President Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, William Barr, reportedly has been friends with special counsel Robert Mueller for over 20 years.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spoke to reporters on Wednesday about a meeting he had with Barr.
“I asked Mr. Barr directly, ‘Do you think Bob, Mr. Mueller’s, on a witch hunt?’ He said no. ‘Do you think he would be fair to the president and the country as a whole?’ He said yes,” Graham recalled, according to Bloomberg News.
Graham said that he learned that Mueller and Barr have been friends for decades.
“They’ve been personal friends for over 20 years,” Graham noted, explaining that the two had worked together at the Justice Department. “His opinion of Mr. Mueller is very, very high in terms of ethics and character and professionalism.”
Barr, however, stood behind a controversial memo he wrote last year suggesting that a president should not be accused of obstruction of justice for firing political appointees. Trump is reportedly being investigated for obstruction after he fired former FBI Director James Comey in order to bring an end to the Russia investigation, which is now headed by Mueller.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Trump was aware of the Mueller/Barr friendship prior to the nomination.
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