2020 Dems call on Barr to resign

Several candidates vying for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination are demanding Attorney General William Barr’s resignation over his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

At least seven candidates have called on Barr to resign following revelations that Mueller wrote to Barr saying that the attorney general’s characterization of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office’s work and conclusions.” 

The calls also come as Barr testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee about his handling of the report.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called Barr a “disgrace” in a tweet, saying that the attorney general should resign over his “alarming efforts to suppress the Mueller report.” Warren also repeated calls for Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against President Trump.

AG Barr is a disgrace, and his alarming efforts to suppress the Mueller report show that he’s not a credible head of federal law enforcement. He should resign—and based on the actual facts in the Mueller report, Congress should begin impeachment proceedings against the President.

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) May 1, 2019

After grilling Barr during his testimony to the committee, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), a former prosecutor, told reporters: “Yes,” Barr should resign.

“He made a decision and didn’t review the evidence,” she said of Barr. “No prosecutor worth her salt would make a decision about whether the president of the United States was involved in an obstruction of justice without reviewing the evidence.” 

“This attorney general lacks all credibility and I think compromised the American public’s ability to believe that the is a purveyor of justice,” she added.

After questioning William Barr @senkamalaharris: “This Attorney General lacks all credibility and has I think compromised the American public’s ability to believe that he is a purveyor of justice.”

Q: “Should he resign?”

Harris: “Yes.” pic.twitter.com/hh8rBVHBjj

— CSPAN (@cspan) May 1, 2019

Fellow 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) said that the attorney general is “more interested in protecting the president than working for the American people,” in a tweet calling for his resignation. 

Attorney General Barr needs to resign. Today, he’s proven once again that he’s more interested in protecting the president than working for the American people. We can’t trust him to tell the truth, and these embarrassing displays of propaganda have to stop.

— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) May 1, 2019

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who also questioned Barr during the testimony, sent a release to campaign supporters saying he is calling on Barr to resign “immediately.”

“The Attorney General of the United States has a duty to the Constitution, the law, and the American people — not to the occupant of the Oval Office,” Booker said. “William Barr has shown with actions in his handling of the Mueller Report’s release and with words in his testimony to Congress today that he’s put his political loyalty to Donald Trump before his duty to our country.”

“I have no confidence in Barr’s ability to continue leading the Justice Department,” he added.

And in a Tuesday night tweet, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro accused Barr of a cover-up, saying he should either resign or face impeachment.

Attorney General Barr willfully misled the American people to cover up attempted crimes by Donald Trump. He should resign his position or face an impeachment inquiry immediately. https://t.co/dTKCMccF7X

— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) April 30, 2019

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke also tweeted that Barr should resign, saying he “has failed in his responsibility to our country” and “is not fit to serve as Attorney General.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), another 2020 candidate, has also criticized Barr, but said he was not sure whether the attorney general should leave his post. 

Sanders called Barr’s handling of the Mueller report “outrageous” but said, “I don’t know if he should resign or not.”

“You don’t need an attorney general who is not being honest or who is not being forthcoming in giving the American people what they need to know,” the 2020 presidential candidate said in an interview on SiriusXM. “This is outrageous, but I gotta tell you, this is nothing new for the Trump administration.”  

Attorney General Barr’s handling of the Mueller report has been a disaster. This is what I feared and why I opposed his nomination. I look forward to Special Counsel Mueller’s testimony and believe Congress must continue to investigate whether the president obstructed justice.

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) May 1, 2019

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who launched his 2020 campaign last week, said late Wednesday that Barr should resign, telling reporters that he has lost the “confidence of the American people.”

NEW: @JoeBiden says AG Barr should resign pic.twitter.com/boQOxkWzxK

— Bo Erickson (@BoKnowsNews) May 2, 2019

Barr has faced scrutiny from Democrats over his four-page memo summarizing the Mueller report. In the memo, sent to members of Congress weeks before the public release of the redacted report, Barr wrote that Mueller did not find evidence of criminal conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign. The attorney general also said that he would not pursue an obstruction of justice charge against the president.

It was revealed Tuesday that Mueller sent Barr a letter in March complaining that the attorney general’s letter mischaracterized the investigation and created “public confusion about critical aspects of the results.”

Barr told lawmakers during his Wednesday testimony that he did not review the underlying evidence in the report before making his determination on obstruction of justice. 

Justin Wise contributed to this report, which was updated at 11:50 p.m.