Senate Dems Prepare to Grill Trump AG Pick William Barr

Senate confirmation hearings for President Trump's Attorney General nominee, William Barr, begin tomorrow. Hopefully the Democrats will not disgrace themselves, our nation and our entire political system during these hearings the way that they did during the Kavanaugh debacle.

Fortunately, this does not appear to have stakes that are perceived as being as high as a Supreme Court nominee. Of course with Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the mend, people are wondering if another SCOTUS nomination could happen again soon. But that is not what this nomination is. AG's come and go and virtually never make it through a two-year term of office. So, this is a shorter term appointment.

The big issue appears to be the supervision of the Mueller investigation, which Barr will take over in no uncertain terms, if he is confirmed. As noted above, Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein has announced he will be leaving the Department of Justice at the same time that Barr takes over, so this will be a changing of the guard in more ways than one.

Barr had previously criticized the Mueller investigation in a memo that he wrote.

That being said, Barr has also said that Mueller should be allowed to finish his investigation.

So it appears pretty clear that the Republicans have the votes to confirm Barr without any Democrat votes. But after having pooped themselves in particularly nasty fashion during the Kavanaugh hearings, it seems like the many Democrats in the Senate might want to show they still have the capacity not to conduct themselves like foaming at the mouth partisan enemies of civility and the most basic respect for people willing to submit themselves to this process and to devote themselves to high level positions of public service in our government.

At least I hope that is what happens. Don't you?

 

Trump is not interested in shutting down the Mueller investigation. He just wants to make sure that Mueller does not go off on a no-holds barred fishing expedition. So far it appears that Mueller is getting the message. Having Barr confirmed will not change that.

 

It is a response to your ludicrous suggestion that Trump might withdraw Barr's nomination because he is friends with Mueller.

 

Just because two people are friends does not mean that one of them cannot take on an objective supervisory role over the other. The whole premise you are trying to promote is just silly.

Trump is happy to see Mueller wrap up his work and has in fact calling on him to do that for some time. Barr apparently agrees that Mueller should finish, but is ready to establish limits on this investigation if Mueller starts getting out of control. I am not expecting that to be an issue at this point, but it will be nice to know that someone is watching over this process as Mueller moves towards concluding his work.

 

Barr served as attorney general from 1991 to 1993 and has been nominated by President Donald Trump to do the job again. His confirmation hearing Tuesday has multiple story lines worth watching.

Things to watch at William Barr's AG confirmation hearing

The panel he'll face is led by a new Republican chairman, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, known for a rapid-fire questioning style. It also includes at least three Democrats seen as potential presidential contenders — Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kamala Harris of California and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota — for whom the hearing could be an opportunity to raise their profiles.

Unless there's a major surprise, Barr is expected to win confirmation not only because Republicans control the Senate but also because some Democrats are eager to move on from Matthew Whitaker, the controversial acting attorney general.

Some things to watch: {More at the link}

1. THE SPECIAL COUNSEL INVESTIGATION:
2. PRESIDENTIAL POWER:
3. TOUGH-ON-CRIME POLICIES:
4. IMMIGRATION:
5. AN INDEPENDENT JUSTICE DEPARTMENT:

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