Former Atty. Gen. Bill Barr, 72, was back in the news, agreeing to an interviewe for liberal CBS news, consumed with anything Trump, much like their Cable News cousin CNN. CNN likes to fill its programming with anything Trump, knowing it gets them ratings, for the once respected Cable News Network that prided itself on independent, nonpartisan journalism. Under former CNN President Jeff Zucker CNN morphed into a media wing of the Democrat Party, hiring the most partisan Democrats to host news programs. With ratings sinking to the lowest level in cable news, CNN’s 51-year-old CEO Andrew Licht has tried to change the highly partisan Democrat broadcasts into more politically neutral reports. So far, Licht hasn’t succeeded in changing the pro-Democrat CNN culture, despite cleaning house with some of its most partisan Democrat hosts.
Barr told CBS News investigative reporter Catherine Herridge that he thought Special Counsel Jack Smith should complete his probe of 76-year-old President Donald Trump, whether or not he would face charges for holding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence or for his role, if any, for the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol Hill insurrection, as Democrats like to call it. Barr told Herridge that he thought Trump was most vulnerable to possible charges from harboring classified docs at his Mar-a-Lago. “It doesn’t go a long on intent or anything like that. It’s very clear that he had no business having those documents,” Barr told Herridge, believing Smith’s best case against Trump is with the subpoenaed Mar-a-lago documents. Barr thinks Trump played games with the documents, telling CNN town hall meeting that Smith would look carefully whether Trump complied with the Presidential Records Act.
Barr told Herridge that Smith has the additional problem of recent disclosures that 80-year-old President Joe Biden retained classified presidential documents at different locations, as did former Vice President Mike Pence. Smith must take into account the nature of the classified documents found at Mar-al-Lago, comparing them to the documents found for Biden and Pence. Smith’s charging decision gets more complicated knowing that any decision on Trump would interfere in the 2024 presidential race. Smith knows that former FBI Director James Comey once interfered in the 2016 election announcing in April 13, 2016 that he was reopening a probe into Hillary’s missing emails. “The problem is what did he do after the government asked for them back and subpoenaed them? And if there’s any games being played there, he’s going to be very exposed,” Barr said.
Talking about Trump’s May 10 CNN town hall broadcast, Barr didn’t think Trump’s answer about “declassifying documents” would fly, since it involves a more structured process. “I don’t think that argument’s gonna fly,” Barr told Herridge. “ I don’t think that the idea that you know, he automatically—that they were somehow automatically declassified when they were put in boxes. I don’t think that will fly,” Barr said. Barr doesn’t know whether or not Smith has other considerations entering into his decisions to charge. Certainly the fact that Biden and Pence were found also to hold classified docs makes charging Trump more difficult. Smith has more on his mind whether or not Trump played “games.” Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland must decide whether he’s willing to rock the boat, knowing Trump is an active 2024 candidate for the Republican nomination.
Much criticism has fallen of CNN CEO Andrew Licht for going ahead with the May 10 town hall, hosted by 31-year-old rising start Kailan Collins. Collins looked like a dear caught in the headlights trying to fact-check Trump as he danced around her questions. One thing’s for sure, Trump was fully on his game, sounding every bit in charge as compared to when he was president. Collins was rewarded by Licht after the town hall offering her a primetime news shows. CNN’s senior foreign correspondent Christiane Amanpou said CNN should never have give Trump air time. What’s so incredibly ironic is that Trump brought CNN the best ratings in years, evaporating quickly after the May 10 town hall. Cristiane rips the town hall knowing that CNN takes Trump’s ad dollars for campaign ads. CNN can’t have it both ways: Putting Trump on air while taking his campaign dollars.
Barr told CBS host Herridge that Smith would have more problems charging Trump with seditious insurrection when he has to prove intent. Barr said the classified documents case involves no intent but, in fact, it does involve some intent, because as Trump told prosecutors, documents were packed in haste before he left the White House for Mar-a-Lago. Barr told Herridge about the Durham report, saying everyone knew the Mueller investigation of Trump’s ties to the Kremlin was always suspect. “I’ve said all along that’s dangerous to get into the business of say that the standard of how many people you prosecute, because the object here was to find out what happened and to tell the story, to get to the bottom of it,” Barr said, referring to the years of media speculation about Trump alleged ties to Russia. Barr said Democrats and the media’s attempt to link Trump to the Kremlin was all “nonsense.”
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
