LOWERING THE BARR — The Weekly Opine

The nation’s top cop brings shame to the law enforcement profession he oversees. (Photo credit: ABC News screenshot)

Sleight-of-hand cover up is failing.

Let’s get right to it. United States Attorney General William Barr is a stone, cold liar. He has no visible ethical foundation. Barr, America’s top cop, is as untrustworthy as a robocall.

Barr’s ill-advised press conference last Thursday, on the heels of his misleading letter summarizing the Mueller report, was rife with lies and deception. Along the way, Barr sullied and cost the Department of Justice immeasurable credibility and dignity. Fortunately, just a few hours later the redacted Mueller report was released, reducing Barr and his shenanigans into a pile of manure.

Barr’s performance should come as no surprise, considering he was hired by the most dishonest president in American history, and confirmed by the most dishonest Senate in U.S. history. As most everyone knows, the boss prefers to hire people who look like the boss and share the boss’ values.

So, it stands to reason Trump would not nominate honorable people to fill even the highest profile openings that demand honor and integrity.

Exhibit A and Exhibit B are Brett Kavanaugh and Barr, both of whom do not represent what most Americans expect from a Supreme Court Justice or attorney general.

Kavanaugh, a reflexive liar, twice in the past decade lied to the Senate during confirmation hearings and should be relieved of his post. Barr, a calculating liar, should be removed for dereliction of duty and orchestrating an attempted cover up of evidence in Mueller’s report.

Lady Hades

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders was caught lying about a lie in the Mueller report. Huckabee-Sanders, who if needed, could be cast as the devil’s wife, is the worst White House press secretary, ever.

Appearing on MSNBC, respected journalist Bob Garfield, co-host of the WYNC program “On the Media,” dubs what flows from the White House a “charade.” Many people are dumbfounded why media organizations send professional reporters to cover Huckabee-Sanders.

Like Trump, Huckabee-Sanders has no relationship with the truth. She is related to Trump, not by DNA, but by pathological lying. Dishonesty is the hallmark of Trump, Sanders and others in the administration. And Barr has moved to the front of the liars den with his apparent conspiracy to cover up for Trump.

Which is why the notion we should kick back and let these people finish their term – while they drive American values and the rule of law into the abyss – makes absolutely no sense.

Chuck Rosenberg, the taciturn former-FBI senior official not prone to hyperbole, said if you remove Trump’s name and title from the Mueller report, and replace it with the name and title of any other person, that person “would be in handcuffs.”

And in what may portend fissures forming among the support-Trump-no-matter-what group of senators, (R) Sen. Mitt Romney said Mueller’s reporting left him “sickened at the extent and pervasiveness of dishonesty and misdirection” by Trump, his campaign and his administration.

Strategically, House Democrats should hear from Mueller first. Have Mueller speak to what his report says and what the implications are. What the truth is. Then, when Barr testifies/lies, Americans who care (obviously not MAGAs) will already know the truth and facts.

There is also forthcoming testimony of former-White House Counsel Don McGahn, who may imitate Watergate-era White House Counsel John Dean by singularly bringing the whole Trump charade down.

When Watergate played out in 1974, the American people became enlightened to the truth, demanded accountability and action from Congress, and the rest is history.

Obstruct equals impeach

The Mueller report buries Trump’s claims of “fake news” and “witch hunt.” Much to the president’s chagrin the walls are closing in. Which puts Trump’s mental instability in peak form. On Monday, he tweeted 30 times, leaving the image of a president surrounded by empty fast-food containers, breathlessly sweating while watching Fox News and tweeting.

The toxic reality of obstruction and impeachment come together in the Mueller report. No wonder Trump is acting out.

Delusional MAGAs are (typically) struggling to weigh facts and information to draw their own ‘right vs. wrong’ conclusions. In a tacit admission they know their man is in trouble, MAGAs new refrain is “move on.” Kinda like Trump’s refrain regarding his taxes.

When hiding something, is there a better phrase than ‘move on?’ The trouble is these are the same people unable to ‘move on’ from the birther movement. Unable to ‘move on’ from Hillary Clinton’s email server. Unable to ‘move on’ from Benghazi, and unable to move on from Uranium One. (And in Chicago, unable to ‘move on’ from Jussie Smollett.)

On the question of obstruction, the answer is a resounding yes, no doubt, the fat lady is singing.

Mueller details 11 obstruction areas in his report. It should be relatively easy to find Trump guilty of obstruction on eight of them.

1) Conduct related to Mike Flynn investigation. 2) Events leading up to and immediately following Comey firing. 3) Attempts to remove the Special Counsel. 4) Attempts to curtail the Special Counsel investigation. 5) Attempts to prevent disclosure of emails about the Trump Tower meeting. 6) Attempts to have AG Jeff Sessions un-recuse himself and take over the investigation. 7) Attempts to influence Flynn and Paul Manafort’s testimony. 8) Attempts to influence Michael Cohen’s testimony.

Not included above is the bizarre interview where Trump admitted he fired Comey because of “this Rusher thing.”

Trump will face impeachment. Even the overly cautious House Democratic leadership do not need binoculars to see this. Evidence for impeachment blares like the morning sun on the horizon. Evidence is so overwhelming that any Democrat not on-board with impeachment should get challenged in their next primary.

Last week, presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Julian Castro said Trump must be impeached. This week, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg added their voices. Warren rightly said it does not matter whether the Senate will convict. The House of Representatives are duty-bound, by the oath they took when swearing-in, to impeach Donald Trump.

No place to hide

House Dems hid behind the Mueller report. Well, it’s here and is full of impeachable offenses.

They hid behind political calculation/risk. Hmmm, after Bill Clinton was impeached but not convicted, Republicans won the White House in the next election.

House Dems hid behind the Senate, saying the Senate won’t convict Trump. Does a cop refuse to arrest a criminal because he’s not sure a jury will vote guilty?

Coming full circle, House Dems now hide behind the unredacted Mueller report, saying until they see the unredacted version they cannot move to impeach. Dem chicken Dems!

Presidential historian Jeffrey Engel says the Founding Fathers would have already impeached Trump, “without needing to see any of the Mueller report.” Engel says high crimes and misdemeanors does not mean literally committing a crime. It means doing things that actively hurt the nation, which Trump has done in spades.

House Dems are showing naivete, seemingly unaware last fall’s “Blue Wave” was not about healthcare or the environment or immigration. It was squarely about removing the dangerous fool squatting in the White House. Because so long as Trump is president, healthcare, the environment, and immigration are at great risk.

The Blob

Is Trump Tower the site of financial crimes that will take down the Trump clan? (Photo credit: The Weekly Opine)

The problem for Trump and his so far unscathed kids is a big one. The Mueller report has redactions related to 14 ongoing investigations – likely about financial crimes - that Mueller has referred away from the Special Counsel probe. And everyone knows Trump’s finances have always been his heel spurs, ah, I mean Achilles’ heel.

Like goo in the classic thriller “The Blob,” Mueller’s investigation has spread along the Eastern Seaboard. Presumably, work continues in the Southern District of New York. A good bet is the Eastern District of Virginia and the D.C. court system are still involved. And the New York attorney general’s office.

Only two of the 14 ongoing investigations remain within Barr’s Department of Justice. And there may be as many as 14 “Michael Cohens” lurking, ready to unburden themselves telling damaging information about the Trump Organization.

At risk for Trump, besides impeachment, is the only thing Donald Trump really cares about. The thing he has lied about, cajoled about and cheated about in order to build his properties. The existence of the Trump Organization is at substantial risk.

A legacy defined

Last Friday, newspapers across the land led with headlines such as, “Mueller: Trump Attempted to Thwart Probe.” Not just liberal East Coast papers. Papers in Deep South GOP territory chimed in with prominent headlines about what Mueller said, as opposed to Barr’s skullduggery.

Barr’s nonsensical press announcement failed the president. The day after Barr’s blatant cover up try, the U.S. media spread the truth to the American people. Media headlines lead with what Mueller’s report said, not what Barr’s whitewash said.

Available for all Americans to read, even the redacted version of the Mueller report changes everything. Each day more of the truth comes out, as Trump squirms like a 9-year old about to be kissed by his aunt.

Attorney General Bill Barr joins Trump in the worst-in-U.S.-history category. Whereas Trump is the worst president in American history, Barr is the worst of the 85 attorney generals in American history. Barr’s lies and cover up related to his handling of the Mueller report can never be undone. The cement is dry. Barr’s reputation is toast.

In what is no longer implausible, the Trump administration has burrowed to new depths, signed-off on by the United States attorney general.

Benedict Arnold and Donald Trump notwithstanding, William Pelham Barr is as dishonorable as any American citizen ever has been.