William Barr, Trump’s choice to succeed Jeff Sessions as Attorney General (or replace Matt Whitaker, as you wish) was thought to be an okay choice, being as how he’s reportedly been friends with Robert Mueller for the past twenty years, and he says that he has no intention of stopping the Mueller probe. All that to the contrary, Barr refused to meet with Amy Klobuchar, ostensibly because of the government shutdown. Klobuchar says this is a first.
Somehow he found time to meet with Graham and Grassley today. I guess the shutdown wasn’t an issue for meeting with Republicans.
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) January 10, 2019
“They said I could meet him after the hearing, because of the shutdown, that they weren’t able to do the meeting,” Klobuchar said on All In With Chris Hayes on Wednesday night. “This is a first for me, because we did request a meeting… and I have always met with major cabinet members under both the Obama administration as well as the Trump administration.” Hayes pointed out that Barr had met with Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) earlier Wednesday, and Klobuchar confirmed that Barr was meeting with senators—just not her or other Democrats that submitted meeting requests, like Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).
This is not a good sign, for Barr, for this process, or for how the Republicans are operating these days.
This is the kind of thing that offends me as an American citizen and terrifies me most. The GOP have almost to a man internalized the coup. They already act like it has been accomplished and they have no need to pretend we live in a democratic republic.
— Erin Conroy #WaveCastOR (@chargrille) January 10, 2019
Wow. This is truly a red flag.
— kate (@ACrazyWoman) January 10, 2019
That should tell us everything we need to know about this nominee, but sadly, won’t stop him from getting the job.
— Denise Nuernberger (@denisenuern) January 10, 2019
Rod Rosenstein is purportedly leaving the Justice Department shortly after Barr is confirmed. CNN:
A source told CNN that Barr made it clear to the White House that he wanted his own deputy — a request that was honored the last time he served as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush.__“The attorney general’s balls are in the deputy attorney general’s pocket, and I’m not putting my balls in anyone’s pocket I don’t know,” Barr recalled saying in a 2001 interview with the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.
Sure would be nice to know what he has against meeting with Blumenthal or Klobuchar. Could it be that he’s like Mike Pence and can’t meet with a woman alone? I say this only partially in jest, because Barr’s wife attends Bible study classes with Mueller’s wife. He uses vulgarisms with great facility, his wife attends formal Bible study. Okey, doke. Add another character to the soap opera.
