Bill Barr Set to Testify Before House Judiciary Committee Next Month

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Attorney General William Barr is set to testify before the House Judiciary Committee next month, after four federal prosecutors withdrew from the case against President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign adviser Roger Stone following the reversal of his recommended sentencing.

In a letter to Barr, the Committee confirmed his appearance on March 31.

“We are writing to confirm your agreement to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on March 31, 2020,” the letter read.

“In the interest of transparency, we wish to be candid about one set of concerns we plan to address at the hearing. Since President Trump took office, we have repeatedly warned you and your predecessors that the misuse of our criminal justice system for political purposes is both dangerous to our democracy and unacceptable to the House Judiciary Committee,” it continued. “Our Republican colleagues have warned the Department of the same. We have been consistent– and bipartisan–in this message for years.”

In your tenure as Attorney General, you have engaged in a pattern of conduct in legal matters relating to the President that raises significant concerns for this Committee. In the past week alone, you have taken steps that raise grave questions about your leadership of the Department of Justice. These include:

•   The ongoing developments following the removal of U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu, who oversaw the prosecutions of President Trump’s deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates, President Trump’s former national security advisor Michael Flynn, and President Trump’s longtime political adviser Roger Stone.

•   The creation of a new “process”  by which President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani can feed the Department of Justice information, through you, about the President’s political rivals.

•   The decision to overrule your career prosecutors and significantly reduce the recommended sentence for Roger Stone, who has been convicted for lying under oath, at the apparent request of the President–a decision that led to all four prosecutors handling the case to withdraw from the proceedings in protest.

These are not the only issues that our Committee intends to discuss with you when you appear, but they are enough to require our immediate attention.

We look forward to your testimony.

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