by Bob Barr | Sep 7, 2022 | Townhall Article |
TownhallDespite complaining about being the victim of inappropriate, if not unconstitutional abuse by the courts and the Biden Administration, former President Donald Trump on Monday was gifted a highly unusual, if not unprecedented favor by a federal judge that, at least temporarily halts the investigation into possible criminal mishandling of classified government documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort.As is by now well-known, FBI agents on August 8th conducted a search of the sprawling Florida resort, which includes living quarters used at times by Trump and his family. The agents removed some 22 boxes containing nearly 13,000 documents and other items of evidence from the resort, pursuant to a lawful search warrant signed by a federal magistrate. Ever since then, Trump and his supporters have engaged in a full-court press to convince the country that the FBI search was nothing more than an abusive and partisan action to weaken him as a possible 2024 presidential candidate.Two weeks after the search, Trump’s lawyers filed a motion with the U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach, demanding that the court appoint a “special master” to examine all the seized evidence and determine if any falls within categories otherwise protected against seizure, such as attorney-client communications. On Monday, Judge Aileen Cannon (who Trump nominated for the post shortly before he left office) did just that.Mr. Trump is being afforded extraordinarily preferential treatment, not only by way of the judge directing that an outside party be empowered to review each and every item seized by the FBI, but by the even more unusual step of explicitly suspending the government’s current criminal investigation. Based on already publicly released...
by Bob Barr | Aug 31, 2022 | Townhall Article |
TownhallIn the latest “Right Track/Wrong Direction” national poll and the global “Happiness” rating, there is good news and there is bad news. The good news is that the United States is not the unhappiest country on earth (we currently rank #19). The bad news is a significant majority of our citizens (88% according to some estimates) believe we are headed in the wrong direction and pessimistic about turning that trajectory around.A cursory analysis of politics, education, business, law, and pretty much any other sector of contemporary American society reveals why we are such an unhappy place – we are a citizenry afraid.The United States has in recent years morphed from a bold, forward-looking, optimistic, and freedom-based society into one that is driven by fear. Not so much physical fear — although fear of crime is a very real and mounting concern — but rather the sense that people are afraid to openly and honestly communicate or interact with others, insofar as doing so may get them in trouble; in trouble with government regulators and snitches (usually referred to as “whistleblowers”), in trouble with social media, in trouble with co-workers, in other words, everyone out there.Chicken Little would feel right at home in today’s America, because wherever she might turn the proverbial sky is primed and ready to fall.The causes of this pervasive sense of fear and foreboding infecting our society are many, but topping the list would be the rise of social media and the expansion of government regulations (backed up with threats of fines and jail).Query: is there any aspect of a citizen’s daily existence that does not include within it...
by Bob Barr | Aug 29, 2022 | Daily Caller Article |
Daily CallerThe name-calling, mistrust, and downright hatred with which the former president and his supporters are dealing with the execution of the warrant execution at his Mar-a-Lago home/resort three weeks ago – and the the current administration‘s less-than-productive responses – exemplify the toxic and dysfunctional state of American political discourse. The former president of the United States of America calls FBI “hacks and thugs” in the wake of the Aug. 8 search of his living quarters at the Mar-a-Lago resort pursuant to a lawfully executed warrant. The sitting president of the United States returns the insult by referring to support for his predecessor as “semi-fascism.”It is difficult to see things getting better any time soon.I am among the many Americans who find fault with the FBI and other federal agencies’ abuse of power in recent years. In fact our country has been dealing (or not dealing) with this problem for three decades, at least since the Justice Department-initiated tragedies at Ruby Ridge and Waco in the early 1990s. As a sitting Member of Congress, I was a harsh critic of the FBI and the ATF during the 1995 oversight hearings into the Branch Davidian debacle. Today, nearly two decades after those hearings revealed serious abuses of power by the Attorney General, the FBI, the ATF, and our military, the leadership of the FBI exhibits greater evidence of being deeply infected with partisan politics and institutional hubris.Contrary to popular belief, however, and contrary to the views of many friends and colleagues of mine, there are ways to address these problems, even with a House of Representatives and a Senate unable to break partisan deadlock to...
