Noah Feldman, Columnist

Take William Barr’s Serious Opening Statement Seriously

The attorney general nominee signals that his loyalties lie with Mueller and the Justice Department, and not just Trump.

January 15, 2019 at 6:42 PM UTC

By Noah Feldman

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

That’s a serious tie.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

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William Barr’s opening statement and early answers at his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday were carefully designed to emphasize one central fact: He’s not a hack or a politico, like so many other of President Donald Trump’s senior appointments — he’s a former U.S. attorney general under President George H.W. Bush.

For that reason, Barr said, he will be independent, should he be returned to the job. He’s at the end of his career, and seeks no “political future.” He is prepared, Barr insists, to “spend all his political capital” if and when necessary.