One of the curious facts about Attorney General William Barr's reported refusal to hold a press conference proclaiming the president's innocence is the fact that Barr remained in Trump's good graces despite that. Trump has fired a number of high-ranking officials he perceived as disloyal to him, from FBI Director James Comey to Barr's predecessor Jeff Sessions.
On Wednesday's edition of CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," former White House adviser David Gergen suggested why Trump might be letting it slide: Because Barr is at the center of a very important project in the Trump White House to discredit the Russia investigation.
"The president clearly doesn't appreciate that, or just doesn't believe in that?" asked Cooper.
"Absolutely. He wants to have John Mitchell-type figure who was, of course, the attorney general for Richard Nixon. And did his bidding on a lot of things even though Mitchell grumbled about it, didn't like it, but he did it," said Gergen. "And in this case it's clear ... The president has a dismissive attitude, want his own things and people to report to him."
"I find equally interesting, even though the president clearly wanted something he was denied — he usually gets angry at the person who denies him what he thinks is his, and reporting here in the Post says he's expressed lots of confidence, continuing confidence in Barr," said Gergen. "What that suggests to me is the president still needs Barr. Barr is working on his own separate investigation that the president very much hopes is going to smash up what's coming out here on the, this impeachment thing. That is the question of whether, that all of this started way back in Ukraine and it wasn't the Russians and Biden stuff and everything else. He's got a whole separate inquiry. Been to Italy twice over that and is still doing the president bidding on that and the president is leaning on it heavily to get a result, I'm sure."
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