President Trump’s attorney general nominee William Barr told senators on Tuesday that he is “not going to be bullied” into doing anything wrong if he’s confirmed.
“I am not going to do anything that I think is wrong, and I will not be bullied into doing anything I think is wrong by anybody, whether it be editorial boards or Congress or the president,” Barr said during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. “I’m going to do what I think is right.”
[Read more: AG nominee William Barr: ‘Vitally important’ that Robert Mueller finish his investigation]
Barr: “I will not be bullied into doing anything I think is wrong … whether it be editorial boards or congress or the president. I’m going to do what I think is right.” pic.twitter.com/TQ0cgUjONN
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) January 15, 2019
Barr’s remarks are likely to put at ease Democrats who are worried that Trump will try to pressure his new attorney general into protecting him from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. At the same time, Barr doesn’t need any help getting confirmed from Senate Democrats as long as Republicans support him.
When asked by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., why he wants the job, Barr said it is because “I love the [Justice] Department.”
“If you take this job, you have to be ready to make decisions and spend all your political capital and have no future,” Barr said.”I feel I’m in a position in life where I can do the right thing and not really care about the consequences. I can truly be independent.”
Barr, 68, said that he has a “very good life,” but that “I also want to help in this circumstance.”
“It’s critical, and that’s one of the reasons I’m sitting here, to help with that process,” Barr said about restoring confidence in the Justice Department, particularly in the controversy over the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.
Barr, a Republican lawyer, has already served as the Justice Department’s leader when he was former President George H.W. Bush’s attorney general from 1991 to 1993. He was nominated by Trump in December to replace Jeff Sessions, who was forced to resign in early November.
Sessions had been continually disparaged by Trump for his decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, which ultimately led to his forced ouster.
Barr said Tuesday that Sessions “probably did the right thing” in recusing himself.
