Among many other things, in my opinion, one of the most devastating revelations during the Barr testimony yesterday was during Sen. Kamala Harris’ questioning. She asked whether or not AG Barr or DAG Rosenstein had looked at any of the underlying evidence of the possible obstruction instances.
This is important because Barr and Rosenstein took it upon themselves to be the decision makers on whether or not charges should be filed for obstruction. Barr has stated that based on the evidence, they concluded that the crime of obstruction did not occur.
“Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.”
Barr “Summary”
Barr testified yesterday that neither he, Rosenstein, nor anyone in their offices ever actually looked at the evidence. Barr testified that he relied on Mueller’s report to come to his decision, which, for anyone who has actually read the report, is obviously a ridiculous statement. In fact, some of Barr’s testimony raises the question on whether he had even read the Mueller Report.
This is unacceptable. One could even make a legitimate case that Barr lied when he stated that the evidence was not sufficient, when in fact he had not even viewed the evidence.
Set aside the unusual circumstances of the President of the United States being involved, which completely changes the equation since the DOJ’s insane policy says that the President cannot be indicted (aka “he is above the law”). Let’s just look at it as if it was a regular decision on whether to charge a crime or not. Yes, it is the purpose of the DOJ to determine such things, and specifically, the duty of the prosecutor who is handling the case. In making that decision, the prosecutor will very carefully weigh all of the evidence and determine if a crime has been committed and if success is likely in proving it beyond a reasonable doubt.
Barr claims that since Mueller did not make that determination (for very clear reasons as specified very clearly in his report), then it was up to him to make that decision (set aside that nonsensical and corrupt reasoning). That would mean that he should be thoroughly going through all of the evidence in order to make a sound judgement on it. This is basic stuff. His decision to make a judgement on this put him in the position of the prosecutor (which is completely 100% contrary to the purpose of the Special Prosecutor to begin with, but let’s set that aside as well).
It is imperative that a prosecutor making such decisions on whether or not to charge a crime actually studies all of the evidence. A prosecutor at the very lowest local levels would be derelict in their duties to do otherwise and should be dismissed and disbarred. As the Attorney General of the United States, the highest law enforcement position in the nation, to make charging decisions on possible crimes without reviewing all of the evidence is a miscarriage of justice at the highest level.
It is clear that Barr had already determined the outcome of this. If this testimony isn’t enough evidence of that, all we need to do is look at Barr’s 19 page opinion piece (aka AG Job Application) about it that he wrote in June of 2018. Nope, Barr didn’t need to see any evidence that Mueller very meticulously gathered. His mind was already made up and President Trump was well aware of that when he appointed him. Based on that June ’18 opinion piece, Barr should have recused himself from this entire thing, and most specifically on this issue of obstruction.
No, this is most certainly not justice. This is a travesty.
This cannot stand. On top of everything else he has done with this Mueller Report situation, including outright lying in his testimony to Congress and misleading the American people with his “summary” and press conference, and assuming he will not resign, Barr must be impeached.
