No one was buying what Attorney General William Barr was selling yesterday during an interview with ABC News in which he laughably tried to characterize himself as independent from Donald Trump, and not merely serving as the president’s errand boy. Former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele did not believe Barr when the Attorney General said Trump’s attacks on the Justice Department had made it “impossible for me to do my job” and added, “I’m not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody.”
Barr also spoke of Trump’s tweets, saying, “I cannot do my job here at the department with a constant background commentary that undercuts me.”
“I think it’s time to stop the tweeting about Department of Justice criminal cases,” he said.
Trump quoted Barr on Friday morning.
“The President has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case.” A.G. Barr This doesn’t mean that I do not have, as President, the legal right to do so, I do, but I have so far chosen not to!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2020
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Steele saw right through the ruse, calling it a “staged message.”
“This was a carefully staged message to cool down pissed off DOJ attys whom Barr undercut & to avoid any further internal strife,” he tweeted. “This message does not get sideways with Trump because he’s already done what Trump wanted.”
Slow your roll if you think Barr is breaking from Trump. This was a carefully staged message to cool down pissed off DOJ attys whom Barr undercut & to avoid any further internal strife. This message does not get sideways with Trump because he’s already done what Trump wanted. https://t.co/jYWYJFovpO
— Michael Steele (@MichaelSteele) February 14, 2020
When John Kelly rebuked Trump, the president took his tiny hands to his Twitter account to immediately unload on his former chief of staff. And Trump still lashes out at former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. But Trump is allegedly rebuked by his current Attorney General, and Trump just quotes Barr the following morning. Meaning, Trump saw the interview and is suddenly portraying himself as not above criticism.
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