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William Pelham Barr (born May 23, 1950) is an American attorney who served as the United States attorney general in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1991 to 1993 and again in the administration of President Donald Trump from 2019 to 2020.
- Stephen Barr
Barr is the younger brother of William Barr, the 77th and...
- Donald Barr
Donald Barr (August 8, 1921 – February 5, 2004) was an...
- Stephen Barr
- Overview
- Bush administration and private practice
- Attorney general for the Trump administration
William Barr (born May 23, 1950, New York City) American lawyer and government official who served as attorney general of the United States during the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush (1991–93) and Donald Trump (2019–20). Barr was the second person in U.S. history to serve twice as attorney general (the first was John J. Crittenden).
Barr attended Columbia University in New York City, earning a bachelor’s degree in government in 1971 and a master’s degree in Chinese studies in 1973. He worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1973 to 1977, first as an analyst and then in the legal department. He simultaneously attended George Washington University in Washington, D.C., from which he obtained a law degree in 1977. After being admitted to the bar, he joined the Washington, D.C., law firm Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge.
From 1982 to 1983 Barr worked on the Domestic Policy Council during U.S. Pres. Ronald Reagan’s first term in office. He became a partner in his law firm in 1985. In 1989 Barr left private practice to join the U.S. Justice Department. He was first appointed assistant attorney general, rose to deputy attorney general, and then became attorney general. In that position, which he held from 1991 to 1993, he concentrated on the administration’s law enforcement directives, including a crackdown on savings and loan fraud that reached its peak with the federal prosecution of Lincoln Savings and Loan chief Charles Keating. Barr also directed the investigation of the terrorist bombing of Pan Am flight 103.
After leaving the attorney general post, Barr returned to his law partnership. In 1994 he became executive vice president and general counsel at the GTE Corporation (a post he retained after GTE merged with Bell Atlantic in 2000 and became Verizon Communications). He stayed with Verizon until 2008 and was named “of counsel” (an attorney who has a close and ongoing relationship with a practice but who is neither an associate nor a partner) at Kirkland & Ellis the following year. Barr also served on a few boards of directors, including those of the media conglomerate Time Warner (2009–18), the energy company Dominion Resources (2009–18), and the Och-Ziff Capital Management Group (2016–18).
In March 2017 federal agents raided the headquarters of the manufacturing giant Caterpillar as part of an investigation into the company’s offshore profit handling and tax sheltering practices. Two weeks later Caterpillar retained Barr, who had returned to Kirkland & Ellis as of counsel specifically “to take a fresh look at Caterpillar’s disputes with the government.”
In June 2018 Barr, a private citizen with no formal ties to the U.S. government, sent an unsolicited 19-page memo to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. In it Barr disparaged Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He was particularly focused on the possibility of Mueller pursuing an obstruction of justice case against Pres. Donald Trump over Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey. Barr argued that the firing of Comey was a “facially-lawful” exercise of “Executive discretion” and that obstruction would not apply unless Trump had already been found guilty of an underlying crime. Such arguments were advanced by many Trump supporters as well as by advocates of increased presidential authority.
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Barr’s letter came to light in December 2018 after Trump nominated him to succeed Jeff Sessions as attorney general. The relationship between Trump and Sessions had grown strained over Sessions’s failure to “un-recuse” himself from the Russia investigation, and Barr was seen as an unwavering champion of executive power. During the confirmation process, congressional Democrats raised concerns about Barr’s memo to Rosenstein. Barr, as attorney general, would have oversight of an investigation whose direction he had characterized as “fatally misconceived.”
Barr’s longtime association with Time Warner was also scrutinized. The Justice Department had unsuccessfully sought to block the June 2018 acquisition of Time Warner by telecommunications giant AT&T on antitrust grounds. That case remained under appeal, but, as a result of that deal, Barr had received more than $1.7 million in cash as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in AT&T stock and stock options. Barr vowed that, if confirmed, he would recuse himself from matters related to the merger.
On February 14, 2019, Barr was confirmed by the Senate in a vote that fell largely along party lines. He was sworn in hours later, becoming the second person in U.S. history to serve twice as attorney general. Barely a month into his term, Barr would be thrust into the spotlight when, on March 22, Mueller concluded his nearly two-year-long investigation and submitted his confidential report to the attorney general. Two days later Barr released a four-page summary, which stated that the “investigation did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia” and also stated that “the evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.”
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Nov 28, 2022 · 85th Attorney General, 2019 - 2020. Download Image. 77th Attorney General, 1991-1993. William P. Barr was born on May 23, 1950 in New York City. Mr. Barr received his A.B. in government from Columbia University in 1971 and his M.A. in government and Chinese studies in 1973.
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Nov 28, 2022 · 85th Attorney General, 2019-2020. William P. Barr was born on May 23, 1950 in New York City. Mr. Barr received his A.B. in government from Columbia University in 1971 and his M.A. in government and Chinese studies in 1973.
William Pelham "Bill" Barr (born May 23, 1950) is an American attorney. He was the 85th Attorney General of the United States from February 14, 2019 to December 23, 2020 under the Donald Trump presidency. Before, he was the 77th Attorney General under the George H. W. Bush presidency from 1991 to 1993. [1] [2]
William Pelham Barr was sworn in as the 85th Attorney General of the United States on February 14, 2019. He is only the second person in history to serve as U.S. Attorney General twice. Barr previously served as Attorney General from 1991 to 1993 during the administration of George H. W. Bush.
Dec 14, 2020 · Published Dec. 14, 2020 Updated July 14, 2021. WASHINGTON — President Trump said on Monday that Attorney General William P. Barr would depart next week, ending a tenure marked by Mr. Barr’s...
