Trump Says He's Nominating Bill Barr for Attorney General

President Donald Trump said today that he would nominate Bill Barr to serve as attorney general.

Barr served as attorney general under George H.W. Bush's from 1991 to 1993.

If the Senate approves his nomination, he'll be taking over for acting-Attorney General Matthew Whitaker.

As the next attorney general, Barr would oversee policy development on hot-button issues such as criminal justice reform and immigration, and would supervise the intensifying special counsel probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Barr has criticized aspects of the Russia investigation, including suggesting that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, hired too many prosecutors who had donated to Democratic campaigns.

Barr has also defended Trump’s calls for a new criminal investigation into his defeated 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, including over a uranium mining deal the Obama administration approved when she was secretary of state.

—Sara E. Murphy

(Photo Credit: Kirkland & Ellis / Public Domain)