Attorney General William Barr’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday sparked widespread outrage among Democrats for what they perceived as him mischaracterizing the Mueller report and bashing its author, covering for President Donald Trump and lying about his own contact with the Special Counsel.
Here are some of the Democratic hopefuls now calling for Barr to resign or be impeached:
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY):
Attorney General Barr needs to resign. Today, he’s proven once again that he’s more interested in protecting the president than working for the American people. We can’t trust him to tell the truth, and these embarrassing displays of propaganda have to stop.
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) May 1, 2019
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA):
What I just saw from the Attorney General is unacceptable. Barr must resign now.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) May 1, 2019
Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro:
The Attorney General is not above the law. If William Barr does not voluntarily step down after deceiving the public and lying under oath, Congress should begin an impeachment inquiry. pic.twitter.com/xEekhNPJ0g
— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) May 2, 2019
Former Vice President Joe Biden:
NEW: @JoeBiden says AG Barr should resign pic.twitter.com/boQOxkWzxK
— Bo Erickson (@BoKnowsNews) May 2, 2019
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ):
Attorney General Barr answers to the American people—not to President Trump—and over the past 24 hours it’s become clear that he lied to us and mishandled the Mueller Report. He needs to step down. Add your name if you agree: https://t.co/x7KkyROdi5
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) May 1, 2019
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX):
Barr has failed in his responsibility to our country. He is not fit to serve as Attorney General and should resign.
— Beto O’Rourke (@BetoORourke) May 1, 2019
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA):
AG Barr is a disgrace, and his alarming efforts to suppress the Mueller report show that he’s not a credible head of federal law enforcement. He should resign—and based on the actual facts in the Mueller report, Congress should begin impeachment proceedings against the President.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) May 1, 2019
The Department of Justice announced that Barr would skip the planned hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, citing the ability of staff lawyers to question the attorney general as the deal breaker — Barr only wants to be questioned by the congressional members themselves.
Hope questions about resignation won’t dominate the media. Candidates can’t do much about impeachment and resignation. Better have their eye on the biggest prize.
He is, in fact, a disgrace, a purely corrupt tool of a corrupt administration, and has to be forced to resign. Kamala’s image is there for a reason. I thought when she asked him if he’d been asked to open any investigations yesterday she was talking about Clinton, but it seems from a Prime piece Josh has up that Giuliani, Trump, and Barr are conspiring to hurt Biden with a Ukraine-oriented investigation of the company his son worked for that was being investigated there by a corrupt prosecutor before he was ousted. If Ukraine opens an investigation and Barr can piggyback on it, Giuliani has promised improved relations with Trump. It’s just appalling. He has to go.
I’d politely disagree. For me, 2020 is *all * about fighting back against a lawless president who is, at at a minimum, a Russian patsy.
I want someone who is loud and proud about fighting that.
If we get a soft-spoken person talking economic opportunity and esoteric shit like that, we will lose.
And presidential campaigns are big, multipart things. There’s no reason you can’t also talk about kitchen-table stuff like health care, jobs, the environment, things that would matter independently of Trump. All the pieces matter, as Detective Freamon would say. But Trump and Barr amounts to a critical worsening of the corruption. You can’t have a corrupt justice system, it’s not a thing nations can survive.
I’m just afraid that it would turn into some finger-pointing about which candidate didn’t call out Barr quickly enough. I’m not in favor of infighting.