Thread by @RDEliason

Just for fun - a Saturday morning thread on cross examination 101, for witness William Barr.

"Mr Barr, you said during your press conference on April '8 that the White House "fully cooperated' with the special counsel investigation." 1/

"You'd agree that the president is in charge of the White House, correct?" 2/

"And you know that the president, after months of saying he'd be happy to speak with the special counsel under oath, declined to be interviewed, correct?" 3/

"And you know that in the written answers to questions that the president DID finally agree to provide, he refused to answer questions about obstruction of justice, which was the subject of half of the special counsel's report, correct?" 4/

"And you know that in those written answers, the president claimed not to recall particular information or events more than 30 times, and then again denied a request for a follow-up, in person interview, correct?" 5/

"Now you also know that the president fired FBI director Comey while he was heading the Russia investigation, and later told some Russian diplomats that firing Comey had relieved great pressure the president was feeling from that investigation, correct?" 6/

"You know that special counsel Mueller found that the president took various other steps to try to remove the special counsel or have his powers curtailed, and those efforts only failed because the president's underlings declined to carry out his orders, correct?" 7/

"You know that when Paul Manafort was on trial and was not cooperating, the president publicly praised him for staying strong and criticized the prosecution, saying Manafort was being treated very unfairly, correct?" 8/

"You know that before Michael Cohen began cooperating the president urged him to stay strong and sent him messages of support, but after Cohen began cooperating the president called him a 'rat' and suggested members of his family may have committed crimes, correct?" 9/

"And although you also said at your press conference that nothing the president did deprived the special counsel of information needed to complete the investigation, in fact you don't know what effect his actions may have had on Manafort, Cohen, or other witnesses, do you." 10/

"And finally, you know that the president publicly attacked the investigation hundreds of times, calling it a witch hunt and a hoax, and repeatedly criticized the men and women of your own DOJ running the investigation, claiming they were biased and corrupt, correct?" 11/

"Well, Mr. Barr, I'd say you have a very strange concept of what it means to fully cooperate."

(This last is objectionable at trial and you'd save it for closing argument - but fine in a Congressional hearing!). 12/

Only yes or no questions, you don't argue with him, you don't let him explain, and he ends up looking ridiculous.

And if he tries to say, "Well I said the White House was cooperative, not the president," then you've got him too. 13/

"Oh, so you'd agree with me that the president of the United States, the head of the Executive Branch and main subject of the investigation, was NOT cooperative and in fact took many steps to try to impede the investigation, as Mueller found, correct? 14/

He can't win either way - which is the goal of a good cross examination.

In this case it's like shooting fish in a barrel. 15/end