The President and the Good AG
William Barr stood up for the Rule of Law even when it meant having to stand up against Donald Trump.
In a December 1 meeting in the Oval Office, then-Attorney General William Barr reportedly bluntly told President Donald Trump that his allegations of widespread voter fraud were “bullsh—t.” Barr had just announced the Justice Department found no evidence backing up the claims of widespread voter fraud that were being widely publicized by right-leaning media outlets and repeatedly touted by Trump. “To date,” Barr told the press, “we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”
He did not mean that the Democrats’ bulk-mail-ballot strategy hadn’t been successful, but that other wild claims were not borne out by the evidence.
It was clearly not the news Trump wanted to hear, and it likely was the primary reason that led to Barr’s early exit. But in hindsight, it had been coming for months, as Barr increasingly found himself having to stand up for the Rule of Law and against Trump’s worst instincts.
Barr reportedly expressed his frustration with the Trump legal team’s dubious public claims of having evidence of widespread election fraud. “These things aren’t panning out,” he said. “The stuff that these people are filling your ear with just isn’t true.” He further added, “I’m a pretty informed legal observer and I can’t f—ing figure out what the theory is here. It’s just scattershot. It’s all over the hill and gone.” To which Trump simply responded, “Maybe. Maybe.”
Despite the Leftmedia’s dubious caricaturization of Barr as “the most dangerous member of the Trump administration” and a “danger to democracy,” the good AG stuck to his principles and the Rule of Law, even when that meant having to stand against Trump.
Barr is a man who is primarily motived by the truth and upholding the Rule of Law, no matter which side of the political aisle it may impact. He demonstrated this by refusing to concede to the Democrats’ Russia-collusion narrative and similarly by refusing to adopt the “stolen election” narrative popular with many Trump supporters. If hard evidence was there to support the legal claims of widespread election fraud, there is little reason to doubt that Barr would have acted upon them. He’s exactly the kind of AG the nation needed and continues to need.
Despite Trump’s late misgivings, his choice of Barr for AG was to his credit and to our nation’s benefit. The government needs more individuals of character like Barr who refuse to let the constantly changing political winds sway them from their commitment to stand for the truth and the Constitution.