Do you think William Barr is corupt?

Politicians, pundits, and news outlets will sometimes accuse William Barr as acting as the Presidents personal henchman as the head of the Department of Justice and Attorney General, versus behaving as a law abiding, non-political, impartial, justice pursuer who is doing the best job he can do to execute he position and duties of the Attorney General of the United States.

Performance of those duties are supposed to occur without the direct influence or corrupt direction of the President or anyone else.

Do you think he does that properly? Do you think he's corrupt? Do you think he's incorruptible? Do you think he performs his duties as the Attorney General of the United States in an uncorrupted way? Personally, I think William Barr does his best to perform his duties as the Attorney General of the United States in a corrupt way and at the direction of the President even if he isn't supported to -- or if the Presidents directions and desires for him to perform specific duties are corrupt.

President Trump makes it hard for him to do so properly due to his unprofessionalism, classlessness, unpredictability, and inconsistency in his desires, behavior, and directions.

Justin Jared said:

Politicians, pundits, and news outlets will sometimes accuse William Barr as acting as the Presidents personal henchman as the head of the Department of Justice and Attorney General, versus behaving as a law abiding, non-political, impartial, justice pursuer who is doing the best job he can do to execute he position and duties of the Attorney General of the United States.

Performance of those duties are supposed to occur without the direct influence or corrupt direction of the President or anyone else.

Do you think he does that properly? Do you think he's corrupt?

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In a word? No.

Absent evidence to the contrary (as we eventually found with certain members of the FBI) I presume a person at that level is doing the job honestly and to the best of their ability.

IMO Barr has been trying to balance the concerns of the President with the expectations of the office. So far I think he is doing a fairly good job.

Barr is one of the most competent and decent and honest guys in town.

We are hella lucky to have him.

Justin Jared said:

Politicians, pundits, and news outlets will sometimes accuse William Barr as acting as the Presidents personal henchman as the head of the Department of Justice and Attorney General, versus behaving as a law abiding, non-political, impartial, justice pursuer who is doing the best job he can do to execute he position and duties of the Attorney General of the United States.

Performance of those duties are supposed to occur without the direct influence or corrupt direction of the President or anyone else.

Do you think he does that properly? Do you think he's corrupt? Do you think he's incorruptible? Do you think he performs his duties as the Attorney General of the United States in an uncorrupted way

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First of all, I don't get this ahistoric and mythologizing of the AG position, and the justice department, that keeps being propagated during the age of Trump. It's always been political. Eric Holder called himself Obama's "wingman" and did things like justify that extrajudicial executions of U.S. citizens to help out Obama's actions.

So far as where on the scale does Barr rank when compared to everyone else? I think he's doing OK. I've yet to see evidence of him doing anything particularly wrong or him directly changing his position on something at the direction of the President.

Hawkeye10 said:

Barr is one of the most competent and decent and honest guys in town.

We are hella lucky to have him.

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I think Barr is a low cur. Unscrupulous and evil through and through.I hate him almost as much as I hate Trump.

Justin Jared said:

Politicians, pundits, and news outlets will sometimes accuse William Barr as acting as the Presidents personal henchman as the head of the Department of Justice and Attorney General, versus behaving as a law abiding, non-political, impartial, justice pursuer who is doing the best job he can do to execute he position and duties of the Attorney General of the United States.

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I'll just address this part. Barr's theory of the Presidency is that Trump IS literally the DOJ. So the AG's job, and everyone under the AG, is in a very real way to be the President's "personal henchman," to reflect the will of the President. In the recent dustup over the recommended sentence, Barr's theory is that OF COURSE it's appropriate for the President to direct the DoJ to reduce the recommended sentence, because Trump is the DOJ and the DoJ should properly reflect the will of its leader, who is the President, not the AG.

Barr tells us the idea that the DOJ should somehow be independent of the President is absurd on its face, because, again, Trump is the DOJ so the DOJ cannot possibly be independent of the President.

My own view is Barr likely has no love lost for the President. He's a competent person and the President is a moron and an ignoramus, and I'm sure he's often embarrassed to serve such a reckless incompetent. But Barr is serving a broader goal, shared by Cheney and others, to strengthen the power of the President, and achieving that end is important to him for some reason long term. Trump is a great President for Barr in that respect, because Trump obviously shares that goal, 100%, and Trump will happily test every boundary, with Barr cheering him on.

I don't believe he is corrupt, in the sense that he uses his power for personal gain.

I believe he has a perspective on Presidential powers that is toxic to the Republic, as we are now seeing the worst-case scenario play out in real time.

Fishking said:

First of all, I don't get this ahistoric and mythologizing of the AG position, and the justice department, that keeps being propagated during the age of Trump. It's always been political. Eric Holder called himself Obama's "wingman" and did things like justify that extrajudicial executions of U.S. citizens to help out Obama's actions.

So far as where on the scale does Barr rank when compared to everyone else? I think he's doing OK. I've yet to see evidence of him doing anything particularly wrong or him directly changing his position on something at the direction of the President.

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If he's not changing positions at the direction of the President, then Barr isn't doing his job, if we believe Barr's view of the Presidency.

Justin Jared said:

Politicians, pundits, and news outlets will sometimes accuse William Barr as acting as the Presidents personal henchman as the head of the Department of Justice and Attorney General, versus behaving as a law abiding, non-political, impartial, justice pursuer who is doing the best job he can do to execute he position and duties of the Attorney General of the United States.

Performance of those duties are supposed to occur without the direct influence or corrupt direction of the President or anyone else.

Do you think he does that properly? Do you think he's corrupt? Do you think he's incorruptible? Do you think he performs his duties as the Attorney General of the United States in an uncorrupted way? Personally, I think William Barr does his best to perform his duties as the Attorney General of the United States in a corrupt way and at the direction of the President even if he isn't supported to -- or if the Presidents directions and desires for him to perform specific duties are corrupt.

President Trump makes it hard for him to do so properly due to his unprofessionalism, classlessness, unpredictability, and inconsistency in his desires, behavior, and directions.

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The shortest answer is no. I do not think that William Barr is corrupt.

The man's work ethic and experience are showing through.

Justin Jared said:

Politicians, pundits, and news outlets will sometimes accuse William Barr as acting as the Presidents personal henchman as the head of the Department of Justice and Attorney General, versus behaving as a law abiding, non-political, impartial, justice pursuer who is doing the best job he can do to execute he position and duties of the Attorney General of the United States.

Performance of those duties are supposed to occur without the direct influence or corrupt direction of the President or anyone else.

Do you think he does that properly? Do you think he's corrupt? Do you think he's incorruptible? Do you think he performs his duties as the Attorney General of the United States in an uncorrupted way? Personally, I think William Barr does his best to perform his duties as the Attorney General of the United States in a corrupt way and at the direction of the President even if he isn't supported to -- or if the Presidents directions and desires for him to perform specific duties are corrupt.

President Trump makes it hard for him to do so properly due to his unprofessionalism, classlessness, unpredictability, and inconsistency in his desires, behavior, and directions.

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The Attorney General is not and never has been a non-partisan position. Nor is he in any way exempt from the authority of the President.

JasperL said:

If he's not changing positions at the direction of the President, then Barr isn't doing his job, if we believe Barr's view of the Presidency.

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So far as this case is concerned and the sentencing issue or other things that could be seen as corrupting various processes but regarding broader policy positions.

redrover said:

I think Barr is a low cur. Unscrupulous and evil through and through.I hate him almost as much as I hate Trump.

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HATE is the core of progressivism. But for hate, there's nothing.

Justin Jared said:

Politicians, pundits, and news outlets will sometimes accuse William Barr as acting as the Presidents personal henchman as the head of the Department of Justice and Attorney General, versus behaving as a law abiding, non-political, impartial, justice pursuer who is doing the best job he can do to execute he position and duties of the Attorney General of the United States.

Performance of those duties are supposed to occur without the direct influence or corrupt direction of the President or anyone else.

Do you think he does that properly? Do you think he's corrupt? Do you think he's incorruptible? Do you think he performs his duties as the Attorney General of the United States in an uncorrupted way? Personally, I think William Barr does his best to perform his duties as the Attorney General of the United States in a corrupt way and at the direction of the President even if he isn't supported to -- or if the Presidents directions and desires for him to perform specific duties are corrupt.

President Trump makes it hard for him to do so properly due to his unprofessionalism, classlessness, unpredictability, and inconsistency in his desires, behavior, and directions.

Click to expand...

No, William Barr is not corrupt. It has been only the democrats, their news propagandists, and their gullible followers stating such nonsense. It's the democrats looking for the next "big" thing, and the news media looking for their next "anti-Trump" story they can run, twist, and fool the public with.

TheDoctorWasIn said:

I don't believe he is corrupt, in the sense that he uses his power for personal gain.

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He is corrupt, in that he acts corruptly got trump. He violates the need of his office and the country for trump's benefit, which is why over 1,100 DoJ officials called on him to resign. Personal benefit isn't needed for corrupt behavior. But he's always been corrupt - he was central to Bush 41's corruptly pardoning Iran-Contra criminals.

Do you think William Barr is corupt?

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well, duh.

Justin Jared said:

Politicians, pundits, and news outlets will sometimes accuse William Barr as acting as the Presidents personal henchman as the head of the Department of Justice and Attorney General, versus behaving as a law abiding, non-political, impartial, justice pursuer who is doing the best job he can do to execute he position and duties of the Attorney General of the United States.

Performance of those duties are supposed to occur without the direct influence or corrupt direction of the President or anyone else.

Do you think he does that properly? Do you think he's corrupt? Do you think he's incorruptible? Do you think he performs his duties as the Attorney General of the United States in an uncorrupted way? Personally, I think William Barr does his best to perform his duties as the Attorney General of the United States in a corrupt way and at the direction of the President even if he isn't supported to -- or if the Presidents directions and desires for him to perform specific duties are corrupt.

President Trump makes it hard for him to do so properly due to his unprofessionalism, classlessness, unpredictability, and inconsistency in his desires, behavior, and directions.

Click to expand...

Good OP.

I gave given some thought to the questions you pose in your OP as to what Barr is doing as Trump's personal lawyer, rather than as defender of the office he represents and I have formed an opinion that is not as firmly established in my mind as my opinion of Trump but is likely to be right.

There is no doubt in my mind that Barr has decided that what Trump brings to the table is something the country needs and because he has decided that, he has become a avid Trump supporter. This does mean that Barr has more respect for results than the respect he has for the law and the Constitution. Simply stated, Barr believes the ends justify the means. He is not a true defender of the Constitution and the law.

Nonetheless, when it comes to corruption, I have some doubts as corruption means that a person is doing something he not only considers bad but that he does it for his personal benefit and I do not think Barr is doing anything of this for personal benefit, thus not corruptly like what Trump is doing.

Having said that, Barr is not being faithful to the vows of office he took and he is biased-for-Trump, which is something no AG should be...........biased. The AG is the representative of the law according to the Constitution and as such, he is not doing his job but "using" his job to accomplish what the objective of his beliefs are.

I do not believe Barr is corrupt but I do believe he is not honest and therefore a liar.

If there is one person in any administration that needs to be honest is the Attorney General. Presidents should represent all citizens of the United States but they are first chosen to be the leaders of their party and therefore have an obligation to follow the party platform as the guideline of what they do. Nonetheless, the AG is not supposed to represent a party platform. The AG is hired to represent the Constitution, which has nothing to do with party platforms and therefore Barr is not doing what he was hired to do, to be non-partisan and simply represent the law as written.

Barr is a liar almost to the point that Trump is and that is about as bad as it can be.

joko104 said:

HATE is the core of progressivism. But for hate, there's nothing.

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So, you are saying you are progressive? Based on your definition and your HATE of Democrats, you fit your own description of what a progressive is.

redrover said:

I think Barr is a low cur. Unscrupulous and evil through and through.I hate him almost as much as I hate Trump.

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And you have the same amount of factual evidence to support your opinion of Barr as you do your opinion of Trump: Zero.

Justin Jared said:

Politicians, pundits, and news outlets will sometimes accuse William Barr as acting as the Presidents personal henchman as the head of the Department of Justice and Attorney General, versus behaving as a law abiding, non-political, impartial, justice pursuer who is doing the best job he can do to execute he position and duties of the Attorney General of the United States.

Performance of those duties are supposed to occur without the direct influence or corrupt direction of the President or anyone else.

Do you think he does that properly? Do you think he's corrupt? Do you think he's incorruptible? Do you think he performs his duties as the Attorney General of the United States in an uncorrupted way? Personally, I think William Barr does his best to perform his duties as the Attorney General of the United States in a corrupt way and at the direction of the President even if he isn't supported to -- or if the Presidents directions and desires for him to perform specific duties are corrupt.

President Trump makes it hard for him to do so properly due to his unprofessionalism, classlessness, unpredictability, and inconsistency in his desires, behavior, and directions.

Click to expand...

probably no more than Holder. I don't think any political appointee can be truly non-partisan. All political appointees owes the president a bit of loyalty for his appointment. But must not let that loyalty interfere with his duties or job.I personally think that Trump would be the hardest president to work for in my lifetime. Not that I worked for any president, but his demand for utmost loyalty very well could interfere with how well one performs whatever job he has.

He is simply another trump lackey. They seem to fall like flies. Many wind up in prison.

After trump he will disappear like bush's AG Gonzales who is now tenn. AG.

Justin Jared said:

...Do you think he does that properly? Do you think he's corrupt? Do you think he's incorruptible? Do you think he performs his duties as the Attorney General of the United States in an uncorrupted way? Personally, I think William Barr does his best to perform his duties as the Attorney General of the United States in a corrupt way and at the direction of the President even if he isn't supported to -- or if the Presidents directions and desires for him to perform specific duties are corrupt.

President Trump makes it hard for him to do so properly due to his unprofessionalism, classlessness, unpredictability, and inconsistency in his desires, behavior, and directions.

Click to expand...

No, he doesn't do his job properly; he's supposed to be the Attorney for "We, the People", not King Trump. Yes, he's corrupt although it's possible Trump has something on him and Barr is simply being blackmailed. More likely he's just being bribed with a promise of 10-20 million from Trump.