01.16.19

Barr Has the Experience, Integrity, Total Commitment to be Attorney General

‘The president has made an outstanding choice. The Judiciary Committee continues its hearings today. I look forward to their continued review of this nomination, and then to it being reported here to the floor. The American people deserve the best. That is just what Attorney General Bill Barr would be.’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding the president’s nominee for Attorney General of the United States, Bill Barr:

“Even in the midst of this political climate, the president’s nominee for Attorney General delivered an impressive performance during the first day of his hearings before the Judiciary Committee. Senators were reminded exactly why he won bipartisan admiration from this body back in 1991 and was confirmed as President George H. W. Bush’s Attorney General without any opposition.

“Now, as Mr. Barr himself acknowledged in his testimony yesterday, times have changed.  But the core principles that our nation’s Attorney General must uphold have not. As the nominee testified yesterday, quote, ‘the American people have to know that there are places in the government where the rule of law -- not politics -- holds sway … the Department of Justice must be such a place.’ Those are the words of the right man for this job.

“His testimony made clear what he sees as key priorities for the Department of Justice: Building on past progress in preventing violent crime, enforcing and improving our nation’s immigration laws, and protecting the integrity of our electoral system. He stated definitively where his loyalties lie: With, quote, ‘the rule of law, the Constitution, and the American people. That is how it should be. That is how it must be. And, if you confirm me, that is how it will be.’

“Experience, integrity, and total commitment. The president has made an outstanding choice. The Judiciary Committee continues its hearings today. I look forward to their continued review of this nomination, and then to it being reported here to the floor. The American people deserve the best. That is just what Attorney General Bill Barr would be.”

Related Issues: Nominations, Law Enforcement