Trump’s AG pick asserts himself at hearing
WASHINGTON— Vowing “I will not be bullied,” U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general separated himself from the White House on Tuesday, saying he believed Russia tried to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, that the special counsel investigation of Trump isn’t a witch hunt and that his predecessor was right to recuse himself from the probe. The comments by William Barr at his Senate confirmation hearing pointedly departed from Trump’s own views and underscored Barr's efforts to reassure Democrats that he will not be a loyalist to a president who has appeared to demand it from law enforcement. He also repeatedly sought to assuage concerns that he might disturb or upend special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation as it reaches its final stages.
Barr stated without hesitation that it was in the public interest for Mueller to finish his investigation into whether the Trump campaign co-ordinated with the Kremlin to sway the presidential election. He said he would resist any order by Trump to fire Mueller without cause and called it “unimaginable” that Mueller would do anything to require his termination.
“I believe the Russians interfered or attempted to interfere with the election, and I think we have to get to the bottom of it,” Barr said during the ninehour hearing.
He said that, at 68 and partially retired, he felt emboldened to “do the right thing and not really care about the consequences.” If a president directs an attorney general to do something illegal, he said, an attorney general must resign.
“I will not be bullied into doing anything that I think is wrong by anybody, whether it be editorial boards, or Congress or the president,” Barr said.