CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin accused the attorney general of mindlessly parroting right-wing talking points broadcast over cable news each day.
“The attorney general of the United States is a Fox News bot,” Toobin said. “And we have — and it’s just — it’s an outrage.”
Attorney General Bill Barr has faced intense criticism from Democrats and some in the media since he cleared President Trump of obstruction of justice charges following special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
Similar scrutiny was unleashed this week after Barr criticized a Department of Justice inspector general report that found no political bias led to the launching of Mueller’s investigation.
Barr has instead taken shots at top FBI officials who the inspector general found misled a federal court in order to obtain warrants to spy on Trump’s 2016 campaign for president.
Those officials say they were compelled to investigate Trump after receiving information that the campaign could be colluding with the Russian government to affect the outcome of the election.
“We don’t automatically assume that the campaigns are nefarious,” Barr responded this week. “There has to be some basis before we use these very potent powers in our core First Amendment activity.”
Fox News, which Trump has both praised for favorable coverage and admonished for some rare negative reporting, is the No. 1-rated cable news network in the country.
Toobin said Barr is playing into narratives set forth by the network in order to please Trump and his base.
“The fact that the attorney general of the United States keeps demanding investigation after investigation until he gets the results that he wants, that’s something that happens in the Soviet Union, not in the United States,” Toobin said.
