Thread by @Hegemommy

Good morning fellow law nerds and welcome to Day One of the Bill Barr confirmation hearings! I live here now.

#TeamLegal

If you are able to and watch to listen/watch here is a Judiciary Committee link

judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/nomin…

Also, here's Barr's letter saying he's totally chill about the Mueller investigation #TeamLegal

judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…

Senators are starting to fill the hearing room. Lindsey Graham wishes everyone a happy new year and introduces Chuck Grassley who no longer is the chair but still has a lot to say, apparently

Graham's first joke about nobody on the committee looking over 100 lands exactly as you would expect

This is the first time in the 200 year history of the Senate Judiciary Committee where Republicans will have women assigned to it. I have some thoughts on those assignments #TeamLegal

rewire.news/article/2019/0…

Graham also lets us know that the Judiciary Committee is going to be focused on social media so 🤷🏻‍♀️

Graham announces that Ben Sasse will have a package of ethics reforms that consists of stern words, aw-shucks postering, and resting frown face.

Graham thanks Trump for nominating someone "worthy of the job" of Attorney General and can "right the ship" over at Department of Justice.

Graham is going over Barr's resume. Here are some things I think he'll miss.

As AG in the Bush administration Barr helped implement some of the cruelest policies wrt to people living with HIV

Barr played a key role in thwarting a push to remove HIV from the list of communicable diseases prohibiting the travel or immigration to the United States of people living with HIV during his time as AG

I'll fill in more details as the hearing continues but now Sen. Feinstein is speaking.

Starts by noting that 25 years ago there were no women on Judiciary Committee.

Then transitions to the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings

Feinstein welcomes Sens. Ernst and Blackburn after that buildup which is pretty classic Feinstein comity + shade

Damnit I keep dropping the #TeamLegal tag and it's not even 8 am in the vortex 😂

Feinstein turns to the Mueller investigation and says that she is pleased that Barr has stated he thinks it is "vitally important" that Mueller get to finish this investigation.

#TeamLegal

Feinstein notes though that Barr has only focused on one aspect of the Mueller investigation and brings up that weird obstruction of justice memo. Says she believes Barr may be trying to undermine Mueller despite what he's said.

Feinstein remains focused on Barr's views of presidential power, especially the idea that the constitution doesn't really limit presidential power

#TeamLegal

Feinstein turns to Trump wanting to investigate and prosecute political rivals.

Do you have that strength and commitment to be independent of those White House pressures you will face, Feinstein closes

And now Hatch is here to introduce Barr.

Hatch and Barr are super tight. Hatch is giving some bio information so here's a good time to supplement

Barr defended the indefinite detention of a group of HIV+ Haitian refugees who were placed in severely squalid conditions in what one federal court called an “HIV prison camp” at Guantanamo Bay

#TeamLegal

This won't come as a surprise, but Barr doesn't think a right to privacy extends to pregnancy. He's said Roe is wrongly decided and will eventually fall from its own constitutional failings.

#TeamLegal

During his time as AG Bill Barr explicitly rejected science-based policy recommendations from HHS because they didn't conform to his anti-LGBTQ views

#TeamLegal

Barr now getting sworn in. Still nobody has suggested this man get glasses that fit his face? Does he have no friends?

#TeamLegal

Barr introduces his family, including three daughters who are all attorneys working in the federal government in some fashion.

Barr now turns to his opening remarks and says his thoughts are with the DoJ and other federal workers who are not getting paid because of Trump's campaign promise for a wall

TWENTY SEVEN YEARS AGO Barr was up for confirmation as Attorney General

Time really is a flat circle

While Barr continues his opening remarks I would like to thank my parents for their obsession over the Reagan and Bush DoJ and Ed Meese because that shit has come in handy covering Trump #TeamLegal

Barr says he was reluctant to accept the nomination. Insists he didn't audition for it and even recommended other folks.

But he agreed because he believes in public service and loves the DoJ

#TeamLegal

Barr's insisting he will adhere to the rule of law and the constitution.

Reminder that Barr supports policies like mandatory minimums

Barr now mentions his 30 year friendship with Mueller for proof he'll respect the special counsel investigation and says the country needs a "credible resolution" to these matters.

#TeamLegal

Barr now addresses directly the Special Counsel memo that he circulated that was totally not an audition for the role of AG

Barr says his priorities as AG will be focusing on violent crime.

He supports mandatory minimums and is effectively the "godfather" of the modern surveillance state

#TeamLegal

Barr turns now to civil rights and says that he has zero tolerance for those instances where people are "violently attacked" for what they believe and I somehow don't think Barr and I see the same issue here

Barr now addressing immigration and the need to secure the borders.

Reminder he spearheaded a policy to keep refugees out of the country based on HIV stigma and religious bigotry

Barr also says voting rights are super important and he's totally on the case for 2020 #TeamLegal

Graham announces a break around 11:30 ET for your meal planning purposes

Graham opens questions and wants Barr to look into the FBI for opening a conter-intelligence investigation against Trump related to Russia

Lol Lindsey you sound like a compromised man

Graham insists the DoJ is in the pocket of the Clintons and thus that is why the FBI opened their investigation after the Comey firing

This is actually a great little bit because Graham is reading comments from the FBI that all talk about what an "effing idiot" Trump is

Graham now turns to the opposition research done against Trump during the 2016 campaign. #TeamLegal

Graham now turns to the FISA warrant against Carter Page.

This is sincerely not a great look for the GOP except that they don't care since they went whole hog with Trump and Russia because they are craven #TeamLegal

Graham asks Barr if he thinks Mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. Barr says no.

Graham asks Barr if he thinks Sessions should have recused. Barr says yes. Also says he likes Rosenstein.

So cool, everyone here is buds.

Graham asks Barr about his obstruction of justice memo.

Barr says he didn't have all the facts but he felt compelled to draft it anyways #TeamLegal

Barr says he wanted the full implications of an obstruction theory to be considered so he drafted the memo.

This of course presumes the attorneys WERE NOT considering those implications

Graham cracks a joke about Trump being a "one page" guy in reference to Barr's detailed memo

Barr says he weighed in freely because he cares deeply about "the rule of law"

Barr says the rule of law prevents political interference at DoJ

Feinstein up

Will you commit to no interference with the scope of the Mueller investigation: a long rambling yes

Says he will commit Mueller will have resources and not fired absent for good cause.

Barr says he will make as much info available as he can in the Mueller investigation subject to the rules and regulation governing the special counsel investigation so that's not a full yes, folks

Feinstein also gives Barr side-eye for his comments that he drafted this big long memo despite not having the full facts of the investigation

Barr says he doesn't recall getting any confidential information related to the investigation which is another important clarification

Barr now going through the instances when he thinks the president can direct DoJ to open investigations or when the president can intervene in that investigation.

Feinstein uses this to pivot to the emoluments clause which catches Barr off guard

Barr says he doesn't even really know what emoluments are! Thinks there might even be litigation around it!

This is kind of amazing non-prep which suggests the GOP wants noooo attention paid to the emoluments cases #TeamLegal

It is really incredulous of Barr to suggest that he doesn't know what an emolument is while also leaning on his 30+ years of experience as a lawyer in the federal courts and prior AG stints

Feinstein turns to Trump interviewing Barr to join his legal defense team in 2017 and then again this spring.

Barr stumbling around these conversations. Said the only time he met him was June 2017 before this AG business

Barr concedes he did discuss the Mueller investigation with Trump but nothing substantive.

This is what the phrase Sure, Jan was captured for

Grassley is up now and starts off by yelling about the cost of the Mueller investigation

Grassley then asks Barr if he thinks the False Claims Act is constitutional

Barr says yes [which places him in agreement with all the federal courts who have also said yes]

Grassley is still yelling about the False Claims Act and this honestly feels like a lot of stalling and time-eating so nothing real gets on the record #TeamLegal

Grassley just asked Barr to "consider his feelings" when enforcing the False Claims Act because Grassley is a total snowflake

Grassley is just filibustering at this point

Grassley mentions other AG interviews he's one. Uses "Attorney General" to refer to Sessions but not Holder. Coincidence I'm sure

Grassley turns to Barr's memo "The Case for Incarceration" he wrote his first time around as AG where he argued the problem is we are not locking up enough people

Barr tries to qualify this position by saying that the "times have changed" which is fine and all but those times have also changed to incarcerating large swatches of asylum seekers and immigrants, especially for profit, and so far there's not been a peep about that connection

Graham wants to talk about Barr's conversation with Trump in June 2017 about representing Trump personally #TeamLegal

Barr says at the time he didn't think he could take Trump on as a client because he had just taken on a big corporate client and also he was looking forward to some down time.

Totally a consistent statement amirite

One time back in the dark ages when I was a litigator I had a witness on the stand give essentially this answer and if was super fun to talk about how one plans for down time by taking on big work loads

Barr says next time he heard from Trump was when he contacted him about the AG position

Leahy now up and starts with Watergate and the integrity of our institutions which seems like a fair intro

Leahy says that if Barr is confirmed that Trump will inevitably ask Barr to cross the ethics line especially with regard to Mueller.

Barr says that he makes the decisions on his own regarding recusal. He'd make that decision after consultation, but it is his to make

Barr may follow the Ben Sasse ethics rule which states that following stern disapproval, do nothing

Barr really walking back that obstruction memo as something like a no big deal "Dear Diary" entry

This memo is 18 pages and called the investigation out of control which is the kind of thing I journal about too 😐

Leahy's approach here with Barr is interesting in light of the Kavanaugh hearings and shows Leahy's prosecutorial experience. He knows Barr won't rattle the same way so he's keeping this to a gentleman's duel

#TeamLegal

Leahy gets Barr to specifically state that it would be a crime for a president to offer a pardon in exchange for not testifying against that president which shouldn't be news but here we are

Leahy asks Barr about whether or not the president has the power to take appropriations away from Congress to build a wall. Also asks about the use of eminent domain to take property for the wall.

Barr filibusters his answer here.

The tl;dr of this exchange is a battle over constitutional power. Congress has the power of the purse and sets spending. Trump wants to usurp that for his wall. Barr once did a "thought experiment" on the president's ability to take appropriations power from Congress. Nifty.

Ugh Cornyn is up now.

Me. Every time I hear Cornyn speak

Cornyn wants to talk about the Comey email announcement during the 2016 campaign and I'd just like to point out that Republicans are still talking about their blood-thirst to indict Hillary for being Hillary.

Seriously Cornyn is *still* talking about the fact that Hillary hasn't been indicted for anything yet so this is a super good use of his time if the goal is to not get deep on the Barr nomination

Now Cornyn is mad about the counter-intelligence investigation on Trump's Russia ties

Barr says he hopes he can bring back public confidence in the FBI and Department of Justice and I submit that without comment

Dick Durbin is up now. I have mixed feelings about Durbin and he always sounds like a rumpled tan suit to me but he does a decent job on Judiciary when he gets fired up

Durbin first asks Barr why he wants this job. Barr gives the Aaron Sorkin scripted answer about serving.

Durbin then asks when Barr's "Mattis" moment will be and Barr says he won't be bullied into doing anything he things is wrong.

Barr includes editorial boards on the list of who he won't be bullied by, followed by Trump. So. First bully is the press. Second is Trump.

Some of these tweets are to prove that rhetoric courses pay off!

Durbin turns to the administration's forced separation policy and Barr's own statements about the need to stop folks "crashing the boarder" lawlessly

Durbin asks if it is legal to present for asylum at the border. Barr says it is.

Durbin then notes that the separation policy targeted asylum seekers and asks if Barr agrees with it.

Barr gives a narrative answer on processing asylum claims

It is possible that Barr could be worse than Sessions on immigration

Durbin wants to talk about sentencing reform now and owns the fact that his record is historical garbage. Credit where credit is due to Durbin for learning and doing better.

Barr gives by his own statements a "long winded" answer to why he is so into locking people up for as long as possible

Sen. Lee up now. Graham announces that the break will start as soon as Lee finishes so this will be the longest line of questioning ever

Whenever Mike Lee speaks

Barr and Lee going and going back and forth over civil asset forfeiture and somehow I don't think either are very concerned about how those practices impact communities of color

On that note Lee moves to anti-trust law.

Barr says anti-trust laws are designed to protect "competition" and that competition itself trickles down to protect consumers

I think Lee is asking something about the First Step Act but I dozed off during his monologue apologies

Okay we're on break till 12:15 ET. Everyone hydrate and grab a snack!

Okay I grabbed an energy bar and a kombucha because I am covering these hearings from Boulder, Colorado after all

A few quick thoughts on the morning:

This is a soozefest compared to the Kavanaugh hearings, and intentionally so.

Graham has so far monologued less as Chair than Grassley

Cornyn still wants Hillary indicted

Much of the morning's proceedings focused on the Mueller investigation and I suggest y'all follow @emptywheel for her coverage, if you don't already

In just a few minutes the GOP will make history by having its first woman committee member speak so that deserves a slow clap

OH! And we should congratulate the GOP for appointing one-third of its women to Judiciary while we are at it!

Graham gavels the hearing to order and recognizes Sen. Whitehouse

I did originally type Grassley because I've been doing this a while

First question from Whitehouse to Barr is whether he took the job with the condition that Rod Rosenstein leaves.

Barr says nope that Rosenstein saw his job as a '2 year stint'

Barr says he didn't run Rosenstein out.

Whitehouse then asks Barr what he'd be looking for in a Deputy AG and Chief of Staff

Barr wants a good manager and first rate lawyer

Whitehouse then wants to know what the DoJ rule will be regarding communications between DoJ and the White House with regard to criminal investigations

Barr says he'd probably keep the current rule and maybe even tighten it

Barr says his understanding of the rule is only the AG or Deputy would be talking to the White House.

This line of questioning has to do with reports Whitaker was informing Trump et al on the investigation

One of the arguments to confirm Barr is that he is SO MUCH BETTER than Acting Attorney General Hot Tub which I mean yes is true. But that is not a great argument for confirming him

Whitehouse is spending a lot of time on the lack of disclosures around Whitaker which is a good time to remind folks that Kavanaugh had several thousand dollars of debt go *poof*

Ernst up now and says she plans on introducing "Sarah's law" which will prevent "illegal immigrants" from posting bond when charged with a crime.

Cites Sessions "real passion" on this issue

Big kudos to Ernst for going full xenophobe out of the gates.

Barr says this is the kind of bill he is inclined to support

Of course Barr is inclined to support this legislation. It is the marriage of his lock em up ideology with his "immigrants flout the laws" stance

Remember his opening statement refeered to the crush of folks unlawfully at the border. Legal asylum seekers, Durbin reminded him

Ernst turns to human trafficking and asks Barr what the main contributor to human trafficking is. I doubt Barr will say "patriarchy"

I WAS RIGHT

Barr says he's got no clue what the main contributor to human trafficking is

Ernst turns to meth and asks Barr how we can blame the southern border. Barr says it's all how they come in [but not strapped to individuals. through ports of entry in prof. smuggling]

I feel like it's important to note that difference because even now Barr just said part of that problem is 'illegal immigration'

Barr just called it a national security problem too so that is alarming

Ernst now wants to talk about sanctuary cities. This is a woman who loves a police state

Barr is eager to talk about going after sanctuary cities and busting them up

Sen. Klobuchar now up and brings her folksy charm, mentions his daughters and their commitment to public service then pivots to the shut down.

Barr says he wants a wall

AKlo also notes the Mueller investigation is likely gonna make the Treasury money and Barr responds with shruggy guy

AKlo is the first to make Barr a little testy which is interesting

AKlo asks Barr if he knows if any of his prior firm's clients are involved in the Mueller investigation. Barr says he's not sure.

AKlo pivots to secure elections and backup paper ballots. Asks Barr if they are a good idea.

I don't know what is a good idea or a bad idea right now, Barr says.

But Ernst's 'lock up illegals' bill was totally great, remember

Now on to the free press and asks Barr if the Justice Department will jail reporters for doing their jobs.

Barr gives a long pause before answering that he can conceive of situations where prosecuting the press might be warranted. ☠️

Sen Cruz and his beard up now

One of the best things about Ted Cruz on the Judiciary Committee is he spends all this time talking about Ted Cruz. It's an art to be that dedicated to oneself

Another legacy joke by a male GOP Senator about Barr's grandson Liam, who is in attendance. No comments about his three actual accomplished daughters [all lawyers!] in attendance

Cruz asks why the rule of law matters.

Not a hypothetical question coming from the GOP these days

Barr says he doesn't support "special rules" for people which rings my civil rights alarm bells

Cruz now complaining about how the Obama administration targeted evangelicals for things like complying with the ACA

Cruz wants to hear Barr's views on the First Amendment now that he's on record for being cool locking up the press.

Barr says free speech is foundational to the ability to have a democratic process, without a whiff of irony

Now Cruz asks Barr about his views on religious liberty.

Barr says the Framers believed in self control which ultimately came from religious values

I believe in the separation of church and state, Barr says, then says he's worried about gov't suppression of religion

There were like 10 evangelical code-switching moments there

Barr wants a decentralizing of 'certain' decision-making which I'm going to take to mean he's not that keen on enforcing federal civil rights laws

Sen Coons is up but he's maybe sitting in Blumenthal's chair if that threw anyone for a moment

Coons spending his time on protecting the Mueller investigation

Coons wants assurances that Barr wouldn't interfere with Mueller seeking testimony from Trump.

Barr defers to the rules and regulations and also says that he's not 'surrendering' his power as AG to oversee the investigation

So the tl;dr here is if there is a subpoena coming from Mueller Barr as AG would probably move to quash

Sen. Sasse up now says he's going to skip over pledges on the Mueller investigation. Asks Barr what the American public thinks they should think about the Russia investigation

Sasse asks if Putin is a friend or foe and what his long term goals are

Barr says the Russians are a potent rival of our country and Putin's foreign policy directives are usually contrary to our goals

Barr says China is the primary rival of the US

Sasse asks what happens next after the Mueller report

Barr says the basic vulnerability of the US right now in the internet age is the ability to create doubt in our election process and torque public discourse

Blumenthal up now.

Starts immediately with the FBI counterintelligence investigation on Trump and fact that such an investigation would be subject to multiple layers of review

Barr hedges and says he doesn't know what happened here.

Blumenthal says of course but you just said the FBI is amazing and you have a bunch of experience with DoJ so explain your hedge

Barr says the FBI text calling Trump an idiot are shocking

Blumenthal wants a commitment that Barr wouldn't permit editing or changes made to the Mueller report before presenting an AG report to Congress

Barr is hedging here

Blumenthal is trying to get some substance to Barr's claims he'll be transparent wrt the Mueller report

Barr says he wants "accurate" information out there

Blumenthal says well the rules give you a lot of leeway with these reports.

How do we reconcile those two statements

This Mueller stuff is so important but I just want to note we've gotten not a single abortion-related question yet and just a hint on voting rights. Pretty quiet on LGBTQ rights too

Blumenthal asks if Barr would try and limit *other* investigations like the one in S.D.NY where Trump is basically named a criminal co-conspirator

Barr getting a little testy here

Would you allow the president to fire a US Attorney to stop an investigation, Blumenthal asks

Barr says he wouldn't allow a US attorney to be fired to stop an investigation but then says the president can fire US attorneys

Blumenthal with the first abortion question.

Do you still believe Roe v. Wade is wrongly decided?

Barr doesn't say no.

Would you defend Roe v Wade if challenged, Blumenthal asks

Barr dodges and says that he hopes the Solicitor General would make the necessary arguments

Blumenthal asks Barr if he'd enforce the FACE Act. Barr says yup

His record says nope.

Sen. Josh Hawley from Missouri up now and is very concerned about the FBI investigation into Trump

I also had to briefly check to confirm that voice was Hawley's because new members and all that

Hawley you might remember defeated McCaskill after the Kavanaugh fight so it is extra special he's assigned to Judiciary

Hawley also doesn't have the greatest record on running a clean investigation but these are details really

Hawley wants to know what Barr can do about the fact that online platforms continue to show bias against conservative ideas and can we use anti-trust laws to force more conservative content

In his first three minutes as a member of the Judiciary Committee Hawley has established himself as a Tom Cotton wannabe

Sen Hirono up now and immediately casts shade on Lindsey Graham and I adore her.

First question is whether Barr has ever harassed anyone or entered into a settlement related to harassment claims.

Barr says no flat out.

I mean so did Brad McBeer

Hirono now moves to refusal and says he's basically taking the same stance as Whitaker so it's not enough for Barr to say 'trust him'

Why won't you take Sessions lead and follow attorney recommendations to recuse

Because I don't have to under the regs, Barr says

He's not recusing

Hirono moves on to allowing Mueller to complete his work but not before some pretty great face to Barr's previous answer

Barr continuing the long tradition of Trump appointees trying to talk over Hirono

okay quick break!

Lol we are back and I had accidentally muted Kennedy

Honestly that is a practice I recommend

Kennedy wants to know what Barr would do about leaks to the press from the FBI

Barr says he'd bring a lot of discipline

Barr says he doesn't think it is possible to secure the southern border without a wall

Barr also says he doesn't think ICE should be abolished

Kennedy asks if being Roman Catholic disqualifies Barr from serving from government as "some of my colleagues" have suggested

Kennedy now asks Barr about the rights of the accused in Title IX sex assault investigations

Barr says the Obama era rules did away with due process then says as a father of three daughters he takes sexual harassment very seriously

Here is a reminder that due process is a constitutional standard that does not apply here which you would think a possible AG would know 🤷🏻‍♀️

Kennedy asking about universal injunctions and they really hate it except when they don't like Reed O'Connor and the ACA, for example.

Sen. Booker up now and starts with cannabis policy

Barr says the current situation is untenable because it is a backdoor nullification of federal law

Barr says he's not going to go after companies that rely on Cole memo

Also says he supports fed legislation completely criminalizing cannabis in response to state legalization

Booker now goes to prison population and non-violent drug offenders and Barr pushes back to say that just because someone is prosecuted for drugs doesn't mean that person isn't also a violent offender 🤔

Booker asks Barr if he still believes there's no racial disparities in the criminal justice system

Barr dodges this by saying overall as a system its working with little bits of racism sprinkled in

This is important in the context of Barr's insistence on no "special" rules too I think

Booker now reading all the data on racial disparities in prosecution and sentencing

Barr says he's not familiar with this data

Booker wants Barr to commit to commissioning a study racial disparities in the system

Barr says sure

Booker just mentioned Turkey locking up journalists and Russia locking up political rivals without skipping a beat and that's well played sir

Booker notes that Barr hasn't met with him yet and pleads with him to meet with him to talk about criminal justice reform.

Barr says he would welcome that which lol okay then why does a sitting member of the committee have to ask you on the record

Now Sen. Blackburn is up so things will probably get a little weird. Like Kennedy, she can't help herself

Amazing how concerned all these GOP Senators are about violent crime yet we have no VAWA reauthorization 🤷🏻‍♀️

Blackburn's question is "how would you do this job" basically and gives Barr an open mic

If we asked Mueller about you, what would he say about you, Blackburn asks and it rings strangely like a dating game question

Blackburn turns to BigTech and anti-trust law and privacy and algorithm manipulation

Clearly we'll see a lot of action on this front

Now we're on to online sex trafficking and hopes Barr is committed to ending this practice.

She's also out of time

Sen. Harris now up and starts with the border wall to deal with drug trafficking.

Barr says he's advocating for a "barrier system"

Harris gets Barr to say he thinks a wall would help prevent drug trafficking then notes that most drugs trafficked into the US enter through ports of entry

Barr concedes this quietly

It's been about 30 years since he's been to a port of entry he says

Harris turns to cannabis and asks if he intends to use limited federal resources to enforce federal law in states that have legalized

Barr says no, not really

Barr again pushing for a federal system on cannabis and that is not from a pro-cannabis stance

Now Harris pushing Barr for when he'd disregard a recommendation that he recuse himself

Barr is getting testy again. It's a judgment call, he says. And the Attorney General makes the judgment

Harris now asks Barr if it is right to talk about the opioid crisis or any other controlled substance crisis that this is public health rather than just criminal justice

Barr says treatment and education and recovery are important but enforcement is what the DoJ is about

Harris pivots to private prisons

Harris wants Barr to commit to not renewing private prison contracts.

He wants to see the report [that the BoP released] that says they are not safe before doing so.

Now it's time for Tillis and the last series of questions in round one

Tillis gives Barr the floor to explain away that 18 page Mueller memo

Honestly, of all the GOP Senators Tillis is the best at rehabilitating the witness

Tillis goes on record saying that lawsuits working toward making websites accessible as drummed up litigation so that's nice

Wow onto round two immediately. 5 minutes per Senator. Grassley first and feels very comfortable with Barr's stance on faith-based businesses not needing to be bothered by anti-discrimination laws so he moves to anti-trust enforcement

Quick programming note! I am going to step away in about 30 minutes so I'll miss the last part of round two. BUT! @AngryBlackLady has y'all covered

Grassley asks if Barr will make FOIA a priority and says one way we can make FOIA work better is by reducing the number of requests that need to be made, Grassley says

I mean yes I am for pro-active disclosures always but making FOIA better by having fewer FOIA's is .... something

Feinstein up and turns immediately to gun control and Barr's statements in the 90s that it won't do anything to reduce violent crime. Turns to the assault rifle ban

Do you still believe that prudent controls on weapons won't reduce violent crime, Feinstein acts?

Barr says the problem is that mentally ill people have access to guns. Mentions red flag laws

Feinstein returns to the Mueller report and just what exactly Barr will or won't provide to Congress

Feinstein asks Barr to concisely state his position on torture

Barr says we should never use it and that Feinstein's work here was helpful in clarifying these issues

Cornyn now up and well I am stepping out for a bit but will be back later tonight 💥💥💥