Senior Senate Republicans are privately warning the White House to take Attorney General William Barr’s frustrations with President Trump seriously, saying it would be a grave mistake to allow the top Justice Department official to resign.
Congressional Republicans, big fans of Barr’s efforts to reform Justice Department practices and examine the origins of the Russia investigation, are not concerned that Trump might fire Barr. But they take seriously the prospect the attorney general might quit. Knowledgeable GOP insiders say that Barr’s interview with ABC News, in which he said Trump’s tweets on Justice Department matters make it “impossible” for him to do his job, was not bluster.
“He’s very frustrated,” a senior Republican Senate aide told the Washington Examiner. “That was not made for TV.”
Direct communication with the White House has accompanied public comments praising Barr’s performance and urging Trump to keep him on the job, including a rare joint statement from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has spoken to the attorney general in recent days, GOP sources confirmed Thursday.
Graham was unavailable for comment. But Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a Republican member of the Judiciary Committee, said in remarks provided by his office that the overriding concern is keeping Barr in Trump’s Cabinet.
“Attorney General Barr is a dedicated public servant who has earned his reputation for character and integrity. I hope the president sees that he, the American people, and the rule of law are well-served by Barr’s work at the Department of Justice,” Sasse said.
This is not the first time Senate Republicans have fretted about the possible departure of Trump’s attorney general. Early in his first term, they cautioned the president not to fire Jeff Sessions. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, then Judiciary chairman, said he did not have time on the committee’s calendar to hold hearings to consider a new attorney general.
Graham is not making similar threats. Rather, he and other Senate Republicans worry that Trump would not find anyone willing to take the job, competent or otherwise, with less than a year left in the president’s term. Vetting a new attorney general and moving a nominee through the Judiciary Committee could take several months. Additionally, Republicans are nervous that the reforms and internal investigations Barr has undertaken would languish, if not unravel.
For many Republicans, Barr is the best hire Trump has made since winning the presidency, and they want him at the Justice Department for as long as Trump is in the White House.
“He’s the best attorney general we’ve ever had. As far as experience, knowledge, temperament, guts, everything,” Rep. Peter King of New York said. King is unsure “whether or not anyone else would have the guts to follow through on what Bill Barr has been doing,” he said. “I mean, looking into [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ] and looking into the origins of Russia investigation. All of those issues to me are central.”
