Friday, May 24, 2019

Trump Gives Barr Carte Blanche To Investigate The Investigators

While President Trump makes headlines retweeting doctored videos of Nancy Pelosi and calling CNN's Don Lemon "the dumbest man on television", he flies under the radar when he gives Attorney General William Barr carte blanche to investigate the investigators:


Trump is giving Barr a new tool in his investigation, empowering his attorney general to unilaterally unseal documents that the Justice Department has historically regarded as among its most highly secret. Warrants obtained from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, for instance, are not made public — not even to the person on whom the surveillance was authorized.


Trump explicitly delegated Barr with declassification power — noting it would not automatically extend to another attorney general — and only for use in the review of the Russia investigation. Before using the new authority, Barr should consult with intelligence officials “to the extent he deems it practicable,” Trump wrote in a memo formalizing the matter.


Trump has frequently claimed his campaign was the victim of “spying,” though the intelligence community has insisted it acted lawfully in following leads in the Russia investigation and conducted surveillance under court order.


Barr has been given license to cherry pick what he declassifies thus giving an incomplete picture of the investigation. Of course, Trump isn't interested in the truth. He is interested in centralizing and consolidating power in the White House by undermining the legitimacy of the FBI and other governmental institutions. The fact that Trump has publicly stated that he believes former FBI Director James Comey and other former FBI officials have committed treason while referring to Bob Mueller and those working under him as "killers" one must conclude that this is where the "investigation of the investigators" is heading. Or at the very least this is Trump's favored outcome.


Much of Trump's behavior is buffoonish. The danger here is that the court jester has been elected King and he is prepared to break all norms to keep his throne.

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