William Barr is Lying to Protect Trump
According to the Rachel Maddow show, in 1989 the assistant attorney general under George H.W. Bush wrote a controversial legal opinion that supposedly allowed the FBI to enter foreign countries and arrest their leaders without the consent of the foreign state. This was in response to a failed coup attempt in Panama to overthrow Manuel Noreiga. The coup was clumsily sanctioned by Bush who later denied it -- just as clumsily.
The L.A. Times reported that the document existed, reported its title as "Authorityof the FBI to Override Customary or Other International Law in the Course ofExtraterritorial Law Enforcement Activities," identified its author as William Barr (who was then the assistant attorney general), and summarized the documents intent. This is the same William Barr who is the current attorney general under Trump.
Congress was alarmed at the new powers claimed by Barr's opinion and opened a hearing titled "FBI Authority to Seize Subjects Abroad." At the hearing, Barr refused to hand the document over, and claimed that a new policy by the Justice Department allowed him to keep the document from Congress even though it was not classified. He did offer to "summarize the principal conclusions of the opinion."
It took a few years for the document to be released. The full unredacted unsummarized content showed that the Barr "summaries" were lies and a cover-up of the true intent of his document.
Trump may have been aware of Barr's past performance when he selected him to oversee the Mueller investigation and to "summarize" the Mueller report. But Barr is also aware that cover-ups are difficult to maintain, especially when there are multiple paths that could result in the full release of Mueller's report.
We'll soon find out.
John L Ferri
References:
The 1989 precedent that raises questions about how Barr will redact the Mueller report - Washington Post
Barr’s Playbook: He Misled Congress When Omitting Parts of Justice Dep’t Memo in 1989 - Ryan Goodman
The L.A. Times reported that the document existed, reported its title as "Authorityof the FBI to Override Customary or Other International Law in the Course ofExtraterritorial Law Enforcement Activities," identified its author as William Barr (who was then the assistant attorney general), and summarized the documents intent. This is the same William Barr who is the current attorney general under Trump.
Congress was alarmed at the new powers claimed by Barr's opinion and opened a hearing titled "FBI Authority to Seize Subjects Abroad." At the hearing, Barr refused to hand the document over, and claimed that a new policy by the Justice Department allowed him to keep the document from Congress even though it was not classified. He did offer to "summarize the principal conclusions of the opinion."
It took a few years for the document to be released. The full unredacted unsummarized content showed that the Barr "summaries" were lies and a cover-up of the true intent of his document.
Trump may have been aware of Barr's past performance when he selected him to oversee the Mueller investigation and to "summarize" the Mueller report. But Barr is also aware that cover-ups are difficult to maintain, especially when there are multiple paths that could result in the full release of Mueller's report.
We'll soon find out.
John L Ferri
References:
The 1989 precedent that raises questions about how Barr will redact the Mueller report - Washington Post
Barr’s Playbook: He Misled Congress When Omitting Parts of Justice Dep’t Memo in 1989 - Ryan Goodman
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