| William Barr | |
|---|---|
| Official portrait, 2019 | |
| 77th and 85th United States Attorney General | |
| In office February 14, 2019 – December 23, 2020 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
William Barr, in full William Pelham Barr, (born May 23, 1950, New York City), American lawyer and government official who served as attorney general of the United States during the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush (1991–93) and Donald Trump (2019–20). Barr was the second person in U.S. history to serve twice as attorney general (the first was John J. …
Barr served as the 77th United States attorney general under former President George H.W. Bush from November 1991 to January 1993. He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate.
The President of the United States has the authority to appoint U.S. Attorneys, with the consent of the United States Senate, and the President may remove U.S. Attorneys from office. In the event of a vacancy, the United States Attorney General is authorized to appoint an interim U.S. Attorney.
Merrick GarlandThe current attorney general is Merrick Garland....List of U.S. attorneys general.Attorney GeneralYears of serviceMerrick Garland2021-PresentJanet Reno1993-2001William Pelham Barr1991-1993Richard Lewis Thornburgh1988-199182 more rows
Leadership[hide]Recent Attorneys GeneralEric Holder2009-2015Barack ObamaLoretta Lynch2015-2017Barack ObamaJeff Sessions2017-2018Donald TrumpWilliam Barr2019-2020Donald Trump6 more rows
Attorneys General. While impeachment proceedings against cabinet secretaries is an exceedingly rare event, no office has provoked the ire of the House of Representatives than that of Attorney General. During the first fifth of the 21st century, no less than three Attorneys General have been subjected to the process.
He can be removed by the President at any time. He can quit by submitting his resignation only to the President. Since he is appointed by the President on the advice of the Council of Ministers, conventionally he is removed when the council is dissolved or replaced.
California Former Attorneys GeneralMatthew Rodriguez2021 – 2021John K. Van de Kamp1983 – 1991George Deukemejian1979 – 1983Evelle J. Younger1971 – 1979Thomas C. Lynch1964 – 197129 more rows
Alberto GonzalesOfficial portrait, 200580th United States Attorney GeneralIn office February 3, 2005 – September 17, 2007PresidentGeorge W. Bush31 more rows
United States Attorney GeneralReports toPresident of the United StatesSeatRobert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building Washington, D.C.AppointerPresident of the United States with United States Senate advice and consentTerm lengthNo fixed term13 more rows
William P. BarrBarr Confirmed As 85th Attorney General of the United States.Feb 14, 2019
Jeff SessionsOfficial portrait, 201784th United States Attorney GeneralIn office February 9, 2017 – November 7, 2018PresidentDonald Trump33 more rows
On March 12, 1993, Ms. Reno became the first woman and 78th attorney general. She went on to become the longest serving attorney general in the 20th century.Mar 16, 2021
William Barr, in full William Pelham Barr, (born May 23, 1950, New York City), American lawyer and government official who served as attorney general of the United States during the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush (1991–93) and Donald Trump (2019–20). Barr was the second person in U.S.
He became a partner in his law firm in 1985. In 1989 Barr left private practice to join the U.S. Justice Department. He was first appointed assistant attorney general, rose to deputy attorney general, and then became attorney general.
Barr argued that the firing of Comey was a “facially-lawful” exercise of “ Executive discretion” and that obstruction would not apply unless Trump had already been found guilty of an underlying crime. Such arguments were advanced by many Trump supporters as well as by advocates of increased presidential authority.
In June 2018 Barr, a private citizen with no formal ties to the U.S. government, sent an unsolicited 19-page memo to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. In it Barr disparaged Robert Mueller ’s investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He was particularly focused on the possibility of Mueller pursuing an obstruction of justice case against Pres. Donald Trump over Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey. Barr argued that the firing of Comey was a “facially-lawful” exercise of “ Executive discretion” and that obstruction would not apply unless Trump had already been found guilty of an underlying crime. Such arguments were advanced by many Trump supporters as well as by advocates of increased presidential authority.
While Barr presented Mueller’s conclusions as nothing less than a total exoneration of Trump, the report itself declared, “if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state.
On March 25 and March 27 Mueller sent letters to Barr asking him to release additional information from the report, as Barr’s summary “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of the investigation and had, in fact, created “public confusion about critical aspects” of its results.
Barr vowed that, if confirmed, he would recuse himself from matters related to the merger. On February 14, 2019, Barr was confirmed by the Senate in a vote that fell largely along party lines. He was sworn in hours later, becoming the second person in U.S. history to serve twice as attorney general.
During Barr's first term as attorney general, from 1991 to 1993, he made it harder for asylum-seekers to enter the United States. He sent immigration officers to foreign airports to screen people before they boarded planes to America.
Barr, who previously served as attorney general under the first President Bush, has embraced positions on immigration and crime that were also backed by Sessions, a former federal prosecutor and U.S. senator from Alabama. But the two men are not identical in their views, said John Malcolm, vice president of the Institute for Constitutional ...
Sessions made it tougher for migrants to seek asylum, forced immigration judges to speed up deportation hearings, enforced a "zero tolerance" border policy that included separating migrants from their children, and helped Trump craft new versions of the travel ban after it was blocked in the courts.
A new 'openness' to criminal justice reform. Barr has historically supported mandatory minimum sentences and other tough-on-crime policies. But he may soften. As attorney general, Barr released a report in 1992 called "The Case for More Incarceration" as a plan to control soaring crime rates.
And he blocked Haitians fle eing a 1991 coup, arranging for them to be detained at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and screened for HIV and AIDS before they could claim asylum at the U.S. border. More recently, while in private law practice, Barr has defended Trump's travel ban that primarily affected Muslim countries.
William Barr, who served as attorney general under the first President Bush, was sworn in for a second tenure on Thursday. Andrew Harnik / AP file. Feb. 14, 2019, 12:00 PM PST. By Jon Schuppe. The Senate voted Thursday to approve William Barr as the next attorney general and successor to Jeff Sessions, who stepped down in November.
That apparent flexibility reflects the difference in political drive between Sessions, who was one of the Senate's far-right members, and Barr, who has never held elected office or served as a prosecutor on a case in court, said Brett Tolman, a former U.S. attorney in Utah who is now a criminal defense lawyer.
Barr’s long career in public life led some justice department veterans to welcome his nomination as attorney general in late 2018, given concerns about who else Trump might pick.
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 over public faith placed in it.
In May, Barr assigned a US attorney to investigate the origins of the Russia investigation, an obsession of Trump’s. In July, Barr traveled to London to ask intelligence officials there for help with the investigation. He made a similar trip to Italy in September.
Trump’s actions reflect his belief that he really has, as he said, an absolute right to intervene anywhere. Barr was once seen as a potential check on Trump’s overt desire to take command of the justice department, deploying its investigators and prosecutors at his whim and his will.
Those developments included Barr’s intervention in a case involving Trump’s friend Roger Stone, prompting the withdrawal of four career prosecutors; the resignation from government of a prominent former US attorney previously sidelined by Barr; and the issuance of a rare public warning by a federal judge about the independence of the courts.
Barr grew up in New York City, graduated from George Washington University law school, served in the Reagan administration and was attorney general under George HW Bush, establishing a record as a hardliner on gang violence and immigration and advocating for pardons in the Iran-Contra affair.
A cardboard cutout of William Barr is seen as protesters hold signs which read “Barr Coverup,” following the release of the Mueller report on 18 April 2019. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters.