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The Senate Judiciary Committee's vote on the appointment of William P. Barr to the position of Attorney General has been postponed to one week, as Democrats continue to be concerned about whether he would allow Special advocate Robert S. Mueller III to complete his investigation and publish the results unhindered.
The delay, which is usual for high-level appointments, should not hinder Barr's chances of being confirmed by the entire Senate. But this is the latest reflection of the deep partisan tension surrounding Barr's appointment, mainly related to Democrats' desire to protect Mueller's probe from undue hardship.
The committee deferred its vote on Barr, one of 46 panel nominations. decided to vote on Tuesday but decided to postpone its next meeting.
[ Barr still refuses to promise to release Mueller probe]
Both in his public testimony and in his written replies to Senators' questions, Barr repeatedly refused to give Senators the slightest guaranteed to publish Mueller's report to Congress and the public without any redaction. In the same way, he only promised to seek the opinion of the Ethics Counselor of the Department of Justice, without however complying with it, on the question of whether he should recuse himself under the control of the investigation.
This particularly frustrated the Democrats, who are challenging a memo drafted by Barr last year in which he asserted that by analyzing the Trump campaign's actions, Mueller seemed to be interpreting a law about the obstruction of justice. Democrats are concerned that the memo proves that Barr, who was Attorney General under President George HW Bush could seek to limit the scope of Mueller's investigation in the early 1990s.
Although Barr stated that As former Attorney General, he often speaks on current issues, he acknowledged in written answers to the legislator that he
Barr's written answers also gave rise to Bipartite concerns about the amount of information that it could allow Mueller to disclose specifically about Trump. In a response to Senator Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), Barr stated that "it is the policy and practice of the department not to criticize individuals for conduct that does not warrant prosecution ".
On Tuesday, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (DR.I) pointed out that if Barr decided to follow the department's legal guidelines, no sitting president could be charged – or, as a result, sued – he could prevent Trump from being totally excluded from the report – even if Mueller discovered information about the president.
Senator Lindsey O. Graham (RS.C.), chair of the committee, agreed that this was a worrying event.
"If you agree, you can not blame the president, it's probably not a good reason not to share with us the derogatory information," Graham said in a statement. promising to sue Barr on this point.He also promised to ask Barr if he would let Trump claim the executive's privilege to muzzle some parts of the report.
While he is waiting for his Returning to his previous position at the Department of Justice, Barr has met privately more Republicans in the Senate than Democrats.However, he does not know if he could change the Democrats' ideas at subsequent meetings because Democrats who met with him in camera declared that they were still not satisfied with Barr's responses regarding Mueller.
But Barr does not need it. Democratic support to be confirmed According to the teenage rule changes by the Democratic Senate in 2013, only a simple majority of Senators' votes is required to confirm a candidate for Cabinet.
However, the late voting of the Judiciary Committee means that it will be difficult for the Senate to confirm Barr Before the Acting Attorney General, Matthew G. Whitaker was to go to Capitol Hill on February 8 to respond to questions from the Judiciary Committee of the House about his oversight of the investigation into Mueller.
To read on PowerPost
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