WASHINGTON – No surprise to Illinoisans, but US Senate Dick Durbin is telling anyone asking that he opposes President Trump's nominee for Attorney General, Bill Barr.
Durbin writes:
This week , the Senate will vote on President Trump’s nominee to be the next Attorney General, William Barr. During my meeting with Mr. Barr, and when he testified last month before the Senate Judiciary Committee, I told him I was very concerned about his views regarding transparency for Special Counsel Mueller’s findings and executive power. Before he was nominated by the President,
Mr. Barr volunteered a 19-page memo to the Trump Administration that outlined his beliefs on executive authority, almost foreshadowing how he would approach the Special Counsel’s investigation if he were overseeing it.
DURBIN GIVES REMARKS OPPOSING WILLIAM BARR AS NEXT U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL
Mr. Barr had every opportunity to assure me he didn’t believe President Trump was above the law regarding certain aspects of the Russia investigation, or that he wouldn’t block Special Counsel Mueller’s report on his findings once completed. He didn’t do that. It turns out he’d also been asked to be part of the defense team for the President. Those are not good circumstances when we consider the job he’s asking for – to ultimately receive the results of the Mueller inquiry and to decide whether to share it with the American people.
Lastly, I am troubled by Mr. Barr’s statements on several issues, including voting rights and immigration. I’m worried he won’t be a strong proponent of protecting the right to vote, and that he will subscribe to the same hardline stance on immigration as his predecessor, Attorney General Jeff Sessions. I’ll be voting against Mr. Barr.
