Politics - News Analysis

Trump’s Aides are Very Frustrated With Bill Barr for Not Investigating Rudy’s Hunter Hunt

It has been a highly frustrating couple of weeks for Rudy Giuliani. First, he genuinely thought that a very very common fantasy of every mid-70s man was about to happen with a woman young enough to be his granddaughter (easily) only to be humiliatingly interrupted and told (falsely, for humor) that she was 15 and too old for him. This would generally be the worst thing that would happen in years for most men but only came in second for Rudy. Because for years Rudy has been working on Trump’s “October surprise” that would assure him of a win.

Except there are some problems with the surprise. For one, practically no one believes it, given we heard tapes discussing doing something just like this, happening since last October. Second, the evidence comes out of Ukraine and Russia, where a Trumper can get evidence of nearly anything (there are parts of Ukraine essentially indistinguishable from Russia). Third, the evidence just sounds so familiar and formulaic, like exactly what happened last time, suddenly finding a laptop with possibly horrific evidence on it that needs to be examined by the FBI. Fourth, because it’s Rudy for god sake!

So Trump’s advisers – being sharper than Rudy (and Trump) have become extremely disappointed with Barr’s failure to make a big deal out of this and initiate some giant investigation. (We might also add that Barr can read the polls and knows it’s possible he won’t be A.G. in late January and isn’t real excited about appearing to break laws himself – at least not any further ones).

The Daily Beast brings us the details:

But rather than conceding that the broader public might not be interested, Trump and Giuliani have instead put the blame for the failure to break through in part on Attorney General William Barr

The Trump attorney had also advised the president that the events of the past two weeks underscore why Trump should fire Wray, arguing that it shows that the current FBI director is an anti-Trump subversive, according to the White House official. This official was not aware of Giuliani making as harsh a comment about Barr. Reached for comment on Wednesday night, Giuliani told The Daily Beast: “I don’t comment on my conversations with my client.”

That’s a great idea because – as the president’s lawyer, he would know that it would put his client in jeopardy if it appeared that Trump fired Wray for doing nothing more than refusing to investigate (aggressively) something most know is entirely political.

And then there is the risk to the people supposed to be making a big deal of all this:

Barr announcing an investigation at this point would make Jim Comey’s actions in 2016 look quaint by comparison. Comey at least wasn’t trying to hurt Clinton and he wasn’t getting involved at the behest of a candidate and his attorney,” said Miller. “A Barr announcement would be a full banana republic-style intervention in the political process. DOJ shouldn’t even be taking any new investigative steps involving either candidate at this point unless there is some reason to believe those steps couldn’t wait until after the election.”

Not that I’m defending Comey, but people also forget that it appeared the SDNY FBI (which rumor has it couldn’t stand Hillary) was about to make the announcement itself if Comey didn’t announce it and Comey had promised Congress that he would keep them updated if changes to the investigation came up, we might say that something certainly did. Still, he could’ve waited until after the election, or chastised the SDNY as being political.

This is much worse than what Comey did. But that’s what seems to be expected out of this administration, or at least by Trump’s aides.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak

meet the author

Jason Miciak is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is originally from Canada but grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He now enjoys life as a single dad raising a ridiculously-loved young girl on the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He is very much the dreamy mystic, a day without learning is a day not lived. He is passionate about his flower pots and studies philosophical science, religion, and non-mathematical principles of theoretical physics. Dogs, pizza, and love are proof that God exists. "Above all else, love one another."

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