december 9–22, 2019 | new york 39AthisSenate-confirmationhearing,in
1989,Barrdescribedtheformativeeffectof
hisCIAexperience,whilethethen–Judiciary
Committeechairman,Joe Biden,pressed
theissueofhis“independence.” Biden
advisedBarrtoignorethe“pull and tug” of
theOvalOfficeinforminghis legal opinions
andaskedhimaboutthe“genius of the sys-
temofchecksandbalances.”
“It is a very broadissue,what are my views
oftheseparationofpowers,” Barr said.
“Start anywhere you like,” Biden replied.
“Well,” Barr said, “let us start with
Aristotle.”
Barr went on to offer a pithy encapsula-
tion of the history of representativegovern-
ment, touching on the Greeks, the Romans,
and the Founders, before concluding with
the observation that separation “doesn’t lead
to the most efficient government, but overevenif it is scrutinizingtheWhiteHouse.
Likehisboss,Barristheproduct ofa
privilegedNew Yorkupbringing—his
fatherwasa memorablyauthoritarian
headmaster at Dalton—whorebelled
againsthishometown’sliberalculture.
Notlongafterjoining theCIA, Barr
transferredtotheAgency’sinternallegal
officeandstartedtakinglawclassesat
night.Hecaughttheeyeofthethen–CIA
director,GeorgeH.W.Bush.Yearslater,
as president, Bush gave Barr his first job
at Justice, naming him to head the Office
ofLegalCounsel(OLC).Theofficeoffers
guidance on the legality of executive
actions, which gives it great influence in
government, especially in national-secu-
rity matters. (A former head of the office
once said its role was to “dispense get-
out-of-jail-free cards.”)crowds chant “Lock her up” and “Lock him
up,” he holds the keys to the prying powers
of law enforcement. To give just one exam-
ple, Barr is ultimately overseeing the inves-
tigation by federal prosecutors in Manhat-
tan that is reportedly zeroing in on Giuliani
and his efforts to dig dirt and do business
in Ukraine. He will potentially have asay
when the president decides whether topar-
don convicted associates like Paul Manafort
and Roger Stone. Presuming he remainsin
the president’s favor—never a sure bet—he
willbeadvisingTrumpthrougha reelec-
tionyearthatis certaintorevolvearound
allegations of Trump’s corruption. Barr’s
analysis of Trump’s presidency is rightinat
least one respect: As much as the president
likes to play autocrat on Twitter,hurling
orders and threatening his enemies, sofar,
he has actually been quite weak—
constrained by Congress, the courts,pro-
tests, and, often, his own administration’s
incompetence. It is Barr who will be guid-
ing him as he goes forward, determined to
test the bounds of his power.W
hen trump nominated
Barr to be attorney general in
December 2018, some foes of
the president, glancing at
Barr’s experience, his many
personal connections to the JusticeDepart-
ment, and the array of former deputies and
protégés he had seeded all over theRepub-
lican legal Establishment, jumped to the
conclusion that he might prove to be a nui-
sance to the president. “All my friends, they
projected their feelings onto Bill, believing
him to be an institutionalist who would
‘s tand up to Trump,’ ” says an academic who
once worked with Barr. “I warned every-
body: ‘Don’t do that.’ ”
In fact, Barr could hardly have been more
explicit in indicating what he believed and
what he would do when the president sent
him to the Justice Department. “Ithink it
started picking up after Watergate,” Barr
said in a 2001 interview for a University of
Virginia oral-history project on the first
Bush administration, “the idea that the
Department of Justice has to be ‘indepen-
dent.’” Barr thinks it is not just impossible
but undesirable for prosecutors tooperate
independently of politics. “Career people are
just as capable of acting politically with a
small p, and I think, at the end of the day, if
you’re making a decision, it should be made
by people who are accountable,” Barr told
me. “Our system puts political appointeesin
that position. That’s why we have elections.”
Barr has said that criminal invest —
especially the most important one ire
“political supervision,” and he has contended
that the Constitution grants the president
PHOTOGRAPHS: AP PHOTO/MARCY NIGHSWANDER (TOP); DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX (TRUMP)“illimitable” authority over law enforcement,
Barr with George
H.W. Bush in
1992 during his
first term as
attorney general.
With Trump in
2019 during his
second term.