Donald Trump, 73, asked Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky, 41, to with the United States attorney general William “Bill” Barr, 69, to investigate the conduct of Joe Biden, 76, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination. The U.S. president offered to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart at the White House.
The offer was done via a telephone call in July 2019. Released on September 24, 2019, a rough transcript is available on Washington Post.
Trump is seeking re-election in 2019 and is accused by the Democrats of asking Ukraine’s help to smear Biden. But the attention is not only on Trump but also on Barr.
Now, the credibility of the U.S. attorney general is being questioned. Here are some of the tweets from celebrities about him:
impeach barr too #TreasonousTrump https://t.co/FT3WaLCQKW
— ROSIE (@Rosie) September 25, 2019
“There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General Barr would be great,” Trump said in the phone call. #UkraineTranscript https://t.co/c6JsuAfWdA
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) September 25, 2019
OMG. Barr MUST RESIGN. #ExposeTheTruth https://t.co/U48k2lJHub
— Debra Messing (@DebraMessing) September 25, 2019
Bill Barr needs to be impeached
— Andrea Chalupa (@AndreaChalupa) September 25, 2019
I asked Attorney General Barr whether the White House had ever asked—or suggested, hinted, or inferred—that he open an investigation into anyone. At the time, he seemed stumped.
Barr must come back to Congress and answer that question under oath.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) September 25, 2019
Why would AG Barr trash his entire reputation by joining Trump in urging a foreign leader to get dirt on a fellow American- a political opponent
— Mia Farrow (@MiaFarrow) September 25, 2019
It's cute that Trump is running the EXACT SAME PLAYBOOK he did with the Mueller Report, including having Barr "clear him of wrongdoing"
BARR IS PART OF THIS CORRUPT SCHEME
TRUMP IS ON RECORD TASKING HIM TO WORK WITH GIULIANI TO GET THE UKRAINIANS TO INVESTIGATE BIDEN pic.twitter.com/vM0Jqw5Jqf
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) September 25, 2019
REMINDER: The whistleblower compliant reportedly is NOT just about the #UkraineTranscript phone call – there are additional bad (possibly criminal) things Trump and Bill Barr did. That's why Trump and Barr are still fighting to cover it up.
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) September 25, 2019
Wonder if Robert Duvall will live long enough to play Barr in the movie about the Trump administration.
— Steve Metz (@steven_metz) September 25, 2019
Um Bill Barr is a fucking criminal. https://t.co/ttxB5H3KZZ
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) September 25, 2019
William Barr may now be in legal jeopardy. He testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that the President never asked him to investigate anyone. He should be brought back before the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain his previous testimony.
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) September 25, 2019
New: AG Barr was NOT recused from handling the Ukraine call issue. Despite the fact that Barr’s name comes up in the call, there was no consideration of a recusal – @evanperez @davidgshortell reporting
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) September 25, 2019
This paragraph reads as Trump asking Zelensky to provide information related to the origins of Russia/Mueller, in the context of AG Barr's ongoing probe. So at least here, he's asking for assistance related to a US investigation — not a Ukrainian investigation pic.twitter.com/KF3XNsLsab
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) September 25, 2019
Bill Barr:
1. Wrote a memo attacking Mueller
2. Got a job overseeing Mueller
3. Lied about Mueller's Report
4. Lied to Congress about his lies
5. Helped Trump pressure Ukraine
6. Buried a whistleblower complaint
7. Hid the complaint from Congress
8. Exonerated himself and Trump— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) September 25, 2019
"I will tell Rudy and Attorney General Barr to call."
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 25, 2019
Attorney General Barr must set aside from this investigation.
He’s a witness that will be called testify.
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) September 25, 2019
Sean Patrick Maloney: We didn’t know before today that Attorney General Bill Barr was involved in pressuring Ukraine to investigate Biden. He’s the same AG who told Trump not to hand over the whistleblower complaint to Congress. “That’s a conflict. That’s a screaming red light.” pic.twitter.com/V8ZUKINzRZ
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) September 25, 2019
In case you didn’t know, the #UkraineTranscript is NOT A TRANSCRIPT. It's a memo.
They Bill Barr'd it.
And it STILL shows that @realDonaldTrump asked Ukraine for help against a political rival.
THAT IS A CRIME#TrumpImpeachment
— David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) September 25, 2019
The DOJ run by Bill Barr who has a clear personal stake in this said no prosecution. No way. He must recuse from this.
-Also, there are several potential criminal statutes that could apply not just campaign finance & that’s not a clear no by any means. https://t.co/jkvQ9nGqbf— Mimi Rocah (@Mimirocah1) September 25, 2019
Not only was @SpeakerPelosi 100% correct to announce #TrumpImpeachment proceedings, but it looks like this is going to sink Bill Barr too.#WednesdayWisdom pic.twitter.com/1SyGHTUAMc
— Grant Stern (@grantstern) September 25, 2019
Former FBI agent @AshaRangappa_ points out that Bill Barr was asked to testify under oath about getting dirt from a foreign government and was cagey about it — now we know he was invoked multiple times during this phone call from Trump about digging up Biden dirt pic.twitter.com/gZrcqHlB1Y
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) September 25, 2019
Trump just released the #UkraineTranscript and this explains PRECISELY why the Cover-Up General Bill Barr decided to withhold the whistleblower's complaint.
He's deep on the inside of #Ukrainegate looking out.#WedesdayWisdom pic.twitter.com/KxSReFtlkS
— Grant Stern (@grantstern) September 25, 2019
So DoJ already decided that the whistleblower complaint did not need to be made public and now we find our that Bill Barr is mentioned in these transcripts?
— Sam Stein (@samstein) September 25, 2019
Holy crap.
Remember this, Barr?
Did Kamala Harris get you to lie under oath?
H: "Has the president or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested you open an investigation into anyone?"
B: "errrrrr"#TrumpImpeachmentpic.twitter.com/BFyRDAShrM
— Holly Figueroa O'Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) September 25, 2019
As long as we are impeaching people, here’s Bill Barr lying to congress in his testimony about the Mueller report. https://t.co/LYDVxO1jLZ
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) September 25, 2019
It’s stunning how much crime we left sitting out in plain sight for months, browbeaten into assuming nothing could be done. Bill Barr’s role in this Ukraine business? It was buried in that initial New York Times piece on this from MAY! https://t.co/M1WReMdADn pic.twitter.com/61mYfzsCQ8
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) September 25, 2019
Trump asked the President of Ukraine to talk to the Attorney General of the United States, Bill Barr, about investigating Joe Biden’s son to influence the 2020 election. This is far worse than Watergate. This is a huge crime and a stain on both the presidency and our country.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) September 25, 2019
Adam Schiff: "We have all too much experience, with the administration through their willing participants like Bill Barr misrepresenting official documents. The White House shouldn't even have this complaint … That in itself is a huge problem." https://t.co/3aOJvx9Cxs
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 25, 2019
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Categories: crime and punishment, politics and governance
Tagged as: Bill Barr, Donald Trump, Ukraine