POOL
Washington - 15 January 2018
1. Wide of hearing
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen Lindsey Graham, (R) South Carolina:
"Are you familiar with the January 11th New York Times article about FBI open inquiry into whether Trump was secretly working on behalf of Russians."
3. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General Nominee (off camera):
"Yes Mr. Chairman."
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen Lindsey Graham, (R) South Carolina:
"Would you promise me and this committee to look into this and tell us whether or not, in the appropriate way, a counterintelligence investigation was opened up by somebody at the FBI slash Department of Justice against President Trump."
5. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General Nominee:
"Yes, Mr. Chairman. I think there were a number of investigations as I understand it going on in the department."
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen Lindsey Graham, (R) South Carolina (off camera):
"You ever heard of such a thing in all the time you've been associated with the Department of Justice."
7. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General Nominee:
"I have never heard of that."
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen Lindsey Graham, (R) South Carolina:
"Are there rules about how you can do counterintelligence investigations?"
9. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General Nominee:
"I believe there are Mr. Chairman."
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen Lindsey Graham, (R) South Carolina (off camera):
"So if you want to open up one against the president. are there any checks and balances?"
11. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General Nominee:
"Not outside the FBI."
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen Lindsey Graham, (R) South Carolina (off camera):
"OK well we need to look at that."
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen Lindsey Graham, (R) South Carolina:
"Mueller. You say you've known Mueller a long time. Would you say you have a close relationship with Mr. Mueller?"
14. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General Nominee:
"I would say we were good friends."
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen Lindsey Graham, (R) South Carolina (off camera):
"Would you say that you understand him to be a fair minded person?."
16. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General Nominee:
"Absolutely."
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen Lindsey Graham, (R) South Carolina (off camera):
"Do you trust him to be fair to the president and the country as a whole?"
18. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General Nominee:
"Yes."
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen Lindsey Graham, (R) South Carolina (off camera):
"When his report comes to you, will you share with us as much as possible?"
20. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General Nominee:
"Consistent with the regulations and the law, yes."
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen Lindsey Graham, (R) South Carolina:
"Do you believe Mr. Mueller would be involved in a witch hunt against anybody?"
22. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General Nominee:
"I don't I don't believe Mr. Mueller would would be involved in a witch hunt."
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Dianne Feinstein, (D) California:
"Will you commit to no interference with the scope of the special counsel's investigation?"
24. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General Nominee:
"I will--the scope of the special counsel's investigation is set by his charter and by the regulations and I will ensure that those are maintained."
25. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Dianne Feinstein, (D) California (off camera):
"Will you commit to providing Mr. Muller with the resources, funds and time needed to complete his investigation?"
26. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General Nominee:
"Yes."
27. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Dianne Feinstein, (D) California (off camera):
"Will you commit to ensuring that Special Counsel Mueller is not terminated without good cause, consistent with department regulations?"
28. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General Nominee:
"Absolutely."
29. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Dianne Feinstein, (D) California (off camera):
"If special counsel Mueller makes any request, for instance, about the scope of his investigation or resources for his investigation will you commit to notifying Congress if you deny that request?"
30. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General Nominee:
"I think the regulations require notification of Congress if there's a disagreement."
31. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Dianne Feinstein, (D) California:
"Will you commit to making any report Mueller produces at the conclusion of his investigation available to Congress and to the public?"
32. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General Nominee:
"As I said in my statement I am going to make as much information available as I can, consistent with the rules and regulations that are part of the special counsel regulations."
33. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Dianne Feinstein, (D) California (off camera):
"Will you commit to making any report on the obstruction of justice public?"
34. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General Nominee:
"That's the same answer."
35. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Dianne Feinstein, (D) California:
"Your 2018 memo, in it, you stated and I quote 'the framers plan contemplates that the president's law enforcement powers extend to all matters including those in which he had a personal stake' end quote. Please explain what you base this conclusion on."
36. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General Nominee:
"Here's the Department of Justice right here and within the Department of Justice, enforcement decisions are being made. The president's over here. And I think of it as there are two categories of potential communications. One would be on a case that the president wants to communicate about that he has no personal interest in no political interest in. Let's say the president is concerned about Chinese stealing trade secrets and say I want you to go after this company that's being, you know, that may be stealing trade secrets. That's perfectly appropriate for him to do, to communicate that, but whether it's bona fide or not, as I said in my statement, the Department of Justice's obligation and the attorney general's obligation is not to take any action unless we reach, we, the Department of Justice and the attorney general, reach their own, independent conclusion that it is justified under the law. And, regardless of the instruction and that's my quote that everyone is saying you know siccing you know it's OK for the president to direct things. All I said was it's not per se improper for the president to call on the department for doing something, especially if he has no personal or political interest in it. The other category of cases and let's pick a you know an easy bad example would be if a member of the president's family or a business associate or something was under investigation and he tries to intervene. He--he's the chief law enforcement officer and you could say well he has the power. But that would be a breach of his obligation under the Constitution to faithfully execute the laws. So in my opinion if he attempts, if a president attempts to intervene in a matter that he has a stake in to try to protect himself that should first be looked at as a breach of his constitutional duties whether it also violates a statute depending on what statute comes into play and what all the facts are."
