Speaking of Bill Barr spiking the Stormy Daniels illegal campaign finance scam...

Bill Barr, who has conflicts of interest like you read about—and you can—is worth every dime they're paying him for short-circuiting the various investigations of this heathen president*.

  Charles P Pierce

In between stints as US attorney general for George HW Bush in the early 90s and now for Donald Trump, while making millions as an executive at Verizon and a lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis, William Barr sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to various Republicans and their causes.

Most of those donations made between 1993 and 2019 were occasional at best. But in the lead up to his Senate confirmation hearings for attorney general earlier this year, his giving habits suddenly changed. Barr’s donations became far more frequent, notable for their size, recipients, and possible utility to him. In total, Barr gave $51,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC)—a group that raises money to help elect Republicans to the Senate—in the months leading up to the Senate’s confirmation of his nomination.

Barr’s ramped up contributions took place over a 5-month period from October 2018 to February 2019 and were substantially different than his prior giving to the NRSC, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings.

[...]

[When] Jeff Sessions’ tenure as attorney general got rocky, [...] Barr started giving regularly. He donated on a schedule, providing $10,000 every month to the NRSC, on the third of the month, starting in October. That continued until he was confirmed on Feb. 14, 2019, just 11 days after his last contribution.

  Quartz

Nothing to see here. Move along.

Quartz contacted the Department of Justice for comment from the attorney general on the contributions but has not yet received a response. This story will be updated if the DOJ replies to the query.

Won't happen.

“The fact that any one person can give such large amounts to a political party creates a perception problem,” [Adav] Noti—who was formerly associate general counsel at the FEC— explained.

It creates more than a perception problem.

The obvious question raised by these donations is whether they were intended to influence a particular outcome. “Maybe it’s a coincidence. Maybe not,” Noti says of the timing and sums.

Note: It's not a coincidence.

But as long as there was no implicit or explicit quid pro quo, no exchange for an official act—and there is no evidence here that Barr expected or was promised anything in exchange for his donations—there is no legal issue with the contributions.

But there should be, and this is a problem with our entire system, including that outrageous Citizens United decision.

Barr himself has opined on the matter of prosecutors contributing to political campaigns. In 2017, he spoke to the Washington Post about the prosecutors former special counsel Robert Mueller was hiring as part of his investigation into Russian meddling in the US election and the president’s efforts to thwart that investigation, some of whom had contributed to Democratic causes. “In my view, prosecutors who make political contributions are identifying fairly strongly with a political party,” Barr said.

Do tell.

[T]he NRSC refunded $30,000 to Barr on Feb. 6, about a week before he was confirmed.

Oh that fixed it.

In June, the New York Times wrote that “by all accounts, Mr. Barr was not anxious to join Mr. Trump’s team,” and noted that he declined an earlier opportunity to represent Trump as his private criminal counsel, saying, “I didn’t want to stick my head into that meat grinder.”

Hell no. When he could be Attorney General of the whole United States?!

Barr did in 2018 send an unsolicited 20-page memo to then deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein regarding Mueller’s investigation, titled “Mueller’s ‘obstruction’ theory.” In it, he wrote, “the Constitution vests all Federal law enforcement power, and hence prosecutorial discretion, in the President.” (Emphasis in the original). Barr stated that there can be “no limit on the President’s authority to act on matters which concern him or his own conduct.” In other words, he wasn’t lying low hoping to go unnoticed but signaling strongly that he would defend Trump.

[...]

It’s become apparent that serving as attorney general under Trump, who shares Barr’s expansive notions of executive power, allows Barr to pursue what his former DOJ colleague Donald Ayer called “his life’s work of creating an all-powerful president.”

Republican president. And Trump didn't share those views when Obama was president, either.

[Barr] was reportedly recommended for the role by Abbe D. Lowell, the criminal defense lawyer representing Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and daughter Ivanka, among others.

What does it say when the president and all of his family have to keep criminal defense attorneys on retainer? Nothing good.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.