Attorney General William Barr (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Donald Trump says his biggest regret in office is not, you know, renuclearizing Iran or supercharging a human rights crisis at the border, but the decision to appoint known Jeff Sessions to the Justice Department. Trump’s complaint with Sessions boils down to “he actually followed black letter law” and recused himself from the Russia investigation since he had personally met with Russian officials as a Trump campaign flunky.
Conspiracy theorist-cum-AG Bill Barr wasn’t going to do that to Trump! Barr was the kind of guy willing to read the incredibly detailed Mueller report and just make up stuff in a four-page memo.
So Trump was likely shocked this morning when he learned that Barr has recused himself from the Jeffrey Epstein prosecution that directly implicates the sitting Labor Secretary who has already been benchslapped for his “material omissions” in giving Epstein a sweetheart deal and attempting to stifle public access to the evidence.
We’re not saying that Acosta is going to be charged in this case, but what we are saying is that the case is being run by the group that charges elected officials so… yeah.
Sure, Barr testified that he’d recuse himself from matters involving his former employer Kirkland & Ellis, but did anyone actually believe he’d really do it when his department actually put a cabinet official in the crosshairs? Or, for that matter, Trump himself, as the big guy has been apparently been fingered as a “material witness” by folks close to the investigation.
Barr is notably not recusing himself from any new charges against Epstein since those wouldn’t necessarily involve anything his Kirkland & Ellis partners worked on. But any inquiry into the original deal is ethically off limits for Barr, which means Acosta isn’t going to have Barr in his corner if this case goes down that road.
But any new charges that might, say, implicate Trump will have to go through Barr. Because of course that’s how this would end up.
AG Barr recuses himself from Jeffrey Epstein case, citing past legal work [Fox News]
Barr Won’t Recuse Himself From New Case Against Jeffrey Epstein [Bloomberg]
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.