Bill Barr was supposed to be the adult in the room.
It is difficult to remember now, but when Barr was originally nominated in December 2018 for a second stint as attorney general — he had earlier served under President George H.W. Bush during the early 1990s — he was widely portrayed as a steadying influence for the Department of Justice, somebody who could take a firm stance against President Trump’s attempts to use the federal justice system for corrupt and undemocratic ends.
“Barr plainly has the stature and the character to stand up for the department’s institutional prerogatives, and to push back on any improper attempt to inject politics into its work,” Harry
