The Senate today confirmed William Barr as attorney general, who had already led the Justice Department in the 1990s and who will oversee the independent investigation into the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
Barr, nominated for office in December by President Donald Trump, managed to gather the number of votes needed (54 for and 45 against) to become Secretary of Justice during a vote in the Senate plenary.
“A great victory for Justice and the rule of law in the United States: the Senate has just confirmed as attorney general William Barr, the outstanding (lawyer) nominated by the president @ realDonaldTrump”, reacted the spokeswoman of the White House, Sarah Sanders, in a tweet.
Barr, 68, will replace Matthew Whitaker, who has been acting interim director of the Justice Department since November, when Trump fired his first attorney general, Jeff Sessions.
His arrival in office comes at a time of growing rumors about the possibility that Mueller is reaching the end of his investigation into the Russian plot, and before a huge expectation among citizens to see the results.
The new attorney general has not guaranteed that he will make the Mueller report fully public once he obtains it, which has generated criticism among the Democratic opposition.
However, during his confirmation hearing in January, Barr promised that under his supervision “Bob (Mueller) will be allowed to complete his work,” and claimed independence from hypothetical “political interference.”
But he also hinted at points of agreement with Trump, expressing concern about what he considered the current “fixation” in the United States on the risk posed by Russia as a global adversary, something that “could obscure the danger of China.”
Barr was already general prosecutor between 1991 and 1993, under the presidency of the then Republican President George H. W. Bush. (EFEUSA) .-
