Why does Barr get a pass instead of prison stripes

An extraordinary event occurred on Wednesday. Attorney General William Barr committed perjury before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

So much dishonesty has gone on in the Trump Administration that Barr’s perjury is going to be treated as a blip on the screen.

It should not be.

Two weeks ago, I said that Barr had come out of the initial stages of his involvement with the Mueller Report with his reputation untarnished. I’ve reconsidered that assessment.

Barr came to the office of Attorney General from retirement. He had served as Bush 41’s Attorney General, as well as other Justice Department posts.

While very Republican, he had served with distinction for many years. But when he became AG, he decided that Trump needed his help with the Mueller Report, so he took steps to do that.

He went too far.

When asked under oath whether Mueller supported Barr’s four-page “conclusion,” he gave an unequivocal answer: “I don’t know whether Bob Mueller supported my conclusion.”

That was a lie.

As he made that representation, he had a letter from Mueller complaining about the thrust and tone of the summary. That’s perjury, and it’s a crime. On Thursday, Speaker

Nancy Pelosi was asked about it and she pointed out the obvious: It’s a crime.

Let’s be sure we understand how serious it is to commit perjury before Congress. In 1950, Alger

Hiss received a five-year prison sentence for perjury when he denied ever having been mixed up with the Communist Party. But more recently, Michael Cohen, Trump’s fixer, is getting ready to serve a prison sentence. His crime was perjury before Congress.

One has to ask. Why does the Attorney General get a pass? What will the history books say about William Barr and his testimony before Congress? What should the history books say?

In any other time, this would be a major event. But so much has happened during the course of this administration that nothing will come of this perjury. There should be a criminal referral to District of Columbia’s U.S. Attorney for prosecution.

The Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of the Executive Branch. Yes, a jury should hear the government’s case, and if warranted, should send Barr to prison.

It’s no different that the crimes of Hiss and Cohen.

Barr’s conduct is indicative of a larger problem. The Attorney General is not the president’s personal lawyer. He has an obligation to independently supervise the Department of Justice. When Donald Trump screams, “Where’s my Roy

Cohn?” the public should be outraged.

Roy Cohn was despicable, a McCarthyite who later spent years in

New York representing mob bosses, punks, thugs, gangsters and Donald John Trump.

I don’t know where or how this nightmare will end. There are good people on the Republican side of the room who must know how bad it is, but continue to carry water for the president. At some point, his supporters went to the dark side.

It’s a terrible dilemma. Infrastructure, healthcare and immigration should be our priority.

But we as Americans cannot simply ignore criminal conduct. The unethical and immoral stench of this administration should not be given a pass. If we do so, what do we tell our kids?

My 12th-grade government teacher, Ms. Baker, would have some choice words.

The latest, of course, is that Mr. Barr didn’t appear before the House Judiciary Committee because he didn’t like their rules regarding staff counsels’ questioning him. Flies continue to swarm around these people. And we all know what draws flies.

George D. Ellis is a Benton attorney. He can be contacted at gelliinbenton@swbell.net.