Barr Declines to Weigh in on Impeachment

WASHINGTON — U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr declined to respond when asked if he thinks President Trump committed an impeachable offense or not.

Barr delivered a keynote address to the Federal Society’s National Lawyers Convention on Friday. Following his remarks, Barr declined to weigh in on the impeachment inquiry when asked about the situation.

During his speech, Barr criticized “the resistance” and defended Trump’s agenda.

“While the president has certainly thrown out the traditional Beltway playbook, he was upfront about that beforehand and the people voted for him. What I am talking about today are fundamental constitutional precepts,” Barr said. “The fact is that this administration’s policy initiatives and proposed rules, including the travel ban, have transgressed neither constitutional nor traditional norms and have been amply supported by the law and patiently litigated through the court system to vindication.”

Barr said “resistance” is “the language used to describe insurgency against rule imposed by an occupying military power,” which he argued “obviously connotes that the government is not legitimate.”

“This is a very dangerous and, indeed, incendiary notation to import into the politics of a democratic republic,” he said. “In waging a scorched earth, no-holds-barred war of resistance against this administration, it is the left that is engaged in the systematic shredding of norms and the undermining of the rule of law.”