Barr Exposes Biden
Bill Barr, who served as attorney general in the Justice Department for nearly two years during the second half of the Trump administration, slammed President Joe Biden for lying about the authenticity of his son Hunter Biden's laptop during a presidential debate when he called the New York Post's exposure of his son Hunter Biden's emails "a Russian plant.”
During his appearance on Fox News earlier this month, Barr said, "I was very disturbed during the debate when candidate Biden lied to the American people about the laptop. He's squarely confronted with the laptop, and he suggested that it was Russian disinformation and pointed to the letter written by some intelligence people that was baseless - which he knew was a lie."
Trump suggested the emails showed Biden was "a corrupt politician" and called his scandal-scarred son's computer "the laptop from hell”during the Oct. 22, 2020 debate. Biden responded that "there are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what this, he's accusing me of, is a Russian plant.”
"They have said that this has all the characteristics — four, five former heads of the CIA, both parties — say what he's saying is a bunch of garbage.”said Biden.
On Oct. 19, 2020, then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe proclaimed that the story about Hunter Biden's missing laptop is "not part of some Russian disinformation campaign."
"As soon as this letter came out from the so-called intelligence specialists, the DNI, John Radcliffe at the time, and the FBI – which worked for me – both came out and said this was not the result of Russian disinformation," Barr said during his appearance on Jesse Watters Primetime.
"The media ignored that completely just kept on going with the disinformation lie," Barr added.
In October 2020, NY Post published a story about a laptop abandoned at a Delaware computer repair shop that allegedly belonged to Hunter Biden. Only five of 51 former officials — including former National Security Director Jim Clapper still stood by an Oct. 19, 2020 public statement that said the release of the emails had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation." Five others declined to comment, while 39 signers didn't respond and two couldn't be contacted, according to NY Post.
The New York Times now acknowledges, "No concrete evidence has emerged that the laptop contains Russian disinformation", breaking with the media’s earlier position that the laptop and its contents were "unverifiable" and the product of a "Russian disinformation campaign."
Barr, on the other hand, was previously against injecting a criminal investigation against Hunter Biden into the 2020 race without "definitive judgement" from the Justice Department. Barr portrays himself and other aides obstructing or defying Trump's demands, including pressure to investigate Hunter Biden and the contents of a laptop obtained by Rudy Giuliani. Barr acknowleged that the laptop narrative could be politically problematic for the White House. The laptop includes a trove of emails about Hunter Biden's business dealings - and graphic photos and videos. Federal prosecutors were also looking into Hunter Biden's taxes related to his foreign business dealings.
Barr's New Book, One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General
Before releasing his new book, Barr spent a few days to promoting his memoir, One Damn Thing After Another, on various media outlets. He complains that the “most educated and influential people are more attached to self-serving narratives than to factual truth". At the same time, he regularly omits inconvenient truths or includes self-serving versions of events previously reported with his evident input.
Barr records the suicide in federal custody of Jeffrey Epstein, sex predator and friend of presidents Trump and Clinton. He makes no mention of the fact that his own father, Donald Barr, gave Epstein one of his first jobs, as a high-school math teacher at the Dalton school.
Barr gratuitously insults Anthony Fauci, ridicules recommendations to "follow the science" and declares that Trump's substantive pandemic decisions were“largely sound.”
Barr attacks Democrats and the media for their pursuit and coverage of "Iraqgate" and the US government's extension of loan guarantees to Saddam Hussein in the run-up to the invasion of Kuwait.
He defends himself from accusations that he was too close to Trump and acted to shield him over the Russia investigation and Robert Mueller's final report on election interference and links between Trump and Moscow. He defends his decision to say Trump did not seek to obstruct justice during Mueller's work, despite Mueller laying out 10 possible instances of such potentially criminal conduct.
Barr also defends his decision to seek to dismiss charges against Michael Flynn and to lessen the sentence handed to Roger Stone, Trump allies convicted as a result of the Russia investigation. On other controversies, Barr’s accounts are often highly selective or noticeably incomplete.
During his time as Trump's attorney general, Democrats and some former prosecutors criticized Barr for appearing to act as Trump's personal lawyer instead of as an independent law enforcement official.
In spring 2020, two federal judges seriously questioned Barrr's integrity and credibility by deploying words like "distorted" and "misleading" to describe Barr's behavior over his Mueller Report presentation. Those are jurists' polite terms for someone not telling the truth.
Barr's book, according to some critics, is the latest front in his charm offensive to sanitize his reputation. He is distancing himself from Trump now, but as attorney general, Barr empowered Trump and tried hard to get him re-elected. Barr damaged the Justice Department's cherished reputation for integrity and extended Trump's power. In October 2020, Barr told friends he hoped to stay on as AG if Trump won re-election.
Barr Bashes Trump
Throughout his book Barr expresses no reservations, no second thoughts, entertains no alternatives to what he said and did during his time in office. Barr has chosen not to defend Trump's actions, writing that his "self-indulgence and lack of self-control" cost him a second term and that "the absurd lengths to which he took his 'stolen election' claim led to the rioting on Capitol Hill.” In the lead up to said riot, Barr says that Trump "stopped listening to his advisers, became manic and unreasonable, and was off the rails." Barr also outlines why he thinks Trump should not run again. Trump's volcanic anger is also repeatedly described in his memoir.
Bill Barr says Trump never really understood the roles of the president and Justice Department. Barr said that he became "livid" after finding out Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he would be getting Barr to reach out to the Ukrainians regarding investigations into Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Hunter Biden.
"In the final months of his administration," Barr writes, "Trump cared only about one thing: himself. Country and principle took second place.”
Barr stated that Trump was furious at his interview with Lester Holt, NBC's lead anchor, in which Barr said that there was no evidence the 2020 election was rigged and his former boss was 'responsible' for the January 6 insurrection. During their meeting on December 1, 2020, he confronted Trump that the latter had "wheeled out a clown show" of lawyers to pursue his baseless voter fraud claims.
"I told him that all this stuff was bullshit ... about election fraud," Barr said. "It was wrong to be shoveling it out the way his team was. And he started asking me about different theories and ... I was able to tell him that 'this is wrong because of this."
Barr said Trump had considered dumping him before he was even confirmed. Barr describes his relationship with Trump as far more tempestuous than it appeared from the outside. His relationship with Trump began to deteriorate over the attorney general's refusal to file criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey.
Barr publicly acknowledges that Trump often indulges his instinct for "pettiness and pointless nastiness," behaves "like a hyperactive maniac," engages in "habitual hyperbole and imprecision," is "incapable of nuance," uses "egoistic and fratricidal tactics,""indulges petty and personal grievances," attracts voters with "low-road pandering," repeatedly "insults women based on their personal appearance," insults military heroes John McCain and Colin Powell, gets fixated on bad ideas, and turns against just about everyone who works for him.
Barr said that he offered to resign from his post and that Trump accepted that offer. Barr also described how Trump angrily slammed his hands on his desk after accepting Barr's resignation. Trump has disputed that account, insisting he demanded Barr resign, not that Barr quit.
On Dec. 14, 2020, the day the electoral college confirmed Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election, Barr released his letter of resignation. He began, however, by expressing appreciation for the opportunity to update then-President Trump on the Department of Justice's "review of voter fraud allegations in the 2020 election and how these allegations will continue to be pursued.”
Barr ends his memoir with the hope that one “of an impressive array of younger candidates' will get the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
"Because I believe that the greatest threat to the country is the progressive agenda being pushed by the Democratic Party, it's inconceivable to me that I wouldn't vote for the Republican nominee," Barr said.
In an interview with NBC's“TODAY" show, Barr said he doesn't think Trump should be the GOP nominee. But when asked if he would vote for Trump if he wins the party nomination in 2024, Barr suggested he would.
Trump Trashes Barr
Former President Trump rants against Bill Barr in a three-page letter to Lester Holt, who interviewed Barr about his new book recently.
"The fact is, he was weak, ineffective, and totally scared of being impeached, which the Democrats were constantly threatening to do. They 'broke' him." Trump wrote.
'He should have acted much faster on the Mueller Report, instead of allowing the fake Russia, Russia, Russia, Hoax to linger for so long, but it was the Election Fraud and Irregularities that he refused to act on because he wanted to save his own hide — and he did." Trump added, 'He is groveling to the media, hoping to gain acceptance that he doesn't deserve."
"Bill Barr cares more about being accepted by the corrupt Washington media and elite than serving the American people. He was slow, lethargic, and I realized early on that he never had what it takes to make a great attorney general," Trump contined to trash Barr.
Trump said the book was "fake". In the statement to NBC, Trump said he forced Barr leave for failing to do his job, calling his former attoney general 'Lazy', a 'big disappointment' and a 'coward.'