As Donald Trump became only the third president in U.S. history to face impeachment and removal from office this week, Attorney General William Barr was in the United Kingdom, asking our top ally to provide information that can be used to attack and discredit American intelligence agencies that played a role in the Russia investigation conducted by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

The Independent reports:

“The attorney general is focusing on the theory, aired on far-right conspiracy sites, and raised by Trump and Giuliani, that Ukraine framed Vladimir Putin over the US election in a complex triple-cross operation by impersonating Russian hackers.

“Trump and Barr have also been asking other foreign governments for help in investigating the FBI, CIA and Mueller investigators. The US president has called on the Australian prime minister Scott Morrison for assistance, while the attorney general has been on similar missions to the UK and Italy.”

If you were wondering just how unusual such a request is, our allies are said to be shocked by Barr’s requests:

“One British official with knowledge of Barr’s wish list presented to London commented that ‘it is like nothing we have come across before, they are basically asking, in quite robust terms, for help in doing a hatchet job on their own intelligence services.'”

With the Ukraine scandal growing worse by the day for Trump and the White House, they are clearly trying to create a counter-impeachment narrative that involves the Russia probe. Since there has long been suspicion that Trump is eager to do the bidding of Russian President Vladimir Putin, discrediting any person or agency that played a role in the Russia investigation is essential to the administration as they prepare for the public impeachment hearings which will begin in a couple of weeks.

In their desperation, Trump, Barr, and anyone else involved in this attempt to attack the agencies which keep us all safe are engaging in the most blatant and disgusting form of treason imaginable.