Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday that she will not vote for attorney general nominee William Barr unless he promises to release Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s original report to the public.
“My decision is all around the report coming out,” she said according to the Washington Post. “It can’t be stopped, interfered with, defunded — it’s got to finish, and there has to be a commitment by this attorney general that that report will be released publicly.”
Since Republicans control the Senate, Barr likely doesn’t need Feinstein’s vote.
Barr is a partisan hack. He doesn’t need a 90-10 confirmation vote. He’s ok with 53-47 or even 50-50.
What Dems ought to be saying is ‘If there is even one whiff of you stepping on the scales for Trump the House will conduct an investigation with its own prosecutors and will make criminal referrals. There will be no tampering with prosecutorial discretion. There will be no actions on behalf of Trump. We are watching you. AGs have gone to jail before. Ask yourself if you want to be the next one…Release the damn report, unredacted.’
So why does Feinstein tie her yes vote to one promise?
Um, what about the part where he claims complete ignorance of various well-known, well-settled provisions of the Constitution? Um, maybe you shouldn’t vote for this fool at all, Senator?
It’s not a bad offer on its face but it assumes that Barr would care about getting her vote.
Because it’s safe cover. In his confirmation hearing Barr hedged and qualified his position on releasing the report and any subsequent promise from him is worthless.
Constitutional arguments are lost on most voters, especially conservatives whose knowledge ends at religious freedom and guns. As Obama correctly noted, “They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion.” Anything beyond that is elitist.