FOOL ME ONCE, SHAME ON YOU. FOOL ME TWICE, SHAME ....

You have probably heard about this.  I am writing this article to give you a link this morning to the full story.

Fool Me Once.

In 1989, William P. Barr wrote a memo for the U.S. Department of Justice.  In the memo, Barr reversed DOJ's position to allow federal agents to kidnap people who allegedly broke U.S. laws even though the people were on foreign soil and without even letting the host country know about it.  Let alone asking permission for U.S. agents to enter and arrest and remove people from the foreign country.

This would be like the KGB coming into the U.S., kidnapping Russian dissidents, taking them back to prison in Moscow, and never mentioning it to the United States.

Congress demanded to see the memo.  Barr refused.  Instead Barr offered a "summary of its principal conclusions."

That is what he did.  He testified, apparently under oath, to the memo's principal conclusions.

When the memo itself surfaced years later, something went wrong with Barr's  summary of principal conclusions, whether or not he was under oath when he testified to his summary.  Barr's summary wasn't nearly a summary of the memo.  Not even close.

In fact, the opposite.

 

Fool Me Twice.

In 2019, Mr. Barr wrote another memo.  Instead of releasing Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Report once again he gave a "summary of its principal conclusions."

This time, he put his summary in writing.  For what it is worth, he was definitely not under oath.

Barr would not allow the public or even Congress, once again, to see any part of the Report unless he, Barr, said it was okay.

So, are you still inclined to famously give Barr the benefit of the doubt?  Or Mueller either, for that matter?  Or anyone else in this drama?

We already know everything we need to know.  When there is no reasonable doubt, what exactly is the benefit?

Here is another link to the full story:  Ryan Goodman, Barr's Playbook:  He Misled Congress When Omitting Parts of Justice Dep't Memo in 1989, JustSecurity.org, posted April 15, 2019.

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