As the old scripture says, "There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed." And what all of us knew from the moment Bill Barr ran to the microphones with his "four-page summary" is now proven.
Bill Barr lied to the public, denigrated his own office, and protected Donald Trump from the consequences of the Mueller investigation.
This is Watergate, except the Attorney General doesn't resign, and apparently doesn't go to jail, but protects Nixon.
RACHEL MADDOW: Barr's letter said quote, "The evidence developed during the special counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction of justice offense.
Our determination was made without regard to and is not based on the constitutional considerations that surround the indictment and criminal prosecution of a sitting president."
That's what Barr did.
That's what Barr said.
Turns out that was a lie.
At least a federal appeals court in Washington has just ruled that that was a lie.
According to a unanimous ruling from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, a three-judge panel, when Robert Mueller turned in his report to the Justice Department, Attorney General Bill Barr and the Justice Department never actually considered at all whether or not Trump committed crimes or whether trump should be charged.
The Washington Post notes that the DC Court ruling also exposes Barr's DOJ as being all about influencing the media and the public rather than dispensing justice. The DC court's ruling as reported in WaPo says, “The court’s ... review of the memorandum revealed that the Department in fact never considered bringing a charge,” the panel wrote. “Instead, the memorandum concerned a separate decision that had gone entirely unmentioned by the government in its submissions to the court—what, if anything, to say to Congress and the public about the Mueller Report.”
As usual, Maddow speaks for us, and this time her disgust is both palpable and utterly warranted:
MADDOW: So, you know, that happened. Okay.
Apparently, we just move on.
Apparently, we just move on because, you know, crimes in high places don't matter much, right? And, you know, if you're fully cognisant of the fact that you've gotten away with a bunch of crimes without facing any charges or any consequences for those crimes, probably that has any really cautionary effect on you, so you never try any other potential crimes again, right? I'm sure that's how it works.
The question is, what now? Does Barr walk because the media can't focus on more than one Trump scandal at a time? That's what's kept so many of Trumpworld safe these past years.
