By Cesar Chelala
June 25, 2020 "Information
Clearing House" - So far it’s only a
rumor. But the word all over Washington, DC is that
Attorney General William Barr has insomnia. No one
should take it lightly, because insomnia is a medical
condition with devastating effects on a person’s health,
quality of life, and ability to make rational
decisions. Several medical conditions may cause it, but
I have an explanation for Barr’s alleged insomnia.
Insomnia may lead some people to creativity. Franz
Kafka had insomnia, and many people think this shaped
much of this writing. This may not be the case of
William Barr, though. Unless by “creativity” we mean the
decision-making ability to undermine our country’s
administration of justice, for which he has done an
excellent job.
In 1989, Barr, as the head of the Office of Legal
Counsel (OLC,) justified the invasion of Panama for the
purpose of arresting Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega,
a most valued Central Intelligence Agency’s intelligence
source. In December of that year, the United Nations
General Assembly (75-20 with 40 abstentions), condemned
the US the invasion as a “flagrant violation of
international law.” The invasion caused the death of
dozens of soldiers and hundreds of civilians, not to
speak of $1.5 billion in property damages.
In 2019, Barr became the attorney general of the
United States for the second time. Under Barr’s
leadership, the Justice Department sought to nullify the
Affordable Care Act, thus depriving thousands of people
of needed medical care, especially those with
pre-existing conditions. Because children can stay on
their parents’ health insurance plans up to age 26, more
than three million previously uninsured young people
qualified for insurance benefits as of 2012. Also, in
2019, Barr was held in contempt of Congress for defying
subpoenas. Predictably, the Justice Department declined
to prosecute him.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into
Russian interference in the 2016 election was documented
in an official report submitted to Attorney General Barr
on March 22, 2019. Upon receipt of the Mueller’s report,
Barr sent a four-page letter to Congress attempting to
“summarize” Mueller’s findings. Attorney General Barr
added his own legal opinion stating that the evidence
presented fell short of proving obstruction of justice
by President Trump.
Special counsel Mueller responded that Barr’s letter
had misrepresented the report. Mueller stated that
Barr’s summary “did not fully capture the context,
nature and substance” of his report, fueling “public
confusion about critical aspects of the results of our
investigation.” Barr refused to release to the American
public an introduction and executive summary of Mueller
report.
However, after the publication of a redacted version
of the actual report, news organizations and
fact-checkers supported Mueller’s conclusion. In March
2020, Reggie Walton, a federal district judge appointed
by President George W. Bush, said that Barr’s
characterizations of the Mueller report were “distorted”
and “misleading.” This was not a crown of glory for the
country’s main law-enforcement agent.
Barr’s zeal for protecting the Executive branch of
government extends to the president’s friends. Roger
Stone is a case in point. A close associate of the
president, Stone was convicted on seven counts in
November 2019, including witness tampering and lying to
investigators.
On February 10, 2020, the U.S. Attorney’s office for
the District of Columbia requested that Stone be
sentenced to seven to nine years in prison. Around
midnight, Trump called the sentencing recommendation “a
horrible and very unfair situation” tweeting “Cannot
allow this miscarriage of justice!”
The following morning, a senior Justice Department
official announced that the department would recommend a
lighter sentence, followed in the afternoon by a revised
sentencing memorandum in which the DOJ stated that those
charges could be “considered excessive and unwarranted
under the circumstances.” All four US Attorneys
prosecuting Robert Stone withdrew from the case, and one
of them, Jonathan Kravis, resigned from office. On
February 20, 2020, Stone was sentenced to 40 months in
prison. He must report to prison by June 30, 2020.
Throughout his tenure as attorney general, Barr has
demonstrated a lack of candor and a sustained effort to
support President Trump’s actions regardless of how
irrational or unfair. Barr’s insomnia may be due to
several medical conditions, but I have an alternative
explanation: Every time he looks at himself in the
mirror, he sees a man who has steadily been undermining
the rule of law that he has promised to uphold.
César Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press
Club of America award. He writes extensively on human
rights and foreign policy issues.
The
views expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Information Clearing House.
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