If Kamala Harris were Elizabeth Barrett Browning, she would have written the following poem beginning like this: "How do I flay thee? Let me count the ways." Truly, there seemed to be nothing left of him after her questioning. She parsed his words, and refused any interruptions without raising her voice a fraction of a decibel. She shut him up when he spoke over her, and she made him look like an absolute bumbling idiot. He doesn't know the meaning of the word "suggested?" Give me a f*cking break.
AG BARR: Um...I wouldn't...
HARRIS: Yes or No?
BARR: Could you repeat that question?
HARRIS: I will repeat it. Has the president or anyone at the white house ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone? Yes or no, please, sir.
BARR: The president or anybody else?
HARRIS: Seems you would remember something like that and be able to tell us.
BARR: Yeah, but i'm trying to grapple with the word "suggest." I mean, there have been discussions of matters out there that they've not asked me to open an investigation.
HARRIS: Perhaps they've suggested?
BARR: I don't know. I wouldn't say suggested.
HARRIS: Hinted.
BARR: I don't know.
HARRIS: Inferred? You don't know? Okay.
You know, besides all the times the most famous White House occupant has tweeted and stated he was demanding an investigation into Hillary Clinton, and whether or not Barack Obama spied on him. Barr has no idea, other than those times if Trump has ever suggested to him personally that he open an investigation into someone. That's really a lot to ask an AG to remember, don'tchyathink?
Harris' questioning showcased better than any that he had not read the entire Mueller report, and what a complete dereliction of duty that was — especially when it came to him making a charging decision. He made a decision on whether or not to charge President Trump with obstruction of justice without reviewing the evidence of the case.
BARR: I don't know if --
HARRIS: Sir, I'm asking a question. In your March 24th summary you wrote, quote, after reviewing the special counsel's final report, Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and I have concluded that the evidence is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction of justice offense. Now the special counsel's investigation produce a great deal of evidence. I'm led to believe it included witnesses' notes and emails, witnesses' Congressional testimony, witnesses' interviews which were summarized in the FBI 302 forms, former FBI Director Comey's memos, and the president's public statements. My question is, in reaching your conclusion, did you personally review all of the underlying evidence?
BARR: No. We took an --
HARRIS: Did Mr. Rosenstein?
BARR: No. We accepted the statements in the report as factual record. We did not go underneath it to see whether or not they were accurate. We accepted it as accurate. And made our --
HARRIS: So you accepted the report as the evidence?
BARR: Yes.
HARRIS: You did not question or look at the underlying evidence that supports the conclusions in the report?
BARR: No.
HARRIS: Did Mr. Rosenstein review the evidence that underlines and supports the conclusions in the report? To your knowledge?
BARR: Not to my knowledge. We accepted the statements in the report and the characterization of the evidence as true.
HARRIS: Did anyone in your executive office review the evidence supporting the report?
BARR: No.
HARRIS: No? Yet you represented to the American public that the evidence was not, quote, sufficient to support an obstruction of justice offense.
BARR: The evidence presented in the report. This is not a mysterious process. In the Department of Justice we have cross memos and declination memos every day coming up and we don't go and look at the underlying evidence. We take the characterization of the evidence as true.
HARRIS: As the Attorney General of the United States, you run the United States Department of Justice. If in any U.S. Attorneys' office around the country, the head of the office, when being asked to make a critical decision about, in this case, the person who holds the highest office in the land and whether or not that person committed a crime, would you accept them recommending a charging decision to you if they had not reviewed the evidence?
BARR: That's a question for Bob Mueller. He is the U.S. Attorney. He is the one who presents the report.
HARRIS: But it was you who made the charging decision, sir. You made the decision not to charge the president.
BARR: In a cross memo and declination memo...
HARRIS: You said it was your baby. What did you mean by that?
BARR: It was my baby to let -- to decide whether or not to disclose it to the public.
HARRIS: Who had the power to make the decision about whether or not the evidence was sufficient to make a determination of whether there had been an obstruction of justice?
BARR: Prosecution memos go up to the supervisor. In this case, it was the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General who decide on the final decision. And that is based on the memo as presented by the U.S. Attorney's office.
HARRIS: I think you have made it clear you didn't look at the evidence and we can move on.
BARR: I've seen a lot of prosecutions, I've seen a lot of --
HARRIS: I think you've made it clear, sir, that you've not looked at the evidence and we can move on.
OUCH. So, you mean to tell Senator Kamala Harris that you went against everything Mueller told you without even looking at the evidence? You told the citizens you're supposed to represent that the evidence doesn't support an obstruction of justice charge, but you haven't seen any evidence? Forget about looking at the evidence, by the way, you stated up front that you haven't even read the entire goddamned report? And you expect to go up in front of the Senate and have the best prosecutor in the land, Senator Kamala Harris be nice to you?
Duuuuuuuuuude. The Democrats may not have the majority in the Senate, but you still need to do your homework when you come before them if you don't want to be roasted on a spit.
