Democrats want William Barr to give them his power; he should never agree to it

Lawmakers attempted to paint him as a partisan shill for President Trump and cast doubt, preemptively, on the special counsel report that resulted from an investigation they themselves demanded.

This is why Democrats (and some of their media friends) keep repeatedly insisting that Barr give the full, raw report to Congress.

“Congress has a right to the entire report with no redactions whatsoever so we can see what’s there,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said Sunday on CBS. “We’re entitled to see it because Congress represents the nation. And Congress has to take action on any of it. So we’re entitled to see all of it.”

But current federal law, as passed by Congress, gives the attorney general full discretion over what to make public. Nowhere does the law specifically require the attorney general to provide Congress with the special counsel’s report, which the statute calls “confidential.”

Accordingly, the Justice Department’s internal regulations state, “At the conclusion of the Special Counsel’s work, he or she shall provide the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the Special Counsel.” They then say the attorney general “may determine that public release of [special counsel] reports would be in the public interest, to the extent that release would comply with applicable legal restrictions.”

In other words, the attorney general has wide discretion over what becomes public. During his hearing on Tuesday, Barr said there would certainly be redactions to the full report, limited to secret grand jury information (required by law), details that concern ongoing investigations, sources or intelligence vital to national security, and anything that might sully the reputations of unindicted individuals.

True, that last one is expansive, but it’s also the right thing to do. Monica Lewinsky couldn’t get a job for years after the infamous Starr Report was released in its entirety. And for what? She had committed no crime.

Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawaii, apparently under the impression that he got the best of Barr during his questioning, tweeted out a video clip of their exchange, wherein Case asked if Barr would be willing to hand over his power as attorney general to a court.

“Are you intending to go to court to ask for guidance, and/or direction, and/or an order where you are uncertain whether you can in fact or should in fact release materials?” Case said.

Should police officers hand over their policing duties to judges, too? No.

Barr, fortunately, told Case no, he wouldn’t be asking a judge to hold his hand. He added that if Nadler wanted to pursue litigation on the issue, that was his right.

Rep. José E. Serrano, D-N.Y., said during the hearing, “It would strike a serious blow to our system and, yes, to our democracy” if the special counsel report is not “fully seen.”

Well, that’s not going to happen, according to Barr, who knows that Democrats want the raw material so that they can immediately slip its most salacious details to the Washington Post. Democrats don’t want the report so they can thoughtfully discuss its implications. They want it so they can leak it.

After the first part of Barr’s testimony, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., made clear anyway that it doesn’t matter what Barr says or what he does. “I don’t trust Barr, I trust Mueller,” she told the Associated Press.

There is no satisfying Democrats on the Russia conspiracy.

Barr is doing the job he’s been given, the job he was nominated by the president to do, and the job he was confirmed by the Senate to do. There’s no reason he should hand the power that comes with it to the Democrats. If they don’t like that, they can pass a law.

[Related: Democrats question Barr’s ‘independence,’ demand full Mueller report]