Bill Barr asked Italian officials to discredit Russia probe -- they responded with evidence linking..

[GGoss]

Bill Barr asked Italian officials to discredit Russia probe — they responded with evidence linking Trump to crimes - RawStory

A new report from the New York Times details how former Attorney General Bill Barr's efforts to discredit the probe into the Trump campaign's contacts with Russian agents completely floundered.

One particularly telling section of the Times' story involves a trip that Barr made to Italy in order to push officials in that country for evidence that the Russia investigation was part of an elaborate setup designed to damage former President Donald Trump politically.

The Italian officials responded by offering evidence of wrongdoing of a very different sort.

"Italian officials... unexpectedly offered a potentially explosive tip linking Mr. Trump to certain suspected financial crimes," the Times reports. "Mr. Barr and [former special counsel John] Durham decided that the tip was too serious and credible to ignore. But rather than assign it to another prosecutor, Mr. Barr had Mr. Durham investigate the matter himself."

Link: https://www.rawstory.com/bill-barr-2659315495/

[malaise]

1. Get thee to the greatest page

All these effin criminals should be locked up

[wiggs]

2. This sounds...important. Jack? What do you think? nt

[agingdem]

3. and so ends the Bill Barr Rehabilitation and Bullshit Tour

no wonder Barr was so anxious to shut down the Mueller investigation and whitewash the report..

[calimary]

7. Certainly does short out the fog machine, 'eh?

[Carlitos Brigante]

18. Doubt it. Between the general public's usual indifference and the uselessness of much of the press..

[dchill]

28. I wondered why he was so shrill and flopsweaty on Bill Maher.

[SergeStorms]

37. He was, wasn't he.

This would throw a spanner in the works of Barr's "save my reputation" tour.

In his book "One Damn Thing After Another" he said of Trump, "he's shown he has neither the temperament nor persuasive powers to provide the kind of positive leadership that is needed".

Gosh, Bill, maybe you shouldn't have covered up this complete failure as a president's ties with Russia so much? There's an outside chance we could have successfully impeached that piece of crap, and removed him from office if the truth was known.

Yeah, better you should obstruct justice and make Trump look as if he's clean and clear of Russian influence. 😡

Asshole!

[Rebl2]

33. Yep

[uponit7771]

55. +1,

[spanone]

4. K&R

[oasis]

5. K and R

[Lunabell]

6. The criminal trump enterprise.

More of tve same and nothing done. He has too much dirt on too many people for any consequences.

[Escurumbele]

11. "He has too much dirt on too many people for any consequences." You are correct. That is how the

mafia works...

Barr should be disbarred...

[Lunabell]

12. Yes.

And putin is the head of the russian mafia. I'm quite sure tfg has ties.

[jalan48]

15. Trump had access to classified information on anyone he wanted to inquire about. Real dirt.

[C_U_L8R]

8. Barr, Durham and Trump

That seems to make quite a conspiracy to obstruct Justice and lord knows what else.

[gademocrat7]

9. K&R

Barr should be disbarred.

[Meadowoak]

24. And disballed!

[erronis]

29. No use for those oysters anymore, anyway.

Should have been done before puberty for all those Opus Dei folks. The SCOTUS would not be stacked the way it is now via the FedSoc - except handmaidens and castrati.

[Johnny2X2X]

10. We will never fully uncover all the Trump crimes

30 years from now new crimes he committed will be being discovered. Totally corrupt. Tony Soprano would have stolen less.

[lame54]

14. It could be a weekly series...

It'd run for years

[flying_wahini]

56. Decades....

[louis-t]

25. I've always said "Bernie Madoff wishes he was

as big a conman as tfg."

[bullimiami]

13. ""this tip is too credible, we better cover it up ourselves""

[republianmushroom]

16. have the statutes run out on these so called crimes also that Barr covered up ?

[Nictuku]

43. I think that there should be some kind of provision in the law for obstruction to extend statute

I think that there should be some kind of provision in the law for obstruction to extend statute of limitation.

Agree? Disagree? Is there some kind of provision already for this?

Seems like all they have to do is somehow run out the clock by obstructing and then get away scott-free.

[nattyice]

17. Reminds me of this gem from a couple years ago.

?1570374991

[GGoss]

21. Thank You For This

I missed it.

[louis-t]

27. Tom forgot the hair dye running down Rudy's face.

[JHB]

31. I don't think that had happened yet

At least, not on camera.

[nattyice]

35. Yeah, this one's from October 2019.

[LymphocyteLover]

19. the level of corruption of these treasonous motherfuckers is astounding

I mean, WHY THE FUCK DO THEY HATE AMERICA SO MUCH? Clearly Dump was a complete monster and yet they continued to go to extreme lengths to cover for him. It's sickening to the extreme.

[markodochartaigh]

20. "WHY THE FUCK DO THEY HATE AMERICA SO MUCH?"

The uberpatriotism of authoritarians is because they see the state as synonymous with themselves, not because they have loyalty to the people or institutions of the state. "L'etat c'est moi."

[LymphocyteLover]

23. OK, but when did so many conservatives become authoritarians willing to bow down to

Donald Fucking Trump?

[markodochartaigh]

30. I grew up gay a half century ago in the reddest part of Texas.

These people have always been here. They cheered in school when JFK was assassinated. The "quiet part" that Trump says out loud, and much worse, has always been said out loud in much of the US. After the Republican southern strategy to bring the southern "Democrats", who had never fit in with the FDR type Democrats, into the Republican party it was only a matter of time before the corporate conservative Republicans had to cede power to the authoritarian Republicans in order to win. Bush, Cheney, Romney et al knew what would happen when Trump was made the candidate. There was a plan to have a brokered convention to choose another candidate. But the Republicans knew that Trump was so wildly popular with their base that they could not win without him. So they put party before country and chose Trump.

[LymphocyteLover]

32. so all these "grown-ups" are just afraid of the fucking GOP base? Even seasoned prosecutors?

God I'm sick of this shit.

[markodochartaigh]

38. Occasionally I have heard corporate Republican politicians

say that they are afraid of their authoritarian base. Certainly we saw that on January 6 with the gallows and the Republicans running from the Capitol. But I think that most of the corporate Republican politicians, most of the time are not afraid of the authoritarian rabble. They think that they can control their "useful idiots" or they think that they, personally, are so isolated and protected that they don't need to be afraid. They just see the authoritarian base as a tool that they need to use to keep themselves in power. In Germany the chancellor and a lot of the business and political leaders thought that they could control Hitler. But when authoritarian Strong Leaders gain power they often cannot be controlled by the corporate conservative leaders who helped them gain power.

[LymphocyteLover]

54. Yes, that is no doubt true... but it's a not very satisfying explanation

I guess at some level these rightwingers also have some deep deranged fear about the left getting power and can't bear to think of it and will do anything to keep their side in power.

[LymphocyteLover]

22. the NYTimes piece is explosive

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/us/politics/durham-trump-russia-barr.html

"“This stuff has my head spinning,” Mr. Luskin said. “When did these guys drink the Kool-Aid, and who served it to them?”"

This is what I want to know!

[Boomerproud]

26. The outrage du jour. Who wants an honest bet that nothing happens.

[LymphocyteLover]

34. Nothing will happen. But still we must do our duty to spread the truth.

[UpInArms]

36. Maybe Barr and Durham can share a cell after they are found guilty

Of Obstruction of Justice

[tanyev]

39. *snort* Arrividerci, Guglielmo!

[Qutzupalotl]

40. Gift link to NYT article

(found on Twitter, not from me): https://t.co/I9PyTEcnft

[Marcuse]

41. Weaponization of Government

”Italian officials... unexpectedly offered a potentially explosive tip linking Mr. Trump to certain suspected financial crimes," the Times reports. "Mr. Barr and [former special counsel John] Durham decided that the tip was too serious and credible to ignore. But rather than assign it to another prosecutor, Mr. Barr had Mr. Durham investigate the matter himself."

Durham never filed charges based on the tip the Italian officials gave and it's not clear just how closely he probed the purported evidence into Trump's prospective financial crimes.

[Zambero]

51. Justice, once thought to be blind, is now oblivious

Yet another "back burner" crime investigation, aka cover-up. Meanwhile, sure is good to know that the GOP Congress will be investigating Hunter's paintings!

[asiliveandbreathe]

42. There is NO other story of consequence..imho..than the mcgonigle story..

Do we ever get to see the TIP the Italians gave to these thugs? So, I ask, too, to what end, this barr.durham story? Is this a shiny object to skirt around the mcgonigle story?..

TO WHAT END?....

[onetexan]

48. Bloviating Barr needs to be DISBARRED & behind BARS!!

The continuous coverage for the Con are crimes he committed over and over, breaking every ethics, even criminal violation all throughout the Con's 4 years. Disgraceful, dishonest and crooked man.

[bagimin]

49. Recommended

[Kid Berwyn]

50. Looks like Barr Obstructed Justice

John Durham's secret criminal investigation reportedly involved Trump, not Clinton or the FBI

PETER WEBER
The Week, January 27, 2023

Excerpt…

When Durham and Barr made a very unusual trip to Italy in September 2019, "Italian officials — while denying any role in setting off the Russia investigation — unexpectedly offered a potentially explosive tip linking Mr. Trump to certain suspected financial crimes," the Times reports. Barr and Durham "decided that the tip was too serious and credible to ignore," but instead of assigning it to another prosecutor, Barr had Durham quietly investigate the matter, "giving him criminal prosecution powers for the first time."

"Durham never filed charges, and it remains unclear what level of an investigation it was, what steps he took, what he learned, and whether anyone at the White House ever found out," the Times adds. This "extraordinary fact" that Durham opened a criminal investigation of Trump "has remained secret," though "a garbled echo became public" when the Times, in October 2019, reported that Durham's review had become a criminal inquiry, presumably (but erroneously) because "Durham had found evidence of potential crimes by officials involved in the Russia inquiry."

Barr, "who weighed in publicly about the Durham inquiry at regular intervals in ways that advanced a pro-Trump narrative, chose in this instance not to clarify what was really happening," the Times notes.

Continues…

https://theweek.com/arizona/1020435/arizona-legislature-exempts-itself-from-state-public-records-law

A hearty welcome to DU, GGoss! Outstanding OP and thread!

Personally, I think Barr will claim he covered up for Trump in order to keep “Anti-Putin” national security operations secret, meaning don’t rock the boat wherein the rich get richer and the rest of humanity can drop dead.

[RANDYWILDMAN]

52. Great Job billy !!! how did that investigation go ?

Thought so, you worthless Fucker, may you die in prison or rot in hell

[suegeo]

53. I thought sitting presidents were off limits due to DOJ memos?

https://www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/sitting-president%E2%80%99s-amenability-indictment-and-criminal-prosecution]

The indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting President would unconstitutionally undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions.

So they were investigating presidential crimes of a sitting president, even tho in other instances, they claim they cannot?

I am Jack's Complete Lack of Surprise.