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Senate votes to confirm Trump pick William Barr as new attorney general
The Hill ^ | February 14, 2019 | Jordain Carney

Posted on 02/14/2019 10:13:53 AM PST by jazusamo

The Senate voted Thursday to approve William Barr as attorney general, giving the Justice Department its first confirmed chief since President Trump ousted Jeff Sessions last fall.

More than 50 senators voted for Barr’s nomination, giving him enough support to be confirmed. The vote caps off a relatively low drama fight over Trump’s second nominee for the post. Barr was largely on a glide path after he cleared the Judiciary Committee and a procedural vote without any missteps that threatened GOP support for his nomination.

Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) appeared to be the only Republican who would vote against Barr on Thursday, while Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Doug Jones (Ala.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) broke with their party and supported him.

Democrats have 47 seats in the Senate. With Manchin, Jones and Sinema voting earlier in the week to advance Barr’s nomination, Democrats would have needed to flip six Republicans in addition to Paul to sink his nomination.

But Republicans largely rallied behind Barr, who previously served as attorney general under former President George H.W. Bush and is returning to the helm of a department that has been at the center of Trump's longtime criticism over the federal Russia probe.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, characterized Barr as an “outstanding” pick to lead the agency, which has been under the leadership of Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker since Sessions was ousted in November.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the former chairman and current member of the Judiciary panel, added that Barr will be “a straight shooter and an individual who is willing to engage in productive discussion with Congress.”

Democrats have raised concerns for weeks over Barr’s views on executive power and special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into the 2016 election. As attorney general, Barr is set to take over oversight of the investigation, which is also reportedly examining whether Trump sought to obstruct justice by interfering in the probe.

Trump's fight with former top law enforcement officials was brought back into the forefront on Thursday after former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe revealed that he opened a probe into whether Trump obstructed justice when he fired FBI Director James Comey in May 2017.

McCabe also said that top Justice Department officials were so concerned about Trump’s decision to fire Comey that they discussed an effort to remove him from office by invoking the 25th Amendment. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has been overseeing the special counsel's Russia probe since 2017, has denied the 25th Amendment talk.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said before the vote on Barr on Thursday that the circumstances around Mueller’s probe make the threshold for supporting an attorney general nominee higher than normal.

“The next Attorney General must be a public servant in the truest sense, with the integrity, the force of will, and the independence to navigate the Justice Department – and maybe our democracy – through treacherous waters. Mr. Barr’s attitude: leave it to me. That is not good enough,” Schumer said.

He added that Barr “does not recognize nor appreciate the moment we’re in."

Barr circulated an unsolicited memo on Mueller’s probe last year, including with the White House, describing the investigation as based on a “fatally misconceived” theory and would do “lasting damage” to the presidency.

Barr told senators during his confirmation hearing last month that he would let Mueller finish his investigation, that Trump would not be allowed to "correct" his final report and that he would make Mueller's findings public in accordance with the law.

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.), who is running for his party’s 2020 nomination, also pointed to Barr’s views on criminal justice reform and racial inequality within the justice system as part of his reason he voted against the nomination.

“We need an Attorney General that grasps the urgency of the moment, who is aware of the impact of the Department of Justice on communities across this country,” Booker said, “and who is willing and prepared to protect our most fundamental rights.”

Paul, the only Republican to vote no, said he had concerns about Barr’s views on privacy. Paul has frequently sparred with GOP leadership on surveillance and foreign policy issues. He voted against CIA Director Gina Haspel last year and threatened to vote against Mike Pompeo’s secretary of State nomination before doing a last-minute reversal.

“I have too many concerns about the record and views of this nominee. Bill Barr was a leading proponent of warrantless surveillance, and his overall record on the Fourth Amendment is troubling to me. I remain concerned that Bill Barr does not agree with our bipartisan efforts to reform our criminal justice system,” Paul said after an initial vote earlier this week.

He added that he believed Barr also has a “troubling record on the Second Amendment.”

Barr served as attorney general from 1991 to 1993 under Bush. He’s also spent more than a decade in corporate roles before joining the law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

He’ll succeed Whitaker in the top Justice Department spot. Whitaker, who was previously Sessions’s chief of staff, has been filling the role in an acting capacity. Whitaker’s views on Mueller have earned him criticism from Congress, including his suggestion that Mueller would be crossing a “red line” by investigating Trump’s finances.


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 116th; agbar; attorneygeneral; barr; barrconfirmed; doj; fbi; trumpcabinet; trumpdoj; trusttheplan; tustbarr; williambarr
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To: McGavin999

Does the Deputy AG have to go through the confirmation process?


81 posted on 02/14/2019 11:52:30 AM PST by july4thfreedomfoundation (President Trump is right! The media IS the enemy of the people!)
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To: VanDeKoik

Good approach there, VDK!


82 posted on 02/14/2019 11:53:38 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey.")
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To: july4thfreedomfoundation

Yes he does. Rosenstein was confirmed


83 posted on 02/14/2019 11:54:20 AM PST by McGavin999 (Border security without a wall is like having a Ring doorbell without a door)
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To: dfwgator; Impy
>> I hope my fears about the guy are misguided. <<

I'm gonna call it now that the FReepers who screamed at the top of their lungs that Barr "hates gun owners" and is "an enemy of the second amendment" will NEVER apologize and admit they were wrong if Barr DOESN'T "go after" gun owners.

After all, the FReepers who swore up and down that Pat Roberts would morph into an Arlen Specter clone if he was re-elected haven't even said "gee, he's been a reliable conservative, I'm sorry I falsely smeared that guy as a Lisa Murkowski type RINO"

84 posted on 02/14/2019 11:54:50 AM PST by BillyBoy (States rights is NOT a suicide pact.)
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To: MountainWalker
... do you see them nuking the filibuster to get something that they universally supported?

I do.

85 posted on 02/14/2019 11:55:51 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey.")
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To: july4thfreedomfoundation

Yes. DAG requires confirmation.

The President appoints more than 4,000 people, and around 1,200 require Senate confirmation.

There is an ongoing effort to reduce the number of appointees requiring confirmation.


86 posted on 02/14/2019 12:00:56 PM PST by jjotto (Next week, BOOM!, for sure!)
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To: Alberta's Child; Impy
>> For all the talk about Barr being a "D.C. swamp creature," he hadn't worked in government since January 1993 and has spent the last 25+ years working in corporate counsel and board of director roles for some major corporations. <<

Shhh. There you go again with those pesky facts!

As for me, I WISH we had gotten Trump's "horrible pick" and "D.C. Swamp creature" on SCOTUS instead of the so-called "proven, originalist, Scalia-clone" he actually put there.

I guess if Barr went around giving statements that Roe was an "important precedent" that should be "respected", instead of saying it was horrible judicial activism and should be overturned, he'd be a far superior "Scalia-like figure" in the eyes of some screwy FReepers.

87 posted on 02/14/2019 12:01:23 PM PST by BillyBoy (States rights is NOT a suicide pact.)
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To: jazusamo

“More than 50 senators voted for Barr’s nomination, giving him enough support to be confirmed.”

No exact number. What kind of reporting is that?


88 posted on 02/14/2019 12:03:03 PM PST by Revel
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To: Revel

The voting was still in progress, final vote was 54-45.


89 posted on 02/14/2019 12:05:11 PM PST by jazusamo (Have You Donated to Keep Free Republic Up and Running?)
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To: Revel

Probably wrote the story using announcements from senators before the actual vote. They wanted to be first.

Party line vote, except Rand Paul voted no and Dems Manchin and Doug Jones voted yes.


90 posted on 02/14/2019 12:07:42 PM PST by jjotto (Next week, BOOM!, for sure!)
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To: Alberta's Child

Couldn’t disagree more on that one.


91 posted on 02/14/2019 12:25:48 PM PST by MountainWalker
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To: Jaysin; montag813; Impy; fieldmarshaldj
>> Kirsten Sinema pisses off the left again and SUPPORTS Barr’s confirmation. she also looks kinda hot today. Definitely NOT Senate-appropriate attire. <<

>> funny, i saw her yapping in the senate chamber in the background and kept glancing waiting for someone else to move out of the way so I can get a better view! I’d tap it. <<

Heh. I personally find her to be much hotter than Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.

I remember there was some thread of Sinema dressed provocatively at some Senate ceremony and some FReepers were complaining that it was appalling and against Senate decorum while the rest of us were oogling her. Ironically these same conservatives had no problems with an "Evangelical Christian" megachurch "pastor" from Illinois dressing like he's at a biker bar while he's "preaching" in "church", and balked when I said it should have been a red flag for Mancow Mueller not to trust a "pastor" who dressed like that:


92 posted on 02/14/2019 12:33:37 PM PST by BillyBoy (States rights is NOT a suicide pact.)
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To: Jaysin; montag813; Impy; fieldmarshaldj
Ah, here's the photo of her "appalling" outfit:


93 posted on 02/14/2019 12:37:34 PM PST by BillyBoy (States rights is NOT a suicide pact.)
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To: jjotto; Impy
>> The President appoints more than 4,000 people, and around 1,200 require Senate confirmation. <<

<< There is an ongoing effort to reduce the number of appointees requiring confirmation. <<

There should be an ongoing effort to INCREASE the number of appointees requiring Senate confirmation. Obama wouldn't have been able to put dozens of totally unaccounted for "czars" running every type of bureaucracy imaginable if that were the case.

94 posted on 02/14/2019 1:09:05 PM PST by BillyBoy (States rights is NOT a suicide pact.)
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To: BillyBoy

Someone should’ve told this twit that the Senate is not a discotheque.


95 posted on 02/14/2019 1:12:09 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj ("It's Slappin' Time !")
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To: jazusamo

What does Jordain Carney at The Hill go to great lengths to avoid giving the exact number of votes favoring Barr? He reports it merely as more than 50. I find that dishonest journalism.


96 posted on 02/14/2019 3:17:22 PM PST by WashingtonSource
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To: WashingtonSource

The vote was strung out at the end and he posted the article before the vote was over, I believe Barr had 53 votes when he posted it.


97 posted on 02/14/2019 3:21:36 PM PST by jazusamo (Have You Donated to Keep Free Republic Up and Running?)
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To: jazusamo

Final vote: 54 to 45.


98 posted on 02/14/2019 3:25:59 PM PST by WashingtonSource
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To: WashingtonSource

Yep.


99 posted on 02/14/2019 3:28:55 PM PST by jazusamo (Have You Donated to Keep Free Republic Up and Running?)
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To: dljordan

Another deep state heck is my fear too. Trump learned nothing from Wray? Trump is seduced by the notion of an easy confirmation. Was the AZ fruitcake a show vote?


100 posted on 02/14/2019 6:28:35 PM PST by gibsonguy
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