AG Barr continues to cover for Donald Trump instead of doing his job.

[zinfamous]

Here:

advanced trolling. well-played

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I think the Sgt is ok. He was in the Secret service a couple decades and while they dislike assholes they do their duty no matter what party they're protecting.

 

[fskimospy]

Ted Cruz and Barr agreed yesterday that any President using Justice Department as a hit team for Political opponents, especially from the opposite party is clearly against the law and subject to removal.
R’s are so good a time shooting themselves in the dick.

And yet when Trump and Barr do exactly this in 2020 Cruz will defend it and we both know it.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

And yet when Trump and Barr do exactly this in 2020 Cruz will defend it and we both know it.

Yup

 

[VRAMdemon]

Ted Cruz and Barr agreed yesterday that any President using Justice Department as a hit team for Political opponents, especially from the opposite party is clearly against the law and subject to removal.
R’s are so good a time shooting themselves in the dick.

In today's GOP...What they "say" and what they "do" are two different things...

Trump's in political jeopardy. He is in legal jeopardy. Even worse than that, he and his children are in potential financial jeopardy if they end up on the wrong side of this. They've known this was coming and they've been preparing for it. All they needed were some authoritarian-minded brethren who were similarly corrupt, and they've found their partners in Mitch McConnell and now Bill Barr.

I would say they're about to go on the offensive. They're not going to take this lying down. They know that the electoral math isn't in their favor and that not everyone's swallowing their bullshit, so their answer is to simply render democracy and democratic processes ineffectual, or at least less so. From Bill Barr's point of view, it starts with not just avoiding subpoenas, but rather putting the Democrats on the defensive. The DOJ is going to start going after it's political enemies. I would almost bank on it.

The order of the day will be to distract from the report. And the best way to do that is if Trump's people don't think he can get away with actually starting a war -- is to create outrage.

And they will be interested in creating as much outrage as possible.

So, yes: investigations into James Comey (for starting the investigation), into Hillary Clinton (for having gotten more votes than Trump, but ostensibly for some made-up shit), and into any other of Trump's enemies they think they can get away with targeting. I would not be remotely surprised if Barr announces investigations of Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and especially Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler.

Trump & Co. will want all media outlets to have not one second to devote to the Report, because they'll be so busy talking about the plans Barr has announced to harass Trump's opponents. And it wouldn't be surprising if a large number of those tasked with the harassment (FBI and other Justice Department employees) hopefully quit in protest. So Trump's people will simply sashay over to Liberty University and deputize the entire student body. All this will serve very well to keep people from talking about Mueller's results

 

[Fanatical Meat]

advanced trolling. well-played

They are still noobs compared to this World Class Trolling

The President is so easily manipulated

 

[MomentsofSanity]

Yup

What makes this funny is a screen cap I took from a notorious right wing forum yesterday. There were two threads back to back. See if you can guess why I found it amusing. Now one of them they were all for and one they thought was horrible. Guess which was which.

 

[hal2kilo]

From the arresting Barr thread, here is the Sargent at Arms. He was installed in 2012 during a Republican Controlled Congress
He looks the part, I know that is important to the President

Once again, this is about congress, the president has absolutely nothing to do with who the Sgt in Arms is.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

What makes this funny is a screen cap I took from a notorious right wing forum yesterday. There were two threads back to back. See if you can guess why I found it amusing. Now one of them they were all for and one they thought was horrible. Guess which was which.


View attachment 5775

Once again, this is about congress, the president has absolutely nothing to do with who the Sgt in Arms is.

I know, the President will have to deal with this guy

 

[dank69]

So Barr is defying Congress and the Dems are going to do what in response?

 

[VRAMdemon]

So Barr is defying Congress and the Dems are going to do what in response?

I have no idea how enforceable Congressional subpoenas and contempt charges are? If the executive branch decides not to prosecute the case, it seems like this is pretty toothless ultimately. This article on the process leads me to believe that ultimately, Barr can do whatever he wants.

"Either house of Congress can vote to hold in contempt a witness who refuses to provide testimony or produce requested documents pursuant to a congressionally authorized subpoena. As set out in 2 U.S.C. § 194, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia has the “duty [] to bring the matter before the grand jury for its action.” Contempt of Congress, which is a federal misdemeanor, is punishable by a maximum $100,000 fine and a maximum one-year sentence in federal prison. But if the executive branch is not inclined to prosecute a contemnor (the contemnor is a person or entity who is guilty of contempt before a judicial or legislative body), Congress will have a difficult time implementing such a penalty. Congress can also file a lawsuit asking a judge to order the witness to provide the information, raising the additional possibility of imprisonment for contempt of court."

"Disputes between Congress and the president over the scope of executive privilege are better understood as political battles with legal underpinnings—not as pure legal battles to be decided in court. It remains to be seen how effective Congress’s constitutional tools will be, but it is a pretty safe bet that using these tools effectively will require time, energy and commitment. In short, each side will have to consider what it can reasonably get away with in the current political environment—even as each side uses the processes associated with the interbranch push-and-pull of executive privilege to shape that environment."

If the ultimate arbiter is how much the Republican party is willing to see what "it can reasonably get way with" then , I don't no..That's been their game for a while now.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

So Barr is defying Congress and the Dems are going to do what in response?

All they can do is a show contempt citation. There's nothing else. There's really nothing much with teeth they can do.

Despite all the talk of the sergeant at arms etc... that hasn't been used since 1935. It won’t happen here either. Nothing will happen.

 

[dank69]

So the AG can commit perjury and there is zero recourse.

 

[interchange]

They can impeach him.

 

[dank69]

They can impeach him.

What does that accomplish?

 

[MomentsofSanity]

They can impeach him.

More show no go.

 

[interchange]

What does that accomplish?

I was more answering a question than providing a recommendation. That is the power which the Constitution grants for Congress to stop members of government from using their office to avoid accountability for abuses of power.

 

[soundforbjt]

I was more answering a question than providing a recommendation. That is the power which the Constitution grants for Congress to stop members of government from using their office to avoid accountability for abuses of power.

Unfortunately the half of Congress which has the teeth to do something won't.

 

[Indus]

What does that accomplish?

I think it'll get the GOP in the senate on the record how much they want to defend a person who wants to lie to the American Public and hope it comes into play in the 2020 senate races.

That's about all it can accomplish.

And an impeachment of Barr isn't likely to backfire as much as an impeachment of Trump. The AG is clearly replaceable.

 

[Jhhnn]

All they can do is a show contempt citation. There's nothing else. There's really nothing much with teeth they can do.

Despite all the talk of the sergeant at arms etc... that hasn't been used since 1935. It won’t happen here either. Nothing will happen.

Dems won't provoke a Constitutional crisis by sending out the Sergeant at Arms. It's classic game theory. Hostage takers don't care about the hostage & Barr doesn't care about the Constitution.

Barr's bullshit is utterly unprincipled. In declaring Trump innocent of obstruction he usurps the power of judgement of Congress. It's not his call any more than it was Mueller's. In denying documents & testimony to Congress he merely extends the obstruction forward.

 

[ivwshane]

Dems won't provoke a Constitutional crisis by sending out the Sergeant at Arms. It's classic game theory. Hostage takers don't care about the hostage & Barr doesn't care about the Constitution.

Barr's bullshit is utterly unprincipled. In declaring Trump innocent of obstruction he usurps the power of judgement of Congress. It's not his call any more than it was Mueller's. In denying documents & testimony to Congress he merely extends the obstruction forward.

How is Congress using the tools/power granted to it in order to do its constitutional duty creating a constitutional crisis?

The crisis is the AG and the administration completely ignoring and obstructing Congress from doing its job.

 

[fskimospy]

Dems won't provoke a Constitutional crisis by sending out the Sergeant at Arms. It's classic game theory. Hostage takers don't care about the hostage & Barr doesn't care about the Constitution.

Barr's bullshit is utterly unprincipled. In declaring Trump innocent of obstruction he usurps the power of judgement of Congress. It's not his call any more than it was Mueller's. In denying documents & testimony to Congress he merely extends the obstruction forward.

Provoke a constitutional crisis? The crisis is already here.

 

[Jhhnn]

How is Congress using the tools/power granted to it in order to do its constitutional duty creating a constitutional crisis?

The crisis is the AG and the administration completely ignoring and obstructing Congress from doing its job.

There's a difference between provoke & create. Dems won't give Barr & Trump the opportunity to create that crisis. Capische?

 

[ivwshane]

There's a difference between provoke & create. Dems won't give Barr & Trump the opportunity to create that crisis. Capische?

Its already been created!

 

[VRAMdemon]

The "White House blasts Mueller report, says Trump can instruct advisors not to testify to Congress". Apparently, the WH Counsel sent a letter arguing this to AG Barr.

Translation? - "If someone committed a crime to whistleblow on the President, then the President's crimes cannot be counted against him."

Obviously - innocence by the guilt of others is not how it works.