https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/25/explosive-william-barr-news-points-trumps-weakness-panic/

By Greg Sargent Opinion writer

Oct. 25, 2019 at 10:12 a.m. EDT

Let me make an admittedly tentative suggestion about the explosive news that William P. Barr’s review of the origins of the Russia investigation has become a criminal probe:

Don’t freak out.

Yet.

No question, it’s deeply worrying that the Attorney General’s review — which President Trump badly wants in hopes of discrediting the origins of the special counsel investigation that revealed bottomless corruption on his part — now appears to be a criminal matter.

The Post and the New York Times both cite sources who confirm this, noting that this gives John Durham, the U.S. attorney from Connecticut who’s running the review with Barr, additional investigative powers.

Let’s also stipulate upfront that when we’re talking about Barr, the most nefarious designs imaginable must be treated as a serious possibility. Barr appears willing to manipulate the U.S. law enforcement machinery to an extraordinary degree to protect Trump from accountability and to propagandize away Trump’s corruption and likely criminality.

So one cannot rule out Barr potentially carrying out Trump’s directive to prosecute his political opponents — the “deep state” denizens Trump baselessly claims tried to derail his candidacy. Indeed, the Times bluntly notes that this news will “raise alarms” that Trump “is using the Justice Department to go after his perceived enemies.”

However, it is at least possible that this development isn’t quite as serious as it seems — and that this might be yet another effort to calm the Audience of One, the Mad King who is raging at everyone for not shielding him from the impeachment inquiry closing in all around him.

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