Has Barr Unleashed The Dogs Of War?

Earlier today I referred to the reports that AG Bill Barr ordered Team Mueller and Mueller's deputy, Andrew Weissmann, to shut down their plans to try to squeeze Michael Flynn to get damaging information against Jared Kushner and Don Trump, Jr. The basis for Barr's order was simply that Team Mueller had no credible reason to believe either Kushner or Don Jr. had engaged in criminal activity. Barr effectively forced Weissmann out of Team Mueller and the DoJ. That was a strong sign that, as I said, Barr intends to be Attorney General in full.

A second sign came last night when Lindsey Graham, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee called for a Special Counsel who would investigate FBI/DoJ wrongdoing in both the Hillary related investigations as well as the Russia Hoax. Ordinarily one might dismiss that as mere rhetoric--except that Graham's statements tracked those of Barr himself. As far back as 2017 Barr had told the NYT that a failure of DoJ to look into the Uranium One case could be considered dereliction of their duty. Something seems to be afoot.

Of course the continuing release of witness transcripts from the House investigation--with nary a peep of reproval from Barr--seems to be another strong leading indicator of more to come. Rod Rosenstein had steadfastly stonewalled the House GOP's calls for the release of those documents.

Now, Paul Sperry tweets:


Paul Sperry‏

@paulsperry

BREAKING: DOJ IG Horowitz is investigating who in the sr ranks of FBI & DOJ--including Rosenstein & Yates--knew Bruce Ohr was back-channeling anti-Trump dirt from Steele to the FBI after Steele was terminated by the FBI as a confidential source. Ohr is fully cooperating in probe.

9:01 PM - 13 Mar 2019

I emailed a friend this morning: If Barr gives IG Horowitz free rein to investigate it could be Katie bar the door time. While OIG does have limits to its authority, when it comes to investigating internal wrongdoing it is a formidable player. Horowitz has several hundred employees--lawyers, accountants, investigators, forensic specialists--at his disposal. He can do any job Barr asks him to do, no matter how extensive. He has the resources.

Barr came back to DoJ with a hard earned reputation as a pit bull of a litigator. He knows scorched earth. Does he intend to bring it to the Russia Hoax?