Democrats wanted to talk obstruction. Republicans wanted to talk Russian meddling.
The Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are focusing heavily on whether President Trump obstructed justice throughout Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation as they question Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday. Some have been harsher than others in their questioning, but most are focused on the question of wrongdoing by the Trump campaign.
The Republicans have proven less hostile toward Barr, but quite a few have opted to center their questioning around how to handle election meddling in the future. Rather than discuss the Trump campaign's conduct surrounding Russian election interference, several asked Barr to delve into election integrity more generally.
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), in particular, was determined to steer the conversation this way — and he is especially fearful that Russia paved the way for China.
Republican Sen. Ben Sasse argues that the most important takeaway from the Mueller report is "that we are going to be under attack again in 2020, and it isn't just gonna be Russia, who's pretty dang clunky at this stuff. But It's also ... China" https://t.co/pDPxZMJ33T pic.twitter.com/7RkMFCm3oF
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 1, 2019
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) also eschewed the political aspects of the investigation and instead sought answers about national security.
Good stuff from Joni Ernst on what she calls an "act of aggression" by Russia. How can DoJ help shore up weaknesses? Barr's description of the problem doesn't even have the right rhetoric, but generally fine. He points to IC & FBI's foreign interference task force as responsible
— Molly McKew (@MollyMcKew) May 1, 2019
Even Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), the committee chair, who has just about had it with the whole thing, made it clear that Russian election interference is a top concern, not just obstruction.
“It wasn’t some 400-pound guy sitting on a bed somewhere, it was the Russians,” says @LindseyGrahamSC of election interference. A slight rebuke of Trump before delving into the Peter Strzok texts.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 1, 2019