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emptywheel: How William Barr Did Old Man Back-Flips to Avoid Arresting Donald Trump
Did Old Man Back-Flips to Avoid Arresting Donald Trump
How William Barr Did Old Man Back-Flips to Avoid Arresting Donald Trump
March 24, 2019/132 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, Mueller Probe /by emptywheel
Attorney General William Barr just engaged in utterly cowardly dereliction of duty.
During his confirmation hearing, Barr confirmed that things Trump has done are obstruction
When we were awaiting the Mueller report yesterday, I wondered whether William Barr was thinking about two things he had said as part of his confirmation process. First, in his column that has always been interpreted to say that a President can’t obstruct justice, at the bottom of the first page, he instead acknowledged that a President actually could obstruct justice.
Obviously, the President and any other official can commit obstruction in this classic sense of sabotaging a proceeding’s truth-finding function. Thus, for example, if a President knowingly destroys or alters evidence, suborns perjury, or induces a witness to change testimony, or commits any act deliberately impairing the integrity or availability of evidence, then he, like anyone else, commits the crime of obstruction.
Barr — who at the time had no understanding of the evidence — made three comments in his confirmation hearing about obstruction. Among others, he point blank said that a person could not lawfully issue a pardon in exchange for someone’s promise not to incriminate him.
“Do you believe a president could lawfully issue a pardon in exchange for the recipient’s promise not incriminate him?” Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) asked Barr during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“No, that would be a crime,” Barr said.
“No, that would be a crime,” Barr said.
more...
https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/03/24/how-william-barr-did-old-man-back-flips-to-avoid-arresting-donald-trump/
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