Billy and Donnie, sittin' in a tree...

The Justice Department has discussed the Mueller report with the White House, per the New York Times.

Justice Department officials have had numerous conversations with White House lawyers about the conclusions made by Mr. Mueller, the special counsel, in recent days, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. The talks have aided the president’s legal team as it prepares a rebuttal to the report and strategizes for the coming public war over its findings.

As Neal Katyal reminded us on Maddow tonight, Don Trumpone was a subject of the investigation. What in the hell is the Attorney General doing, sharing an investigation's findings with its subject?

Oh, but Donnie was exonerated, his defenders say. Well, that was only Barr's interpretation of the report. Nobody else has read it!

Oh, but Barr is an honorable man, Trumpers say. Really? That's not what the record indicates. Just Security has a fascinating look at an eerily similar fiasco centered on Barr during Bush 41's administration. At that time Barr announced a startling new DOJ policy permitting the FBI to conduct extraterritorial arrests. Congress wanted to look at the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memo Barr had authored justifying the new policy. Barr refused, citing what he claimed was a long history of keeping OLC memoranda secret. (He was wrong, to make the kindest possible interpretation.) He offered to summarize the memo instead.

Congress was dissatisfied with the summary and subpoenaed the original memo. It eventually was released, of course, at which point everyone discovered that Barr's summary misrepresented the original memo.

Doesn't give me warm, fuzzy feelings about Barr's truthfulness or honor. Especially since Barr got his job in no small part because he wrote a memo, before being nominated for the AG job, decrying Mueller's investigation as illegitimate.

Barr is behaving as the sycophantic crony Don Trumpone always wanted in the AG job, a crony who will do everything he can to defend the boss, justice and his oath of office (to the Constitution, remember) be damned.

I don't know what Barr sees in Don Trumpone. I wonder if Barr stands to gain materially in a way no one yet sees. I otherwise cannot understand why he has torched his reputation with a majority of the public. And yes, if my own reaction is representative of those outside Don Trumpone's base, that's exactly what Barr has done to himself.