In the aftermath of the final release of the much-ballyhooed Mueller report, many congressional Democrats have turned their ire toward Attorney General William Barr, which was on display during yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing featuring Barr.
Senate Democrats accused Barr of functioning as a partisan for the Trump administration instead of as the nation’s top law enforcement officer.
Although he voted for his confirmation as attorney general earlier this year, U.S. Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) expressed his disappointment in Barr during a conference call with reporters on Thursday.
Jones was asked about Barr’s testimony and actions before the Senate Judiciary Committee, to which Jones said he was “concerned.”
“They certainly concern me,” Jones said. “I can’t go back and look. You know, I did the best I could with the information at the time that I had. But certainly, his actions have concerned me.”
However, Jones also said Barr lived up to what he had said he would do with regards to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
“There were two things – number one, on some of the specifics, Attorney General Barr did what he told me he would do, and that is he protected the Mueller investigation, and he made the report public to the extent that he could make public. I’ve been satisfied with what I’ve seen in the report with regards to the redactions.”
Alabama’s junior U.S. senator said Barr appeared to be acting as the “administration’s personal lawyer” instead of the “people’s lawyer.”
“What I’ve been disappointed in is that I’ve felt given his history and all that I have followed with the Department of Justice that he would be an independent voice for the Department of Justice,” he continued. “They needed that stability. And I have been very disappointed with what I’ve seen with regards to his characterizations of the Mueller report, his testimony yesterday. And so, to say it’s a great disappointment, it would be an understatement for me. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of it.”
“What concerns me the most quite frankly given that, given the fact he has become a partisan for the administration and seems to be the administration’s personal lawyer as opposed to the people’s lawyer, I’m concern about the 12 investigations that are still pending out there and his objectivity when it comes to making final decisions on where those might go.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV and host of “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN in Huntsville.
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