Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., suggested Attorney General William Barr was worried about perjury as the reason for his stammering in response to one of her questions during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday.
Harris, a 2020 candidate for president and former California attorney general, asked Barr if President Trump or anyone else at the White House suggested to him that he open an investigation into anyone. Barr struggled to answer, saying at one point that he was “trying to grapple with the word ‘suggest.'”
During an interview Thursday on CNN, Harris said Barr asking her to repeat her question and hesitation to answer was indicative of delay tactics.
“He did not answer the question. First of all, he wanted it to be repeated which impressed me as he wanted time to really think about how he was going to answer the question. He obviously heard the question the first time. And then parsing words about ‘suggested.’ He did not answer the question,” Harris said. “I’m sure he didn’t, because he knew he was under oath and he knew he could potentially expose himself to perjury if he didn’t answer honestly.”
Asked if she wished she has pressed Barr further to answer the question, Harris said Barr was “clearly” not going to cooperate.
The exchange between Barr and Harris has been the subject of debate. Veteran journalist Bob Woodward said on MSNBC that it became evident that “a line clearly was crossed” between Barr and the White House. John Dean, former President Richard Nixon’s White House counsel, went as far as to suggest Barr actually did lie.
Later in her line of questioning, Harris also got Barr to admit that he decided not to charge Trump with obstruction of justice without seeing the underlying evidence of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation report.
After leaving the room, Harris told reporters that Barr “lacks all credibility” and called on him to resign.
Barr backed out of an appearance before the Democrat-led House Judiciary Committee on Thursday due to a disagreement over the format of questioning which would allow committee lawyers to ask Barr questions.
