[114], On May 1, 2019, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd told the House Oversight Committee that Barr had instructed Justice Department official John Gore to refuse a subpoena to testify in front of the committee. "[52] Barr's report influenced the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which aimed to increase the incarceration rate. Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will become acting attorney general, Trump said. Born and raised in New York City, Barr was educated at the Horace Mann School, Columbia University, and George Washington University Law School.
How Barr Finally Turned on Trump - The Atlantic He's Busy Stockpiling Power", "Two-Time Columbia Graduate William Barr Confirmed as U.S. Attorney General | Columbia News", "William Barr Senate Questionnaire Answers", "Attorney General Nominee Barr Helped Navigate CIA Through Rocky Times With Congress", Barr, William P.: Files, 19821983 REAGAN LIBRARY COLLECTIONS, "Barr Pressed Durham to Find Flaws in the Trump-Russia Investigation", "Review An indictment of William Barr's tenure as attorney general", "For Nominee Barr, an Unusual Path to Attorney General's Office", "Barr's Playbook: He Misled Congress When Omitting Parts of Justice Dep't Memo in 1989", "Political Lifeguard at the Department of Justice", "Acting Justice Dept. [79] Opus Dei has denied that Barr is a member. [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. Initially, four career prosecutors had recommended that Stone serve a jail term of between seven and nine years. As a child, he attended a Catholic grammar school, Corpus Christi School, and then the non-sectarian Horace Mann School. William Barr, 69 and a veteran of 40 years in Washington, was confirmed one year ago as attorney general, a position with broad influence over the administration of justice and broad sway. [176], After Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Trump refused to concede, baseless claims of voting fraud circulated. 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. From 1994 to 2008, Barr did corporate legal work for GTE and its successor company Verizon Communications, which made him a multimillionaire. 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. [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). Sonam Sheth Dec 14, 2020, 2:45 PM PST President Donald Trump with Attorney General William Barr. 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. Former Trump administration Attorney General Bill Barr says that the Department of Justice charges filed against former President Donald Trump for mishandling classified documents are not part of . Trump had announced in March 2018 that diGenova and Toensing would join his legal defense team during the Mueller investigation; the appointments were withdrawn days later, though Trump personal attorney Jay Sekulow said they might assist in other legal matters.
Former Trump attorney general Bill Barr gives evidence before the Jan 6 AP Photo/Evan Vucci President Donald Trump announced Monday that Attorney General William. [70] According to Vox in December 2018, Barr supported an aggressive "law and order" agenda on immigration as attorney general in the Bush Administration. Some officials, notably national security advisor Susan Rice, were so concerned by the accounts that they requested Flynn's identity be unmasked, per procedure.
- Confirmation Hearing on The Nomination of Hon. William Pelham Barr to [324][325][326], Barr testified to the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack behind closed doors on June 2, 2022. American lawyer and government official William Barr served as attorney general of the United States during the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Richard Pilger, director of the Election Crimes Branch at the DOJ Criminal Division, stepped down from that position in protest hours later. Goes All In, Embracing Texas Judge's Obamacare Takedown", "William Barr directs DOJ official to defy congressional subpoena to testify about 2020 census", "House Dems to hold Barr, Ross in contempt over census question; The Oversight Committee wants key documents by Thursday", "House holds William Barr, Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress", "House votes to hold Attorney General Barr, Commerce Secretary Ross in contempt for failing to comply with subpoena on 2020 Census", "Barr sides against civil rights officials in declining to bring charges against NYPD officer in Garner case", "US justice department resumes use of death penalty and schedules five executions", "William Barr Says He's Recused From Epstein Case Over Legal Conflict", "Jeffrey Epstein Dead in Suicide at Jail, Spurring Inquiries", "Barr Says Epstein's Suicide Resulted From 'Perfect Storm of Screw-Ups', "Witness Statement of Victor Micolajovich Shokin", "Prosecutors flagged possible ties between Ukrainian gas tycoon and Giuliani associates", "WSJ News Exclusive | Rudy Giuliani's Contacts With Former Ukrainian Officials Sought", "Trump Won't Hire 2 Lawyers Whose Appointments Were Announced Days Ago", "Why Giuliani Singled Out 2 Ukrainian Oligarchs to Help Look for Dirt", "Oligarch Firtash linked to Giuliani pals' gas deals and Biden research", "To Win Giuliani's Help, Oligarch's Allies Pursued Biden Dirt", "SPECIAL REPORT-Putin's allies channelled billions to Ukraine oligarch", "Exclusive: How a Ukrainian Oligarch Wanted by U.S. Trump says Barr resigning, will leave before Christmas. [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. 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". Mueller attended the weddings of two of Barr's daughters, and their wives attend Bible study together. Second, he questioned the appointments of some of Mueller's prosecutors due to political donations they had made to the Clinton campaign.
Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud [67], On December 24, 1992, during his final month in office, Bush, on the advice of Barr, pardoned Weinberger,[17][68] along with five other administration officials who had been found guilty on charges relating to the IranContra affair. 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. [342], Barr supports the death penalty, arguing that it reduces crime. As Walton saw it, Barr's "lack of candor" undermined Barr's "credibility and, in turn, the department's" arguments before the court. [17][18], Barr worked for the CIA from 1971 to 1977 while attending graduate school and law school. Barr's comments followed criticism of the department for its poor handling of the sentencing of Roger Stone after DOJ actions seen as favorable to Trump and his allies. in Its Own Russia Investigation", "Barr says Russia probe was started 'without basis', "Trump and Barr have been urging foreign governments to help them investigate the Mueller probe's origins", "Barr's Requests for Foreign Help Prompt Backlash in Australia, Italy, U.K.", "Barr and a Top Prosecutor Cast a Wide Net in Reviewing the Russia Inquiry", "Letter from Senate Committee on the Judiciary to prime ministers of Australia, Italy and UK", "Barr's review of Russia investigation wins Trump's favor. [336] Three months later, Ayer claimed Barr "is on a mission to install the president as an autocrat". [349][350], Barr supports a federal ban on marijuana. Giuliani promoted the statement in television appearances as purported evidence of wrongdoing by Biden. Barr also asserted Durham "exposed really dreadful behavior by the supervisors in the FBI, the senior ranks of the FBI, who knowingly use this information to start an investigation of Trump," though the Sussmann case did not relate to how the FBI Crossfire Hurricane investigation began. Joe Hockey, the Australian ambassador to the United States, sharply rejected Graham's characterization of Downer. BCCI managed to circumvent Federal Reserve controls to buy the bank holding company First American Bankshares, allowing direct access to American financial institutions. [51], Barr said in the report, "The benefits of increased incarceration would be enjoyed disproportionately by black Americans. [184] Trump was also angered by news that Barr had followed Justice Department policy by not disclosing during the campaign that Joe Biden's son Hunter had since 2018 been under criminal investigation, initially on suspicion of money laundering but later for tax matters. 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. DiGenova and Toensing obtained a September 2019 statement[124] from Shokin that made false assertions about corruption by Biden. [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". Barr reportedly raised doubts multiple times about the validity of the charges against Cohen, including requesting the Office of Legal Counsel to draft a memo with legal arguments which could have helped Cohen's case. A day later, Barr confirmed Graham's account, stating that he had "established an intake process" for information on Ukraine, including from Giuliani, while citing an "obligation to have an open door" policy on receiving information. [156] The Wall Street Journal reported in September 2020 that Barr told federal prosecutors to consider charging violent protestors with plotting to overthrow the US government. [14], In February 2019, as their father awaited Senate confirmation for his appointment as attorney general, Mary left her post at the Department of Justice as the Trump Administration's point woman on the opioid crisis and took a position at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Treasury Department's financial crimes unit. [315] In November 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani figured in an SDNY investigation into multiple possible felonies. 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.
Contentious 5-hour House hearing with AG William Barr concludes [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. 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. The United States attorney general ( AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. Omission of words and a full sentence that twice suggested there was knowing and complicit behavior between the Trump campaign and Russians that stopped short of coordination, Omission of language that indicated Trump could be subject to indictment after leaving office, to suggest that Trump was cleared in full, This page was last edited on 26 June 2023, at 03:18. "[102], On December 7, 2018, President Donald Trump announced Barr's nomination to succeed Jeff Sessions. . As deputy attorney general, Barr authorized an FBI operation in 1991 which freed hostages at the Talladega federal prison. [10] Berman learned of this through press reports and declined to resign; the next day, Barr asked Trump to fire Berman, which he promptly did. [8][134] Barr reacted to the incident by falsely claiming that pepper balls (used by law enforcement on protesters) were not chemical irritants (pepper balls contain pelargonic acid vanillylamide, a chemical irritant; while the product's manufacturer, and the Justice Department, both consider pepper balls a chemical irritant). The documents, on the planned (and eventually scrapped) citizenship question in the 2020 census, were withheld due to a "deliberative process" and "attorney-client communications", according to the Justice Department. Barr was born in New York City in 1950. [335], During a June 2020 House Judiciary Committee testimony, Donald Ayer, a former deputy attorney general for whom Barr worked during the George H. W. Bush presidency, asserted that Barr "poses the greatest threat, in my lifetime, to our rule of law and to public trust in it". [3], In June 2020, amid the George Floyd protests against racism and police brutality, Barr said he rejected the view "that the law enforcement system is systemically racist". IRS whistleblower in Hunter Biden probe says he was stopped from pursuing investigative leads into "dad" or the "big . [111], In May 2019, three months into his tenure as attorney general, the Associated Press characterized Barr as a champion and advocate for Trump. [9][10] On December 1, 2020, Barr stated FBI and Justice Department investigations found no evidence of irregularities that would have changed the outcome of the presidential election.
Barr Is Said to Be Weighing Whether to Leave Before Trump's Term Ends On November 2, 2020, the day before the presidential election, New York magazine reported that: there has been no evidence found, after 18 months of investigation, to support Barr's claims that Trump was targeted by politically biased Obama officials to prevent his election.
William Barr Facts | Britannica [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. [113] On May 2, the department conducted a filing with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to nullify the entire law, arguing that the removal of the provision on individual mandate results in the entire law becoming unconstitutional. Since 2014, Firtash had been fighting extradition to the United States under a federal indictment while he was living in Austria after being arrested there and released on $155 million bail, and diGenova and Toensing sought to have Barr drop the charges. CNN reported that investigators sought information about several online accounts relating to threats against senator Mitch McConnell. [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. Barr's efforts were reportedly stemmed by the prosecutors of the Southern District of New York. [248] Subsequently, Trump retweeted a far-right pundit who said the FBI had "no leadership" and that Wray was "protecting the same gang that tried to overthrow the president in an illegal coup". "[100] Democrats later characterized the memo as Barr's "job application" for the attorney general position.
Attorney General: William Pelham Barr - United States Department of Justice 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. [353], Barr is a proponent of the unitary executive theory, which holds that the President has broad executive powers. Archived from the original on October 14, 2020. Who has Attorney General William Barr pardoned? [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. Those facing scrutiny suspect he's chasing conspiracy theories", "Italy Did Not Fuel U.S. [366] Her husband, however, continued to work in the Justice Department's National Security Division. [352], Barr donated $55,000 to a political action committee that backed Jeb Bush during the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries and $2,700 to Donald Trump during the general election campaign. [162] Despite assertions of the threat posed by antifa from Trump, Barr and others, the Department of Homeland Security reported in October 2020 that white supremacists posed the top domestic terrorism threat, which FBI director Christopher Wray confirmed in March 2021, noting the bureau had elevated the threat to the same level as ISIS. [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. Secular forces and their allies have marshaled all the forces of mass communication, popular culture, the entertainment industry, and academia, in an unremitting assault on religion and traditional values. [37] However, Barr said during his 1991 confirmation hearings that Roe was "the law of the land" and that he did not have "fixed or settled views" on the subject. Barr clarified on the intention of his letter both in his phone call with Mueller and in another letter to Congress that his letter had not been intended to be a summary of the report, but rather a description of the principal findings of the report. [303][304][305], Barr's firing of Geoffrey Berman was widely condemned,[306] "[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. [181][182][183] Barr waited until December 1, 2020, to state that the Justice Department "has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election". However, if we want a federal approach, if we want states to have their own laws, then let's get there and let's get there the right way."
William Barr was confirmed as U.S. attorney general. Here's what to [44] In an effort to prioritize violent crime, Barr reassigned three hundred FBI agents from counterintelligence work to investigations of gang violence. A 1999 criminology study criticized Barr's analysis, saying "so complex an issue as the relationship between crime and punishment cannot be addressed through so simplistic an analysis as a negative correlation between the two very aggregated time series of crime rates and incarceration rates. [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. He continued to defend Trump by repeating debunked "Russiagate" conspiracy theories about the origins of the Russia investigation by stating that the case against Sussmann "crystallized the central role played by the Hillary campaign in launching, as a dirty trick, the whole Russiagate collusion narrative." 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. [347] Barr has been attributed as playing a key role in the administration's execution spree. Barr became attorney general for the second time in 2019. Who was attorney general before Barr? [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". [126][127][128][129], In December 2019, Barr said that communities that do not show the "respect and support that law enforcement deserves might find themselves without the police protection they need. Wall Street Journal. A look inside the attorney general's tumultuous term", "Bill Barr and early Facebook exec Ted Ullyot planning law firm", "Barr still pushing lies about Russia probe despite Sussmann ruling", "Barr's extraordinary defense of the John Durham probe", "Trump-Era Prosecutor's Case Against Democratic-Linked Lawyer Goes to Trial", "Takeaways from the prime-time January 6 committee hearing", "Jan. 6 Hearing: Barr Says Trump Was 'Detached From Reality', "Barr Dismisses Trump's Request for a Special Master", "Opinion | Eric Holder: William Barr is unfit to be attorney general", "Former FBI and CIA chief calls Trump and Barr's attacks against FBI a 'dire threat' to rule of law", "Former FBI, CIA Director calls AG Barr's remarks about FBI 'troubling in the extreme', "More than 2,000 former DOJ officials call on Attorney General William Barr to resign", "65 faculty members from AG Barr's law school alma mater say he has 'failed to fulfill his oath of office', "U.S. attorney general Barr blasted by Democrats as 'president's fixer', "Deputy Attorney General Under George H.W. His mother is of Irish Catholic ancestry. [184][185][186] On December 14, 2020, Trump announced on Twitter that Barr was stepping down from his post on December 23. Here's what to expect on crime, immigration and marijuana. 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. [89][90][91], In February 2017, Barr argued Trump was justified in firing Acting Attorney General Sally Yates over her refusal to defend Executive Order 13769. [249] Former FBI Director James Comey rebutted Barr, saying "The FBI doesn't spy. [74] Barr said Walsh was a "head-hunter" who "had completely lost perspective". [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. [281], Barr defended Trump's April 2020 firing of intelligence community inspector general Michael K. Atkinson. [19] He was first hired as a summer intern for two years. 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 . [340], As Deputy Attorney General, Barr together with others at the Department of Justice successfully led the effort for the withdrawal of a proposed Department of Health and Human Services rule that would have allowed people with HIV/AIDS into the United States. "[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. [223][224][225][failed verification], During a press conference, Barr said Mueller's report contained "substantial evidence" that Trump was "frustrated and angered" because of his belief that the "investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks"; however, the report gave no indication that Trump's frustrations with the investigation would mitigate obstructing behavior. The Judiciary Act was passed by Congress and signed by President George Washington on September 24, 1789, making the Attorney General position the fourth in the order of creation by Congress of those positions that have come to be defined as Cabinet level positions.
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