AG nominee William Barr pledges to protect Mueller’s work, but may not make it public

In his confirmation hearing, Barr promised that he “would not be bullied” by the president or anyone else.

On 15 January the Senate Judiciary Committee began confirmation hearings for President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, William Barr. Trump’s previous attorney general Jeff Sessions stepped down after facing repeated criticism from the president for recusing himself from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference.

Ordinarily, the president might have been expected to appoint his deputy attorney general to replace Sessions, but Trump is furious with deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein because of his handling of the Mueller investigation, which has already led to criminal convictions for a number of former Trump aides. Instead, Trump appointed a loyalist, Sessions’ chief-of-staff Matthew Whittaker, as a temporary acting attorney general.

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Sophie McBain

@SEMcBain

Sophie McBain is associate editor of the New Statesman and writes on psychology, society and the science of us. She has reported for the New Statesman from the US and Middle East and her writing has earned her two British Society of Magazine Editors awards and the 2016 Amnesty International Award for best feature.