William Barr took one step closer to being the next U.S. Attorney General today as Senators voted to limit debate and advance his nomination to an up-or-down vote, which is likely to happen Thursday
CNN:
The 55-to-44 vote split on partisan lines with only three Democrats voting to advance Trump's nominee. Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Doug Jones of Alabama and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona joined Republicans to support Barr's nomination. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote no.
Nearly all the Democrats running or considering running for president voted against advancing the nomination, though Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey did not vote.
NYT:
The fight over Mr. Barr’s nomination has centered on demands by Democrats that he pledge to make public any final report by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, describing the findings of his investigation, which is believed to be nearing an end. Mr. Barr pledged to be as transparent as possible, but he also said that he could not make any commitments, both because such a report might contain some information that must remain secret, such as grand-jury testimony, and because he did not know what Mr. Mueller might produce.
(...)
Democrats at Mr. Barr’s confirmation hearing were not satisfied with his evasions, and the Senate Judiciary Committee vote to send his nomination to the floor last week fell along partisan lines ...
“We’re all for transparency in the abstract,” Mr. Schumer said last week. “The question is, ‘Are you for transparency in probably the most important act he will take as attorney general when it comes to transparency?’ To merely say you’re for transparency doesn’t say much.”
Nevertheless, Mr. Barr is virtually certain to be confirmed. That would bring him back for a rare second stint in the same cabinet-level position that he held in a previous era ...
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Among other things, Mr. Barr had publicly declared in 2017 that he saw more reason to investigate Hillary Clinton over a conservative conspiracy theory involving a uranium deal the Obama administration had approved while she was secretary of state than to investigate any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
It also emerged that in June 2018, he had taken it upon himself to write a lengthy legal memo for the Trump administration, which he also shared with Mr. Trump’s outside legal team, arguing that Mr. Trump wielded unchecked power to “start or stop a law enforcement proceeding” and so Mr. Mueller should therefore not be permitted to investigate whether Mr. Trump committed obstruction of justice for pressuring the former F.B.I. director, James B. Comey Jr., to drop an investigation into a top aide.
But at his confirmation hearing in January, Mr. Barr walked back or qualified some of his early writings on executive power, putting greater emphasis on the Justice Department’s independence and legal limits on the presidency ...
Barr Clears Key Hurdle for Confirmation as Attorney General (NYT)
Senate votes to advance Attorney General nominee William Barr (CNN)