Trump reaction to Barr's insubordination shows there's more going on than meets the eye

Before we rush to judgement just remember who the boss is, writes Andrew Buncombe

William Barr does not seem to be going anywhere - at least not yet (AP)

Perhaps Michael Steele has it right. Perhaps the former chair of the Republican National Committee has hit it on the head.

For those inclined to ask if Bill Barr has suddenly found some backbone, and is at risk of being fired after complaining about the president’s tweets making it “impossible” to do his job, bear in mind one thing: he works for a man who knows how to put on a show.

The 69-year-old brought newsrooms to a gasping halt this week, when ABC News played a clip of him, saying he wished the president would not tweet about criminal cases, such as those of Trump’s longtime ally Roger Stone.

“I’m not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody … Whether it’s Congress, a newspaper editorial board, or the president,” insisted Barr.

“I’m gonna do what I think is right. And you know, I cannot do my job here at the department with a constant background commentary that undercuts me.”

His words sparked an entire news cycle, with much of it taken up with people wondering how Trump would react.

How could the man who just fired two members of staff who were obliged by law to testify before the impeachment inquiry, and angrily blasted a former chief of staff over his mild criticism over those firings, continue to work with Barr?

Then came the dawn, and nobody had been shot.

The White House let it be known the president was not unhappy with Barr’s remarks, and he constrained himself to a single tweet about the case. “This doesn’t mean that I do not have, as president, the legal right to do so, I do, but I have so far chosen not to.”

Steele, who served as governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007 and was the first African American statewide officer there, was among several commentators suggesting we may have been watching an artful piece of political theatre.

“Slow your roll if you think Barr is breaking from Trump,” tweeted Steele. “This was a carefully staged message to cool down pissed off DOJ attys whom Barr undercut & to avoid any further internal strife.”

He added: “This message does not get sideways with Trump because he’s already done what Trump wanted.”

The last point may be crucial. Barr, a staunch Catholic who in a speech last year at Indiana Notre Dame university blamed “secularism and moral relativism for a rise in virtually every measure of social pathology”, may have complained about the president’s tweets. He may have insisted he ought not to interfere in criminal cases.

Yet it seems there is no plan to halt the decision to recommend a lesser sentence for Stone, something that led to all four prosecutors involved in the case to quit or work on other projects.

Those with even a short memory, will recall that before he joined the Trump administration, he wrote a curious, head-scratching memo to the department of justice, in which he essentially criticised Mueller for extending his investigation inside the Oval Office, and essentially arguing that as president, Trump had authority to do pretty much what he wanted.

On Friday morning it emerged that Barr, who in his first term as attorney general secured pardons for five Republicans convicted in the Iran-Contra scandal, was also reviewing the case of another Trump ally, Michael Flynn, the former army general who briefly served as national security adviser, but who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his meeting with a Russian envoy.

A further indication that Barr’s performance was planned and pre-approved, came during the evening show of Fox News broadcaster Sean Hannity, who is among the most tireless boosters of Trump, and denouncer of his opponents.

He told his viewers that Barr had “confirmed to ABC” that Trump had no conversations with him about Stone’s sentencing.

“In fact, the attorney general, he takes orders from no one,” Hannity added. “And by the way, he shouldn’t. He needs to remain independent.”