President Trump has nominated William (Bill) Barr to be the next Attorney General of The United States.
Mr. Barr has been going through his confirmation hearings in The Senate this week, and it appears he will be confirmed.
So, who is this guy?
First off, he’s a lawyer.
From 1973 to 1977, Mr. Barr was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency.
He was then a law clerk to Judge Malcolm Wilkey of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1977 through 1978.
He served on the domestic policy staff at the Reagan White House from May 3, 1982 to September 5, 1983, with his official title being Deputy Assistant Director for Legal Policy. He was also in private practice for nine years with the Washington law firm of Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge.
In 1989, at the beginning of his administration, President George H. W. Bush appointed Barr to the U.S. Department of Justice as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, an office which functions as the legal advisor for the President and executive agencies.
In May 1990, Barr was appointed Deputy Attorney General, the official responsible for day-to-day management of the DOJ. According to media reports, Barr was generally praised for his professional management of the Department.
During August 1991, when then-Attorney General Richard Thornburgh resigned to campaign for the Senate, Barr was named Acting Attorney General.
President Bush then nominated him to be the next Attorney General, and served in that role from 1991–1993.
Upon leaving the DOJ in 1994, Barr became Executive Vice President and General Counsel of GTE Corporation, where he served for 14 years.
In 2008, when GTE merged with Bell Atlantic to become Verizon Communications, he left that position. While at GTE, from 1997 to 2005 Barr also served on the Board of Visitors of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg.
In 2009, Barr was briefly of counsel to the firm Kirkland & Ellis.
From 2010 until 2017, he advised corporations on government enforcement matters and regulatory litigation.
He rejoined Kirkland and Ellis in 2017.
So, he has played this game before, and he seems to be considered a “conservative.”
But is that good enough? Let’s take a closer look.
First of all, the Senate democrats don’t seem to be putting up much of a fuss against Mr. Barr. That’s the first indication that he may not be what he appears to be.
If Bill Barr is confirmed, he would become Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s supervisor.
Barr has had a “personal relationship” with Robert Mueller for more than 25 years, according to Richard Manning of Fox News.
Also, “Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham revealed that Barr worked with Mueller when Barr previously served as attorney general from 1991 to 1993 under President George H.W. Bush. But on top of that, the two were “best friends” and their wives attended Bible study together.”
Oh…, c’mon!
“When added to the knowledge that Mueller had attended the weddings of Barr’s children, it is clear that Barr’s relationship with the special counsel is extremely close.”
Okay, we just jumped from DEFCON 1 to DEFCON 5!
I may be mistaken, but wouldn’t Barr’s personal relationship with Robert Mueller be reason enough for him to end up recusing himself from the whole situation like Jeff Sessions did?
Just sayin’.
Richard Manning then added, “Hopefully, President Trump has found the honest man who not only can shine a light on the corruption within the Justice Department but also has the guts and the legal gravitas to do something about it, becoming the swamp’s worse nightmare.”
“With that background and perspective, Barr could be a brilliant choice to run the Justice Department. With public confidence in the Justice Department and FBI at the bottom of the barrel, Barr’s intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the department would allow him to begin the cleanup that is desperately needed.”
Then again, he may be just another “swamp monster” in disguise.
It is common knowledge now that Robert Mueller knowingly used Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants based on Democratic research that has since been called by the then-FBI Director, James Comey, “salacious and unverified” as the foundation its Russia probe.
And the Justice Department was so committed to their partisan, treasonous, mission that officials deliberately turned a blind eye to very real concerns about the relationship of both former President Barack Obama and his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, with both Russia and Hillary Clinton’s apparent violations of laws related to handling classified documents.
“As Attorney General, will Barr excuse his old friend Mueller and former Justice Department colleagues, giving them a pass?” Richard Manning asks.
I’m pretty sure the answer to that question is a big “yes.”
“Or hopefully, President Trump has found the honest man who not only can shine a light on the corruption within the Justice Department but also has the guts and the legal gravitas to do something about it, becoming ‘he swamp’s’ worse nightmare.”
I hope I am wrong and that this is the case, Mr. Manning, but history would suggest that I am not wrong, and that not much will change, and that all of these “swamp rats” will remain above the law.
I’ll keep you posted.
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Mr. Erickson Rules! 
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