President Trump announced on December 7 that he would nominate William P. Barr (shown, left), who served as attorney general for the recently deceased President George H.W. Bush in 1991-1993, to return to the position as head of the Justice Department.
“Will Barr will be nominated for the United States’ attorney general position; I think he will serve with great distinction,” Trump declared in making the announcement.
Matthew Whitaker has served as acting attorney general since the resignation of Jeff Sessions from the post at Trump’s request on November 7.
A report in the New York Times observed that Trump’s choice of Barr was greeted with relief inside the Justice Department, noting that Whitaker has been a particularly outspoken critic of the investigation being conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into whether Trump and his associates conspired with the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 election and help elect Trump.
Trump originally planned to nominate Whitaker to occupy the position, but Democratic senators filed a lawsuit to challenge the appointment, alleging that the president had violated the Constitution’s appointments clause.
If confirmed, Barr would oversee the continuation of the investigation.
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on December 7 that Democrats would rigorously scrutinize Barr during confirmation hearings on a number of issues, but he put emphasis on the Mueller investigation.
While Barr should easily win confirmation in the Republican-controlled Senate, at least one Republican, the libertarian-leaning Rand Paul, called Barr’s views on surveillance “very, very troubling.”
“Uh-oh is right,” Paul told NBC’s Meet The Press when asked if he was concerned about Barr’s nomination.
“I’m concerned that he’s been a big supporter of the Patriot Act, which lowered the standard for spying on Americans,” he continued. “And he even went so far as to say, ‘You know, the Patriot Act was pretty good, but we should go much further.’”
Paul said he’s also “disturbed” over Barr’s support of civil asset forfeiture. “I’m disturbed that he’s been a big fan of taking people’s property — civil asset forfeiture — without a conviction,” Paul told NBC.
However, Paul did not say how he would vote on Barr’s confirmation.
“I haven’t made a decision yet on him, but I can tell you the first things that I’ve learned about him being for more surveillance of Americans is very, very troubling,” Paul said.
May 1992 photo of William P. Barr and President George H.W. Bush: AP Images
