December 21, 2020

Barr Refuses Trump’s Bogus Demands on His Way Out the Door

But in doing so, the AG appears to try to distance himself from some of the same falsehoods he’s had a powerful hand in promoting.

Michael Reynolds/AP

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Outgoing Attorney General Bill Barr on Monday said he saw no reason to appoint special counsels to investigate two of President Trump’s current obsessions: Hunter Biden and false claims of election fraud in the 2020 election. Barr also said he saw “no basis” for the federal government to seize states’ voting machines in an effort to identify fraud—a move reportedly being pushed by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani. 

 “If I thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool, I would name one, but I haven’t, and I’m not going to,” Barr said during his final press conference before leaving the Justice Department. In another break, Barr said that he agreed with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s assessment that Russia is behind the massive cyberattacks on US federal agencies, an indirect rejection of Trump’s efforts to downplay the attack.

The remarks are almost certain to infuriate the president. But while they add to the apparent falling out between the two men, it’s more than a bit difficult to reconcile Barr’s comments today with his central role in some of the Trump administration’s worst scandals, as well as some of the very same falsehoods he suddenly appears eager to distance himself from. That record includes pushing harmful voter suppression tactics, undermining the Trump-Russia probe, and politicizing federal investigations. If Barr really wants to launder his image as one of Trump’s most loyal allies, he’ll have to do a lot more than the gentle pushback we saw today. 

Either way, until January 20, things are most certainly going to get worse.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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