On Tuesday, Jan. 15, the new nominee for attorney general went before the Senate for the start of his confirmation hearings. Following President Donald Trump’s announcement in December that he’d nominated William Barr to take over the role,…
On Tuesday, Jan. 15, the new nominee for attorney general went before the Senate for the start of his confirmation hearings. Following President Donald Trump’s announcement in December that he’d nominated William Barr to take over the role, questions have circulated as to his views on the special counsel investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election. And so far, William Barr’s quotes about Robert Mueller and the Russia probe offer a clear view on where the nominee says he stands.
In the past, Barr has been critical of Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, telling the Justice Departmentin a 20-page memo that he didn’t feel the probe was legally justified, and has also been outspoken against it in the media. In the original memo, Barr downplayed the allegations regarding potential obstruction of justice against the president, per The Washington Post, and suggested that investigations should instead focus on the Clintons. He also reportedly called the Mueller investigation « grossly irresponsible » and suggested that the inquiry into possible obstruction of justice was « legally insupportable. »
But in his remarks Tuesday, at least, Barr presented himself as determined to respect the special counsel’s work and follow the regulations around it. When asked about that memo, Barr said that he was concerned about the implications about the scope of the probe and a potential « chilling effect » of the special counsel’s regulations beyond this case. However, he also asserted that he believed that the Mueller investigation should be allowed to proceed to its conclusion.
On Tuesday, sitting before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barr said of Mueller and his investigation:
These comments stuck pretty close, almost word for word in fact, with what the nominee had reportedly planned to say.
