Democratic Lawmakers Call On William Barr To Resign | HuffPost Latest News

Attorney General William Barr is facing calls to resign from Democratic lawmakers who take issue with the way he publicly presented the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller s investigation into the 2016 election.

The most dramatic call came Wednesday during Barrs Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) characterized the attorney general as a liar who served to protect President Donald Trump rather than to impartially analyze the Mueller report.

Being attorney general of the United States is a sacred trust, Hirono said. You have betrayed that trust; America deserves better. You should resign.

The previous evening, Hirono tweeted that Barr had lied to both the House and Senate and said he should not be the Attorney General.

AG Barr has lied to both the House and Senate. Lets call it what it is. Hes only in the job to protect @realDonaldTrump. As far as Im concerned, he should not be the Attorney General. pic.twitter.com/u5OEdLHLXV

Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) May 1, 2019","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Senator Mazie Hirono","author_url":"https://twitter.com/maziehirono","cache_age":86400,"description":"AG Barr has lied to both the House and Senate. Lets call it what it is. Hes only in the job to protect @realDonaldTrump. 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AG Barr has lied to both the House and Senate. Lets call it what it is. Hes only in the job to protect @realDonaldTrump . As far as Im concerned, he should not be the Attorney General. pic.twitter.com/u5OEdLHLXV
Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) May 1, 2019

Hirono is joined by fellow Democratic Judiciary Committee members Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Kamala Harris (Calif.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) in calling for Barrs resignation Wednesday.

Shes always thought he should resign since she didnt want him to have the job in the first place because of his expansive view of executive power, said a Klobuchar spokeswoman.

Other Democratic senators who have also done so include Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) both 2020 presidential candidates, along with Harris and Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Chris Van Hollen (Md.).

Amongst the other Democratic 2020 presidential candidates, former Vice President Joe Biden and former Housing and Urban Development secretary Julian Castro have joined the resignation calls.

But not all Judiciary Committee members are willing to go that far.

Im disappointed by Mr. Barr, whos been acting more like the Presidents defense attorney than our Attorney General, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) told HuffPost in a statement. I want to hear from Robert Mueller before deciding on whether I think Mr. Barr should resign.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said Barrs testimony was an exercise in dissembling, and with it, the attorney general confirmed that his goal is to help the President spin the facts rather than help the American people understand what happened. Thats why the Committee should hear directly from Special Counsel Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein.

At times, Barr has seemed more like Trumps personal lawyer than the attorney general. Before he turned over the Mueller report to Congress or the public, Barr was spinning its contents as favorably to Trump as possible including in ways that were misleading or inaccurate. He cleared Trump of obstruction of justice in the special counsels investigation into foreign interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, even though Mueller said he couldnt reach that conclusion.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Mueller sent a letter to Barr on March 27, taking issue with the way he was characterizing his findings.

Barr is supposed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, although he has objected to the format and structure and his participation remains up in the air.

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Some members of the House are already calling on him to step down.

The U.S. Attorney General must be the peoples lawyer, Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), a committee member, said Wednesday in a statement. I gave Mr. Barr the benefit of the doubt and hoped that he would follow his oath of office. He has not done so. Mr. Barr should do the last honorable thing available to him and resign.

A handful of House lawmakers, including Reps. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) have also called for Barrs resignation .

Igor Bobic contributed reporting.