Trump's attorney general nominee vows to shield Russia probe from politics

[webfact]

Trump's attorney general nominee vows to shield Russia probe from politics

By Sarah N. Lynch and Andy Sullivan

 

U.S. Attorney General nominee William Barr attends a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 9, 2019. REUTERS/Jim Young

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's attorney general nominee, William Barr, will pledge at his confirmation hearing to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe and stress his own independence from the White House, according to prepared testimony released on Monday.

 

"On my watch, Bob will be allowed to complete his work," Barr said in the prepared remarks ahead of two days of confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee starting on Tuesday morning.

 

Mueller is investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, possible collusion between the Kremlin and Republican Trump's campaign, and potential obstruction of justice.

 

Barr, an attorney general under former President George H.W. Bush, also a Republican, will address his prior criticism of Mueller's probe, telling members of the committee that a memo he sent last year that called the investigation "fatally misconceived" only outlined his concerns that Mueller might be misinterpreting one aspect of the law.

 

"The memo did not address - or in any way question - the Special Counsel's core investigation," Barr will tell the panel.

 

If confirmed, Barr would take over supervision of the probe from the No. 2 Justice Department official, Rod Rosenstein, who has overseen the effort since the previous attorney general, Jeff Sessions, recused himself, a decision Trump repeatedly criticized. The president ousted Sessions in November.

 

Russia has denied U.S. intelligence agencies' findings that it meddled in the election to help Trump by spreading disinformation and hacking political party emails. Trump has denied any collusion with Moscow and called Mueller's probe a "witch hunt."

 

Trump said on Monday that he never worked for Russia, his first denial after a media report saying the FBI in 2017 investigated whether or not he acted on Moscow's behalf.

 

PROMISES INDEPENDENCE

Barr has broad support from Republicans who control the Senate, but some Democrats have questioned whether he is the best choice to serve as the top U.S. law enforcement officer at a time when Trump faces several investigations.

 

"I need to know whether he will submit to an official ethics review to determine whether he should recuse himself," Democratic Senator Chris Coons said on a conference call.

 

Barr will emphasize his independence, telling lawmakers that he did not seek out the job. He said Trump did not ask him for a promise of loyalty and he did not offer one.

 

"As Attorney General, my allegiance will be to the rule of law, the Constitution, and the American people," he will say.

 

Former FBI Director James Comey has said Trump asked him to pledge loyalty before firing him in May 2017. Comey was overseeing a counter-intelligence probe on suspected election interference by Moscow and his dismissal led to the Department of Justice's appointment of Mueller, a former FBI director.

 

Mueller's investigation and other inquiries have clouded Trump's two years in office. Mueller has secured indictments against or guilty pleas from 33 people and three Russian companies, including former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

 

Democrats have worried that Trump may try to quash Mueller's findings when he concludes his work. Barr will tell lawmakers that he believes it is important that Congress and the public are informed of his results.

 

"My goal will be to provide as much transparency as I can consistent with the law," according to the prepared remarks.

 

In a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsay Graham, released on Monday night, Barr said he "provided my views on the issue" to Rosenstein and Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel, and gave copies of the memo to the solicitor general, the White House special counsel and "a few other lawyers for the President."

 

"During my interactions with these Department officials, I neither solicited nor received any information about the Special Counsel’s investigation," he wrote.

 

Barr also said he would also prioritize voting rights and efforts to ensure that foreign powers do not interfere with U.S. elections.

He has taken steps to address concerns about possible conflicts of interest arising from his decades of work in the private sector, where he amassed $37 million in assets.

 

Government ethics forms released publicly on Monday show that if confirmed, Barr will resign from the board of Dominion Energy Inc <D.N>, and sell off financial interests in other companies, including AT&T Inc <T.N>, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co <BMY.N>, J.P. Morgan Co <JPM.N>, Bank of America Corp <BAC.N>, Altria Group Inc <MO.N>, Merck & Co Inc <MRK.N>, and Pfizer Inc <PFE.N>, among others.

 

Barr told Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar last week that he would recuse himself from the Justice Department's efforts to block the merger of AT&T and Time Warner Inc. Barr served on the Time Warner board from 2009 to June 2018.

 

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Andy Sullivan; Additional reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Grant McCool and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-01-15

[keemapoot]

I wonder if he had to get on one knee before Trump and take a loyalty pledge before Trump approved his appointment. I'm sure he did. That's what Trump has insisted on with all others.

 

A pledge of fealty to protect his leader will likely trump a pledge to protect Mueller and the country, at least until it results in Barr being placed in legal jeopardy himself, then I expect he will turn on his incompetent master like Cohen and all the others are doing.

[Tug]

I wonder if he is simply lying about protecting muller from trump

[keemapoot]

Just now, Tug said:

I wonder if he is simply lying about protecting muller from trump

It's not as simple as that. Obviously he is a career Republican, former Bush AG, and he would not have gotten this if he didn't convince Trump he would protect him as much as he can. That means he will go a lot further than Jeff Sessions did, but unlike Comey, will not show disdain for Trump's efforts to abuse the FBI & AG as his personal guard dog. But, I expect him to do anything to protect the Republican party from the coming damage the Mueller investigation will show (short of illegality himself), so that means also trying to shield Trump.

 

[Chomper Higgot]

The news that months before the Mueller investigation the FBI opened a counter intelligence investigation in which Trump was the target suggests protecting Trump against Mueller is not the issue.

 

Trump is now having to make public statements denying he works/worked for Putin.

 

These should be measured against his historical adherence to truth.

[riclag]

"My goal will be to provide as much transparency as I can consistent with the law," according to the prepared remarks.

 

It appears he wants to let Mueller finish!See ms to me the question is how to interpret the accusations and opinions of the report in a ethical and professional manner according to the Departments past practices . After review he would present them to the other branches including  Congress.   

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5638883-June-2018-Barr-Memo-to-DOJ-Mueller-s-Obstruction.html

[FritsSikkink]

17 minutes ago, riclag said:

"My goal will be to provide as much transparency as I can consistent with the law," according to the prepared remarks.

 

It appears he wants to let Mueller finish!See ms to me the question is how to interpret the accusations and opinions of the report in a ethical and professional manner according to the Departments past practices . After review he would present them to the other branches including  Congress.   

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5638883-June-2018-Barr-Memo-to-DOJ-Mueller-s-Obstruction.html

There are no opinions in the report, there are facts.

[Boon Mee]

At the end of the day the Mueller report will be a big fat nothing burger which everyone acknowledges. Protection of the report will lend more credence to transparency. 

[Proboscis]

38 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

At the end of the day the Mueller report will be a big fat nothing burger which everyone acknowledges. Protection of the report will lend more credence to transparency. 

When you get up in the morning, do you actually engage your brain first or do you just troll?

 

Considering that the Mueller report has already led to 33 individuals being charged and several receiving jail sentenses, I wouldn't call it a "nothing burger." Go ask Trumps campaign manager and until recently personal lawyer and I don't think they will be saying "nothing burger."

 

Here is a thought for you, though. Trump gets protection through the fact that he is President. There is a reluctance to release information and raise charges against a sitting president. That will come to an end, either in 2020 or in 2024 or sometime in between if he either dies, becomes incapacitated or is impeached. Then he will be vulnerable to being sued as well as being charged with criminal activity.

 

At just a guess, if he has done stuff that has caused demonstrable harm to others and it can be demonstrated that he did it for personal reasons or reasons to do with enhancing his wealth or protecting his wealth etc, whether that be Comey's firing or any other matter, he can be sued or his estate could be sued. 

 

I would imagine that his kids, or at least the more intelligent one, is taking note of that, as are those in the White House who are protecting their own situations in advance of the end of the President's term.

[Briggsy]

10 hours ago, Tug said:

I wonder if he is simply lying about protecting muller from trump

The Senators who will question him are skilled prosecutors so they will attempt to extract concrete assurances from him and get him on the record. (Barr is also a very experienced lawyer.) They will try to get him to state that if x happens, he will agree to y. Their leverage is that they refuse to confirm him. They would only need 3 Republican defections. The Mueller investigation has a lot of supporters amongst Republican senators.

 

So, simply lying in his opening statement will not be sufficient to see him through. He would need to make false promises and then renege on them.

[Kelsall]

6 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

At the end of the day the Mueller report will be a big fat nothing burger which everyone acknowledges. Protection of the report will lend more credence to transparency. 

You are exactly right. 

Even ABC News admits Mueller's got nothing on Trump. 

It's over, Trump haters, it's over.  If the Dems impeach Trump, he will not be convicted in the Senate.

Again, it's over.

 

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/pj-gladnick/2019/01/14/abcs-jonathan-karl-mueller-report-almost-certain-be-anti-climactic

[melvinmelvin]

5 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

At the end of the day the Mueller report will be a big fat nothing burger which everyone acknowledges. Protection of the report will lend more credence to transparency. 

Not sure I agree with that. Or more correctly, I am sure that I do not agree.

 

In my view that report (due in February?) is the start of the end to Trump's political life.

 

This FBI guy is not daft. It is reasonable to expect that what he delivers will be fairly comprehensive.

Whether it will point concretely to Trump breaching the law or not I have no idea, doesn't really matter.

I expect it to be a fat comprehensive quality report, where Trump will figure in dominant positions throughout.

 

This will, I think, be the destruction of Trump. He will be so busy fighting that report 24 hours/day on twitter,

in newspaper interviews, TV interviews that he quite simply will not have any time and effort left to take care

of his presidency.

No way he will leave to others to fight the report, he will do it himself, 24 hours.

 

Guess it will go close to destroy him personally, with that goes his presidential career.

 

 

[Becker]

48 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

You are exactly right. 

Even ABC News admits Mueller's got nothing on Trump. 

It's over, Trump haters, it's over.  If the Dems impeach Trump, he will not be convicted in the Senate.

Again, it's over.

 

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/pj-gladnick/2019/01/14/abcs-jonathan-karl-mueller-report-almost-certain-be-anti-climactic

Please, just one more time - pretty pleeeeease?!

 

PS. I must admit I'm impressed that ABC actually knows that Mueller has nothing on the man-child. Not bad for a fake news source!

[Kelsall]

2 minutes ago, Becker said:

Please, just one more time - pretty pleeeeease?!

 

PS. I must admit I'm impressed that ABC actually knows that Mueller has nothing on the man-child. Not bad for a fake news source!

It's over.

[johnnykak]

abc is a fake news source? i did not know that. well I'm sure even fox news will cover the results of the mueller report so you can call them fake too when they report donald trump has broken multiple laws of the united states of america.

[Tug]

I would feel more comfortable if muller had senate protection I keep thinking of the midterms watching the republicans lying about protecting pre existing conditions who is to say this guy is different and he will have the protection of Donald and all the resources the republicans posses 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The NYT today has a story about Trump repeatedly, privately telling his advisors during 2018 that he wanted to pull the U.S. out of NATO, not joking, but serious..  And raised it repeatedly during the year, even as those around him at the time tried to deflect him off that point.

 

As the report points out, that news comes on the heels of the fuss about Trump going to great lengths to try to shield from public knowledge the details of what he and Putin talked about during their lovers summit... And the article noted, it would be the world's greatest wet dream for Putin if he could get Trump to actually withdraw the U.S. from NATO.

 

More smoke for the smouldering fire under Trump and his Russia-compromised presidency.

 

[Trouble]

8 hours ago, Proboscis said:

When you get up in the morning, do you actually engage your brain first or do you just troll?

 

Considering that the Mueller report has already led to 33 individuals being charged and several receiving jail sentenses, I wouldn't call it a "nothing burger." Go ask Trumps campaign manager and until recently personal lawyer and I don't think they will be saying "nothing burger."

 

Here is a thought for you, though. Trump gets protection through the fact that he is President. There is a reluctance to release information and raise charges against a sitting president. That will come to an end, either in 2020 or in 2024 or sometime in between if he either dies, becomes incapacitated or is impeached. Then he will be vulnerable to being sued as well as being charged with criminal activity.

 

At just a guess, if he has done stuff that has caused demonstrable harm to others and it can be demonstrated that he did it for personal reasons or reasons to do with enhancing his wealth or protecting his wealth etc, whether that be Comey's firing or any other matter, he can be sued or his estate could be sued. 

 

I would imagine that his kids, or at least the more intelligent one, is taking note of that, as are those in the White House who are protecting their own situations in advance of the end of the President's term.

So now we are on issues relating to Trump's businesses.  Have you forgotten that the Mueller investigation was for the purpose of examining possible connections between the Trump campaign and the Russians? So far there is no indication of any collusion between the campaign and the Russians.  Further, it is actually 36 indicted, 25 of whom are Russians all related to an attempted propaganda campaign, and will never go anywhere. The rest of the indictments are mostly for illegal business practices, lying to investigators, etc., none having anything to do with Russian collusion.  Not saying the Manafort, et al, should not face punishment but none have faced charges of colluding with the Russians because there is nothing illegal in colluding with the Russians.  So where are we after 2 years, nowhere.  All indications are that the probe is almost over and will be released soon.  So before everyone attacks Barr for being some kind of Trump patsy, grow up and face the fact that Barr will not hinder the investigation and that when all is said and done there won't be much of substance relating to collusion, only fragments here and there that the liberal press will try to make headlines about.  Sort of like the recent NY Times article about a supposed FBI counterintelligence investigation concerning Trump/Russian connection where buried at the ending paragraphs it says there is nothing to indicate Trump and the Russians are even connected in any way. Pure crap to sell newspapers. 

[Basil B]

15 hours ago, keemapoot said:

It's not as simple as that. Obviously he is a career Republican, former Bush AG, and he would not have gotten this if he didn't convince Trump he would protect him as much as he can. That means he will go a lot further than Jeff Sessions did, but unlike Comey, will not show disdain for Trump's efforts to abuse the FBI & AG as his personal guard dog. But, I expect him to do anything to protect the Republican party from the coming damage the Mueller investigation will show (short of illegality himself), so that means also trying to shield Trump.

 

But maybe more keen distance the Republican Party from Trump when the brown stuff starts flying.

[joecoolfrog]

4 hours ago, Kelsall said:

You are exactly right. 

Even ABC News admits Mueller's got nothing on Trump. 

It's over, Trump haters, it's over.  If the Dems impeach Trump, he will not be convicted in the Senate.

Again, it's over.

 

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/pj-gladnick/2019/01/14/abcs-jonathan-karl-mueller-report-almost-certain-be-anti-climactic

I can understand positive thinking , even when it is hugely optimistic. What I simply cannot grasp is why anybody would want to be positive about such a train wreck of a presidency.

Other than refusal to admit they were wrong , which as well as being pathetic is also counter productive ( the mess just keeps piling up ) why would anybody still support Trump ?