William Barr for AG: the latest in Trump nominees
President Trump has chosen William Barr to be his next attorney general.
My first reaction was: Bill Barr? Is he still alive?
The answer, obviously, is “yes, very much alive”—and he’s not even all that old at 68. Barr was George H. W. Bush’s attorney general in 1991, close to thirty years ago, so he was quite a young man at the time.
Barr had been kicking around in various governmental roles till then, but afterwards he stayed mostly in the corporate world. Lo and behold, he’s back, and here’s a description of some of his current positions:
…[Barr] has previously supported Trump’s call to investigate his 2016 rival Hillary Clinton, and has questioned the need for Robert Mueller’s special counsel probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election…
Late last year, after Trump called on the Justice Department to investigate Clinton, Barr told The New York Times there was “nothing inherently wrong about a president calling for an investigation,” though he cautioned that an investigation “shouldn’t be launched just because a president wants it.”
But he told the Times that he saw more of a basis for investigating Clinton’s involvement in a uranium deal as secretary of state than he saw for investigating possible collusion between Trump and Russia.
“To the extent it is not pursuing these matters, the department is abdicating its responsibility,” Barr told the Times.
Barr supported Trump during the campaign and wrote a piece for The Washington Post days before the election saying that then-FBI Director James Comey did the right thing by disclosing that the bureau had essentially reopened the Clinton investigation. Months later, after Trump fired Comey, Barr wrote that Comey had “sandbagged” the Justice Department and usurped its authority by making the initial announcement about the Clinton probe in the summer of 2016.
Barr seems to be a somewhat interesting and unusual combination of things: an old-time establishment Republican allied with the Bushes who was an early Trump-adopter and who seems fairly conservative in his beliefs. He also has the advantage of being well-liked and well-respected by a wide variety of people—at least, till now. Now that Trump has given him the Trumpian stamp of approval, Barr may suddenly become persona non grata with people who previously admired him.
Here are some opinions:
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is said to be “elated” by the choice of Barr and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions has always held his predecessor in high regard, a source close to both men said.
If confirmed this time around, Barr will be tasked with guiding the Department through battles on multiple fronts — not only with a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, but potentially overseeing a politically charged investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and answering to Trump, whose presidency thus fast has been marked by attacks on the DOJ and the FBI for a perceived failure to target his former political rivals.
I’m not sure who recommended Barr—perhaps the outgoing Sessions?—but it seems like a very creative choice and might even be a good one.
In other appointments, Trump has named State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to replace Nikki Haley as UN ambassador. Nauert used to work for Fox News. I expect she’ll continue in the vein of Haley, although perhaps with a bit less force and eloquence, but I’m prepared to be pleasantly surprised.
I do not believe Rosenstein’s “elation”. In fact, I strongly doubt it.
I find him despicable, craven, tied to his desk and office as a classic bureaucrat.
What Sessions thinks is no longer material, and his thoughts were not stated by the source.
I admire Barr’s recent iterations, which indicate the LAW comes first. The country-club GOP softies’ views are irrelevant, since they believe in a Party or a Man, not the rule of Law.
Interesting choice since Barr has strong ties to the Bush family.
I got put in spam purgatory. Barr sounds fine to me, and it’s a chess move on Trump’s part.
“whose presidency thus fast[sic] has been marked by attacks on the DOJ and the FBI for a perceived failure to target his former political rivals” for their lawlessness and corruption.
Fixed it for you CNN.
In the midst of the Bush-funeral-love-fest, be instructive to see if or how the media mangle and spin the Barr nomination.
I find myself increasingly old and tired. Weary of the convoluted nonsense of Trump-hate. It strikes me as reminiscent of high school cliques and passions.
How that’s not more obvious to people is what worries me. It’s not just the “crazies in charge of the asylum.” It’s something about the delusions of being “in the know” together. Very worrying.
I read somewhere that Pompeo endorsed Nauert. That is a good sign.
Anybody is better than Sessions.
Barr is a tough guy. I hope he goes after Comey, McCabe and Hillary. Lock them up!
CNN (at the first link): “Barr, who worked his way from a night school law student and up through the ranks of the Department of Justice, is widely viewed by legal observers as a deeply experienced attorney with bipartisan respect.”
So were Comey and Mueller.
If Rosenstein is elated, I am going to be wary.
We will see.
Staying tuned to see what Andy McCarthy says.
The man is 68 years old. One of the main problems with Sessions is that he was an old man with no stamina for a fight- physical or mental. Barr is hardly an improvement on that.
One of the main problems with Sessions is that he was an old man with no stamina for a fight- physical or mental.
I doubt that’s the problem. Sessions was a fairly rank-and-file lawyer who built relationships with Republican politicians. Nothing wrong with that, but in the course of his career he’s had limited executive experience and none with an agency whose employee census is in three digits. He didn’t have a loyal subordinate working on his behalf. He had Rod Rosenstein. I’ll wager Barr has more g and knows his way around the bureaucracy. Now, whether he’ll do anything…
Heather Nauert has always been very poised during the many times I’ve seen her on air, first as a news reader for Fox News, and then as the State Department spokesman. I expect her to be at least as effective as Nikki Haley.
in the course of his career he’s had limited executive experience and none with an agency whose employee census is in three digits
This is a problem with Senators, especially since McCain Feingold. They spend time socializing and going to fund raisers. They have zero executive experience unless they had a career outside politics first and few have had one.
Barr sounds like a good choice, although I generally prefer bringing in new people rather than recycling someone from a previous administration. I very much share Cornhead’s hope that he goes after Comey, McCabe and Hillary, but I’m not holding my breath. A good first move would be to replace Rosenstein.
This is a problem with Senators, especially since McCain Feingold.
The dysfunctions of campaign finance regulation have been with us since 1974, at least. Not sure why McCain-Feingold is so prominent in your thinking.
I think Rudolph Giuliani said after you’ve had experience as an executive, service in a legislative body just doesn’t cut it. My guess would be people attracted to service on conciliar bodies and people attracted to executive positions are distinct types. In New York, you have state legislators who seek out higher office in Albany and you have state legislators who run for Congress. Congress is not typically in the career history of Albany bigwigs, Gov. Carey the exception. The last time an Albany bigwig was elected to Congress was in 1956.
A good first move would be to replace Rosenstein.
Supposedly, one of Barr’s hobbies is playing the bagpipes. Bet he knows how Longshanks disposed of Wm. Wallace.
About 35% of the membership of the outgoing U.S. Senate held a public executive position before entering Congress. Surprisingly high.
Mike K on December 8, 2018 at 10:15 am at 10:15 am said:
in the course of his career he’s had limited executive experience and none with an agency whose employee census is in three digits
This is a problem with Senators, especially since McCain Feingold. They spend time socializing and going to fund raisers. They have zero executive experience unless they had a career outside politics first and few have had one.
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With a nod to Art Deco’s caveats, I could get behind a Constitutional Amendment stating that no person shall be elected or appointed to any government office or position who has not spent at least 5 years (and more as you go up the ladder) employed in some profession with no relation to public service in all its myriad aspects.
In otherwords, get a real job — or employ someone else in a job — before you start telling the rest of us, under threat of law and force, how to live our lives.
Who was the congressman who went back into the private sector to run a business, and admitted that he would never have supported the laws and regulations he helped enact if he had known then what he knew now.
“…Amazingly, the Japanese ignored the fuel dump and ammo dump.”
Amazingly, so did the Americans. The fuel farm and the ammo dump were completely undefended. So it was a wash. They forgot to attack it, we forgot to defend it.
140 million gallons of bunker oil went unscathed because everybody, and I mean everybody, forgot about it.