AG William Barr Testified Before Congress on Wednesday

By Nathanael Ren

Well, what’s going on?

It’s all about the Mueller report.

The Mueller report is a report on whether if there collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions was the one who ordered this investigation. (Jeff Sessions was eventually fired.)

Collusion is cooperation. In this case, it’s cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russia to help the Trump win. The report found no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Because no collusion was found, Democrats aren’t very happy. The attorney general (William Barr) released a redacted version, with certain parts not included due to confidentiality issues. The Democrats want the full, unredacted version to see if they can find anything else that might be used against President Trump.

So, what happened?

Barr went on the offense.

Surprisingly, the Attorney General not only stood his ground but attacked the Democrats. He accused the Democrats of using the Criminal Justice process as “a weapon.” This would be considered revenge, mainly on the House Democrats, because they want to subpoena the Attorney General to get the full, unredacted version.

Senators like Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham (both Republicans) came to the defense of the Attorney General, possibly hurting their reelection bid due to the fact that there are Democrats who would’ve preferred them to remain neutral. Also, some Democrats, most of them on the 2020 Presidential election ballot, really went on the offense (even saying that he lied and should resign, in addition for asking for his notes) against the attorney general, definitely gaining them more support on the far-leaning liberal side.

Russia, as the main source being investigated in the report, was probably very closely watching this testimony. This means a lot to them as if it goes bad, it certainly could get tariffs slapped onto its imports and exports. Luckily for them, it went very nicely.

The testimony lasted in total for 5.5 hours and Barr stood up to all of the questions perfectly fine, so (in my opinion) this would be a win for both Barr and the GOP.

What effect does this have?Internationally

This further demonstrates Globalization, with other countries intervening in other countries’ elections, and what other countries can do, compared to just plain old desperation. This, however, also demonstrates personal opinion, with Putin going far lengths to get Trump elected President. Based on the testimony, Russia may be feeling confident again and may influence other countries into hacking or investigating hacking. Russia, however, after seeing the report will be more careful with what they do to avoid being caught again.

Domestically

This shows which Republicans are really far Republicans, coming into the defense of Barr and maybe actually attacking the Democrats. This also shows that while the Democrats are very good at grilling Barr, Barr is able to come back and is really good at testifying.

Either way, this could be good or bad for Trump. If all of this is true, then this is a big win for the President. This also shows he has appointed a good AG. It looks like Barr is willing to go to far lengths to defend the President.

Barr was supposed to testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee, but he did not even show up. This shows that he is for sure willing to take risks, especially with testifying and the law. Democrats have threatened to subpoena him and then hold him in contempt to get the whole Mueller report.

What does this mean for Trump and the rest of his presidency?

In my opinion

After this, it is quite apparent that Trump has chosen a very good AG. Because of this, Trump is very unlikely to get charged with any crimes, or impeached for the matter of fact, during his presidency, so he temporarily is safe,

What is the next step for the report and for Barr? Was there any international influence?

Barr has control (In my opinion)

During his testimony, Barr has said that the redacted report is the most he can release, and the DOJ is out of the issue. It’s up to the people to decide what they think.

However, there always is a chance that Russia had something to do with it. Russia has definitely done illegal business dealings and has had communication with Trump campaign officials, as that’s what the Mueller report was all about, so Russia could’ve easily communicated with Barr about this. However, I feel that that is highly unlikely as Russia has learned their lesson.

Especially after he did not show up to the testimony he was supposed to go to, he can certainly not release the full Mueller report, especially since there are regulations for that, and he can use laws to come to his defense. I also believe that a less redacted version of the report will be released, but definitely not the whole thing. I think that this will be the end of a saga that has haunted President Trump for the past 2 years, and he can finally get some temporary relief.

Works Cited

“Congress's Subpoena Power Is Not What It Used to Be.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 3 Apr. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/congresss-subpoena-power-is-not-what-it-used-to-be/2019/04/03/cf32e1de-5638-11e9-8ef3-fbd41a2ce4d5_story.html?utm_term=.87856deb4930.

Pappas, Alex. “Barr Accuses Dems of Using Criminal Justice Process as 'Political Weapon,' as Hearing Tensions Flare.” Fox News, FOX News Network, www.foxnews.com/politics/barr-accuses-dems-of-using-criminal-justice-process-as-political-weapon-as-hearing-tensions-flare.

Re, Gregg. “Barr Not Expected to Testify before House Judiciary Committee, as Dems Vow to Hold Hearing Anyway.” Fox News, FOX News Network, www.foxnews.com/politics/barr-testify-house-judiciary-committee-dems-vow-hearing.