William Barr is the same man he was 40 years ago and no one should be surprised at anything he has said or done after entering the Trump Circus. A brief Bio captures the outlines of the man.
In the mid 70’s Barr’s work at the CIA included arguing for the end of the moratorium on destruction of Agency documents in the age of the Church Committee’s investigations of CIA complicity in assassinations of foreign figures. The National Security Archive reports that later, in the 80’s, while in the Department of Justice, Barr defended expanding Presidential authority while limiting notification of Congress about covert Operations during Iran-Contra Affair.
His work in the Department of Justice during the 80’s and 90’s amplified his views on presidential authority, highlighted by his advice to President Bush-1 to short-circuit the work of Lawrence Walsh, Independent Counsel charged with investigating the Iran-Contra affair. Bush pardoned Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five other participants (incl the especially unpleasant Elliott Abrams), leaving Walsh with nowhere to go with the results of his five year investigation.
Barr also showed up when the Bush-1 presidency was accused of helping to fund Saddam Hussein’s military buildup (yep, that guy – really) through phony agriculture credits. The timing was ironic – while the buildup was to serve as a counterbalance to Iran, Saddam pulled a fast one and used his new military strength to invade Kuwait. Barr refused to provide information to the Congress in a preview for his efforts for Trump.
In the lead-up to his appointment as the fourth Attorney General in Trump’s two year presidency (incl 2 Acting AGs) Barr wrote a lengthy paper opposing the formation of the Mueller investigation, complained about the staffing of the Mueller team (it included some Democrats!), supported the firing of FBI Director Comey, supported investigations of Hillary Clinton and then altered and misconstrued the findings of the Mueller team.
Trump got what he has paid for and for the rest of us it is back to the shack, same game. Today Barr wormed his way through a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee with the help of Chairman Lindsey Graham and then let it be known that the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee would not be blessed with his presence at tomorrow’s scheduled session.