Barr's Legal Conundrum: To Break The Law Or Not?

William Barr, the former US Attorney General, has been accused of breaking the law on several occasions during his time in office. Barr was a close ally of President Donald Trump and was seen as a loyalist and one of Trump's most effective defenders. Barr's actions as Attorney General have been described as a pattern of biased actions to support and validate repeated false claims and improper actions by Trump.

Barr has been accused of manipulating the release of the Mueller report to benefit Trump, attacking the inspector general's report that validated the Russia investigation, and failing to recuse himself from the Ukraine affair. He has also been criticised for his involvement in the decision to call in active-duty troops during the 1992 LA riots, and for his role in the tragedy of Ruby Ridge, which happened under his watch.

Despite these accusations, Barr has denied any wrongdoing and maintains that he acted within the law during his time as Attorney General.

Barr's involvement in the Ruby Ridge incident

William Barr, the former Attorney General of the United States, was involved in the Ruby Ridge incident, which took place in August 1992. Barr was the Attorney General at the time, serving under President George H. W. Bush.

The Ruby Ridge incident involved a siege of a cabin occupied by the Weaver family in Boundary County, Idaho. The incident began when Randy Weaver, the patriarch of the family, failed to appear in court on federal firearms charges. The charges stemmed from Weaver's sale of a sawed-off shotgun to an undercover federal informant.

During the standoff, Weaver's 14-year-old son, Samuel, was killed by deputies of the United States Marshals Service. In the ensuing exchange of gunfire, Weaver's friend, Kevin Harris, shot and killed Deputy Marshal William Francis Degan Jr. The FBI's Hostage Rescue Team became involved, and in the standoff, FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi shot and killed Weaver's wife, Vicki.

The conflict was eventually resolved by civilian negotiators, and Harris and the Weavers surrendered. Extensive litigation followed, with Weaver and Harris being tried on various federal criminal charges, including first-degree murder. They were acquitted of all siege-related charges, and Weaver was only found guilty of violating his bail terms and failing to appear for a court hearing.

Furthermore, Barr is said to have tried to get immunity for the FBI sniper who killed Vicki Weaver and spent two weeks organising former Attorneys General to support the sniper. He also allegedly tried to get the judge to dismiss the charges, arguing that prosecuting FBI snipers undermined the Attorney General.

In addition to these actions, Barr is criticised for his attempts to exonerate the government. According to the article, a majority of Barr's pro bono activities have consisted of trying to cover up the massacre and exonerating the government killers.

Barr's relationship with Mueller

Barr and Mueller have known each other since the 1980s and are said to be good friends. Mueller attended the weddings of two of Barr's daughters, and their wives attend Bible study together.

Barr and Mueller first worked together in the 1990s when Barr was Assistant Attorney General and Mueller was Assistant to the Attorney General at the Department of Justice. Barr is said to have subjected Mueller to "intellectual hazing" during this time, often making fun of him in meetings. Despite this, Barr is reported to have respected Mueller as a prosecutor, though he did not view him as a "brilliant legal mind".

In 2019, Barr was nominated to be Attorney General for the second time, this time under President Donald Trump. Barr's relationship with Mueller became strained during his second tenure as Attorney General, as Barr was accused of overruling Mueller and functioning as Trump's personal defence lawyer. Barr was publicly critical of the special counsel investigation, which was led by Mueller, and characterised the obstruction of justice investigation as "asinine". Barr also refused to recuse himself from overseeing the investigation, despite having previously argued that the special counsel had no right to investigate Trump.

Barr's relationship with Trump began to deteriorate when Barr refused to file criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey. Another source of tension was the slow pace of a review by federal prosecutor John Durham into how the FBI launched its investigation of allegations that the Trump campaign had assistance from Russia.

In his book, *One Damn Thing After Another*, Barr describes his relationship with Trump as "far more tempestuous than it appeared from the outside".

Barr's handling of the Mueller report

William Barr's handling of the Mueller report was highly controversial and led to accusations of misconduct and calls for his resignation.

Barr was criticised for his summary of the report, which was seen as a deliberate mischaracterisation of Mueller's findings. He was accused of omitting information and quoting sentence fragments out of context to alter the report's conclusions. Barr stated that Mueller's report did not establish conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. However, the report did detail efforts by a Russian company with close ties to the Russian government to sow social discord among American voters through disinformation and social media operations. Barr also asserted that the report did not find any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia's hacking operations, despite Mueller's report stating that the investigation did establish such expectations of benefit from the Russian email hack and release. Barr's summary also omitted Mueller's allusion to their lack of confidence in exonerating evidence, as well as repeated findings of substantial evidence supporting the key elements of obstruction.

Barr's summary led to Mueller writing a letter expressing his concerns that Barr had inadequately portrayed the report's conclusions. Mueller's letter stated that Barr's summary "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of the investigation, and that there was now "public confusion about critical aspects" of the results. Despite this, Barr maintained that his letter was not intended to summarise the report but rather to describe its principal findings.

Barr also faced criticism for refusing to recuse himself from overseeing the Mueller investigation, despite having previously argued that Mueller had no right to investigate Trump. Furthermore, Barr was accused of deciding to clear Trump of obstruction before even seeing the Mueller report. He was also criticised for stating that Mueller's report gave no indication that Congress could make a determination on obstruction of justice, when the report specifically stated that "Congress may apply obstruction laws".

Barr's involvement in the forceful removal of peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square

On June 1, 2020, Attorney General William Barr was involved in the forceful removal of peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square, across from the White House. Barr personally ordered law enforcement to push back the perimeter near the White House by one block, which resulted in protesters being forced away from the area. Shortly after, police dispersed the crowd using tear gas, horses, and riot shields.

The decision to extend the perimeter was made by Barr and other officials late on Sunday, June 30, or early on Monday, June 1. Barr was frustrated to find that the perimeter had not been extended by the afternoon of June 1 and ordered law enforcement to complete the extension. According to a Justice Department official, Barr said:

> "This needs to be done. Get it done."

The removal of protesters was carried out shortly before Washington, D.C.'s 7 p.m. curfew and before President Trump spoke and posed for a photograph in the area. Barr's actions have been criticized and over 1,250 former Justice Department employees have called for an investigation, suggesting that Barr's conduct violated the First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Barr's intervention in the Roger Stone case

William Barr, the United States Attorney General in the administration of President Donald Trump, was accused of intervening in the Roger Stone case. Roger Stone was an associate and old friend of President Trump. Stone was convicted on seven felony charges, including obstructing a congressional investigation, lying to Congress, and tampering with a witness in connection with the investigation of Russian intervention into the 2016 presidential election.

In February 2020, four career prosecutors recommended that Stone serve a jail term of between seven and nine years. Following a tweet from President Trump stating, "Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice!", the Department of Justice (DOJ) recommended an unspecified jail term. The DOJ claimed that this later decision was made without consulting the White House. The prosecutors resigned from the case as a result, with one choosing to leave the department.

The intervention in the Roger Stone case led to a bipartisan group of more than 2,000 former DOJ employees signing a letter calling for Barr's resignation. The Federal Judges Association of over a thousand federal jurists called an emergency meeting to discuss their concerns about the intervention of Trump and Justice Department officials in politically sensitive cases.

Barr affirmed that he had made the decision in the Stone case to change the sentencing memo. He said Trump had not asked him to step in, but noted that Trump's tweets and public comments made it impossible for the attorney general to do his job. Barr stated, "I think it's time to stop the tweeting about Department of Justice criminal cases."

Frequently asked questions