RUTHFULLY YOURS

In the past week, there’s been non-stop speculation that Trump’s Attorney General, Bill Barr, may be run out of office or quit. On Tuesday alone, a report that Barr was on the verge of quitting was instantly followed with a statement that he had no intention of quitting.

This all stems from the fact that, when word broke that the vindictive Eric Holder holdovers in the Department of Justice sought the most extreme penalty possible for Roger Stone, Trump and Barr acted almost simultaneously, with Barr later insisting that his actions had nothing to do with Trump.

On February 11, Trump tweeted out that the sentence the DOJ was asking for Stone was an injustice:

At roughly the same time, Barr, as head of the Department of Justice, concluded that the sentencing memo was inappropriate and, instead, filed a memo asking only that the court exercise its discretion over sentencing. The left promptly went insane, saying that never before had an Attorney General been so utterly insane and corrupt. Former DOJ attorneys and officials (who are overwhelmingly Democrats) signed a petition that former Obama and Schiff staffers had written demanding he resign.

Leave it to Jeff Carlson to tweet out what a truly corrupt DOJ looks like:

But by all means, tell us how authoritarianism is coming to America because the Attorney General asked the court to exercise its discretion in sentencing an elderly, first-time, non-violent offender who clumsily resisted a hoax and issued threats no one took seriously.

Still, Barr did state on ABC that Trump’s tweets were a challenge for him, identifying them as “disruptive” and saying that some of them “make it impossible for me to do my job and to assure the courts and the prosecutors in the department that we’re going our work with integrity.” Speaking through Stephanie Grisham, Trump answered he “wasn’t bothered” by Barr’s statement on ABC.

On Tuesday, there was a rush of Trump/Barr news. It started when President Trump made comments to reporters before leaving on Air Force One:

Q    And do you agree with his statement that he — that you should stop tweeting about Justice Department issues?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, people like that.  But, you know, everybody has the right to speak their mind.  And I use social media.  I guess I use it well, because here I am.  I’m here.  And I probably wouldn’t have gotten here without social media because I certainly don’t get fair press.

[snip]

But I think he’s doing an excellent job.  He’s a strong guy.  I never spoke to him about the Roger Stone situation.

[snip]

Q    Has the Attorney General threatened to resign over your tweets?  And then, also, he said that your comments on Twitter are making it “impossible” to do his job.  Are you making his job impossible?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, but it allows me — yeah, I do make his job harder.  I do agree with that.  I think that’s true.  He’s a very straight shooter.  We have a great Attorney General, and he’s working very hard.  And he’s working against a lot of people that don’t want to see good things happen, in my opinion.  That’s my opinion, not his opinion.  That’s my opinion.  You’ll have to ask what his opinion is.

Within hours of those remarks, news broke that Barr was threatening to quit:

Bill Barr is threatening to quit as Attorney General if President Trump does not stop tweeting about Justice Department investigations, a new report claims.

Three Trump administration officials told The Washington Post on Tuesday that Barr is considering whether he should tender his resignation.

They claimed that the AG has told several people close to Trump – both inside and outside of the White House – about his potential plans.

‘Barr has his limits,’ one anonymous official stated, claiming that the AG was fed up by Trump’s continued interference in Justice Department cases.

And then, just a few hours later, Barr’s spokesperson said he’s not quitting:

Perhaps there’s a real drama here – and perhaps Barr and Trump are creating an artificial schism to emphasize Barr’s undoubted independence. It’s obvious, after all, that no one pushes AG Bill Barr around.