'Hard to feel sorry' for Bill Barr after he 'immolated' his reputation to provide cover for Trump: conservative columnist

In a column for the Bulwark, longtime conservative commentator Mona Charen bid adieu to outgoing Attorney General Bill Barr, saying he has no one to blame but himself for destroying his reputation among fellow conservatives by lobbying for -- and then accepting a job working for Donald Trump.

With Barr issuing a statement that he would be "resigning" and stepping down from his duties heading the Justice Department at a time when the president was reportedly considering firing him, Charen explained she had little sympathy for the two-time AG.

Charen said Barr's fate was sealed when his Justice Department released a report that it found no instances of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election -- which was contrary to Donald Trump's claims that continue to today.

According to the columnist, Barr was lucky to get out before the impulsive Trump fired him by a tweet which has become a common occurrence whenever the president wished to oust aides who displeased him.

"Frankly, it’s hard to feel sympathy for the guy," Charen wrote. "William Pelham Barr, attorney general under George H. W. Bush, former CIA, former Verizon attorney, was as pure an embodiment of the Republican establishment as you could find."

According to Charen, Barr joined a long list of conservatives who agreed to work for the president or act as a surrogate -- including former Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and for Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) only to be humiliated in the end. 

In the case of Barr, the columnist said he irreparably damaged his standing in the country on the day he misrepresented what was in special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian involvement in the 2016 election, with a judge subsequently ruling Barr redacted important observations.

"Barr immolated his reputation first by misrepresenting the contents of the Mueller report, telling the world that the special counsel had found no collusion and therefore did not recommend further steps including prosecution or impeachment," she wrote. "We know that Barr’s tolerance for deceit and disgraceful conduct had to be pretty robust because he auditioned for the attorney general job after watching his predecessor get flayed alive for following ethics rules."

As she notes, Barr should have known what he was getting himself into by seeking the job.

"Had he never joined the Trump administration, Barr would be remembered as a completely honorable man. As it is, his legacy is badly tarnished," she suggested before concluding, "Still, Barr had some standards. How much worse could things have been if he had none?"

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