AG Barr is putting money in Trump's pocket by throwing a $30,000 party at his hotel

Attorney General William Barr is planning to host a lavish and expensive party at Trump’s D.C. hotel this December, further calling into question the independence of the Justice Department. 

As reported by the Washington Post Tuesday, the attorney general has arranged a 200-person holiday party for later this year that includes a buffet and an open bar, and that will cost over $30,000 — all of which goes straight to the Trump family business.

The nation’s top law enforcement official bankrolling the president’s business has already raised eyebrows and concerns about Barr’s independence from Trump.

“It creates the appearance that high-level political appointees or allies of the president may feel like they need to spend money at the president’s businesses as a show of loyalty, and that is something that makes me deeply uncomfortable and should make taxpayers deeply uncomfortable,” Liz Hempowicz, director of public policy at the non-profit Project on Government Oversight, told the Washington Post. 

Republicans and government agencies have already spent over $1.6 million at Trump properties since his inauguration, and Trump said earlier this week he wants to host the next G-7 meeting of world leaders at one of his golf resorts — further tying his presidency to his business.

While a U.S. Department of Justice official told the Washington Post that the party wasn’t to benefit Trump, it seems very in line with Barr’s previous unethical decisions that would appear to court favor with Trump.

Barr has admitted the real reason for taking the job as Attorney General was to protect Trump. “I felt the rules were being changed to hurt Trump, and I thought it was damaging for the presidency over the long haul,” he told the Wall Street Journal in May.

Protecting Trump at all costs came to a fever pitch when earlier this year Barr misrepresented special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election and declined to charge Trump with obstruction of justice. 

But Barr isn’t just protecting Trump, he’s also supporting his inhumane policies at the expense of the independence of the DOJ. 

In July, Barr pushed ahead with the administration’s plan to place a citizenship question on the 2020 census, despite the Supreme Court saying it couldn’t. Barr declared “the president is right on the legal grounds,” and “the Supreme Court decision was wrong,” playing straight into Trump’s belief that he is above the law. 

Earlier this month, Barr’s asked the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) to decertify a union of 440 immigration judges after the union criticized Trump’s demand that judges complete an absurd number of cases per year. Barr’s attempt to bust the union was also viewed as an attempt to further destroy the independence of the judges and put their decision making under the control of the Trump administration.

It seems Barr isn’t just willing to support Trump’s racist and nonsensical policies, he’s also willing to support his struggling business as well. 

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.