Senate Judiciary Committee members will question William Barr, President Trump's nominee to be the next attorney general, in hearings on January 15th and 16th.
Current committee chairman Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and his successor, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), issued a joint statement announcing the dates.
“The hearings for the five most recent Attorneys General lasted one to two days each,” Grassley and Graham said in the statement. “Mr. Barr will receive the same fair and thorough vetting process as the last five nominees to be Attorney General.”
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[S]everal Republican senators have said that their support for Barr depends on whether he will allow for the continuation of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Barr last year wrote a memo criticizing Mueller for a “fatally misconceived” legal theory of how Trump may have obstructed justice.
“Mueller should not be permitted to demand that the president submit to interrogation about alleged obstruction,” Barr wrote. “Apart from whether Mueller [has] a strong enough factual basis for doing so, Mueller’s obstruction theory is fatally misconceived.”
Senate Judiciary Committee sets confirmation hearing for Trump attorney general pick William Barr (WaPo)