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This from @SykesCharlie is more about Attorney General Barr’s history than it is about what happened in the Senate Judiciary Committee today or the crisis at the core of the federal government. But the history should be instructive. [Thread]
2. From Barr’s role as GHW Bush’s Attorney General, Iran-Contra Special Counsel Lawrence Walsh took away this lesson: “...powerful people with powerful allies can commit serious crimes in high office, deliberately abusing the public trust without consequences.”
3. So here we are again with Barr attempting to disrupt investigations of much greater moment than those he fought on behalf of the elder Bush. As @SykesCharlie argues, Barr is flying his colors here: he is the Trump Attorney General, not the United States Attorney General.
4. Democrats in Congress and outside it who have quailed at the thought of impeachment proceedings against the rogue President need to act on the understanding that the obstructive, disruptive conduct of Barr & Trump’s other associates will not improve. It may well get worse.
5. There is no way to finesse this. Trump demands a Presidency above the law. So do his senior administration officials and almost every Republican in Congress. They demand also that Americans accept a Presidency compromised by foreign intelligence services.
6. Do Democrats in Congress accept these demands, or do they not? If they do, they can skulk along hoping Trump’s political support collapses somehow, intone about “who we are” on the campaign trail, and pursue low-profile hearings in the face of administration stonewalling.
7. If Democrats do not, there is only one course: impeachment. This cannot wait until there is consensus. Delay is acquiescence. If Barr’s performance on the Hill today showed us anything, it is the Trump administration’s zealous commitment to bad faith.
8. Impeachment proceedings are the only way to make this commitment a political issue in the country. Otherwise, it’s just a “squabbling politicians” issue in Washington. Republicans not forced to defend Trump’s obstruction of justice, corruption, and other misconduct...
9...can seek to evade them, running instead on the peaking economy. I don’t know if House Democrats have the stomach for a fight over impeachment. That’s not clear. Only the choice they face is clear. [end]
