Bill Barr Confirmation Hearing

[dc2london]

Barr "likes"/approves of the current Special Counsel regulations. Somewhere Neal Katyal is like, "Damn right you do!"

[dc2london]

Whitehouse wants to know who paid Matt Whitaker $2mil for god knows what. Barr says he'd like to consult with OGE on that.
Whitehouse: If the department's money laundering folks looked at this whole operation, they'd see it as amateur

DAYUM

[dc2london]

Now Sheldon Whitehouse is explaining to a former (and, likely, future) Attorney General how to do laywer

[jkjacq]

I missed SO MUCH
silly job

[dc2london]

wow, joni, maybe a person's BAC has more to do with them committing vehicular manslaughter under the influence of alcohol than his immigration status

feckin racist

[jkjacq]

I'm really tired of the 'this illegal committed a horrendous crime so we must build a wall' AMERICAN CITIZENS commit far more crimes daily than anyone else.

[starbuck]

Jan 15, 2019 11:30:49 GMT -6 dc2london said:

wow, joni, maybe a person's BAC has more to do with them committing vehicular manslaughter under the influence of alcohol than his immigration status

feckin racist

Yeah that was...something.

I like having more women on the Committee. Maybe not her, tho.

[starbuck]

I mean everyone wants the perpetrators brought to justice, no matter their immigration status?

What's your point other than just being fucking racist...?

[jkjacq]

Shes really bringing out the scary brown people big guns

Drunk driving, human trafficking.

But lets avoid arms dealing Joni

[dc2london]

Joni wants us all to know that Iowa is rife with meth

[jkjacq]

Jan 15, 2019 11:35:36 GMT -6 dc2london said:

Joni wants us all to know that Iowa is rife with meth

Meth doesnt come across a border? Right

I mean they are making it in abandoned houses with perfectly legal sudafed.

And if that isnt the case quit making me show id to buy it

[starbuck]

He wants a "barrier system" at the border.

You mean a wall, bro? Just say wall.

[dc2london]

Senator Klobuchar is up! She jokes that his grandson has taken out a pen and paper to take notes during her questions

[dc2london]

So Barr thinks the shutdown for Wall is legit

[jkjacq]

Amy wants to know what he wants to say to DOJ furloughed employees

Barr build the wall

[dc2london]

Klobuchar: Hey, remember when we offered Trump all the money he wanted for barriers, in exchange for a DREAM Act, and he shut us down?

Barr: Uh...we need barriers?

[jkjacq]

We need money RIGHT NOW for the border!!!!

[jkjacq]

Amy pivots to FBI leadership

[dc2london]

Klobuchar points out that the criminal asset forfeiture from the Mueller investigation will probably exceed the cost of the investigation (including the ostrich jacket!)

[jkjacq]

I <3 Amy
Shes asking what he thinks is obstruction. Really trying to pin him down

[dc2london]

Klobuchar: A president persuading a witness to commit perjury or to change testimony would constitute obstruction of justice, as would impeding the availability of evidence, right?
Barr: Yes?
Klobuchar: What if a president tells somebody not to cooperate?
Barr: I'd need to see the specifics
Klobuchar: what if a president drafted a misleading statement pursuant to an investigation?
Barr: I'd have to know the specifics

WAAAATTTT

[dc2london]

How do you feel about Whitaker rejecting the DOJ ethics panel's advice to recuse?

Barr: um, who?

[jkjacq]

Shes so good!!

[jkjacq]

Where is he of counsel?

[dc2london]

[starbuck]

He's really floundering here

[jkjacq]

Moves to voting protections

[dc2london]

She's discussing her secure elections initiative, on which she's partnering with James Lankford. She's asking basically if he'll be supportive of their efforts.

He claims that election security will be a priority for him, but he also doesn't seem to have three words to rub together on the subject. So now Amy's shutting him down.

[dc2london]

now she's on Jamaal Khashoggi.

"Will the justice department jail reporters for doing their jobs?"

Barr: :;9 second pause:: "I can conceive of situations where, as a last resort, and where a news organization has run through a red flag or something like that, knows that they're putting out stuff that will hurt the country, there could be a situation where someone would be held in contempt"

Amy looks like she wants to smack him

[dc2london]

Barr was apparently on the board of Time Warner? Yikes.
He commits to Klobuchar that he will recuse from any forthcoming appeals to the DOJ Time Warner merger decision.

Amy follows up by asking him about his comments regarding "The president's prior animus toward the merger"

Barr: "I was concerned that the anti-trust division was not engaging with some of our arguments, and I got concerned that they weren't taking the merits as seriously as I hoped they would. I'm not sure why they acted the way they did."