Things didn’t go so hot for Democrats in Congress the last time they questioned Attorney General William Barr about the special counsel’s investigation, so they’ve come up with a new scheme for the next one.
The neverending Russia saga is like watching Wile E. Coyote cook up one more way to catch the Road Runner, knowing he will inevitably end up with an anvil smashing him into the pavement.
Robert Mueller’s report, two years in the making, didn’t deliver the goods on President Trump that Democrats had been praying for. So, instead of accepting that fact and finding new avenues to attack, they’re ready to reinvestigate the whole thing, but this time, with cameras in the room so that they can look daring on cable news.
And for a hearing scheduled for this week, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., wants Barr questioned by Democratic lawyers, in addition to facing questions from the members. The purpose is clear. Barr was unshakable at hearings earlier this month, so now Democrats are hoping for a more aggressive showdown.
Barr isn’t even really going in to answer questions about the report, which has now been public in lightly redacted form for weeks. He’s going in to get a verbal spanking for doing his job, which, unfortunately for Democrats, doesn’t involve taking down a president who didn’t commit the crime they believed he did.
It’s why Democrats keep saying they don’t trust Barr or dismiss him as “a political appointee” or impugn his motives because he’s “Trump’s lawyer.”
In a recent appearance on MSNBC, Ari Melber asked 2020 presidential candidate Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., for his thoughts on Barr. “He’s the president’s lawyer, and he should be America’s lawyer,” he said. Melber replied with a pensive, “Mmm.”
There’s no corner unsearched and no life unmolested in the Russia hysteria. Reasons for pursuing the hoax ran out a long time ago. Bringing in Barr to once again restate the special counsel’s finding — that there was no evidence of Trump’s 2016 campaign colluding and there wasn’t enough to accuse Trump of obstruction — will do nothing more than give Democrats another swing at the Russia vapor.
In an ideal world for Democrats, Barr would have relinquished all of his authority as attorney general and kept his mouth shut. He would have handed over a completely unreacted report to Congress so that Democrats could leak its most salacious parts out of context and then lie about the rest. Barr would have left the decision on obstruction up to Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.
But this isn’t their ideal world; it’s the real one. In the real one, they can harass whoever they want with their committee hearings, and it still won’t change the outcome of their once-precious special counsel.
