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On March 27, 2019, special counsel Robert Mueller sent a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr essentially roasting him for misrepresenting the two-year investigation and its findings to the American people in the summary Bill Barr wrote and released to the public. It was a highly unusual step for a senior member of the Department of Justice to “go to paper” and create a record for historical and legal purposes. (You can read more about exactly why this Mueller letter was so unusual here.)
With that in mind, it is important to revisit April 9, 2019, when Attorney General Barr appeared before the House Judiciary Committee. During that appearance, which was under oath as all of these meetings are, Rep. Charlie Crist had this exchange with Attorney General Barr:
CRIST: Reports have emerged recently, general, that members of the Special Counsel's team are frustrated at some level with the limited information included in your March 24th letter ... Do you know what they are referencing with that?
BARR: No, I don't.
At the moment Bill Barr said that, the letter from Mueller, where he very directly said Barr’s summary and press conference “threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel” adding, “to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.” That letter had been in his possession for 14 days. To put it quite simply, Attorney General Bill Barr perjured himself before Congress, which is a federal crime. Speaker Pelosi noted it publicly today.
Vox’s Aaron Rupar has the video where Barr perjured himself.
Politico reports Speaker Pelosi spoke with House Democrats Thursday morning about Bill Barr’s perjury, saying “she couldn’t sleep” thinking about it.
Pelosi also told her colleagues during the meeting that she couldn’t sleep Wednesday night after watching Barr’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, during which he challenged Mueller’s legal theories and framework and endeared himself to Trump and his GOP allies.
Pelosi also batted down calls for impeachment, despite growing and considerable pressure from House Democrats to do so. She essentially said we need to beat Trump at the ballot box in 2020. Given the White House’s refusal to turn over any documents or witnesses to House members and the Republican-led Senate’s refusal to hold Donald Trump accountable, Republicans seem not only content to kick the can down the road, they have the power to obstruct and run out the clock, using the courts to drag this out for as long as possible. As much as we might want impeachment, we absolutely have to take our most significant and definitive action in November 2020.
Donald Trump aside, it’ll be interesting to see how Democrats proceed against Attorney General Bill Barr. The Department of Justice cannot be seen as fair and impartial with such a clear partisan at the helm, one who blatantly disregards the law and rebuffs any attempt at oversight from a co-equal branch of government. Even if Donald Trump doesn’t get impeached, Attorney General Bill Barr absolutely should be impeached.