The vote to send William Barr’s nomination as attorney general to the floor of the Senate has been delayed by a week after Democrats objected to Barr’s statements concerning special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Barr already served a stint as attorney general under George H. W. Bush, so he might seem one of the safest and least controversial choices made by Donald Trump for a cabinet position. But in his off time, Barr sent an unsolicited letter to the Department of Justice to let them know how strongly he felt that the idea of Trump obstructing justice was an injustice. Then Barr’s initial round of questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed that he was dedicated both to the idea that Trump could not be indicted, and that anyone not under indictment would, of necessity, need to be edited from any report issued by the special counsel investigation.
When it was all stitched together, Barr seemed to be saying that Trump couldn’t commit obstruction, couldn’t be indicted, and couldn’t even be “criticized” in any report coming out of the Justice Department. It’s the sort of position that might seem off-putting to anyone concerned about Congress’ relative power to practice oversight. However, the Washington Post reports that the delay doesn’t necessarily signal any concern on the part of Republicans on the committee.
Since Republicans have a numerical advantage, a party line vote by the Judiciary Committee would send Barr along to the next step. And even should the committee fail to make that recommendation, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could still call Trump’s nominee to the floor, where a bare majority would be all that was needed to put him at the spot currently held by acting attorney general and patent scammer Matthew Whitaker. Nothing seems to indicate that Barr is likely to experience any real bump along his path to confirmation.
The Washington Post reports that the vote was originally slated for Tuesday. However, it’s been put off a week after Democrats voiced an objection.
Though his answers in testimony were carefully worded, it’s clear from both his spoken and written responses that Barr absolutely intends to edit any report that emerges from Robert Mueller’s office. That information will be cleaned up to not include any information about anyone not under indictment, and since Barr does not believe that Trump could be indicted for any crime, that means any mention of his actions—even if those mentions are not necessarily accusations of criminal behavior—would have to be removed before the report could be sent to Congress. Barr has also made it clear that while he will listen to the advice of the Justice Department’s ethics advisers, he is not promising to follow that advice on either the need to recuse himself or the release of the final report.
Barr’s statements, together with the statements from acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker, make it clear: No matter who is in charge at the Trump Justice Department, the public is not going to be allowed to see the unredacted Mueller report.
Whitaker’s statement that “the investigation is, I think, uh, close to being completed” has overshadowed the remainder of what he said, with most of the media conveniently overlooking the “I think” part of his stumbling address. But it’s Whittaker’s indication that “decisions … are going to be reviewed” that represents the greater threat. Both Whitaker and Barr aren’t hinting that the Mueller report isn’t going to make it to Congress, much less the public, unscathed—they’re saying it outright.
In the past two days, legislation has been introduced in the Senate that would require disclosure of a report from Mueller or any other special counsel, though that amendment does not specify that the report provided to Congress duplicate the one provided to the attorney general. That legislation has yet to be voted on in committee.
Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham, fresh off actively trying to convince Trump to declare a national emergency in order to get his wall, admitted that the idea of a Mueller report edited to make it Trump-free was a tad concerning.
“If you agree you can’t indict the president, it’s probably not a good reason not to share with us the derogatory information,” Graham said, promising to pursue Barr on that point. He also pledged to ask Barr whether he would let Trump claim executive privilege to muzzle portions of the report.
But there seems little doubt that no matter how Barr answers these questions, he’ll get the same expedited trip out of the Senate as other far-less-qualified Trump nominees. Just not this week.