 71 years - was sentenced to 150 years for his esoteric  crime of using a Ponzi scheme to bilk his investors out of millions.  

Back to his blabbery about pursuing "sedition" charges against protesters.  Barr knows damned well the chilling effect this "sedition" bunkum is bound to have on first amendment free speech rights.   Jenny Carroll, a University of Alabama law professor put it into perspective (WSJ, Sept. 15), noting that  

“There’s all these different statutes the government can use if they are worried about things like property damage. If you start charging those people, even if you don’t get a conviction, it may make people think twice before going out to exercise their right to free speech.”

As I noted in previous posts, all this proves is that Barr is Trump's devoted  lapdog or primary toady. Doing the Dotard's bidding any which way to try to shoehorn this Hitler Jr.  authoritarian into four more years of misrule and destruction of democracy.   For that is Trump's  prime directive: disrupt and lie, bring specious charges and above all, weaken all agencies in the government- from the DOJ, to the FDA, to the CDC, to the NOAA.  Oh, yeah, and increase the U.S. death toll from the virus to 6.4 million to achieve "herd immunity" a la Scott Atlas quack theory, e.g. 

• New Details Show Extent To Which Medical Professio...

Barr has already done a bang up job on the DOJ - bringing this once - venerated independent arm of justice into disgrace by turning it into Trump's personal grievance and revenge outfit.    He's undermined the DOJ to the point of even calling career prosecutors "preschoolers"  because they believed in equal justice under the actual laws, not some "Reich" version that would set  criminal rat traitors like Michael Flynn free and pond scum like Roger Stone free earlier.   Meanwhile, at Hillsdale, Barr effectively declared HE is the final arbiter of justice as he took umbrage at the criticism that he interfered in the Flynn and Stone cases.  In his words:

"What do you mean by interfere?  Under the law all prosecutorial power is invested in the attorney general."

But that does not include undermining the law to pursue righteous prosecutorial power!   As former prosecutor Chuck Rosenberg put it thusly:  "The principles articulated may be appropriate. But he fails miserably in the execution. He continues to weigh in on behalf of the friends and allies of the president, which is deeply disturbing.."

It also flouts any even-handed recognition of justice as defined in our constitution. Which document was never intended to set the AG up as a law  unto himself. 

Barr, according to many pundits, is also likely to unleash an "October surprise" (assuming the Trumpies and Pompeo don't  find a way to start a war first) targeting the FBI operation "Crossfire Hurricane". That FBI investigation started after Trump lackey George Papadopolous shot his mouth off to an Aussie about campaign connections to the Russians.   Now, Barr aims to discredit it using a puppet named John Durham. 

Recall, for perspective that a 434-page report issued by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded the FBI had an “authorized purpose” when it initiated its investigation into the Trump campaign. In doing so, Horowitz implicitly rejected GOP assertions that the case was launched out of political animus, or that the FBI broke its own rules on using informants. 

At the time Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham  -  who Barr handpicked to conduct an investigation parallel to that of Horowitz-   wasn't having any of Horowitz conclusions, issuing his own statement:

“Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened.”

This, of course, is total codswallop. How do we KNOW this? We have foreign intercepts of meetings of Trump cronies, e.g. Carter Page, with Russian  (GRU) agents.  It was these intercepts and related documents - including  FISA warrants- that disclosed just how deep the Trumpies were in with the Russkies. For more on those connections and even conspiracy to toss the election to Trump, read the Senate Intelligence Committee report final volume, entitled :  “Volume 5: Counterintelligence Threats and Vulnerabilities,” 

We now know because of Barr and Durham's hijinks in trying to upend these earlier investigations,  a top aide to Durham (Nora Dannehy) has resigned (WSJ, Sept. 10, p. A4).   A colleague of Ms. Dannehy's said "the resignation was especially surprising because of her close relationship with Mr. Durham with whom she worked on complex and sensitive investigations."

But perhaps what she saw as Durham's betrayal of the rule of law, and especially cooperating with Barr in its destruction, was a bridge too far.  She likely was especially motivated to ditch the cesspool Durham was involved in after Barr told NBC News that "others would be criminally prosecuted in connection with the probe".  That includes anyone and every one involved in operation Crossfire Hurricane.   All this to try to whitewash the Mueller probe, the FBI investigation and all else that makes Trump into the conniving criminal he is.   

As Charlie Pierce said on ALL In last night:

"Not only was Barr making the argument (that you can prosecute members of the other party) he was saying that's the way the system is designed. It's crazy!  He's making the argument that the Department of Justice should operate as the political arm of whatever administration is in power.  And I'm sorry, that's just nuts."

Pierce then reminded viewers this was Bill Barr's modus operandi going back to the first Bush administration. Then he advised the elder Bush to pardon all those criminals connected to the Iran-Contra conspiracy who might testify against him.   As Pierce put it:  "Two times now he's taken the side of defending the executive branch instead of the American people and the Constitution."

That segment ended with a warning for voters to be aware of a trumped up "October surprise" and not be  misled by it.  We also need to heed Matt Miller's warning on the previous 'All In' expressing concern about what Barr might do regarding the mail ballot counts on election night or after. Especially as this Toad has - like Trump - gone after mail voting.  We need to be aware then, if his October surprise doesn't have the effect he wants, i.e. on polls,  he will try to scuttle the election's legitimacy (if Biden wins, or is leading) for his master Donnie Bonespurs.

Buckle your seat belts, kiddies, because we are in for a rough ride over the next 46 days- and beyond.

See Also:

William Barr has gone too far before, but never this far

• By Ruth Marcus

AND:

We’re all trapped in William Barr’s paranoid fantasy world

WSJ's 'Deep State' Conspiracy Buffoons Flail While Trying To Defend Barr Interfering In Flynn Case

"Ummmm....let's see, what more dopey crap can I write as a proper cockroach on the Wall Street Journal's op-ed staff? Oh yeah, let me go after Mueller, Emmet Sullivan and unmasking Flynn again!"

"Trump and his followers have been routinely advocating the jailing of Trump's political opponents without an investigation, criminal charges, trial or conviction by a jury of their peers. This is the way fascist dictators dispose of their political opposition."=    Lucian K. Truscott IV, smirkingchimp.com 


The hysteria about Michael Flynn and his "unmasking"  - displayed openly in the WSJ's op-ed pages the past week -  provides a graphic insight into full blown collective madness. (So one can grasp why all these WSJ op-ed stooges are likely on opioids or MJ candy). Start off with Dan Henninger ('The Flynn Debuachery', May 14, p. A13)   who insists "a low grade mistake by Mr. Flynn got built into a high stakes prosecution."  Not so!

In fact, the report from the FBI interview, known as the FBI 302, showed clearly Flynn was not coerced in any way, and further was given every chance to take an honorable out.   To that end during the interview the agents gave Flynn every opportunity to come clean, even parroting back his own words to try to jog his memory. But Flynn insisted on lying about his conversations with the Russian ambassador Kislyak - regarding U.S. sanctions and a UN vote.  Giiven the FBI had intercepts of the phone conversations the FBI couldn't help but notice they conflicted with the public account. 

What's more, the statement filed at the time of Flynn's guilty plea showed Flynn coordinated the substance of his calls to Kislyak with a senior member of the Trump transition team.  A collusion no brainer, hell a conspiracy no brainer.

To jog our own memories, let's recall the Flynn case grew out of phone calls he made to Sergey Kislyak in the final days of 2016, asking that Moscow please refrain from retaliating after the Obama administration imposed sanctions on Russia for interfering in the election.  The conversations were captured on routine wiretaps of Kislyak and triggered concern among FBI agents investigating Flynn once they learned of them.

And despite all the hubbub about "unmasking" the poor Flynn, or Carter Page, let's please get a grip. In reality.  According to the WSJ's main news section piece on it yesterday (p. A3, 'Unmasking Requests Released') :

"Unmasking U.S. identities in intelligence reports occurs thousands of times annually, according to statistics maintained by the Office of the Director Of National Intelligence."

Henninger like his deranged WSJ colleagues: Kim Strassel ('The Mueller Coverup',  May 8, p. A13), and Holman Jenkins Jr. ('What The FBI Is Covering Up', p. A13, May 13)   as well as the WSJ editors ('The Flynn Unmaskers, Unmasked', p. A14, May 14,  'All The Schiff Transcripts', May 14, 'Judge Sullivan's Bad Judgment', May 14)  fairly screeches detachment from the world of facts and realty at every turn.  For example, 'Henny' barking:

"What's striking is the lack of remorse across the Washington establishment. Unapologetic arrogance on this scale suggests that unmaskings, intelligence abuses and leaks are likely to return as off the books weapons against individuals disliked by the government bureaucracies."

Oh, you mean shifty traitors like Flynn who tried to make side deals with the Russkies before Obama's term had even ended? That who you mean, Henny?


Let's remind ourselves here, given the chaos of Trump World, that Flynn’s case grew out of phone calls he made to Sergey Kislyak in the final days of 2016, asking that Moscow refrain from retaliating after the Obama administration imposed sanctions on Russia as punishment for interfering in the election. The conversations were captured on routine wiretaps of Kislyak and prompted concern among the F.B.I. agents  once they learned of them.  Agents then began to suspect that Flynn was lying to other Trump officials about the phone calls and were concerned that he was a blackmail risk because Russia knew the truth of the calls

Henny's hysteria over unmasking (like that of the WSJ editors, and Holman Jenkins)  might also have been allayed or diminished had he taken the time to read the main news page story about unmasking (p. A3, same date).  Therein he'd have seen quotations on its importance from Michael Morrell - former acting director of the CIA:

"You can't do your job without it."  

Adding that he used to make unmasking requests several times a month. Missed by these nattering WSJ nabobs too is that unmasking would be a veritable requirement once conversations had also been intercepted by foreign intelligence sources, like the GCHQ in the UK. 

Meanwhile, 'deep state'  fetishist Kim Strassel,   having wallowed in her own form of  conspiracy paranoia (cited earlier),  is outraged that the FBI entered on the basis of Flynn "engaging in conversations with Russian government officials" like it's just a day at the office.  She even expresses passing umbrage at the potential invocation of the Logan Act of 1799, "a law that's never been used to convict an American".   Well, maybe it was never officially needed before, Kim.   She also carps about the "rarely enforced" Foreign Agents Registration Act - as if it's merely on the books for decoration or to fill up space.  But it all falls into place when you see her daft reference to Flynn's "supposed lies".  No, Kim, they were REAL lies, about foreign influence on a top U.S. security asset  - Flynn. 

Today she did herself one better ('Barr vs. The Beltway', p. A15) barking as part of a long, unhinged rant:

"Instead of applauding Barr for divulging these facts, the Beltway has responded with ire. Mr. Barr's transparency threatens to reveal further that the Russia collusion narrative was pure fantasy...to expose how hatred of Donald Trump drove people in power to break rules and destroy norms."

 Jeezus Peace!  The harpy hack is yapping about "people in power" (in the Beltway) "breaking norms and rules" as if on another planet.  So it's little wonder she  appears to forget (perhaps in the same otherworldly MJ haze)  that it was her master Trump who - on July 26, 2016-  openly implored the Russians to hack Hillary's emails. In other words, openly pandering for the commission of the crime that occurred one day later- and set off this whole investigation of Donnie  Bonespurs.  In front of millions, the Orange Turd had baldly blurted:

"I will tell you this, Russia if you're listening, I hope that you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. You will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let's see if that happens."

So Trump, in full public view, asked Russia to hack his political opponent. Does Kim recall any of that? Evidently not. She only recalls the "breaking rules and destroying norms" she wants to recall. Or, the minimum needed to continue to peddle her Fusion GPS- Christopher Steele- Hillary- FBI conspiracy bunkum.   

Indeed, when this twaddle about "investigating the investigators"  first surfaced with Barr in December last year, Chris Hayes on All In (Dec. 10) aptly observed:

"The obvious problem with this theory is that it makes no sense. Remember this, during the campaign the only investigation that became public was the one regarding Hillary Clinton, which arguably lost her the election. But the FBI was investigating Trump at the very same time. No one uttered a word about it. If they were so desperate to bring Trump down you'd think someone would have said something.  They didn't. So the whole conspiracy theory doesn't even hold together."

Now let us cut through all the other fulsome crap that Henny, Kim and Little Holman as well as the brain addled Journal editors have tried to hurl on the wall - hoping some sticks. They all appear to forget or ignore the 434-page report issued last year by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz. It concluded the FBI had an “authorized purpose” when it initiated its investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane, into the Trump campaign. In doing so, Horowitz implicitly rejected GOP assertions that the case was launched out of political animus, or that the FBI broke its own rules on using informants. 

Strassel also lambasted Judge Sullivan in today's rant, declaring he had "decided to join the smear campaign against Mr. Barr."  Actually, Kim, Judge Sullivan opted to be one  of the few to stand up to Barr's effort to smear the rule of law and equal justice in this country. Can ya dig it? Well, perhaps not in that purple haze!  Kim's other favorite target has been Christopher Steele and she defames him in her earlier (5/8)  hack piece as well, blurting in a separate tirade therein:

"Colleagues of author Christopher Steele had warned the FBI of his poor judgment."

I suspect Kim dredged this tidbit up in the same opioid or MJ haze. that excited her ire against Judge Emmet Sullivan.   But skewering her B.S. is a Financial Times account (Feb. 16, 2018) , that Steele was the "UK intelligence expert on Russia".  It is, therefore, highly unlikely he'd be "fooled" by any kind of false intel or disinformation as Strassel seems to believe. Or that his judgment was in any way impaired or unsound. Indeed, James Nixey, the head of Chatham House's Russia and Eurasia program, informed the AP that sections of the dossier document created by Steele "read exactly as reports from the secret services".

Then there are the sad and sorry WSJ editors ('Judge Sullivan's Bad Judgment', yesterday) who are enraged that someone with principle would not kowtow to Trump's toady Barr. How dare Emmet Sullivan intervene when prosecutors said there was no crime!   But Sullivan wasn't buying that recycled offal, and could smell a rat from a mile away when Barr intervened and did Trump's dirty work for him.  Effectively trying to pardon Flynn so Trump wouldn't look bad doing it just before an election.  Nice handoff if you can get it.  

To justify its stupid stance the WSJ editors merely parrot Barr's codswallop that "Flynn's statements weren't criminal because the interview lacked any investigative legal basis".  But it did and in spades, as numerous legal specialists (nearly 1,800 at last count) have pointed out.  

The Journal's top twits had to also know that Flynn displayed a serious consciousness of his own guilt. He damned well knew what he was trying to set up with Kislyak was wrong and close to treason, however you cut it. (That Logan Act again!) Flynn  himself pleaded guilty twice to lying to investigators as part of a larger inquiry into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election - and this was even after agents practically parroted his own original words back to him!

Heading into the sentencing hearing, Flynn was trying to have it both ways—obtaining credit for cooperation and acceptance of responsibility in hopes of a sentence of probation, while minimizing his own wrongdoing. Judge Sullivan would have none of it. He elicited from Flynn the admission that he knew it was a crime to lie to the FBI and his desire to proceed to sentencing rather than withdraw his guilty plea.  Sullivan also spent much of the hearing
expressing his “disgust” and “disdain” for Flynn’s criminal conduct, saying that Flynn had “arguably sold [his] country out,” at one point even accusing Flynn of treason. 

The Journal's goofballs can whine and cry all they want about Judge Sullivan's "bad judgment" but in fact it was fully justified after Barr's stunt.  Given Barr and the DOJ are now "in bed" with Flynn, it makes eminent sense for Sullivan to enlist a third party to help determine how to navigate the legal morass Barr has created.  After all,  a level of judicial integrity and independence is at stake here, even if the WSJ's Trump minions can't see it, or acknowledge it.   Thankfully, Judge Sullivan   appointed  John Gleeson to oppose the Justice Department’s  nonsense.

The position will be as a kind of legal adviser to Sullivan, to wade through the reams of B.S. hurled into the pot by Barr and the DOJ. It is also certain to thrust Mr. Gleeson into an open confrontation with the bombastic baby in the WH and his dog whistle hostages, i.e. supporters.   But  make no mistake, Gleeson - as a former mob prosecutor - will be able to handle whatever Dotard  barks out, even threats.

In the meantime, there is a method behind all this WSJ op ed madness: that is, the roaches incessantly hurling  out their detritus are setting the table for a  bogus claim to go after Obama and his whole "deep state" administration.  So they hope that while the public is focusing on this distraction it will minimize Trump's colossal fail at handling the pandemic.  Already, indeed, we hear and see the Dotard threatening the  jailing of Joe Biden and of Obama himself, as David Plouffe noted last night on 'All In'.  This in a cynical effort to create an "Obamagate" meme and likely October surprise. 

No, folks, as I wrote many times before, you can't make this shit up.  This is the political and health crisis we are in, and all we can hope to do is survive until we can get this Maggot out in November.  In the meantime he will depend on his lapdogs, including FOX, the WSJ op-ed hacks,  Barr, and now Lindsey Graham (who promises an Obama-ite investigation) to run interference for him by throwing up endless distracting smokescreens.

See also:

Law

Brains over Brawn: Judge Sullivan over Attorney General Barr

by P.M. Carpenter | May 15, 2020 - 6:17am | permalink

AND:

Lucian K. Truscott IV

"Obamagate" And "Lock Her Up": Pointing the Way Toward "Heil Trump"

And:

 Conservatives ad the Right

The Pandemic Exposes the Truth: Right-wing "Individualism" Is Just Selfish Garbage

by Amanda Marcotte | May 15, 2020 - 7:27am | permalink

— from Salon.com

And:

Cody Fenwick

Article Tools E-mail | Print Comments (0)

2020 Elections | Donald Trump | William Barr

Trump and Barr’s Big 2020 Gambit Looks like a Big Dud

by Cody Fenwick | May 15, 2020 - 7:15am | permalink

— from Alternet

AND:

William Barr

Can Democracy Survive Bill Barr?

And:

Media

Traditional Media Follows Republicans down Bogus 'Obamagate' Rat Hole

And:

The United States is a country to be pitied

Does Language Matter? YES - Which Is Precisely Why The FBI Was Truly Vindicated In IG Report

It was disturbing yesterday to see and hear the cavalier use of language when the  Dept. of Justice IG Report was the topic of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.  This was in terms of whether the FBI was  "vindicated" in the Report.

 I noted this in my Dec. 10 post:

"The 434-page report issued by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded the FBI had an “authorized purpose” when it initiated its investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane, into the Trump campaign."

This means, all gobbledegook aside, the Bureau was vindicated in its decision to investigate the Trumpies.  However the unfortunate use  (by Mr. Horowitz) of the phrase "neither side was vindicated" in yesterday's Senate Judiciary hearing, created more confusion than clarification.  Especially, for millions who find scant time for reading the news and must rely on evening news 'burps' .  Where, of course, the sloppy language is compounded in the  meme  that "neither side was vindicated".

Which is simply false. Where it counted, and as Horowitz pointed out,  agents' mistakes (e.g. in spellings, omissions) does not mean the FBI acted with political bias.  That is the key point. So conflating "paper" (clerical) - filing errors and oversights with the notion of total "bad faith" (as Trump Toady William Barr insists)  serves no one's interest other than Traitor Trump and his conspiracy mongers.

 Chris Hayes in his Dec. 9 show, exposed  Barr's worthless conspiracy bunkum for the claptrap it is:

"The obvious problem with this theory is that it makes no sense. Remember this, during the campaign the only investigation that became public was the one regarding Hillary Clinton, which arguably lost her the election. But the FBI was investigating Trump at the very same time. No one uttered a word about it. If they were so desperate to bring Trump down you'd think someone would have said something.  They didn't. So the whole conspiracy theory doesn't even hold together."

In other words, all Barr has to base his objections on are recycled hot air and hogwash from the psycho conspiracy babblers, i.e. from 8chan, Infowars, QAnon and the like.   People need to be alert and aware that Barr is nothing more than a political tool for Trump,  a shameless lackey who has now basically ruined the reputation of the DOJ - which will likely need years to restore.

See also:

William Barr

William Barr: Christian Nationalist Authoritarian Having a Field Day Enabling Trumpism

And:

Caroline Fredrickson

In Bill Barr, Trump Has a Roy Cohn Upgrade

Excerpt:

"Mr. Barr has acted more like a henchman than the leader of an agency charged with exercising independent judgment. The disturbing message that sends does not end at our borders — it extends to countries, like those in the former East Bloc, struggling to overcome an illiberal turn in the direction of autocracy. "

And:

Here Are 5 Huge Lies Republicans Are Telling about the New Report on the Russia Probe