This is not about an actual court case.  Although, maybe it should be.  It is just one more example of how the Trump administration is held to a different judicial standard without fear of retribution by the nation’s chief law enforcement official, their own private pimp, Attorney General William Barr.  For those that find this description of Barr beyond the pale,  let me remind you the term “pimp” refers to “a man who controls prostitutes  and arranges clients for them, taking a percentage of their earnings in return.”  And the Oxford English Dictionary now includes the following definition of “prostitute.”

A person who misuses their talents or behaves unworthily for personal or financial gain.

Barr may not control specific members of the Trump administration who exhibit such behavior, but he certainly regulates the environment in which they operate.  It is no different than your average street-wise flesh-peddler warning those who represent a danger to his harem, “Don’t you dare mess with my bitches!”

The Miller in the title is New York Times reporter Judith Miller who was jailed in July 2008 when she defied U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan’s order to give up the name of a source who contributed to her stories on the outing of CIA-operative Valerie Plame.  For those with short memories, Plame’s position within the U.S. intelligence service was divulged when her husband and former U.S. Ambassador Joe Wilson questioned the evidence which was the basis for George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq, supposedly preempting Sadam Hussein’s use of weapons of mass destruction.  Although there were arguments that the court order was a threat to First Amendment protection of freedom of the press, the prosecutor in the case Patrick Fitzgerald, referencing the Watergate tapes and Truman’s attempted seizure of steel mills during the Korean Conflict, declared, “In the end, the law must be obeyed.

Which brings us to Steve Mnuchin who, on May 8, told chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Richard Neal he had instructed the IRS not to turn over Donald Trump’s tax returns.  This order goes against the unambiguous language in Section 6103 of the tax code which states the Treasury Department “SHALL furnish” the returns of any federal official “upon written request,” which Neal provided.   Since Mnuchin has adopted Trumpese as his native tongue, he claims there is wiggle room in the statutory language and is awaiting a legal opinion from (drum roll) the Justice Department.  That’s right.  According to Mnuchin, “Chairman Neal you’ve been warned.  You won’t just have me to deal with.  You’ll have to answer to my pimp Bill Barr.  And he is one bad mother.”

In other words, William Barr, in his own way has bcome the de facto SOLICITOR GENERAL as opposed to his de jure position of attorney general.  And sadly, there is no Patrick Fitzgerald to remind him, “In the end, the law must be obeyed.” Or a Judge Hogan who will sentence Mnuchin to jail, as he did with Judith Miller, until he complies with the law.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP