Thread by @AriMelber

In Bill Barr’s hearing, watch for questions about not only respecting Mueller’s independence — but the independence of prosecutors investigating Trump issues in the Southern District of NY.

(As discussed with @neal_katyal ; cc former SDNY US Attorneys @PreetBharara @Comey )

Senators may also question why...

Barr went from praising Comey in Oct. 2016, saying his announcing no charges against Clinton did not appear to usurp power — to citing that same action as “crossing a line” that justified Trump firing him.

Both assertions came in WashPo op-eds he wrote defending Republicans at key inflection points, the final week of the 2016 campaign an days after the Comey firing. Headlines:

“COMEY DID THE RIGHT THING” (10/16)

“TRUMP MADE RIGHT CALL ON [FIRING] COMEY” (5/17)

Barr defends his reversal by claiming he thought DOJ authorized Comey’s July statement on Clinton — but Comey said the *opposite* at the top of that address:

“I have not coordinated or reviewed this statement in any way with the DOJ.. They do not know what I am about to say.”

So Barr’s reversal — saying ‘Comey was right’ until it became Trump’s (initial) excuse for firing Comey, then saying ‘Comey was wrong’ — relies on something that was not true.

Questioning why Barr claimed otherwise, and his motivations, could be a fruitful avenue under oath.

None of which is to suggest Barr isn’t up to the job. He’s a widely respected attorney (as we’ve noted on air).

But these are self-contradictory claims, with a factual error, about a *core act under investigation in the Mueller probe* — the firing of FBI Director Comey.