Staff Reports
It appears that the Department of Justice has decided to open a can of worms regarding former Attorney General Bill Barr and his involvement in the 2020 election. The DOJ’s Inspector General’s office recently released a report alleging Barr stepped on the toes of department policy by discussing an ongoing investigation about election security, particularly in Pennsylvania. Naturally, this has been framed in a way that paints a rather unsavory picture of Barr, who served under former President Trump.
In a classic example of a bureaucratic overreach, the report claims Barr encouraged Pennsylvania prosecutor David Freed to publicly air selective details concerning discarded mail-in ballots. It seems that these ballots were overwhelmingly in favor of Trump, but those inconvenient details were swept under the rug in an attempt to paint Barr as the bad guy. The department’s Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, found plenty of room for criticism. Still, the irony is rich, as Horowitz did not formally accuse Barr or Freed of any actual misconduct. So, what’s the lesson here? Barr’s crime appears to be speaking up about election irregularities.
The report has a familiar ring to it. Nearly every DOJ employee interviewed recalled the unusual nature of Barr’s public statements, suggesting such actions were outside the norm, particularly before allegations materialized into actual charges. Yet, no one seems to want to dive deeper into the significance of what Barr was discussing. The systemic issues surrounding the 2020 election—such as the many oddities associated with mail-in voting—are consistently overlooked in favor of focusing on the messenger.
Freed revealed that the discarded ballots contained votes solely for Trump, and Barr allegedly passed this nugget of wisdom along to the President. However, that particular tidbit was considerably downplayed, with the implication that Barr did something nefarious by keeping Trump in the loop. In the twisted landscape of the current political climate, transparency is often misconstrued as misconduct. The DOJ’s scrutiny seems less about upholding integrity and more about scoring political points against figures in the Trump administration.
DOJ goes after Bill Barr for noticing election fraud during 2020 election and notifying people.
The newest crime affecting Americans all across the country is the crime of noticing corruption and crimes of the Deep State and Democrats.https://t.co/3UvPpiCOce pic.twitter.com/vMB8lp7hye
— Nick Koutrakos (@NickKoutrakos) July 26, 2024
Now, on a slightly amusing note, the report calls for the Office of Special Counsel to investigate Barr and Freed for potential Hatch Act violations. Considering that the Hatch Act is often invoked when convenient, this recommendation sounds like a farcical attempt to maintain a semblance of accountability while avoiding more critical conversations about the legitimacy of the 2020 election. It smacks of a bureaucratic group attempting to show their relevance by targeting high-profile figures rather than addressing the wider issues at hand.
This investigation and subsequent report serve as a vivid reminder that anything remotely critical of the establishment can and will be spun into a scandal. As the political wheel continues to turn, the focus on Bill Barr may very well be less about justice and more about a concerted effort to silence dissent and stigmatize any actions taken to uphold transparency in the face of questionable practices. With the revelation of the investigation itself, those within certain circles are left to ponder: who, exactly, is being misled here? The answer is as clear as a Pennsylvania ballot box in the 2020 election—this is less about policy violation and more about a political agenda in action.
