In a biting column for the Washington Post, political analyst Dana Milbank claimed an interview given by former attorney general Bill Barr after the John Durham case against an attorney associated with Hillary Clinton flopped with jurors, is a sign that Donald Trump's former AG is not a man who should be trusted or taken seriously.
The case that Durham pursued for three years against campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann went down in flames in just six hours, yet Barr asserted afterward that it was still an important pursuit.
As Milbank wrote, Barr pursued the case based on "innuendo" despite members of his own DOJ telling him there was no there there.
"The day after these twin repudiations of Barr’s fantasies, the hoaxster explained himself on Fox News — by arguing that Durham’s failure in court was in fact a triumph. 'While he did not succeed in getting a conviction from the D.C. jury,' Barr said, 'I think he accomplished something far more important,'" Milbank wrote before sarcastically adding, "This is about as convincing as the Washington Nationals saying, 'While we did not succeed in scoring a run for 27 innings, we think we accomplished something far more important.' In a courtroom, a prosecutor either wins or loses."
According to the columnist, Barr's comments exposed him as a partisan fraud.
"Durham didn’t 'crystallize' or 'expose' anything. He packed his court filings with innuendo, and the jury decided he hadn’t made his case," he wrote. "But Barr’s argument, that the innuendo Durham spread is 'far more important' than proving actual wrongdoing, unmasks Barr’s perverted view of justice."
"Running Trump’s DOJ, Barr was all about telling stories rather than prosecuting wrongdoing. He sat on the Mueller report of the original Russia investigation, instead releasing his own purported summary that gave a misleading impression of Mueller’s findings," Milbank accused before adding, "Barr was giving Justice cover to the reckless allegations being made by Trump and his allies. Barr made sure the lies had a lengthy head start to leave lasting impressions before any corrective could be issued."
Writing that Barr has "unmasked" himself with his latest Durham comments, Millbank concluded, "now, Barr is trying to discredit the centuries-old American jury system. It’s just one more 'story' he tells to replace the rule of law with the reign of innuendo."
You can read his whole piece here.
