Bill Barr really has a hard time deciding whether it’s a problem if a volunteer chairman for an American presidential campaign is on the payroll of a Russian oligarch.
lol. Really hard for Bill Barr to say that having your volunteer campaign chair on the payroll of a Russian oligarch is a problem. pic.twitter.com/xoCHrCGg52
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 1, 2019
If you missed this morning’s session with Barr, we got you covered. Quick and easy. (And if you want everything, go here.)
Apart from the lies and what we’ve learned today, it’s worth drilling in on Bill Barr’s usefulness to President Trump. Trump insiders were giddy in advance of Barr’s arrival, saying Mueller would be gone soon and Trump finally had an Attorney General who was ‘on his side’. That was clearly completely accurate. Barr showed today he’s in the foxhole with President Trump and will be there until the end. But there’s a different, more specific role he played or value he had for Trump. You could see it clearly in those exuberant “total exoneration” days after Barr released his now notorious letter. Read More
Here’s Mueller’s letter to Barr. Even worse than we’d imagined.
This exchange has been making the rounds since last night. It’s Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) in an April 9 House hearing asking Attorney General William Barr about reports of frustration from members of Mueller’s team. Watch closely.
I noted below that tonight’s reporting helped flesh out the backstory of Bill Barr’s actions over the last six weeks. He was apparently irritated that Mueller presented him not with a simple report to the Attorney General narrowly focused on his prosecutorial decisions. He presented a much more detailed report with the Congress and the public as the intended audience. Barr’s prepared remarks for tomorrow’s Senate testimony are now out. He doubles down on his decision to short circuit the intended purpose of the report. Read More
Judge, declining to adopt President Trump’s narrow definition of emoluments, allows congressional Democrats’ emoluments lawsuit to continue.
TPM Reader JS is done with purity politics …
I understand all of the criticisms against Biden. OK. He’s handsy. Klobuchar is a rough boss. Bernie might have earned some money on a book. All of these stories about Dem candidates exist in people’s brains at the same time we’re talking about a President who is on tape talking about “grabbing pussies” got made famous by firing people and who’s entire claim to fame is being rich (I can’t stand Bernie or his bros, but how on earth can this “now he’s a millionaire” story matter one bit post-Trump?)
