IMPORTANT UPDATE: Trump Doesn't Blame Barr

President Trump tweeted this evening that the nation is "disgusted with the FBI. We have a crisis of confidence in the number one law enforcement agency in this country (thanks Comey!)." Well, that sounds about right. But note one thing--Trump doesn't blame AG Barr for this unhappy state of affairs. On the other hand, of course, neither does he blame himself. He seems to blame James Comey and, by implication, the president who appointed Comey--Obama. As for Chris Wray--the FBI Director that Trump himself appointed, well before Barr became AG--well, it seems that Trump's policy at this point amounts to: the less said the better (image courtesy of CTH):

Something's going on here, but don't ask me to explain it--nor the really rather restrained tone of the tweet. All I can say is that Trump appears to be perfectly satisfied with the job Barr is doing.

UPDATE 1: Lou Dobbs last night interviewed former Acting AG Matt Whitaker. Clearly, Whitaker's spate of recent appearances must be part of a strategy to maintain support for what Barr is doing--so it seems to me. And yet sundance at CTH is absolutely right that most of the interview is consumed by Whitaker deflecting Dobbs' demands for transparency and challenges to the lack of transparency.

Dobbs focuses on Rod Rosenstein's three "Scope Memos"--Whitaker confirms that such memos exist but declines to even confirm the number of the memos! Dobbs' focus is well chosen, because the Scope Memos define the scope of the Team Mueller operation, which in turn arises from the FBI's illegal Crossfire Hurricane investigation and the later machinations of James Comey, Sally Yates and Rod Rosenstein (and others). The only defense Whitaker seems to offer for the lack of transparency regarding the scope memos is that it would be unfair to declassify them at this point because that would reveal the names of people who were unfairly accused. The problem with that response is obvious. For starters, the DoJ regulations that govern Special Counsel appointments require a specification of criminal charges--Rosenstein violated that requirement. Further, revelation of persons falsely accused would educate Americans to the scope of the perversion of justice that was the Team Mueller operation--beginning in the FBI and continuing with Rod Rosenstein's DoJ. Does Barr not believe that the American people should have this knowledge? Note this brief exchange:

Whitaker: This is what Bill Barr's biggest challenge is--is restoring the trust in the Department of Justice ... 

Dobbs: You can't do it unless you're fully transparent ... 

Dobbs: It's time to raise hell and raise the roof!

But where, I have to ask, is Trump in all this? And please note--Dobbs' challenge has nothing to do with making unreasonable demands (as far as I can tell) on Bill Barr to reform the entire DoJ with authorities that he doesn't actually possess. My belief is that Barr does in fact have the authority to release these scope memos to the public, along with unredacted versions of the FISA applications--at least as regards the probable cause. And I don't doubt that there's more such documentation. The bottom line seems to me to be that, if the documentation is basically fictitious, what harm could there really be in the public disclosure of fictions?

UPDATE 2: I just read sundance's full comments. Sundance is suspicious that the reason for the lack of transparency regarding the Scope Memos is that Rod Rosenstein's role is being protected. I've never made any secret of my belief that Rosenstein was a co-conspirator in the Russia Hoax during his time at the head of DoJ. If Rosenstein is now a key cooperating witness, Is Barr seeking to protect Rosenstein from scrutiny at this point? That's been my (hopeful) speculation, but the nonsense about not even confirming the number of Scope Memos seems absurd. Time will tell.