June 10, 2022

In the opening of the January 6 committee hearings, chairman Bennie Thompson played an eye-opening clip of Donald Trump’s former attorney general, Bill Barr. Barr said he recalled three discussions with Trump about the election, then said the following:

BARR: I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff, which I told the president was bullshit. And I didn't want to be a part of it. And that's one of the reasons that went into me deciding to leave when I did. I observed -- I think it was on December 1st -- you can't live in a world where the incumbent administration stays in power based on its view, unsupported by specific evidence, that there was fraud in the election.

Well, better late than never. But let’s not forget that Barr was not only a loyalist for much of his time in the Trump administration but he helped promote the baseless idea that there would be widespread voter fraud in the first place. In December, 2020, when Barr told the AP that his DOJ had “not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” the AP also noted, “Before the election, he had repeatedly raised the notion that mail-in voting could be especially vulnerable to fraud.” Which is another load of BS.

And it's not like Barr bravely revealed what he thought of Trump's claim when he subsequently resigned. His resignation letter reportedly said that allegations of voter fraud would continue to be reviewed.

UPDATE (Karoli): Trump is having a huge hissy fit over Barr and Ivanka on his Truth Social account. It's really too stupid to type the text out, so here is a screenshot:

trump calls bill barr stupid, says he ignored election rigging to avoid impeachment

The interesting thing to me about this little diatribe are his thoughts about Barr and impeachment. He is telegraphing here that he doesn't -- and didn't -- fear impeachment then, nor would he if he were re-elected. And frankly, he shouldn't. Because he knows he has enough toadies in the Senate to ensure impeachment is just an empty exercise, meaningless and toothless. Beware this man, because if he worms his way back into office, this country is done for.

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