The Trump administration is continuing to face intense heat from House Democrats over their incessantly belligerent behavior. This Thursday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) joined the growing chorus of leaders calling for controversial Trump appointee Attorney General William Barr to resign following a cascade of intensification in his battle with those outside the Trump team flying well past the standards associated with his office. He is not acting as an impartial, third party check on the White House — he’s their stooge, refusing to cede any ground in his battle to hold the Trump team out as completely and utterly innocent in the Russia scandal.
In response to Barr refusing to comply with the House Judiciary Committee’s subpoena for the full, unredacted version of the final report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted simply:
‘Barr needs to resign.’
She’s been similarly at the forefront of other issues, joining, for instance, calls for Trump’s impeachment in the wake of revelations about his obstruction of justice. This time around, she was responding to fellow progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who had shared of Barr rebuffing the Judiciary panel’s subpoena:
‘That is unacceptable. I will urge the Chairman to proceed w/contempt citation. This is extremely dangerous behavior from Trump and Barr.’
Besides the issue of the subpoena, Barr also refused to testify before the House Judiciary Committee this Thursday after Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) sought the chance for half an hour for legal counsel from both sides of the aisle to question him about the Russia investigation. The Department of Justice called Nadler’s plans “unprecedented and unacceptable,” although Republicans subjected Christine Blasey Ford to the exact same treatment after she accused Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. They brought in third party legal counsel to question her during a Senate hearing.
Outside of some fleeting supposed standard for Congressional testimony they themselves have torpedoed, the Trump team has a great reason to hesitate to submit to questioning — they’re not very good at it, to say the least. Sitting before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Barr pulled out defenses like the claim that Trump hadn’t actually been directing former White House counsel Don McGahn to lie when demanding he assert the president didn’t try and have him fire Mueller because in reality, he wanted McGahn to have someone else fire Mueller.
This is the “great legal mind” we’re supposed to trust to run the justice system? What a joke. Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee gathered as if for a hearing featuring an empty chair where Barr would be, symbolizing his failure to show up both for the hearing and the responsibilities of his position to do something other than imagine legal standards for the protection of dear old Donny. Nadler has indicated he is open to holding Barr in contempt of Congress.
A number of other prominent Democrats have at this point called for him to resign, including presidential candidates former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (Calif.).
Check out Twitter’s response to Ocasio-Cortez joining in, including trolls…
Featured Image via screenshot
