The memo also undermines the claims raised in the first impeachment of Donald Trump. I testified in that hearing and disagreed with my three co-witnesses (Professors Michael Gerhardt, Pamela Karlan, and Noah Feldman) who insisted that Trump had committed obstruction of justice. They were not alone. Democrats and the media paraded a letter from over 450 prosecutors who declared unequivocally that:
“Each of us believes that the conduct of President Trump described in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice.”
The actual prosecutors at Main Justice found that not only would the allegations not meet the standard for obstruction of justice but that it would still be the case even if Trump was not the President of the United States. The contrast shows the danger of such gotcha letters. With thousands of professors and prosecutors, it is not particularly difficult to get hundreds of signatories to support one side or another in a contro.... The Justice Department does not prosecute by plebiscite and this is why.
The day before he was effectively fired by Trump, I had lunch with Barr as we have done for many years. He was again being publicly savaged by the President over his refusal to support his electoral fraud claims and take steps against figures like Hunter Biden. Yet, he is still unlikely to be recognized for what he did for the Department during one of its most difficult periods. However, history will likely be kinder to Barr than his critics. As stated in King Lear, Barr remained from the beginning to the end “a man more sinned against than sinning.”
