Saturday Night Massacre
Since the Watergate era, America knows how to investigate our leaders. The Independent Counsels in Watergate, Archibald Cox and Leon Jaworski, established the high level of competence and honor we expected in the office. They faced the ultimate pressure from the President of the United States, and stood up to it. Cox was fired in the process, but, to paraphrase Obi Wan Konobi in Star Wars, “when he struck him down, he became more powerful than he could possibly imagine”. The Saturday Night Massacre became a key item in Nixon’s impeachment.
Independent counsels investigated alleged drug use of the White House Chief of Staff of Carter, and other possible infractions by the Labor Secretary, Attorney General, Chief of Staff and Solicitor General under Reagan. Not all investigations resulted in charges, and the Independent Counsel’s office created an “air” of impartiality when investigating those close to power.
Iran-Contra
After Watergate, the next major investigation by the Independent Counsel was about the Iran-Contra affair. Members of the Reagan Administration were selling US military equipment to Iran despite a law embargoing those sales, and then using the profits to illegally finance a Contra insurgency against the elected government in Nicaragua. Independent Counsel Stephen Walsh ultimately indicted fourteen officials, including the Secretary of Defense and the National Security Advisor. Eleven were convicted.
In an odd twist, those who were actually sentenced to prison were pardoned by then President George HW Bush, at the strong recommendation of his Attorney General, William Barr. That is the same Barr who now serves as President Trump’s Attorney General, twenty-eight years later.
Blue Dress
Perhaps the best-known Independent Counsel was Judge Kenneth Starr, whose four and a half year investigation of Bill Clinton resulted in the President’s impeachment. Clinton also ultimately gave up his law license in a plea agreement to avoid perjury charges.
And after Starr’s interminable investigations, from Whitewater real estate deals to “bimbo eruptions” and finally Monica Lewinsky, Congress changed the Independent Counsel Law. The key change was in the word “independent”, the new “Special” Counsel Law put the office directly under control of the Attorney General, making it much easier to control the Counsel’s action.
The Mueller Report
And that was former FBI Director Robert Mueller’s position when he investigated the Trump Campaign-Russian connections. Unlike Cox, Jaworski, Walsh and Starr, Mueller was restricted in the areas he could investigate and controlled by either Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, or, after his appointment, Attorney General William Barr.
This Attorney General has made it a point to “protect” his President. Trump’s impeachment, over the use of Federal funds to get political help from the Ukraine, was completely ignored by the Justice Department. They “passed” on the “Whistleblower’s Report”, essentially saying, “there’s nothing to see here, move along”.
Hiding in the Hinterlands
But now Attorney General Barr has found a way to avoid Washington DC all together. Instead of appointing a Special Counsel, Barr is shipping out investigations to handpicked US Attorneys throughout the nation. John Durham, US Attorney for Connecticut is tasked with re-investigating the Russia investigation. Durham was a “safe” choice in previous sensitive investigations, including absolving the CIA of any wrong doing in the torturing and deaths of prisoners at “black sites” after 9-11.
The Attorney General also arranged the removal of the US Attorney for Washington, DC. Jessica Liu was asked to resign in order to become Deputy Treasury Secretary. After her resignation, her Treasury appointment was cancelled. Barr then appointed one of his closest advisors, Timothy Shea, to the job.
This shuffle seems to be about the sentencing of two Trump associates, Roger Stone and Michael Flynn. The four Justice Department lawyers in the Stone case resigned from the case rather than accept Barr’s demand that the Department sentencing guidelines be ignored. And the Flynn case has gone from a six months sentencing recommendation to no jail time at all.
Barr has also tasked the US Attorney from St Louis, Missouri, Jeffrey Jensen, to investigate the investigation into Flynn, essentially targeting Trump’s favorite people to hate: James Comey, Andrew McCabe and Peter Strzok. And finally he has appointed the US Attorney in Pittsburgh, Scott Brady, to take the “information” developed by Rudy Giuliani from Ukraine and investigate it.
Out of Sight
There are a couple ways to look at Barr’s actions. The first is that Barr has greater control over US Attorneys, including whether they can keep their jobs. New Haven, Pittsburgh and St. Louis are also far from the hotbed of Department of Justice turmoil in Washington. Those Attorneys are “standing alone”, with obvious agendas from the Attorney General.
But they are also far away from the power of the Presidential tweet. Perhaps Barr, already on record complaining about the President’s comments, is trying to keep these investigations far away from the White House.
Either way, don’t expect Barr to appoint a Special Counsel for anything soon. It’s more likely that the US Attorney in Helena, Montana or Anchorage, Alaska will be dragged into the fray.
