Speaker Pelosi just spoke before reporters on Capitol Hill and was clear on two key points. President Trump’s blanket refusal to honor subpoenas is itself obstruction of justice. Also, Bill Barr committed a crime when he lied to Congress. Lying to Congress carries a jail sentence. Video after the jump.
Quick follow up on last night’s post about Rudy Giuliani and Bill Barr already working to target Trump’s 2020 political opponents with investigations. I’ve mentioned before that John Solomon for a couple decades has been the go-to guy for Republican operatives to peddle their oppo research. This has all been more out in the open of late. And even The Hill, with its minimal editorial standards, felt compelled to reclassify him as an opinion columnist rather than a reporter. But one of my colleagues notes that prior to getting into the Times, this Hunter Biden/Ukraine stuff was pushed most heavily by The Hill and all of those pieces were by Solomon. Keep a close eye on this.
Robert Mueller’s reasoning for deciding not to decide whether President Trump obstructed justice is certainly debatable, but good lord the reasoning Attorney General William Barr used to overrule Mueller and decide the issue. It’s extraordinary.
From this morning, with your indulgence …
Great work on the news that broke overnight. There are many reasons why I’ve read TPM since the post-Brooks Brothers Riot days, and why I finally ponied up and subscribed to Prime (and then AF), but last night (or this morning, in my case) is as good an illustration as any.
"I'm trying to grapple with the word 'suggest'." pic.twitter.com/WZ2LB6jwbv
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 1, 2019
Another fascinating moment. Bill Barr gives a flat denial followed by … well, maybe not so flat.
lol. Seems Bill Barr may be thinking a bit more seriously about perjury. pic.twitter.com/NuqchbY4Of
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 1, 2019
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.