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[Pages S1291-S1292]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Nomination of William Barr
Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I rise today to offer briefly my remarks on
the nomination of William Barr to serve as Attorney General of the
United States.
This past Thursday, when the Judiciary Committee of the Senate
considered him, I was absent, being the cochair of the National Prayer
Breakfast. I would like to offer my conclusions briefly here on the
floor.
I have weighed carefully over several weeks William Barr's nomination
to serve as the next Attorney General. Initially, I have to say, I was
greatly encouraged that the President nominated a nominee whose service
had included leadership roles in the Justice Department, including
Attorney General of the United States.
However, I believe my responsibility to assess Mr. Barr's candidacy
requires me to consider his entire record, including his recent
writings, his statements, and his work, and to focus on his ability to
actually meet the test of our current time. Having met with him in
person, having questioned him during the Judiciary Committee's
confirmation hearing, having reviewed his record, and having reviewed
his written answers to questions submitted for the record, I ultimately
believe Mr. Barr does not meet this test. I am not confident that he
will uphold the Attorney General's critical role in defending the
Department of Justice as an institution and in ensuring that the
special counsel's investigation proceeds with independence and, by so
doing, restores the trust of the American people in the rule of law.
In weighing his nomination, the memo Mr. Barr chose to author in June
2018--and to submit--criticizing the special counsel's investigation
into obstruction of justice, I concluded was significant and could not
be ignored. Mr. Barr tried to narrow or minimize the import of this
memo by saying it was a specific application to a particular statute.
The fact remains that his memo is rooted in and embraces an
exceptionally broad theory of executive power that could threaten not
only the special counsel's investigation but a lot of our current
understanding of the scope and reach of Executive power.
When I asked him if he had sent other lengthy, detailed legal memos
he had researched and written himself to the Department of Justice as a
private citizen, he could only cite that one memo from this year,
dealing critically with the special counsel's investigation.
At his nomination hearing in the committee, I sought simple and
concrete assurances from Mr. Barr that he would give the special
counsel's ongoing investigation the independence and separation from
partisan politics it needs and deserves. In some instances I was
genuinely encouraged by his answers. I was glad to hear a forceful
answer from Mr. Barr that he would not fire the special counsel without
cause and would resign rather than do so, if so ordered.
On other issues, however, he failed to give the sort of simple and
clear commitment that former Attorney General Elliot Richardson gave at
his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee during
the period of an
[[Page S1292]]
important investigation in the 1970s. Mr. Barr would not commit to
following the guidance of career DOJ ethics officials on whether he
should recuse himself. He would not commit to deferring to special
counsel Mueller's investigative decisions. Finally, he would not commit
to making special counsel Mueller's final report public. In essence,
Mr. Barr is asking the American people and those of us who represent
them to trust him to do the right thing. There are reasons to believe
that he will, but there are, as I have laid out briefly, reasons to be
gravely concerned that he will not.
Something my predecessor here in the Senate, Senator Joe Biden,
expressed in voting to confirm him back in 1991, was his grave concerns
about his expansive view of Executive power, but that was a very
different time in our history, with a different Court and a different
context.
I think we must be clear-eyed about the moment our country faces and
the Attorney General's potentially pivotal role in ensuring the
integrity of the rule of law and the institutions of our democracy. I
believe it is my responsibility in the Senate to protect the special
counsel investigation, to ensure that other ongoing Federal
investigations are not interfered with because of a narrow or partisan
purpose, and to safeguard the rule of law.
If Mr. Barr is confirmed, I hope he will prove me wrong. I hope he
will demonstrate to the American people of all parties and backgrounds
that he will put the interests of our democracy above the moment and
partisan priorities. I hope he will prove to be a terrific, solid, and
reliable steward for the ongoing investigation Special Counsel Mueller
is leading into Russian interference in the 2016 election. If so, I
will gladly put aside our policy differences to work with him for the
good of the American people during this critical time, but I regret I
have reached the conclusion that I cannot support his nomination this
week.
Thank you, Mr. President.
With that, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
