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Attorney General William Barr has to go, says petition after DOJ acts as Trump's personal legal counsel

Many former Justice Department officials say Barr’s actions and public statements are majorly aimed at helping Trump’s political interests and friends

US Attorney General William Barr involving the Department of Justice in the latest Trump controversy has not gone down well with the Internet. According to reports, the Justice Department is seeking to take over Trump's defense in a defamation suit that rape accuser E Jean Carroll filed against him after he called her a liar. 

Trump was acting 'within the scope' of his job as president, DOJ wrote in a new memo filed with the court. According to the Intercept, many former Justice Department officials say Barr’s actions and public statements are majorly aimed at helping Trump’s political interests and friends, leading to an unprecedented politicization of the department by the nation’s top law enforcement officer.

Now, Meidas Touch has come up with a petition titled, "Attorney General William Barr has to go," which says, "William Barr has shown himself to be profoundly unfit to be our Attorney General. He’s loyal to partisan politics over the rule of law, and to Donald Trump above all." The petition further accused Barr saying, "Barr mangles the law to justify Donald Trump’s lawlessness like a middle-schooler trying to explain why he didn’t do his homework. There’s no excuse too thin, no lie too shameless for him to spew if it’ll earn him a pat on the head from his boss." "From his misleading summary of the Mueller Report to his shameless lying in front of Congress, to his attacks on innocent protesters to his defense of racism Barr has defiled our legal system, the Justice Department, and even the basic idea of truth, he cannot continue to serve," the report further read highlighting on all Barr's past controversies.

What are Barr's past controversies?

Back in March this year, when a Federal judge criticized Barr, after he put forward a “distorted” and “misleading” account of its findings and lacked credibility on the Mueller Report. The 400-page report was the result of an investigation into alleged Russian interference during the 2016 election. Judge Reggie B Walton said, "Mr. Barr could not be trusted and cited “inconsistencies” between the attorney general’s statements about the report when it was secret and its actual contents that turned out to be more damaging to President Trump. Mr. Barr’s “lack of candor” called into question his “credibility and, in turn, the department’s."

"The differences between the report and Mr. Barr’s description of it cause the court to seriously question whether Attorney General Barr made a calculated attempt to influence public discourse about the Mueller report in favor of President Trump despite certain findings in the redacted version of the Mueller report to the contrary,” wrote Judge Walton, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush.

According to the American Constitution society, "The actual text of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report tells a very different story than what was in summaries produced by Attorney General William Barr in letters to Congress and in a press conference prior to the report’s release. A comparison of the report and Barr’s statements shows that Barr downplayed Mueller’s findings about Russian contacts with Trump campaign associates as well as the damning evidence of the president’s obstruction of justice that Mueller assembled."

In May 2020, Barr dropped the charges against Michael Flynn, who was Trump’s former national security adviser, even after Flynn was pleaded guilty to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Barr defended his actions in the case by saying that “history is written by the winners.” Democrats and critics of the Trump administration had called it yet another example of Barr bending the law to Trump’s will. Vanity Fair reported that the Justice community also seem to agree that the DOJ’s priorities under Barr are veering dangerously off-course. 

Later in July this year, he defended the federal response to the Nationwide protests and the unrest, declaring in comments that "violent rioters and anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests to wreak senseless havoc and destruction” in places like Portland.“We should all be able to agree that there is no place in this country for armed mobs that seek to establish autonomous zones beyond government control, or tear down statues and monuments that law-abiding communities chose to erect, or to destroy the property and livelihoods of innocent business owners,” he said. These comments came after several places were vandalized by the protesters, while the protesters accused Portland police for being heavy-handed towards them. 

As soon as Meidas Touch's petition page made its way to social media, people started slamming Trump and Barr saying, "He’s also fighting the release of his taxes because that would implicate him in money laundering for Russia and bank fraud #TrumpTerrorism #TrumpCrimeFamily," while another one said, "How can they possibly justify us paying for his defense for a crime he committed before he became president? He's just offering because Trump has to put money into his campaign so his donors are no longer paying his legal fees."

"This is so f***ed up!!! So, now we no longer have rule of law. Trump can do anything he wants whether it be illegal or not. The beginning of a dictatorship. Every day Trump and his enablers get worse and worse!!! I hate to see how Barr and the DOJ will act when Trump loses," said another furious citizen.

Another user requested, " The house needs to do something here. Investigate, indict, impeach, take em to trial," while another user commented, "Unprecedented, shocking and so very wrong."