‘Un-American,’ ‘Banana Republic’: DOJ Alum Say Barr Is Doing Trump's 'Personal Bidding,' Must Resign

We're back with that unprecedented call for Attorney General William Bar to

resign

. More than 2,000 former Justice Department employees signed a letter to the bar to essentially

resign

from their positions. They wrote that their actions in carrying out the president's

personal

orders unfortunately spoke louder than his words. Sir. Barr will resign, and now the Attorney General's allies are speaking out, too. Donald Ayer, a former bar colleague and deputy attorney general during the George HW Bush administration, writes that Barr should resign, adding that, given his attacks on the rule of law, It's not too strong to say that the bar bill is in American this is what Ayer said right here on the beat last week.

I don't think he's fit for office because I think what he's done is wage a campaign to essentially undermine the Department of Justice as it was reformed and as we've all lived with this for the last 45 years, the post-Watergate reform. Okay, now I'm joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and executive editor of the New York newspaper David Rohde, who is writing about William Bartram, the Sword and the Shield, focusing on the critics who are now wondering. If Barr is paving the way for autocracy, David, it's a pleasure to have you here with us, so let me start by asking you, from what you've gathered as a journalist, that everything William Bar has done is undermining our democracy and pushing us toward a autocracy I fear it is.

I want to think that this interview this week was some kind of cry from Bill Barr that the president was out of control, but it's still not clear and Bill Barr needs to make a more decisive statement about which direction he's going to go. Why do you think that interview was a cry for help? I think you know how to say that the president's tweets make it impossible for me to do my job. The president's tweets make me look

personal

ly corrupt. Bill Barr is kind of brave. Memphis, you thought he was genuine, yes, I know there is deeply divided opinion and I want to tell Bill Barr that he benefited here.

I mean, there's no way that interview helped him with Donald Trump and we've seen how he treats people who challenge him. him, so I think there was a strategy here, a lot of people say they were just words that don't mean much and he was essentially saying, "hey, President Trump, let me do these corrupt things and help your friends, but don't do it like that." ". public by tweeting about it, but it seems like he's still getting involved in the cases in ways that people say worry Roger Stone and even now Michael Flynn, who was admitted to the crimes, is being confessed to the crimes he was convicted of. accused. and now a billion bars, a bar of William, excuse me, you're saying let's review this, yeah, and that's what's so concerning is that you're bringing in all these outside prosecutors to review these cases and it goes back to some sort of theory for decades that the bar has had its very extreme one that the president can be in charge of all the prosecutions, he can essentially send his enemies to jail and be soft on his friends and this is the vision of an all-powerful president and There are basically only two ways to keep a president in check, one is to impeach him like Congress just did, the other is an election and that's it, it's his executive branch, the president does what he wants, let me get your opinion real quick Regarding this letter in terms of how it is being received within the Department of Justice, have you received any indication as to how it is being received if other current service members are saying we needed this?

I think it puts the bar on edge because it tells people to speak up and quit if more things happen, so the bar feels whatever it is. What we do is being watched very closely by the people in the Department and as we signatures are growing, that is another worrying sign for the administration. Let me play you this excerpt from the Attorney General back in 1991. Look what he said back then. The Attorney General has very special obligations. unique obligations you have and trust in the fair and impartial administration of justice it is the responsibility of the Attorney General to enforce the law impartially and with integrity it is almost difficult to imagine that he is the same guy who serves as Attorney General today Do you think he no longer does is? a respected and non-partisan Attorney General.

I think that's what's happening and there's tremendous damage to his personal reputation. The difference is that he was Attorney General during the George HW Bush administration. George Bush believes that the presidency had lost power after Watergate and he wanted it back, but he would never do the things that Donald Trump has done and I wonder if Bill Barr, who had this theory about presidents having all this power, is questioning that theory. Working for Donald Trump, seeing how this president handles all this power, is not making Donald Trump Barr believe wait a minute, normally there should be some checks and balances and with a Republican controlled Senate, I think a lot of people feel that our system of checks and balances is probably being tested in a way we haven't seen in a long time.

Overtime, yes, hi David Rowe, thank you very much, always a pleasure. Hello, this is Melbourne from MSNBC. You can watch more of our videos here or, better yet, subscribe to our YouTube channel below. You could have been anywhere in the world. you are here with us and we appreciate it