Bill Barr: Time to Do the ‘Right Thing’

Donald Trump is still facing the possibility of two federal cases and one state case related to the outcome of the 2020 election.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr, who is no fan of Trump, is now calling for Merrick Garland to end Trump's prosecutions now that the American people have chosen him as president.

Do the Right Thing

As everyone knows, Bill Barr was Trump’s second attorney general, and likely the most polarizing. I have always conceded that Barr is a brilliant legal mind, arguably one of the brightest of our era, but he is also a Bush holdover and someone who is neck-deep in the swamp. For that reason, I never thought he was a good fit for Trump.

Someone advised Trump to hire Barr, so he did. And while their relationship was contentious, overall, Barr did a decent job, but it all fell apart when Trump started to push back on the election results, which led to Barr resigning just before the end of the term.

That, however, has not stopped Barr from objectively covering Trump’s legal problems after the Democrats went after him. Now that Trump has won the election, which is an eye-opening rebuke of the charges against Trump by the American people, Barr thinks the cases need to go away.

Barr stated, "The American people have rendered their verdict on President Trump, and decisively chosen him to lead the country for the next four years. "They did that with full knowledge of the claims against him by prosecutors around the country and I think Attorney General Garland and the state prosecutors should respect the people’s decision and dismiss the cases against President Trump now."

Can’t Be Prosecuted

If you are not aware, federal law dictates that the DOJ cannot prosecute a sitting president, so these cases were all going to get put on hold regardless. While the same rule does not apply to states, in the spirit of the law, it would be expected that states follow suit. The civil cases against Trump have already been concluded, with the hush-money case sentencing expected later this month.

This case was overcharged from the very first day, and should have only been a fine, penalties, back taxes, and slap on the knuckles for Trump. Judge Merchan, who has no love lost for Trump, will decide on the sentence, but I just don’t see him sending an elected president to jail on charges that he has to know, forgive the pun, were trumped up from the outset.

That would leave only the civil fraud case by Letitia James in New York, which will likely be overturned on appeal or significantly reduced.

Winding Down

Taking all that into consideration, and clearly facing termination if Trump takes office, Special Counsel Jack Smith is now reportedly figuring out how to wind down these cases against Trump while still saving face.

Smith could force Trump’s hand and leave the cases open, even though they would both be sidelined for four years until Trump’s term is over, but Smith seems to have gotten the message about what the country thinks about his case.

ABC News reported, “Special counsel Jack Smith is in active talks with senior leadership at the Justice Department evaluating ways he can end his prosecutions of President-elect Donald Trump, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

“The decision is based on longstanding Department of Justice policy that a sitting president cannot face criminal prosecution while in office.”

Trump wrongly claimed that the Supreme Court gave him immunity, which it clearly did not do. The court merely regurgitated previous rulings that presidential acts have immunity, but not all acts of a president are immune from prosecution. Regardless, getting elected has seemingly eliminated all of Donald Trump’s legal problems, and Smith killing these cases on his own would remove one of the biggest obstacles that I believe would have led to another Trump impeachment (I have stated that if Trump did fire Smith, Dems would immediately move to impeach him and his AG for abuse of power). So, my friends, it looks like much of the drama of the last four years will be gone, and we can finally move forward and hope that Trump can deliver on his promises.