consequential job in and of itself. the nomination and potential confirmation of william barr to that job, it s doubly dramatic right now because deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, who has been overseeing the mueller investigation, he says he will resign and leave the justice department if and when william barr is confirmed. that s an important transition ahead for the justice department. william barr is also yet another trump would-be appointee who has an extensive and aggressive record of criticizing the mueller investigation, and you can expect that to be a big focus of his confirmation hearings next week, but william barr is also something very, very specific in the history of presidents and presidential scandals and the bad ways that they can end. because on christmas eve 1992 when george h.w. bush shocked the country by pardoning everyone still in trouble in iran-contra and effectively ending the prosecution of that scandal while he himself was edging into its crosshairs, he