who was attorney general before barr

[275][276] In a subsequent interview on Fox News, Barr asserted, "the president bore the burden of probably one of the greatest conspiracy theories baseless conspiracy theories in American political history," despite the recent inspector general report debunking several conspiracy theories Trump and his allies had promoted. William Pelham Barr (born May 23, 1950) is an American attorney who served as the 77th and 85th United States attorney general in the administrations of Presidents George H. W. Bush and Donald Trump. [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. Seeks to Question C.I.A. AP Photo/Evan Vucci President Donald Trump announced Monday that Attorney General William. [10] According to former National Security Adviser John Bolton, a first-hand witness of many of the events in question, this sequence of events "does look like obstruction of justice". He then served as a law clerk to judge Malcolm Richard Wilkey of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Born and raised in New York City, Barr was educated at the Horace Mann School, Columbia University, and George Washington University Law School. [307][288] 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. 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". "[223] The Washington Post fact-checker described Barr's claim as "astonishing"[217] and PolitiFact said it was "false". However, he asserted that because he expected Trump to ask him for details, he informally investigated to educate himself. Senator Chris Van Hollen asked Barr regarding obstruction: "Did Bob Mueller support your conclusion?" From 2009 to 2018, Barr served on the board of directors for Time Warner. [123], In mid-August 2019, Barr had a rare face-to-face meeting with Trump and Giuliani associates Joseph diGenova and his wife Victoria Toensing, who since earlier that year represented former Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin and pro-Russia Ukrainian oligarch Dmytry Firtash as attorneys. You know that I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots. During his corporate tenure, Barr directed a successful litigation campaign by the local telephone industry to achieve deregulation by scuttling a series of FCC rules, personally arguing several cases in the federal courts of appeals and the Supreme Court. [10] In a late Friday night statement on June 19, 2020, Barr stated that Berman was resigning and being replaced by Jay Clayton, citing Berman's behavior in the Halkbank episode as a primary reason for his removal. [312][313] A bar association may take years to investigate an ethics complaint filed against a lawyer. [275] Barr also refused to refute the debunked conspiracy theory of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election during the interview. [246], Also in May 2019, Barr appointed John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, to oversee a DOJ probe into the origins of the FBI investigation into Russian interference. Bush (1991-93) and Donald Trump (2019- ). Russia Inquiry Finds Serious Errors but Debunks Anti-Trump Plot", "U.S. presidential campaign probes to require top officials' approval: Barr", "Endorsing Trump's Firing of Inspector General, Barr Paints Distorted Picture", "Barr hints at 'developments' in Durham probe this summer, says racism not 'systemic' problem in law enforcement", "Barr won't rule out pre-election release of Durham report", "Nora Dannehy, Connecticut prosecutor who was top aide to John Durham's Trump-Russia investigation, resigns amid concern about pressure from Attorney General William Barr", "House Dems call for an 'emergency' DOJ watchdog review of Durham probe", "How Trump and Barr's October Surprise Went Bust", "Inside Barr's Effort to Undermine Prosecutors in N.Y.", "Trump just made the DOJ's Roger Stone intervention look even worse", "Trump Praises Barr for Rejecting Punishment Recommended for Stone", "Bill Barr: Trump's tweets make it "impossible" to do my job", "Attorney General Says Tweets Make It Impossible for Him to Do His Job", "Barr Says Attacks From Trump Make Work 'Impossible', "Attorney General Says Trump's Tweets About DOJ Make His Job 'Impossible', "More than 2,000 ex-DOJ employees call for Attorney General Barr's resignation", "Federal judges' association calls emergency meeting after DOJ intervenes in case of Trump ally Roger Stone", "Trump Admits He Makes Barr's Job Tougher but Vows to Continue", "Trump declares himself 'chief law enforcement officer' as he issues numerous pardons", "DOJ dropping case against former Trump adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying about Russia contact", "Barr appoints outside prosecutor to review criminal case against Michael Flynn", "Justice Department dropping Flynn's Trump-Russia case", "Attorney General Barr says what Michael Flynn did 'was not a crime', "Michael Flynn's Identity Was Not Improperly Revealed By Obama Officials, A Secret DOJ Report Has Found", "The final, brutal collapse of GOP's big Michael Flynn conspiracy theory", "Barr taps U.S. attorney to investigate 'unmasking' as part of Russia probe review", "More than 100 former Manhattan prosecutors condemn Berman firing", "Geoffrey Berman Resigns as Manhattan US Attorney, Ending Standoff With William Barr", "Three Plausible And Troubling Reasons Why Barr Tried to Force Berman Out", "Public deserves an explanation for Berman's firing from top prosecutor's post", "Trump ousts Manhattan U.S. attorney who investigated president's associates", "Americans Need to Know the Truth About William Barr's Friday Night Massacre. [59] The DoJ inspector general concluded that this program had been launched without a review of its legality and made 16 recommendations including areas relating to subpoena procedures and guidance training materials. [135] In August 2020, he invoked qualified immunity before a federal court to protect himself from liability in a lawsuit regarding the Lafayette Square incident. [16], From 1997 to 2000, Barr served on the Board of Visitors of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg. Suspicion of Russian Meddling, Prime Minister Says", "UK intelligence officials shaken by Trump administration's requests for help with counter-impeachment inquiry", "Justice Dept. The arrest of 13 men who allegedly plotted to kidnap Michigan Gov. His father, Donald Barr, taught English literature at Columbia University before becoming headmaster of the Dalton School in Manhattan and later the Hackley School in Tarrytown, New York, both members of the Ivy Preparatory School League. ", "William Barr, a Catholic, went out of his way to use the death penalty (and defy church teaching)", "William Barr, nation's top lawyer, is a culture warrior Catholic", "New Trump-Russia subplot: Mueller and Barr are 'good friends', Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Administrator of the Small Business Administration, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Barr&oldid=1161958354, George H. W. Bush administration cabinet members, United States Assistant Attorneys General for the Office of Legal Counsel, People of the Central Intelligence Agency, Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni, George Washington University Law School alumni, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles with bare URLs for citations from October 2022, Articles with PDF format bare URLs for citations, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles with failed verification from May 2019, Wikipedia neutral point of view disputes from December 2020, All Wikipedia neutral point of view disputes, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0. He did two additional years of graduate study at Columbia, receiving a Master of Arts in government and Chinese studies in 1973. "[72] In 2003, he wrote an account of the investigation in his book, Firewall: The Iran-Contra Conspiracy and Cover-Up. watchdog finds political bias did not taint top officials running the FBI's Russia probe but documents errors", "Barr disputes key inspector general finding about FBI's Russia investigation", "Barr's handpicked prosecutor tells inspector general he can't back right-wing theory that Russia case was U.S. intelligence setup", "Justice Dept. [35], Barr enjoyed a "sterling reputation" among Republican and Democratic politicians alike. [188], On December 21, 2020, Barr announced federal charges against Mohammed Abouagela Masud for building the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103. 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 . As Walton saw it, Barr's "lack of candor" undermined Barr's "credibility and, in turn, the department's" arguments before the court. 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. [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. Firtash was a middleman for importing Russian natural gas into Ukraine and has said he was installed in that role by Russian organized crime boss Semion Mogilevich; Russian president Vladimir Putin reportedly agreed to the appointment. The committee subpoenaed Gore over the Trump administration's efforts to add a question on citizenship to the 2020 United States Census. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations. While at Columbia, Barr opposed anti-Vietnam War occupation protests by students on campus. Their tactics are fascistic." [70] According to Vox in December 2018, Barr supported an aggressive "law and order" agenda on immigration as attorney general in the Bush Administration. [265], On October 24, 2019, two sources told The New York Times that the Durham inquiry had been elevated to a criminal investigation. From 2010 until 2017, he advised corporations on government enforcement matters and regulatory litigation; he rejoined Kirkland and Ellis in 2017. [260][261] One British official with knowledge of Barr's requests observed, "it is like nothing we have come across before, they are basically asking, in quite robust terms, for help in doing a hatchet job on their own intelligence services. [297] After granting several pardons, Trump also labeled himself as the country's "chief law enforcement officer", a description usually reserved for the attorney general. For these reasons, numerous groups have called for Barr's resignation, including the New York City Bar Association. I mean, I'm the attorney general. [80][81] In 2000, when GTE merged with Bell Atlantic to become Verizon Communications, Barr became the general counsel and executive vice president of Verizon until he retired in 2008. In defense of the firing, Barr allegedly made numerous false claims about Atkinson's actions during his tenure. [10] The bank and the individuals in question were alleged to have broken U.S. sanctions on Iran, funnelling billions of dollars to Iran and helping fund its nuclear ambitions. Barr ordered the Department of Justice to adopt a new lethal injection protocol, consisting of a single drug (pentobarbital), and ordered execution dates to be set for five inmates in December 2019 and January 2020. [310] On February 14, 2020, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed an ethics complaint against Barr with the Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility and Office of the Inspector General, accusing Barr of "violating several Justice Department rules, guidelines and procedures". "[249] Trump ordered the intelligence community to cooperate with Barr's inquiry and granted Barr unprecedented full authority to declassify any intelligence information related to the matter. Flynn later attempted to withdraw his guilty plea, and had not been sentenced yet. Although Barr appointed Durham to investigate possible FBI wrongdoing in opening Crossfire Hurricane, Durham's prosecution of Sussmann portrayed the FBI as a victim, rather than a perpetrator, of wrongdoing. [57] Several sources have alleged that the CIA had been aware of BCCI's activities and its purchase of First American, but since the CIA, DIA, and the NSC utilized BCCI accounts for covert operations and since the Saudi's provided intelligence to the CIA from BCCI's illicit activities (see Safari Club), the CIA worked with Barr to prevent any investigation of BCCI, which was directed by Assistant Attorney General Robert Mueller since 1986 (other sources claim 1983). In a December 2019 opinion piece, former FBI director, CIA director and federal judge William Webster wrote of "a dire threat to the rule of law in the country I love". He graduated in 1977 with a Juris Doctor with highest honors. Attorney General William Barr takes the oath before he appears before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., July 28, 2020. ", "Mueller expressed misgivings to Barr about 4-page letter", "The evolution of the obstruction of justice dispute between Barr and Mueller", "Mueller Report Will Be Released Thursday, Justice Dept. So it was not a crime." Trump reportedly directed Barr to meet with Murdoch, and it was not immediately known what the men discussed, but CNN media analyst Brian Stelter wrote in his 2020 book about Fox News that silencing Napolitano was among the topics discussed. Attorney General: William Barr: February 14, 2019 (Confirmed February 14, 2019, 54-45) December 23, 2020 Deputy Attorney General: Jeffrey A. Rosen: May 22, 2019 . The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all legal matters. In it, Mueller complained that the summary "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of the Special Counsel's probe, adding, "There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. [59] The purpose of the DEA program was to collect "bulk logs of outgoing international phone calls from the United States to countries deemed to be linked to narcotics trafficking" through "issuing administrative subpoenas to phone companies"[60] According to USA Today, the program "provided a blueprint for far broader phone-data surveillance the government launched after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001". It was all bullshit." 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. Sonam Sheth Dec 14, 2020, 2:45 PM PST President Donald Trump with Attorney General William Barr. [291][292] Barr's rebuke of Trump's use of Twitter for interference in DOJ matters were seen as a rare departure from his usual unwavering support of the president. During both the 2016 and 2020 campaigns, Trump was noncommittal when asked if he would accept election results showing he had lost. Barr did not give a reason for Berman's firing. [13][14] Barr was the second of four sons, and his younger brother Stephen Barr is a professor of physics at the University of Delaware. [241] The remark echoed unsubstantiated claims made by Trump and his supporters that the Trump campaign had been unfairly targeted or spied on by the FBI; Trump described it as an "attempted coup". 2384). [342], Barr supports the death penalty, arguing that it reduces crime. [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. [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. [256][257] Barr sought information related to a conspiracy theory that had circulated among Trump allies in conservative media asserting Joseph Mifsud was a Western intelligence operative who was allegedly directed to entrap Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos in order to establish a false predicate for the FBI to open an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Barr rejected a plea deal. [16] She holds a master's degree in library science, and together they have three daughters:[364] Mary Barr Daly, Patricia Barr Straughn,[365] and Margaret (Meg) Barr. WASHINGTON (AP) Attorney General William Barr defended the aggressive federal law enforcement response to civil unrest in America as he testified for the first time before the House. [111], In May 2019, three months into his tenure as attorney general, the Associated Press characterized Barr as a champion and advocate for Trump. [282], On May 18, 2020, Barr commented on prior investigations into potential collusion between Trump and Russia stating: "What happened to the president in the 2016 election and throughout the first two years of his administration was abhorrent it was a grave injustice and it was unprecedented in American history the law enforcement and intelligence apparatus of this country were involved in advancing a false and utterly baseless Russian collusion narrative against this president. Barr was known as a strong defender of presidential power. Hearing . [156][164][165], In September 2020, Barr asserted liberals were "projecting", referring to "all this bullshit about how the president is going to stay in office and seize power? Walton questioned if the report's redactions were actually "self-serving" to avoid conflict with Barr's statements, and if the Justice Department used "post-hoc rationalizations" to defend Barr. In a five-month period from October 2018 to February 2019, Barr donated five times (around $10,000 every month) for a total of $51,000. [216][217][218][219][220][221] The New York Times reported instances in which the Barr letter omitted information and quoted sentence fragments out of context in ways that significantly altered the Mueller findings, including:[216], According to the Associated Press, Barr misrepresented the report in several ways, saying the report gave no indication that Congress could make a determination on obstruction of justice (the report specifically stated "that Congress may apply obstruction laws") and that "these reports are not supposed to be made public" (when DOJ regulations give the AG wide authority in releasing reports such as this one). People viewed . 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. [93][94], In June 2018, Barr sent an unsolicited 20-page memo to senior Justice Department officials. 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). [300] Trump had publicly called for the charges to be dropped against Flynn. [230], During May 1, 2019, testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barr stated he accepted Mueller's interpretation of the law that was applied in the Report. There 'was no evidence not even remotely indicating Obama or Biden did anything wrong,' as one person put it. Ultimately, Cohen's conviction was not changed. [78] In a 1993 op-ed, he wrote, "The notion that there are sympathetic people out there who become hapless victims of the criminal-justice system and are locked away in federal prison beyond the time they deserve is simply a myth. [207] In USA Today it was described that Mueller "expressed his differences with Barr". [28], In May 1990, Barr was appointed Deputy Attorney General, the official responsible for day-to-day management of the department. First, Barr supported Trump's firing of Comey on May 9, 2017. This is organized destruction. He was appointed to that position by President Donald Trump after Jeff Sessions resigned at Trump's request. 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. [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. [358] Derek Chauvin, the officer who murdered Floyd, was willing to agree to third-degree murder and serve more than ten years in prison. William Barr, who served as attorney general during the second half of the Trump administration, says in a new book that former President Donald Trump considered dumping him before he was even . [78] Barr expressed his opposition to efforts to end mandatory minimum sentencing. His Attorney General Nominee Usually Agrees", "How William Barr, now serving as a powerful ally for Trump, has championed presidential powers", "The real reason Bill Barr is defending Trump", "Barr doesn't expect investigations of Obama, Biden stemming from Russia review", "Barr Says He Doesn't Expect Criminal Probe Into Obama or Biden", "The Trump Administration Is on a Capital Punishment Killing Spree", "Barr personally ordered removal of protesters near White House, leading to use of force against largely peaceful crowd", "Clash Over U.S. Attorney Who Investigated Trump Associates Sets Off Crisis", "Turkish Bank Case Showed Erdogan's Influence With Trump", "Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud", "The story behind AP report that caused Trump to throw lunch", "Donald Barr, 82, Headmaster And Science Honors Educator", "Meet William Barr: What you need to know about the possible once and future attorney general", "U.S. Attorney General William Barr decries attacks on religious freedom in Notre Dame speech", "People Are Trying to Figure Out William Barr. [239] Previously in April 2019, Barr said that his decision to not charge Trump was made "in consultation with the Office of Legal Counsel and other department lawyers". January 6 committee chairman said on Sunday that the panel has "had conversations" with William Barr, the former attorney general who later called claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election . [230] The matter then fell to the House of Representatives at-large for a contempt of Congress vote. [96][97][98] He characterized the obstruction investigation as "fatally misconceived" and "grossly irresponsible" and "potentially disastrous" to the executive branch. [75][76] Barr has been described as a "leader of the parole-abolition campaign" in Virginia. [53], In October 1992, Barr appointed then retired New Jersey federal judge Frederick B. Lacey to investigate the Department of Justice and the Central Intelligence Agency handling of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) Iraqgate scandal. [26] He wrote an advisory opinion justifying the U.S. invasion of Panama and arrest of Manuel Noriega. 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. Bua's 1993 report found the Department of Justice guilty of no wrongdoing in the matter. He directed the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team to assault the prison, which resulted in rescuing all hostages without loss of life. After all, he had been an attorney general before. [268][269] On August 14, 2020, Clinesmith pleaded guilty to a felony violation of altering an email used to maintain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants, having added the phrase "not a 'source'" to the original email.

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