Attorney General William Barr dining at the Trump hotel is a bad look

Attorney General William Barr was photographed dining at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, on Wednesday night — a business his boss, President Donald Trump, still owns and profits from, and one that has become something of a de facto clubhouse for businesspeople and government officials looking to curry favor with the president.

Zach Everson, who reports on conflicts of interest stemming from the Trump International Hotel, tweeted that it was his “first time seeing Barr” at the hotel.

Trump was also at the hotel for an event hosted by America First Action, the Super PAC supporting his reelection. CNN’s Jeremy Diamond reported that the plan was for Trump to address “high-dollar donors” who have contributed to his reelection effort.

ABC’s Ali Dukakis snapped a photo of Barr dining at a restaurant in the hotel.

Trump broke decades of precedent by refusing to divest from the business he still owns and profits from while president. Although his sons Donald Jr. and Eric are responsible for the day-to-day management of his corporate empire, the hotel — which Trump leases from the federal government — is one of his most lucrative properties. According to a financial disclosure form released earlier this month, Trump International generated nearly $40.8 million in revenue for the president in 2018.

Not only do people who spend money at Trump’s hotel directly line the president’s pockets, creating potential conflicts of interest the Constitution’s emoluments clause is aimed at preventing, but by patronizing the Trump International on a night the president was there for a political event, Barr promoted Trump’s business. For donors, lobbyists, or foreign governments who want access to the administration, the message is clear: Patronizing the president’s business is a way to get it.

In theory, the attorney general is supposed to run the Department of Justice independently of the executive branch. This is a principle Trump seemed to understand back in the summer of 2016, when he made a big deal about then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch having a private conversation at the Phoenix, Arizona, airport with Bill Clinton while the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails was still open.

That meeting was also a bad look, and it resulted in Lynch saying, “I certainly wouldn’t do it again.” She tried to quell concerns by announcing she’d accept whatever charging recommendation regarding Clinton the FBI made.

But the norm of DOJ independence is being obliterated by the Trump administration. Barr’s visit to Trump’s hotel came less than two months after he sent a misleading letter to Congress announcing that Trump would not be prosecuted for obstruction of justice, despite the evidence of obstruction laid out in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report — a report he wouldn’t make public until weeks later.

Since then, Barr has conferred legitimacy upon Trump’s flimsy conspiracy theories about the entire Mueller investigation being rooted in anti-Trump bias in the FBI, and threatened to investigate Democrats who accused him of lying to Congress during his testimony about the Mueller report. Trump, for his part, has promised that Barr “is going to give a very fair look” to the baseless treason allegations he’s made against law enforcement officials and Democrats.

Barr has now taken things further and patronized the president’s business on the same night of an event meant to help his reelection campaign. That the Lynch-Clinton meeting was a huge scandal and Barr’s trip to the Trump International isn’t reflects the extent to which the Trump administration has normalized corruption.

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