Would an Attorney General William Barr Put Justice Before Trump? Don’t Count on It.
William Barr is a very good lawyer. But at a time when the justice system is under attack every day by the president, the Department of Justice needs a leader who is not only a skilled attorney but also an exceptional public servant, and who will place principles of justice above the interests and demands of Donald Trump. After the first day of his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings, it is unclear if William Barr will meet that standard.
Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham opened the hearing with a recitation of Donald Trump’s favorite conspiracy theory: that a cabal of FBI agents set out to manufacture a case against Trump to deny him the presidency (but somehow bungled the scheme by keeping the case secret until after the election). As Barr well knew, despite the assiduous efforts of Devin Nunes, Trey Gowdy and Graham himself, virtually no evidence has emerged to support this claim.
Nonetheless, Barr suggested that he agreed with Graham’s call to use the DOJ’s resources to further pursue this conspiracy theory. This commitment, of a piece with Barr’s prior endorsement of the president’s demand that the DOJ pursue baseless allegations of wrongdoing against Hillary Clinton, raises serious questions about whether Barr will further Trump’s goal of employing the DOJ as a mechanism for pursuing political vendettas.