Thread by @voxdotcom

1/ William Barr, Trump’s nominee for attorney general to replace Jeff Sessions, faces the Senate today for his confirmation hearing.

Things could get tense. Here’s what to expect:

2/ First: Dems will almost certainly grill Barr on his opinions about Robert Mueller’s investigation.

That’s because in June 2018, Barr wrote a memo blasting the special counsel’s obstruction of justice inquiry into Trump. bit.ly/2HfB0DN

3/ That memo was made public last month, and it immediately raised questions about whether those opinions are what attracted the president to Barr. Expect that line of questioning to dominate the conversation.

4/ In May 2017, Barr also defended Trump’s decision to fire then-FBI Director James Comey. wapo.st/2FyrZ6f

5/ And in November of that year, Barr was quoted in media reports saying that Hillary Clinton should be investigated. nyti.ms/2STOpCR

6/ Barr also has an extremely expansive view of executive power. Lawmakers will pressure him to guarantee he won’t intercede in the investigation or try to squash any of Mueller’s conclusions. bit.ly/2RRezZy

7/ Senators will no doubt ask Barr whether he’ll be sufficiently independent of the president — because, as you might recall, Trump griped at Sessions for being insufficiently loyal and recusing himself from the probe. bit.ly/2stts6m

8/ But beyond Russia and Mueller, Barr’s ideas for criminal justice will also face scrutiny.

He was an architect of federal tough-on-crime policies in his first attorney general post for George H.W. Bush. bit.ly/2sr1DLF

9/ He was also hawkish on immigration. If confirmed, he’ll be overseeing both of those areas, so he’s likely to face questions on those previous stances. bit.ly/2HcPEMf

10/10 Ultimately, Barr will likely be confirmed by the Republican-majority Senate. But his pathway to attorney general is bound to be a lot testier, and more dramatic, than his first time around.

Read more: bit.ly/2RRQuSw