Barr confirmed as Trump’s new attorney general
WASHINGTON – The Senate confirmed William Barr as U.S. attorney general, putting him in charge of a department battered by partisan acrimony and confronting him with fundamental decisions on the future of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
The confirmation vote of 54-45 on Thursday gave the 68-year-old attorney a second stint as the nation’s No. 1 law enforcement officer – a job he previously held in the 1990s.
While that will make him a major figure on issues from immigration to antitrust policy, one of the corporate lawyer’s first decisions will be whether to recuse himself from overseeing Mueller’s politically explosive probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether Donald Trump or any of his associates conspired in the operation.
Barr refused in his confirmation hearing last month to commit to recusing himself, saying he’d seek the advice of career ethics officials. Democrats expressed concern about Barr’s acknowledgment that he’s had “general conversations” with Vice President Mike Pence regarding the investigation. They also cited a memo Barr sent to the Justice Department last year criticizing Mueller for looking into President Donald Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey as possible obstruction of justice.
Trump heaped frequent ridicule on former Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, which Trump and House Republicans regularly call a “witch hunt.” Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, whom Trump appointed after ousting Sessions in November, rejected the informal recommendation of a Justice Department ethics officer that he recuse himself for his past criticism of Mueller’s investigation.