Readers React: Barr thinks his job is to protect Trump. That isn’t Congress’ job

To the editor: The letters in support of Atty. Gen. William Barr all basically say that the House’s pursuit of the full report by Justice Department special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is out of line.

Weeks after his initial four-page synopsis of the 400-plus-page Mueller report appeared to draw conclusions about President Trump’s behavior that were contrary to what was already known, Barr released a partly redacted version of the special counsel’s report. The House wants more than that.

There have been several cases of people who have claimed that they were pressured to give false testimony or make false statements to the media about Trump’s conduct.

It is known that Barr believes a sitting president cannot be indicted. It appears that protecting Trump is now the No. 1 job for presidential appointments.

That is not Congress’ job; its job is to uphold the Constitution.

Bill Seckler, Riverside

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To the editor: The letters supporting Barr seem to be informed by the same delusion: that since the Mueller report did not say that Trump deserves to be indicted, there is nothing indictable in it.

This is far from true. Mueller was abiding by a Department of Justice rule saying a sitting president cannot be indicted. However, there is no law preventing Mueller from having done so.

Unfortunately, Mueller seems to lack the imagination to understand that exceptional times require exceptional actions, allowing the Republicans to spin this lie. The letter writers are either deluded or actively pushing a lie.

Did the L.A. Times publish these letters out of some misguided notion of balance?

Charles Berezin, Los Angeles

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To the editor: One writer says, “It is fine not to like that the American people actually elected Trump as their president, but it’s another thing to cancel the will of the people.”

I would like to remind this writer that the American people voted for Hillary Clinton, but the arcane and undemocratic electoral college canceled out the actual will of the people.

Francis X. Fashing, Palm Desert

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