who was attorney general before barr

[337], In January 2022, it is reported that the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack held conversations with Barr about the Trump administration's approach to compromise the integrity of the 2020 election, specifically about the potential coordination between the Justice Department and the Defense Department. [10] Barr's demand followed a concerted pressure campaign by Erdogan and his close associates, including his son-in-law, Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, and Mehmet Ali Yalcindag, a Trump family friend involved in developing the Trump towers in Turkey;[10] Erdogan himself personally insisted to President Trump that the Halkbank investigation be shut down on at least two occasions, November 1, 2018, at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, and on a telephone call on December 14, 2018. Barr went Monday to the White . [323], On June 1, 2022, Barr was interviewed on Fox News about the verdict in the failed prosecution of Michael Sussman. [275] Barr also refused to refute the debunked conspiracy theory of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election during the interview. [112] Barr had enthusiastically supported Trump's political agenda, misrepresented aspects of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report, repeated Trump's assertion that those investigating Trump had engaged in spying, defied congressional subpoenas, and refused to give Congress an unredacted version of the Mueller report. "[174] Days later, Barr designated New York City, Seattle and Portland, Oregon as such jurisdictions, suggesting they should lose their federal funding because, "We cannot allow federal tax dollars to be wasted when the safety of the citizenry hangs in the balance. Barr's efforts were reportedly stemmed by the prosecutors of the Southern District of New York. [360] Sedition charges are normally reserved for those who "conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States", according to (18U.S.C. [88] Barr also said in 2017 that he did not think "all this stuff" about incarcerating or prosecuting Hillary Clinton was appropriate to say, but added that "there are things that should be investigated that haven't been investigated," although the FBI began investigating the Clinton Foundation and the related Uranium One matter in 2015, followed by investigations by Republican congressional committees. Barr testified that before resigning as attorney general, he had told president Trump that allegations of election fraud were "bullshit." Former Attorney General Bill Bar warned former President Donald Trump multiple times after the 2020 presidential election that he saw "absolutely zero evidence" of fraud, he told the House Jan.. Get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very peaceful there won't be a transfer, frankly. [177] Barr sent a memo to DOJ prosecutors authorizing them to investigate "vote tabulation irregularities" before voting results had been certified, a reversal of long-standing department policy. [19][20][21], After graduating from law school in 1977, Barr spent one year as a law clerk to Judge Malcolm Wilkey of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Barr continued donating even after Sessions resigned, and after Trump nominated Barr for Attorney General. Giuliani has claimed to have information of improprieties regarding Ukraine for Joe Biden (a former vice president, later a 2020 presidential candidate) and his son Hunter Biden. William Barr - Wikipedia [211][209], On April 9, Barr appeared in a congressional hearing before the House. [210][226][227] Barr also said it would not be criminal obstruction of justice for a president to instruct a staffer to lie to investigators about the president's actions,[228] and suggested a president could legally terminate an investigation into himself if he was being "falsely accused". Walsh complained about the move, insinuating that Bush on Barr's advice had used the pardons to avoid testifying and stating that: "The Iran-contra cover-up, which has continued for more than six years, has now been completed. When Barr started donating more frequently to the NRSC, it was uncertain whether then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions would remain in his job. It's a substitute for a religion. [120], On July 8, 2019, Barr announced his recusal from the Justice Department's review of the 2008 federal prosecution of American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. [17][18], Barr worked for the CIA from 1971 to 1977 while attending graduate school and law school. [11] Trump was angered by the announcement and the fact that Durham had not released any findings prior to the election. Under Barr's advice, President George H. W. Bush in 1992 pardoned six officials involved in the Iran-Contra affair . He said that "Hollywood now regularly censors its own movies to appease the Chinese Communist Party, the world's most powerful violator of human rights. The reason for the refusal was that the committee's decision to not allow a Justice Department lawyer to accompany Gore during testimony violated "the confidentiality interests of the Executive Branch" (though a separate room was permitted). He did two additional years of graduate study at Columbia, receiving a Master of Arts in government and Chinese studies in 1973. [108][109] Later that day, Barr was sworn in as the nation's 85th Attorney General by Chief Justice John Roberts in a ceremony at the White House. Bush: Bill Barr Is on a Mission to Install Trump as an 'Autocrat', "January 6 committee has been talking with ex-attorney general William Barr, chairman says", "Barr able to put his stamp on executive power as Trump's AG", "Barr's Justice Department serves up talking points for Trump", "Health Dept. He advocated a Bush-backed bill that would have expanded the types of crime that could be punished by execution. House Banking Committee Chairman Henry B. Gonzlez called for Barr's resignation, citing "repeated, clear failures and obstruction" by the Department of Justice in allegedly delaying an investigation of the BNL-Iraqgate case. "[138], As Attorney General, Barr sowed doubt about the integrity of the 2020 election. Attorney General William Barr, the head of the Department of Justice, will leave office before Christmas, President Donald Trump said Monday. This is organized destruction. Circuit. Chief Named Attorney General", "U.S. [214][215] After the release of the full report, fact-checkers and news outlets characterized Barr's initial letter as a deliberate mischaracterization of the Mueller Report and its conclusions. [312] If the District of Columbia Bar concludes that a lawyer has violated any of its Rules of Professional Conduct, that lawyer may be sanctioned in one of several ways, including admonition, suspension, and disbarment. In May 2020, Barr spokesperson Kerri Kupec announced on the program of Fox News host Sean Hannity that Barr had appointed U.S. attorney John Bash to investigate. In defense of the firing, Barr allegedly made numerous false claims about Atkinson's actions during his tenure. Barr, 68, previously served as attorney . [137] The OIG report stated that OIG "cannot assess whether" Barr's visit to the park or any planned movement by Trump "influenced the Secret Service's actions, including its early deployment on to H Street. [273][274], In December 2019, Barr claimed in an interview with NBC News that the Russia investigation was "completely baseless" and said he believed the FBI's investigation may have been conducted in "bad faith". In fact, the sources said, the Durham investigation has so far uncovered no evidence of any wrongdoing by Biden or Barack Obama, or that they were even involved with the Russia investigation. [139] In a September 2020 interview, Barr falsely asserted the Justice Department had indicted a Texas man for fraudulently completing 1,700 mail-in ballots. Per policy regarding American persons, Flynn's identity was masked before accounts of his conversations were distributed to high-level Obama administration officials. [116] In July 2019, the House of Representatives voted 230198 to hold Barr (and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross) in criminal contempt of Congress, after they failed to produce documents as April 2019 congressional subpoenas mandated. [54] The appointment came after Democrats called for a special prosecutor during the scandal fearing a "cover-up" by the administration. [143][144] Senior American intelligence officials have said there was no evidence any foreign powers intended to manipulate mail-in voting. Prosecutor Who Investigated His Allies, Barr Says", "Late-night chaos at DOJ as U.S. attorney insists he's not leaving", "Barr's botched effort to remove a prosecutor who probed Trump allies", "Geoffrey Berman is leaving office immediately after standoff with Trump administration", "AG Barr blasts 'militant secularists' in speech on religious freedom", "Federal Arrests Show No Sign That Antifa Plotted Protests", "DHS draft document: White supremacists are greatest terror threat", "Barr Tells Prosecutors to Consider Charging Violent Protesters With Sedition", "Barr Told Prosecutors to Consider Sedition Charges for Protest Violence", "In Barr, Trump has powerful ally for challenging mail voting", "Trump's 'plane loaded with thugs' conspiracy theory matches months-old rumor", "False antifa rumors about a suburban invasion take over neighborhood social media apps", "U.S. Attorney General Barr says antifa 'flying around' U.S. to incite violence", "White supremacists remain deadliest US terror threat, Homeland Security report says", "FBI Director Wray reconfirms the threat posed by racist extremists", "White supremacists on par with ISIS as 'top threat,' FBI director says at Captiol riot hearing", "Homeland Threat Assessment October 2020", "Trump, Barr, and the GOP present antifa as a major threat in the US, but they're not killing people unlike white supremacists", "AG Bill Barr says federal corruption hunters never 'at a loss for work' in Chicago", "Trump not ready to commit to election results if he loses", "Trump refuses to commit to a peaceful transition of power after Election Day", "Trump uses power of presidency to try to overturn the election and stay in office", "Fact checking Giuliani and the Trump legal team's wild, fact-free press conference", "AP FACT CHECK: Trump legal team's batch of false vote claims", "Analysis | Fact-checking the craziest news conference of the Trump presidency", "Rudy Giuliani floated 'dangerous' and incendiary false claims of election conspiracy and Fox News broadcast it live", "Trump seeks to cut federal funding to what he calls 'anarchist jurisdictions', "DOJ targets funding to New York, Portland and Seattle as jurisdictions 'permitting violence', "How Trump's Focus on Antifa Distracted Attention From the Far-Right Threat", "The Times Called Officials in Every State: No Evidence of Voter Fraud", "Barr clears Justice Dept. Barr established a legal career as a partner in a Washington, D.C., law firm before joining the U.S. Justice Department in 1989. [314], In June 2019, in violation of Department of Justice policy, Barr pressured Berman, then the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to drop an investigation into close allies of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan involved with the Turkish bank Halkbank. [243] Barr later said he was not sure what spying had occurred and he did clarify what he meant by "spying". Colleagues of Durham have said they believe he is under pressure to produce something before the election. [345] On July 14, 2020, Daniel Lewis Lee became the first death row inmate executed by the federal government since 2003. Challenging the subpoena, the company noted Nunes's history of litigation and argued that the subpoena appeared to be a government attempt to aid his efforts to retaliate against his critics, and violated the First Amendment. From 2010 until 2017, he advised corporations on government enforcement matters and regulatory litigation; he rejoined Kirkland and Ellis in 2017. [86][87], In 2017, Barr said there was "nothing inherently wrong" with Donald Trump's calls for investigating Hillary Clinton while the two were both running for president. "[209] Both before and after the release of Barr's summary, Mueller repeatedly tried to get Barr to release the report's introductions and executive summaries. given that the Southern District of New York was actively pursuing criminal investigations into several persons and companies associated with President Donald Trump and The Trump Organization. "[79][78] In a 1995 essay, Barr rejected that crime was caused by material factors, such as poverty, arguing instead that crime was caused by immorality: "Spending more money on these material social programs is not going to have an impact on crime, and, if anything, it will exacerbate the problem. They said he was more interested in serving. He also said that from this case, he wanted to show Americans that "there's only one standard of justice," instead of two standards of justice. He rose from assistant attorney general to deputy attorney general . Barr was also an active member in the Sigma Nu fraternity. The Washington Post noted that the Justice Department traditionally seeks to avoid impugning individuals who are not charged with crimes, and the DOJ is not involved in exposing political "dirty tricks" that have not been found unlawful. [349][350], Barr supports a federal ban on marijuana. We Can't Afford to Wait", "Trump AG Barr will escape impeachment thanks to 'corrupt' Republicans Nadler", "A prosecutor who investigated Trump's friends is suddenly out of a job", "AG Barr Says Berman Was 'Living on Borrowed Time' as Interim U.S. Attorney", "Concern Over The Attorney General's Conduct: Removal of Mr. Geoffrey Berman as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York", "In Scathing Letter, More Than 80-Percent of Faculty at Bill Barr's Law School Call for His Censure and Resignation", "Bill Barr Is Eroding the Rule of Law. Jackson concluded that Barr had been "disingenuous" to Congress in 2019, and that the Department of Justice had been "disingenuous to this court" regarding their "decision-making process". [301], The Justice Department announced in May 2020 that the charges against Flynn would be dropped, with Jensen stating that Barr had agreed with his recommendation. [22][17] He then joined the law firm of Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman) from 1978 to 1982 and again from 1983 to 1989,[22] after serving as Deputy Assistant Director for Legal Policy on the domestic policy staff at the Reagan White House from May 1982 to September 1983. [44], During the 1992 election year, The Wall Street Journal wrote of Barr's work that he "has put a heavy emphasis on attention-grabbing events and pronouncements that may have more to do with presidential election-year politicking than with fighting crime on the streets. [241][244] Democrats criticized Barr's statement as "incendiary", saying the statement was intended to please Trump and that the statement lacked credibility following Barr's misrepresentation of the Mueller report in March 2019. A federal judge has ordered the release of a legal memorandum the Trump-era Justice Department prepared for then-Attorney General William Barr before he announced his conclusion that President . [70] According to Vox in December 2018, Barr supported an aggressive "law and order" agenda on immigration as attorney general in the Bush Administration. [26] He wrote an advisory opinion justifying the U.S. invasion of Panama and arrest of Manuel Noriega. [125], In October 2019, as Trump faced an impeachment inquiry about the Trump-Ukraine scandal, Barr met with Fox Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch at his Manhattan home. Atkinson was the inspector general who sought to get the Trump administration to the disclose the Ukraine scandal whistleblower complaint to Congress. From 2009 to 2018, Barr served on the board of directors for Time Warner. Third, he alleged there were conflicts of interest of two appointees to the Special Counsel Team, Jennie Rhee and Bruce Ohr. has created 'intake process' to vet Giuliani's information on Bidens", "Lindsey Graham Implicates William Barr in Massive Scandal, on Live Television", "Barr ordered officials to clear area around Lafayette Square before Trump's protest remarks, officials say", "William Barr's Four-Pinocchio claim that pepper balls are 'not chemical', "William Barr Seeks Qualified Immunity From Lafayette Square Suit", "Police did not clear Lafayette Park area so Trump could hold 'Bible' photo op: Watchdog", "Watchdog report finds Park Police did not clear racial injustice protesters from Lafayette Park for Trump's visit to St. John's Church last June", "AG Barr's claim of 1,700 fraudulent ballots in 2017 Dallas City Council race not true, prosecutor says", "Fact-checking William Barr on fraudulent ballots in Texas", "Barr claims a man collected 1,700 ballots and filled them out as he pleased. There was no such indictment, and the matter actually involved a series of errors by election officials during a county election, rather than fraud. "[197][198], Upon taking office, Barr refused calls to recuse himself from overseeing the Mueller investigation, despite his June 2018 memo arguing that the special counsel had no right to investigate Trump. Wall Street Journal. In the 1980s, Barr worked for the law firm Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge, with one year's work in the White House of the Ronald Reagan administration dealing with legal policies. Before becoming attorney general in 1991, Barr held numerous other posts within the Department of Justice, including leading the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) and serving as deputy attorney general. "[154] Barr had in June 2020 blamed antifa for orchestrating the George Floyd protests, but analysis by The New York Times found that no one arrested for serious federal crimes at the protests had been linked to antifa. [348], In 1991, Barr said he believed the framers of the Constitution did not originally intend to create a right to abortion, that Roe v. Wade was thus wrongly decided, and that abortion should be a "legitimate issue for state legislators". At the time, Donald Trump was president and the attorney general was Bill Barr. United States Attorney General - Wikipedia President Donald Trump. Barr added that an investigation into an alleged Uranium One controversy was more warranted than looking into whether Trump conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 elections. "[327][328], Barr has supported the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago and its investigation into the handling of presidential documents by Trump after his presidency, and dismissed Trump's calls for a special master to be appointed. "[175] Barr redirected federal homeland security and law enforcement resources to dealing with antifa, whereas the career law enforcement officials had long since concluded that the major domestic terrorism threat came from the far right. [14] Their eldest daughter, Mary, born 1977/1978, was a senior Justice Department official who oversaw the department's anti-opioid and addiction efforts; Patricia, born 1981/1982, was counsel for the House Agriculture Committee; and Meg, born 1984/1985, is a former Washington prosecutor and cancer survivor (of recurrent Hodgkin's lymphoma), was counsel for Republican Senator Mike Braun of Indiana. Jackson also stated that email evidence showed that the Barr letter was "the priority, and it is getting completed first" ahead of the advice memo. [283] In July he told a Congressional committee that the results of the investigation could be released before the election, despite an informal Justice Department rule limiting release of such information. Actions Barr took in the Roger Stone case led to an outcry from a bipartisan group of more than 2,000 former DOJ employees, who called on Barr to resign. [178] Four days later, sixteen assistant U.S. attorneys of the Branch wrote Barr a letter urging him to rescind the memo because it "thrusts career prosecutors into partisan politics". Tried to Use Grand Jury to Identify Nunes Critic on Twitter", "Justice Department sought to unmask Devin Nunes parody Twitter account this year, court records show", "Hunting Leaks, Trump Officials Focused on Democrats in Congress", "Trump DOJ seized data from House Democrats in leaks probe", "William Barr: 'Vitally important' for Mueller to complete Russia probe", "Trump's AG nominee to tell Senate panel it is 'vitally important' Mueller finish work", "Mueller Probe is Over: Special counsel submits Russia report to Attorney General William Barr", "Attorney General's Letter to House and Senate Judiciary Committee", "The key findings from the Justice Department summary of Mueller's report", "Letter to Lindsey Graham, Jerrold Nadler, Dianne Feinstein, and Doug Collins", "Attorney General Barr to release Mueller Russia probe report findings", "Here's what Barr left out in his summary of Mueller's findings", "Judge orders Justice Dept. During both the 2016 and 2020 campaigns, Trump was noncommittal when asked if he would accept election results showing he had lost. Pelosi Says Barr Lied To Congress: 'That's A Crime' - NPR [17][69][70][63] Barr was consulted extensively regarding the pardons, and especially advocated for pardoning Weinberger.[71]. Who is William Barr and what did he say in interview? [115] In early June the House Oversight Committee moved to hold Barr in contempt of congress for defying a subpoena regarding the efforts to add a citizenship question to the census. [56], In July 1991, regulators in seven countries shut down the Luxembourg-based Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), after investigators uncovered that the decentralized and poorly regulated bank, which was allegedly run by Saudi and possibly Pakistani Intelligence, was involved in fraud and money laundering operations for criminal organizations, corrupt governments, and intelligence agencies. Barr Is Said to Be Weighing Whether to Leave Before Trump's Term Ends [234][235] On September 3, Walton ruled that the redaction of FBI reports of witness interviews was proper. George Floyd protests in Washington, D.C. United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, aggressive effort to overturn the results, Foreign interference in the 2020 United States elections, Conspiracy theories related to the TrumpUkraine scandal, Russia investigation origins counter-narrative, Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, conspiracy theories about the origins of the Russia investigation, House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, FBI investigation into Donald Trump's handling of presidential documents, its investigation into the handling of presidential documents by Trump, 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Justice Department's National Security Division, Russian interference in the 2020 United States elections, Timeline of investigations into Donald Trump and Russia (JanuaryJune 2018), Timeline of investigations into Donald Trump and Russia (2019), Timeline of investigations into Donald Trump and Russia (20202021), "Trump Says He Alone Can Do It. [270][271] Carter Page had a prior operational relationship with the CIA from 2008 to 2013. As Walton saw it, Barr's "lack of candor" undermined Barr's "credibility and, in turn, the department's" arguments before the court. Giuliani himself is reportedly being investigated by the Justice Department, with two of his associates having been arrested. [63][64] Weinberger was set to stand trial on felony charges on January 5, 1993. [359], In September 2020, Barr suggested bringing sedition charges against disruptive looters and rioters, a legal tool that is rarely used by the United States government. [95] In his memo, Barr argued that the Special Counsel should not be investigating Trump for obstruction of justice because Trump's actions, such as firing FBI Director James Comey, were within his powers as head of the executive branch. Barr equated the movement with antifa, characterizing that loose collective as "highly organized" and claiming "the media doesn't take footage of what's happening" at George Floyd protests. Only once prior has a sitting Cabinet member been held in criminal contempt of Congress (Eric Holder in 2012). Among the topics discussed were Attorney General William Barr's failure to appear before the House Judiciary Committee to discuss the special counsel report on Russia's interference in the 2016 . Transcript: Former Attorney General William Barr on "Face the Nation [4] Under Barr's advice, President George H. W. Bush in 1992 pardoned six officials involved in the IranContra affair. [277][278][279][280], In January 2020, Barr prohibited the start of counterintelligence investigations related to presidential campaigns unless both the attorney general and head of the FBI signed off on those investigations. [223] The report also documented numerous instances where Trump tried to either impede or end the Special Counsel investigation, analyzing each in terms of the three factors necessary for a criminal charge of obstruction. [117][118], Also in July 2019, Barr reportedly made the decision to not bring federal civil rights charges against New York policeman Daniel Pantaleo for causing the death of Eric Garner. [249] The origins of the probe were already being investigated by the Justice Department's inspector general and by U.S. attorney John Huber, who was appointed in 2018 by Jeff Sessions.
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