It is easily shown that Barr has abused the powers of his office, sided with a lawless President against the rule of law that was coming at him in the form of the Mueller Report, and thereby broken the oath he took before becoming Attorney General of the United States.
(Indeed, that famous letter signed by more than 1000 former Department of Justice officials — both Republican and Democratic — declaring Trump to have committed “multiple felonies” represents a clear refutation and rebuke of Barr’s wholly inappropriate “not guilty” verdict on Trump.)
It is easily shown that AG Barr is doing damage to the Department of Justice, in allowing the President to utilize the Department as a weapon against his domestic opponents. And there is good reason to suspect that Barr’s remaining in office will significantly impair the ability of the DOJ to follow through on the many unfinished matters that Mueller handed off to other prosecutors in the system.
All that amounts to a powerful case for the impeachment of this Attorney General.
But the point I want to argue here is not just that Barr warrants impeachment, but additionally that impeaching Barr could be a strategically advantageous opening move for the Democrats in the House to make– an apt way to deal with the fears of the Democratic leadership about impeaching the President himself before the proper groundwork in public consciousness has been laid.
I am with those who believe that the Democrats should fearlessly begin an impeachment inquiry into Trump now, confident that the process will move public opinion in the desired direction. But in the absence of that confidence, the impeachment of Barr can provide a vehicle for moving public consciousness about Trump.
The Trump gang has thus far — with its continuing and across-the-board obstruction-of-justice — prevented the Democrats from using oversight hearings to move public opinion by exposing Trump’s wrong-doing. But an impeachment proceeding against Barr provides an opportune way to expose the very facts that the Trump gang has sought to cover up.
Exposing Barr’s wrong-doing exposes Trump’s crimes at the same time because almost all of Barr’s impeachable offenses involve trying to hide Trump’s wrong-doing.
Showing, for example, how Barr misrepresented the Mueller Report involves showing the contrast between Barr’s lies and the realities that the Mueller Report revealed so clearly that it persuaded those 1000+ champions of American justice to write their extraordinary letter to the American people about Trump’s multiple felonies.
(And then there is how Barr’s “abuse of power” in weaponizing the justice system to go after Trump’s opponents exposes Trump’s “abuse of power” as well.)
Showing Barr’s impeachable offenses could include powerful testimony from Mueller, who would be subpoenaed to testify about that letter Mueller wrote to Barr— complaining about Barr’s misrepresentation of the Mueller team’s findings and about Barr’s (deliberate) sowing of public confusion.
Expose Barr, and you expose the dark truth about Trump at the same time.
Thus, impeaching Barr is 1) clearly appropriate, 2) a less bold step than impeaching Trump directly, and 3) part of a good strategy to show the American people what they need to see about Trump.
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