Joe Biden offered high praise of Attorney General William Barr more than two decades ago, calling Barr “one of the best” attorneys general that he had ever worked with.
Biden complimented Barr in 1995 when the 2020 front-runner was the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to CBS News. Barr, then working in private practice, had appeared before the committee to testify at a hearing on “enhancing the effectiveness of incarceration.”
“As I know you know, but others should know, too, I truly enjoyed working with you when you were attorney general,” Biden told Barr, referencing Barr’s service as attorney general under former President George H.W. Bush. “You were one of the best I have ever worked with, and there have been a lot of attorneys general since I have been here, and I mean that sincerely.”
Biden’s strong endorsement of Barr in the ’90s has flipped in recent months as high-profile Democrats have slammed the attorney general’s handling of the Mueller report.
Biden called on Barr to resign last month while the former vice president was campaigning in Iowa. Biden told reporters that “I think he’s lost the confidence of the American people.”
Barr defended his actions and shrugged off criticism in a May interview with CBS.
“I think one of the ironies today is that people are saying that it’s President Trump that’s shredding our institutions. I really see no evidence of that,” Barr said. “From my perspective the idea of resisting a democratically elected president and basically throwing everything at him and you know, really changing the norms on the grounds that we have to stop this president, that is where the shredding of our norms and our institutions is occurring.”
