Understandably people have been pretty aghast that Barr is saying all this stuff while being non committal about whether he would still vote for Trump. I wonder if it’s possible he’s avoiding saying that publicly for now in case he’s called on to testify in the triak. If he’s on the record on public TV saying he’s voting against trump, possible on the witness stand on cross examination trump’s lawyers could try and argue he’s partisan and his statements are politically motivated. Or he’s a coward I don’t know, just a thought.
I mean he’s definitely a coward, just like all the trump sycophants. Barr is weird because he was the one who wrote the whole memo about how executive power should be expanded/absolute, while on his way into the trump admin’s good graces. Something flipped a switch for him, could have been Jan 6 stuff but not entirely clear. I’m sure he’ll try to cash in on a biographical novel to tell us all about it someday.
Barr announced his resignation on Monday, December 14, 2020, to take effect Wednesday, December 23, 2020.
What happened over the weekend of December 12/13, 2020, or maybe in the week prior?
Edit: Let's take a look through the indictment!
[Georgia] 27. On December 15, the Defendant summoned the incoming Acting Attorney General, the incoming Acting Deputy Attorney General, and others to the Oval Office to discuss allegations of election fraud. During the meeting, the Justice Department officials specifically refuted the Defendant's claims about State Farm Arena, explaining to him that the activity shown on the tape Co-Conspirator 1 had used was benign.
Immediately after Barr submitted his resignation, Trump initiated a meeting with Barr's successors in the Oval Office to discuss allegations of election fraud in Georgia. We also know that, later on, Trump would attempt - and very nearly succeed - in appointing Jeffrey Clark (Co-Conspirator 4) to the office of Attorney General, after Clark had drafted memos to be sent to state legislatures stating that the US Justice Department had concerns about election integrity (which was plainly false).
The section titled "The Defendant's Use of Dishonesty, Fraud, and Deceit to Organize Fraudulent Slates of Electors and Cause Them to Transmit False Certificates to Congress" is where a potential smoking gun can be found, in the context of Barr's resignation.
The weekend of December 12 and 13, 2020, is when the conspirators met and worked on drafting and delivering documentation and instructions to seven states in order to execute the plan to draft fake electors. On December 14, 2020, all legitimate electors met and formally cast their votes for president. "66. On the same day, at the direction of the Defendant and Co-Conspirator 1 [Rudy Guiliani], fraudulent electors convened sham proceedings in the seven targeted states to cast fraudulent ballots in favor of the Defendant."
William Barr knew all about this fake elector plan, and only submitted his resignation after it was executed. Based on Trump's immediate meeting with Barr's successors in an attempt to leverage the US Justice Department to join in the pressure campaign against state legislatures, it stands to reason that Trump had been trying to get Barr to do the exact same thing.
In a best case scenario, Barr would have been advising Trump that if the fake elector plan was put into action, Barr would resign. Does Barr have the integrity to do such a thing after having been such a Trump supporter for so long? I think not.
The remaining options are for Barr to resign of his own choosing, or for him to be told "resign or be dismissed." In either case, I think the reason behind was that Trump was trying to get Barr to use the Justice Department to pressure states in precisely the way Jeffrey Clark would ultimately be prepared to do, and that Barr refused to do so.
For Barr, the incentive is "If I participate in this scheme, and it doesn't work, I'm going to prison." For Trump, the incentive is "This scheme has to work, or I'm going to prison." Those incentives are in direct opposition to each other. I feel pretty confident that Trump pushed Barr out of the Atty Genl office. And I think it's because "have the Attorney General pressure the states" was always part of the scheme.
December 18 is when they had meeting where they decided to plan Jan 6th. I think before that trump likely asked Barr to make DOJ use something illegal to hold power.
BTW: I found it interesting when Barr was discussing trump's documents handling indictment, he said that AG still had some discretion about who special counsel charges and some other things. Then he realized that this applied to Mueller and him so added that that case was "obviously" bogus.
Something flipped a switch for him, could have been Jan 6 stuff but not entirely clear.
Criminal liability has a funny way of doing that. I suspect he's smart enough to not end up under the bus via defending or breaking laws for Trump in a losing legal battle.
I’m sure he has good legal reasons (in his mind) about what and when to speak about Trump, but one thing is absolutely clear, he’s a traitorous fuck who’d still be doing what he did as AG if trump won the last election. I hope he’s legally cornered at some point in the subsequent investigations and testimony he’s compelled to give in the future. Then I hope gets a horribly painful and eventually lethal case of herpes.
Without even reading that article, I’m going to guess that no fault divorce is something that benefits women. I’m basing this solely on the fact that conservatives don’t like women much- as most of their policy seems to be designed to hurt them in some way.
It's also classic "XYZ behavior that most people agree is not a preferable outcome is against our preferences, but instead of creating a safe and protective society that prevents people from ending up in bad situations in the first place we'll instead legislate the preference directly."
See: abortion, war on drugs, the entire carceral system, etc.
this man is personally responsible for millions of suffering in his home state. he is a terrible human being. the headline should be 'ancient evil still alive and kicking'
The Pew poll found strong support for policies such as legalizing accessory dwelling units, commonly known as granny flats, on single-family zoned areas; legalizing duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes; reforms to create affordable housing development near major transit; and simplifying the housing permitting process.
Efforts to expedite permitting processes gained the broadest support, with 86%, while at the lower end, 49% approved of the ideas of allowing smaller lots and homes to be built closer together.
…
In Minneapolis; Portland, Oregon; New Rochelle, New York; and Tysons Corner, Virginia, new zoning rules that allow more housing have helped slow rent growth, according to a study this year by Pew Charitable Trusts. Towns and cities in the same metro areas that did not reform zoning laws generally saw faster rent growth. While rents nationwide grew 31% nationwide from 2017 to 2023, rents in those four cities all grew under 5%, according to the study.
Despite the favorable polling on housing reforms, local political opposition to new housing development in single-family neighborhoods often can remain strong. People tend to be supportive of more housing in general, just as long as it’s not right next to them.
If you care about affordable housing, make sure to attend your own city council’s meetings to voice support for affordable housing because there is 2-12 NIMBYs already advocating against it.
Right-wing commentators like Steven Crowder and Matt Walsh have ramped up complaints in recent months that it is too easy for people — specifically women — to get divorces. All states currently have some version of a no-fault divorce law, but Republicans in Texas and Nebraska list the dissolution or restriction of no-fault divorce in their state party political platforms.
In Louisiana earlier this year, state GOP members debated officially backing the dissolution of no-fault divorce, but no decision was made.
So we have the Democratic Party protecting and even expanding women’s rights in the states they control while the GOP has already dismantled reproductive rights and are now angling to repeal no-fault divorce.
Yet millions of people will say “Both sides” as they either not vote, vote Republican, or vote 3rd party while agreeing that no-fault divorce should be allowed…
“What can I add that has not already been said?” Kelly said, when asked if he wanted to weigh in on his former boss in light of recent comments made by other former Trump officials. “A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.
“A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women,” Kelly continued. “A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason – in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.
“There is nothing more that can be said,” Kelly concluded. “God help us.”
All these fuckers should be held to the fire when they show up. They need to be asked,“Why? Why did you support this shit?” Hutchison, Kelly, Griffin, Barr, all of them should not get a fucking pass just because they have since come out questioning trump’s fitness.
We gotta stop thinking that everyone that doesn’t think exactly like us is our enemy. This guy probably did an untold amount of things to obfuscate what Cheeto knew during his presidency and what his actual options were. Remember that huge bomb in Afghanistan or the killing of Iran’s head of CIA? Or completely backstabbing our allies, the Kurds? Or when he met and then fell in love with Kim Jong Un?
When Cheeto was presented reprehensible options, he chose them.
I bet they're going to subpoena her for a hearing the day-of or after the start of the Fulton trial just to delay the trial for Trump and then maybe he can cry unfair that his constitutional right to a speedy trial was violated.
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