Washington (CNN) – President Donald Trump was startled Tuesday as he watched television coverage of his nominee for attorney general describing a warm relationship with the special counsel Robert Mueller in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to three people familiar with the matter.
During the first day of his confirmation hearing, William Barr described telling the President the first time he met him in June 2017 that he was friends with Mueller, referring to him on a first name basis.
“I told him how well I knew Bob Mueller and that the Barrs and Muellers were good friends and would be good friends when this was all over,” Barr said. “Bob is a straight-shooter and should be dealt with as such.”
While Barr said during his hearing that Trump “was interested” in hearing about the friendship, the details that emerged this week caught the President off guard, the three sources said. He bristled at Barr’s description of the close relationship, complaining to aides he didn’t realize how much their work overlapped or that they were so close.
……..
“I have known Bob Mueller for 30 years,” Barr said Tuesday. “We worked closely together throughout my previous tenure at the Department of Justice under President Bush. We’ve been friends since. And I have the utmost respect for Bob and his distinguished record of public service. And when he was named special counsel, I said his selection was ‘good news’ and that, knowing him, I had confidence he would handle the matter properly. And I still have that confidence today.”
On Tuesday, Barr repeatedly sought to reassure senators that he would not interfere with Mueller’s investigation, claiming he wouldn’t be “bullied” into doing anything he deemed improper.
…….
- Discussion
-
New — President Trump was startled as he watched Bill Barr describe his warm relationship with Robert Mueller, bristling at his glowing remarks and telling people he didn’t realize how much their work overlapped. https://t.co/fAdKh1Px61
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 17, 2019
This will end well. https://t.co/e7YFS7TGEc
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) January 18, 2019
Barr has not proven himself to be in line with Trump for the most part. So why did Trump nominate him? I should think as a supposedly successful businessman, he (or more likely, his lackeys) would have investigated/vetted Barr thoroughly before nominating him for AG. So Trump shouldn’t be “startled” by anything that is revealed about Barr now. So why wasn’t this and the rest known by Trump before the hearings?
Or maybe Trump did know. As I guessed before, perhaps Trump misses having Jeff Sessions to bully and blame for everything. So he needs another AG to be the scapegoat. All part of creating the drama necessary for a reality tv presidency.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.