William Barr's investigation into the investigators is going everywhere, about everything

When Donald Trump asks why Robert Mueller didn’t investigate Hillary Clinton, or James Comey, or the Kennedy assassination, the reason is simple enough: He wasn’t authorized to do so. Mueller’s orders, which still haven’t been seen in public, were limited enough in their scope that even looking into Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort’s long association with Russia took getting special permission from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. No matter how many times Trump says otherwise, it’s very unlikely that Mueller looked at his tax returns, or made any broad review of the Trump Organization’s finances, because it simply wasn’t in his writ.

Not so William Barr. On Monday, Barr dispatched a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, and in that letter the attorney general made it clear that he’s going to look at anything he wants, for any reason he wants. And Barr intends to look at a lot.

According to Barr, his investigation into the investigators will be “broad in scope and multifaceted.” He going to look into not just U.S. intelligence agencies, but foreign services as well, presumably so that he can condemn Australia and the U.K. for mentioning to U.S. officials that Trump advisers were sounding all the sleeping-with-the-enemy alarm bells. Barr says he’s also looking into “non-governmental organizations and individuals.” What that means isn’t clear, other than that no one is safe.

Everything concerning the origins of the counterintelligence investigation is up for grabs. Not only does Barr have a team under U.S. attorney John Durham dedicated to the task of making sure everything was done “to the satisfaction of the attorney general”; not only is the inspector general conducting a separate investigation; but Barr himself is also moving forward with the unprecedented power bestowed upon him by Trump to reveal all or part of any classified document. 

Barr has already made it clear that he considers Robert Mueller nothing more than an underling whose opinions deserve no respect. And as of Trump’s May 24 memo to the intelligence community, everyone in Washington can expect to receive the same treatment—because everyone now works for Barr.

from Daily Kos http://bit.ly/31n4Yf3