WAPO: Barr has set himself up -- and Trump -- for embarrassment

[hlthe2b]

In the words of Laurence Tribe: "Read this @JRubinBlogger piece to see what @Mimirocah1, @JoyceWhiteVance, and I agree Barr has all but invited SDNY, the AG of NY, and the Manhattan DA to do to Trump"

Link to tweet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/05/07/barr-sets-himself-trump-up-body-blows/?utm_term=.da02b013f98e

--snip--
Barr has now set a bevvy of traps for himself.
On the spying front, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, perhaps the only top Justice Department official not to have sullied his own reputation, repudiated Barr’s conspiracy-mongering. The Post reports:

FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said Tuesday that he would not call the investigation of Trump campaign advisers in 2016 “spying’’ — distancing himself from language used by President Trump and Attorney General William P. Barr.

“

That’s not the term I would use,” Wray said in response to a question from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) during a congressional hearing about the FBI’s budget. ...

Shaheen pressed him further, asking whether he had any evidence that illegal surveillance was conducted on individuals associated with the campaign.

“I don’t think I personally have any evidence of that sort,” Wray said.

--snip--

The biggest error Barr made might have been in postulating that the OLC memo still leaves open the opportunity for prosecutors to opine on indictment, even if they cannot indict. (The argument makes no sense, given the major reasoning behind the OLC memo is that a president cannot have the threat of prosecution hanging over his head.) That argument, however, opens the door to opining on grounds for Trump’s indictment. --snip--
Barr and Trump’s problem doesn’t end there. If Barr (and Mueller) can offer their views on Trump’s criminal liability, so can the Southern District of New York prosecutors investigating Trump’s possible financial wrongdoing. “I think they could,” former prosecutor Mimi Rocah, a signatory to the prosecutors’ letter, tells me. “I don’t know if they will.” Other legal experts, including former prosecutor Joyce White Vance (who also signed the letter) and constitutional lawyer Laurence Tribe, agree. “They clearly should,” Tribe says. “I see no legal, ethical, or political downside. And these days it’s really rare to encounter a way forward that yields no minuses, but some distinct pluses.”

more at the link above

[hlthe2b]

1. Here's more on FBI Director Wray's Senate testimony contradicting Barr's "spying" accusations

Link to tweet

[Kurt V.]

2. ppl like this aren't capable of humility. nt