Stacy McCain, Barr Testifies, Democrats Attack, The low moment of Wednesday’s Senate hearing:
To state the obvious: If you’re a Democrat who’s been watching CNN or MSNBC for the past two years, you are convinced that “Russian collusion” was real, and therefore if Mueller didn’t prove this beyond all doubt, it was because of “obstruction of justice.” Nothing can convince Rachel Maddow or her audience otherwise. Trump must be guilty of wrongdoing — this is a foundational belief of the Left’s worldview — and therefore the Attorney General is part of the Trump conspiracy.Althouse, I've been avoiding talking about William Barr, but I'm going to link to National Review because the headline sums up what I've been thinking. "The Incredibly Dumb Bill Barr Scandal."
After testifying all day to the Senate committee, Barr decided against testifying to the House Judiciary Committee, which had wanted to have him interrogated by Democrat staffers who, I suspect, were endeavoring to set up a perjury trap so they could impeach Barr himself.
David Harsanyi, Da Fed, The Real Reason Democrats Hate Bill Barr He harshed their mellow. RedState, Robert Mueller’s Letter Reveals The Secret Agenda Behind His Report And Why He’s Upset With Bill Barr. It wasn't that secret. Failing to find criminality, they wanted to smear him as badly as possible, which is not a prosecutors job. Byron York, WaEx, Dem attacks on Barr come down to three-week gap, which, when you think about it, is pretty silly.
Althouse again, gets the dope from the paywalled WsJ: "Democrats and the media are turning the AG into a villain for doing his duty and making the hard decisions that special counsel Robert Mueller abdicated." From "A Real Attorney General/Bill Barr gets smeared for refusing to duck and cover like Loretta Lynch" by the Editorial Board at The Wall Street Journal.
Will Chamberlin at HumEv: Checkmate - How President Trump’s legal team outfoxed Mueller. Long, but well worth the time. A pretty decent explanation of the attempt by the Mueller team to foist off a new standard for obstruction, and how Barr anticipated it and thwarted it.
CNN complains that the White House complained to Barr that Mueller should have decided on obstruction. So Does WaPoo, White House complained to Barr about contents of special counsel report after its release. WaPoo also complains that Trump finds in Barr the attorney general — and shield — he long sought. Remember the secret code, https://wapo.st/30daypass?code=HRY-MFU-KQC-BXD --Nona. At NR, Suranjan Sen complains that Presidents Should Not Investigate Themselves, maybe, but that's how it's set up now. David Catron at AmSpec, Thelma Nadler and Louise Schiff - Congressional crazies are taking the Democrat party over the cliff.
The Peacock reports that Speaker Pelosi accuses Attorney General William Barr of committing a crime: ‘He lied to Congress as Maddow, Democrats Use Deceptively Edited Clip to Argue Barr Lied to Congress (WaFreeBee) and DOJ shoots back at Pelosi’s claim that Barr ‘lied to Congress’. Ace, Brian Williams Straight-Up Lies -- Again -- Claiming That the Mueller Report Did Not Exonerate Trump on Collusion. What? A well known liar lies?
Revealing his true loyalties, House Dems in direct talks with Mueller about his testimony: reports, but I have to say, I have a lot of questions for Mueller that Democrats might not approve of, and I'd like to see them aired. We'll see what kind of terms Schiff and Nadler come to.
Politico reports Moderate Democrats fret they made a ‘big mistake’ backing Barr. "Three Senate Democrats voted for William Barr to be attorney general. Now at least two of them say they might have made a mistake." Fine, we didn't need their votes, but they needed to vote that way to appear moderate. That's their problem, not ours. Roger L. Simon, PJ Media, Suicidal Dems Continue to Foolishly Malign Barr. From Da Hill Jonathon Turley posits that William Barr should be scrutinized on his record rather than rhetoric. And his record is pretty damn good. WaEx, Chris Wallace blasts 'opinion people' on Fox News over Mueller letter. Is he applying for a less paying gig at a network that offers better opportunities for the cocktail party circuit?
Breitbart confirms that Mueller Report: Special Counsel Didn’t Examine DNC Servers — Based on FBI Investigation that Didn’t Examine DNC Servers, instead relying on "copies" provided by the DNC. I don't trust the DNC, do you?
Red State, Whoa Nellie! Newly Released Emails Prompt Filing Of Criminal Referral To DOJ and New Emails Conclusively Show Fusion GPS Head Glenn Simpson Lied To Congress. But that was before Mueller actually started enforcing the law against lying to Congress by charging Michael Cohen.
DOJ e-mails obtained by @JudicialWatch via FOIA conclusively show that Fusion GPS head Glenn Simpson lied to Congress when he claimed he had no contact with anyone at DOJ before the 2016 election and that Bruce Ohr was just a guy Christopher Steele knew. https://t.co/fjcCJ08sGF pic.twitter.com/0cUGgxRUdu— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) May 1, 2019
In an admission against their own narrative, CNN Poll: Overwhelming Majority Want Investigation into Obama DOJ Spying on Trump
“The American public increasingly feels that Democrats in Congress are going too far in investigating the President,” CNN reports. “44% say Democrats are doing too much on that score, up from 38% saying so in March. That shift stems largely from independents, 46% of whom now say congressional Democrats are going too far.” And that was before Democrats wasted a whole day moaning and groaning about Attorney General William Barr’s memo about the Mueller report, which Robert Mueller told Barr was accurate.In another admission against their own narrative, the NYT (through MSNBC) admits the F.B.I. Sent Investigator Posing as Assistant to Meet With Trump Aide in 2016. I think their getting ready for the "old news, who cares?" ploy and so does Red State. But we're being introduced to a new player:
The conversation at a London bar in September 2016 took a strange turn when the woman sitting across from George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign adviser, asked a direct question: Was the Trump campaign working with Russia?
The woman had set up the meeting to discuss foreign policy issues. But she was actually a government investigator posing as a research assistant, according to people familiar with the operation. The F.B.I. sent her to London as part of the counterintelligence inquiry opened that summer to better understand the Trump campaign’s links to Russia.
The American government’s affiliation with the woman, who said her name was Azra Turk, is one previously unreported detail of an operation that has become a political flash point in the face of accusations by President Trump and his allies that American law enforcement and intelligence officials spied on his campaign to undermine his electoral chances. Last year, he called it Spygate.
The decision to use Ms. Turk in the operation aimed at a presidential campaign official shows the level of alarm inside the F.B.I. during a frantic period when the bureau was trying to determine the scope of Russia’s attempts to disrupt the 2016 election, but could also give ammunition to Mr. Trump and his allies for their spying claims.
Ms. Turk went to London to help oversee the politically sensitive operation, working alongside a longtime informant, the Cambridge professor Stefan A. Halper. The move was a sign that the bureau wanted in place a trained investigator for a layer of oversight, as well as someone who could gather information for or serve as a credible witness in any potential prosecution that emerged from the case.
A spokesman for the F.B.I. declined to comment, as did a lawyer for Mr. Halper, Robert D. Luskin. Last year, Bill Priestap, then the bureau’s top counterintelligence agent who was deeply involved in the Russia inquiry, told Congress during a closed-door hearing that there was no F.B.I. conspiracy against Mr. Trump or his campaign.
George Papadopoulos testified to Congress that "Azra Turk," the alias of a covert U.S. intelligence asset deployed against the Trump campaign who pretended to work for Stefan Halper, another U.S. intel asset, all but offered sex in exchange for information he could give her. pic.twitter.com/MOmtqtEQl4— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) May 2, 2019
Although she is described elsewhere as a blonde bombshell, sadly, there are no pictures and we still don't know her true identity. Fortunately, he has a hot wife. Tom Maguire at Just One Minute, Just Don't Call It "Spying"
Ed Morrissey at Hot Air, NYT: Did Joe Biden Strongarm Ukraine To Protect His Son’s Job? And Will Republicans Pounce? Yes and yes.Plenty more unused (and some used) links at JJ Sefton's The Morning Report - 5/2/19 and The Morning Report - 5/3/19
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