Chuck Schumer: ‘I Don’t Have Much Faith in Barr,’ Trump Chose Him for Views on Presidential Power

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said President Donald Trump chose his attorney general nominee William Barr for his “views on presidential power.”

“I don’t have much faith in Barr. I’ve come out against him getting this job,” Schumer said to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow tonight. “Because when you have a president like Donald Trump who has so little respect for the rule of law so little respect for the Justice Department as a rule of law body and seems to want to manipulate justice to help him and hurt his friends, you need an attorney general who unequivocally will state certain things and Barr fudged them all.”

The senator continued by saying Barr failed to answer whether or not he will “allow the entire Mueller report to be made public to the Congress and to the American public.”

“You have to ask him and get a yes once, will you interfere in any way with the Mueller investigation?” He added. “I think Trump didn’t choose him just because he’s a fine lawyer. I think he chose him because of his views on presidential power and I think that given who Trump is, that unless Barr unequivocally with no loopholes answers the questions, he shouldn’t be attorney general. I’ll vote against him.”

Barr, who served as attorney general for George H. W. Bush, is known for his broad view of executive branch powers.

Earlier in the segment, Schumer described Trump’s relationship to Russian President Vladimir Putin as “acquiescence and bootlicking of whatever Putin seems to want.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.

[image via screengrab]

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