{"id":67030,"date":"2019-02-17T22:28:49","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T03:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=67030"},"modified":"2019-02-17T22:28:56","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T03:28:56","slug":"the-daily-gouge-archive-friday-february-15th-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=67030","title":{"rendered":"The Daily Gouge Archive, Friday, February 15th, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Friday, February 15th, 2019…and here’s <\/strong>The Gouge<\/em>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

First up, the WSJ<\/em>‘s Kim Strassel details…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bill Barr\u2019s Hot Mess<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n

He arrives at a Justice Department that is in desperate needs of an infusion of credibility<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/h3>\n

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“It\u2019s fitting that William Barr\u2019s confirmation as attorney general happened just as two powerful law-enforcement figures were trading accusations involving President Trump. Mr. Barr\u2019s greatest challenge isn\u2019t<\/em><\/span> antitrust deals, immigration policy or even handling special counsel Robert Mueller.<\/span> His overriding challenge<\/em><\/span> is to reboot a Justice Department that has shredded its reputation and lost the confidence of Congress and the public<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to feel confident in law enforcement when a former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Andrew McCabe, reveals that a small cabal of unelected senior law-enforcement officers held meetings in May 2017 to plot Mr. Trump\u2019s removal from office<\/em><\/span>. In an interview with \u201c60 Minutes\u201d that aired Thursday and a forthcoming book, Mr. McCabe says he and other officials, including Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, did head-counts of which cabinet officials might vote to declare the president \u201cunable to discharge the powers and duties of his office\u201d under the 25th Amendment.<\/span> Mr. McCabe claims Mr. Rosenstein repeatedly<\/em><\/span> offered to wear a wire when meeting with Mr. Trump.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Rosenstein, who\u2019s expected to resign soon, responded Thursday with a Justice Department statement blasting the claims as \u201cfactually incorrect\u201d and highlighting that Mr. McCabe was fired for lying to the department\u2019s inspector general.<\/span> The rest<\/em><\/span> of the statement was pure spin<\/em><\/span>, in which Mr. Rosenstein never denied the McCabe claims<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s<\/em><\/span> the Justice Department Mr. Barr arrives to lead\u2014a hot mess of finger-pointing, leaks, planted press narratives, obstruction and extraordinary self-righteousness<\/em><\/span>. Since the FBI presumed to investigate two active presidential campaigns<\/em>, more than two dozen Justice and FBI officials have been fired, demoted or resigned<\/em><\/span>.<\/span> Yet no one in authority has acknowledged the mistakes that led to this bloodbath, explained how these institutions failed so spectacularly, or offered a plan for ending the dysfunction<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

…Mr. Barr may be tempted to fob all this off on the investigations by the U.S. attorney for Utah, John Huber, or the Justice Department inspector general. But Mr. Huber appears to have done little by way of investigation, the inspector general\u2019s report could still be a long way out, and in any event these questions merit answers from the nation\u2019s top legal officer. Mr. Barr needs this job like he needs a hole in the head<\/em><\/span>. But if<\/em><\/span> he spends the next years rebuilding trust in federal law enforcement<\/em><\/span>, he\u2019ll have performed an immense<\/em><\/span> public service.<\/span><\/strong><\/span>“<\/p>\n

Right about now, we imagine Barr’s feeling a bit like Ray Stantz confronting the enormity of his challenge in Ghostbusters<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n