Attorney General William Barr used the word “spy” when he was testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee and referring to how the special counsel Robert Mueller investigation came into being. That is a word that most attorney generals shy away from, but not Barr. At that moment, it became abundantly clear that the AG works for Donald Trump with his conspiracy theories, not the American people.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was not pleased. She said that she does not trust Barr. She went a step further and said when Barr said he believed that the president’s campaign was spied upon that he turned his loyalty to Trump not the American people.
Pelosi was “very concerned” about how Barr has dealt with Muller’s report. The Associated Press (AG) reported that she accused the AG of carrying water for Trump:
‘HE IS NOT THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF DONALD TRUMP. HE IS THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES. I DON’T TRUST BARR, I TRUST MUELLER.’
When Barr appeared before the Judiciary Committee, he said that he thought “spying did occur” during the 2016 campaign. That moved him so close to Trump’s opinions that he would be on the other side of the president if he got any closer.
Trump noted that the investigation into Russia’s attack on the U.S.’s presidential elections and any contact with the Trump campaign began during the last year of President Barack Obama’s last year in office. This could be just another case of 45 fiercely tearing into anything with Obama’s name on it. Still, the special counsel did not come onboard until Trump was elected.
Pelosi told the AP that Barr was undermining the U.S. Constitution and his standing as the top legal officer in the country:
‘HE IS NOT THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF DONALD TRUMP. HE IS THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES. “I DON’T TRUST BARR, I TRUST MUELLER.’
The attorney said he intended to provide Congress with a redacted copy of Mueller’s report within the week. Pelosi said that was not good enough, but that it was just a “matter of time” until the Congress laid hands upon the Mueller report:
‘WE WILL SEE IT.’
Pelosi’s Democrats have been trying to do one of their primary jobs of providing oversight to the Executive Branch. Trump sees that as a personal attack, and his AG is just one more Republican hack for him. The president even called the Democrats attempts presidential harassment.
When the AP questioned Pelosi about what needed to be done to satisfy her party, she replied::
‘I’LL BE SATISFIED WHEN WE HAVE A NEW PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WHO IS A DEMOCRAT.’
The Speaker’s job takes the master skill of balancing the left and more traditional Democrats. Some have been calling for impeaching Trump since immediately after he took office. It has been an enthusiastic chorus, but the speaker knows previous parties that impeached a president have lost in the next election. Instead, she said that POTUS was just “not worth it.”
‘MY VIEW IS THAT IMPEACHMENT IS VERY DIVISIVE IN THE COUNTRY, AND WHEN WE SEE WHAT WE NEED TO SEE IT MAY BE IMPERATIVE THAT HE BE IMPEACHED. BUT UP UNTIL THEN, HE’S NOT WORTH IT. (SHE REPEATED) LET US SEE THE REPORT.’
Instead, the speaker indicated that she wanted the House to be looking at issues everyday people care about. That would be everything from health care to the infrastructure and beyond:
‘WE ARE NOT JUST FOCUSING ON HIM. WE’RE FOCUSED ON WHAT WE SAID WE WOULD DO.’
