In the wake of Attorney General Bill Barr's resignation this Monday, Norman Eisen and Donald Ayer write in the Washington Post that no one should think Barr's stepping down was a principled act.
Eisen served as Special Counsel for Ethics and Government Reform in Barack Obama’s White House, while Ayer served as United States Deputy Attorney General under George H. W. Bush.
"Whether he jumped or was pushed, leaving in this manner is just one more betrayal of the rule of law by a man who has spent the past two years lying and scheming to make President Trump the autocrat he aspires to be," Eisen and Ayer write.
According Eisen and Ayer, one only needs to look at the text of Barr's resignation letter to see that he's still providing cover for Trump. "It flatters Trump with the absurdity that he has 'reached out to your opponents and called for working together.' It is littered with other extraneous compliments completely outside of the attorney general’s portfolio, including a salute to Trump’s purported restoration of the military and 'historic peace deals in the Middle East.'"
There were so many falsehoods in the letter, it makes it sound like Barr is being held hostage, they write. But ultimately, it's the Attorney General who put himself in a position of fealty to Trump.
"The theme running through all of these actions is Barr’s seemingly absolute devotion to presidential power — and to Trump. This includes, especially during 2020, numerous misuses of official power and the attorney general’s public voice in calculated ways to advance the president’s electoral prospects."
Read the full op-ed over at The Washington Post.