Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin has called for Attorney General William Barr to be impeached.
“[I]nstead of impeaching Trump why not impeach Barr?”, Rubin tweeted minutes after the second day of Barr’s hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee concluded Wednesday.
instead of impeaching Trump why not impeach Barr?
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) April 10, 2019
Rubin describes herself as a “conservative blogger” but since Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential election loss she has used her perch at the Washington Post to attack Republicans relentlessly. She has described Barr, who was attorney general under President George H. W. Bush, as “a menace” and has called for his resignation in the past. She has accused Barr of engaging in public relations for Trump.
“If the investigators are right and there turns out to be a whole lot of evidence of wrongdoing, Barr should be forced to step down for acting like Trump’s PR man, not the attorney general of the United States,” she tweeted last week.
Barr told the Senate Appropriations Committee it was his duty as attorney general to ensure that the federal government did not abuse its powers.
“I think spying did occur. But the question is whether it was predicated — adequately predicated,” Barr testified, referring to surveillance against the Trump campaign. “I’m not suggesting it wasn’t adequately predicated, but I need to explore that. I think it’s my obligation. Congress is usually very concerned about intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies staying in their proper lane.”
Last month, Barr sent a letter to the leaders of the Senate and House Judiciary committees briefing them of the “principal conclusions” in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. The summary said the special counsel did not find evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Barr also said Mueller left the obstruction question unresolved. A line taken from Mueller’s final report says, “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein found there was a lack of “sufficient” evidence to determine whether Trump obstructed justice.
The attorney general testified this week Mueller did not help him draft the four-page summary of the Russia investigation final report and expects a redacted version of the report to be released by next week.
