William Barr confirmation hearing: "I will not be bullied" — live updates – CBS News

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Senate Judiciary Committee members are grilling William Barr, President Trump’s nominee for attorney general, in his first day of confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill.

At the outset, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, the new chairman of the committee, told Barr he should expect to face questions about a memo he wrote that contained language critical of the special counsel’s investigation into whether President Trump obstructed justice.

“You will be challenged, You should be challenged. The memo, there will be a lot of talk about it, as there should be,” Graham said.

Barr has been questioned by multiple senators about his views of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Barr has repeatedly been pressed to make the case for how he will be independent as the head of the Justice Department, given the president’s repeated berating of former attorney general Jeff Sessions, along with top FBI officials. Here is one such exchange between Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and Barr.

DURBIN: “A number of my colleagues on both sides have asked, and I’ll bet you’ll hear more, questions along the lines of, what would be your breaking point? When would you pick up and leave? When is your Jim Mattis moment, when the president has asked you to do something that you think is inconsistent with your oath? Doesn’t that give you some pause as you embark on this journey?”

BARR: “Uh, it might give me pause if I was 45 or 50 years old, but it doesn’t give me pause right now. I had a very good life–I have a very good life. I love it. But I also want to help in this circumstance. And I am not going to do anything that I think is wrong, and I will not be bullied into doing anything I think is wrong, by anybody, whether it be editorial boards, or Congress, or the president. I’m going to do what I think is right.”

Source Article from https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/william-barr-senate-confirmation-hearing-attorney-general-watch-live-stream-today-2019-01-15/

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