President Donald Trump’s pick to be the next attorney general was previously considered as a candidate to be the President’s outside attorney dealing with the Russia probe, Yahoo News reported Saturday, citing unnamed sources.
Trump on Friday announced that he would nominate William Barr, who previously served as President George H.W. Bush’s attorney general, to fill the same role in the current administration.
According to Yahoo News, around late spring 2017, White House officials reached out to Barr about representing Trump on Russia-related matters, unnamed sources said.
Eventually, according to one unnamed source, Trump spoke to Barr in the White House about the job, asking “if he was interested,” per the report. Barr “demurred,” Yahoo News reported: “He had other obligations, he said. He would have to think about it.”
The report indicated Barr was again considered for the job after John Dowd resigned as Trump’s lawyer in March. That consideration, per the report, “continued until the summer, when the president found another candidate far more eager for the job: Rudy Giuliani.”
Yahoo News noted that Barr “had gotten on Trump’s radar” after a Washington Post op-ed in which Barr supported Trump’s decision to fire then-FBI Director James Comey.
Hmmm, it sounds as though someone will need to recuse himself once confirmed. I’m guessing this issue will come up during the confirmation hearings.
Then:
Now:
Funny what effect only one degree of separation can have.
Sounds like a hack, writes like a hack, hacks like a hack, but … not a hack? Anyway the confirmation hearings should be epic. Democrats need to pull out all the full set of dentist’s tools and extract every last commitment to actually protect USA and defend the constitution rather than act like another mob lawyer for Individual-1.
“You’ll put your eye out.”
To which Barr, in his most lawyerly demeanor, will say “Anything I say could be taken as a hint or a forecast on how I would treat a question that is going to be in the forefront of the AG’s office. I cannot say one word on that subject that would not violate what I said had to be my rule about no hints, no forecasts, no previews.”
The GOP senators will then collectively breathe a sigh of relief, commend him for his honesty, and unanimously vote to confirm.