Journalist Carl Bernstein rose to fame almost five decades ago for helping to expose the Watergate scandal. Now, Bernstein says that Attorney General Bill Barr is hunting for a conspiracy of his own.
The Washington Examiner reports that Bernstein appeared on CNN on Thursday to accuse Barr of attempting to cover up President Donald Trump’s alleged wrongdoings by proving “there is a Deep State conspiracy that led to” Robert Mueller’s infamous Trump–Russia collusion probe.
“Barr is trying to deliver — and I have this, as do other reporters from other sources — to deliver evidence that perhaps this has all been a Deep State conspiracy just like Donald Trump alleges,” Bernstein said.
“That person never saw the report”
Bernstein is no stranger to calling out misdeeds by those in the White House — and on Thursday, he didn’t pull any punches.
“We’re seeing, both in real-time with the president’s remarks and also through documentary evidence, his corruption, certainly in terms of what he’s tried to do to undermine the free electoral process in this country,” Bernstein alleged. He went on to critique Trump’s “temperament,” saying it has reached “an extreme perhaps even greater than we have ever seen before.”
“Remember the other day he was talking about the electric chair? That must have been on his mind in the past few days,” Bernstein speculated. The journalist and CNN contributor was referring to comments Trump made Thursday in which he wondered aloud who provided the whistleblower with information about his call with Ukraine’s president.
“Basically, that person never saw the report, never saw the call,” Trump said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “I want to know…who’s the person who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that’s close to a spy. You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now.”
According to Bernstein, Trump’s remarks stemmed from his recognition “that there is in this whistleblower’s documents terrible evidence of the president’s corruption” and his desire “to involve foreign powers in our election.” But it’s unclear what “terrible evidence” Bernstein was referring to; the whistleblower’s complaint has been made public, and it’s largely been a disappointment to those vying for Trump’s impeachment — particularly in light of its lack of firsthand evidence.
“We should be worried”
Still, Bernstein seems to think the Trump administration is trying to cover up all of this “wrongdoing.”
“The attorney general…is trying meanwhile to bring about proof that there is a Deep State conspiracy that led to the Mueller investigation,” Bernstein said. “That’s what some of these comments in the whistleblower’s remarks are about — some of what the president is talking about when he’s saying, ‘Oh, I want you to talk to Barr.'”
It’s true that U.S. Attorney John Durham is leading an investigation into whether there was wrongdoing by Justice Department and FBI officials during the Trump–Russia probe, and there have been allegations of serious impropriety against many involved.
But unlike Democrats like Adam Schiff, Republicans don’t need to make up evidence to fit their narrative. Instead, Barr and his team at the Department of Justice are focused on what really matters.
“If we’re worried about foreign influence, for the very same reason, we should be worried about whether government officials abused their power and put their thumb on the scale,” Barr said in May.
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