Sinema schedules meeting with Barr, but won’t say what they will discuss
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is scheduled to meet one-on-one with Attorney General William Barr next week, but her spokeswoman could not say what she wants to discuss or what day the meeting would occur.
Sinema, D-Ariz., requested a meeting with Barr came after his combative hearing May 1 before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he defended his view that Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team gathered insufficient evidence to show President Donald Trump obstructed justice during its probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and potential obstruction of justice.
Sinema issued a rare, direct rebuke against the president’s claim of executive privilege to prevent House lawmakers from obtaining Mueller’s complete report.
“The president’s assertion of executive privilege — with the Attorney General’s support — undermines what should be our shared goal of protecting America from foreign influence and meddling in our elections,” Sinema said in a written statement earlier this month.
Congress should have access to the entire report, she wrote.
Sinema is one of three Democratic senators who joined majority Republicans to confirm Barr. They met previously, before he was confirmed in February.
At the time, Sinema said she would evaluate each presidential nominee “based on whether he or she is professionally qualified, believes in the mission of his or her agency, and can be trusted to faithfully execute and uphold the law as it exists.”
Earlier this month, Sinema said she had not finished reading the Mueller report. The Justice Department released a public version of the report nearly a month ago and lawmakers were to receive a less redacted version. But Sinema does not support impeachment proceedings.
It is unclear if Sinema or her office will talk publicly about the details of the meeting, once it happens.