JEFF SESSIONS/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/NOMINATIONS/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The president’s pick to replace Jeff Sessions at the helm of the Justice Department has known and admired the president’s bête noire, Robert Mueller, for 30 years — and somehow President Donald Trump seems fine with that. The relationship, which Barr described in public Tuesday [1-15-19] during his Senate confirmation hearing, is both a source of reassurance to Democrats worried about Barr’s attitude toward Mueller’s probe and a reminder of the small size of Washington’s legal and law enforcement worlds. Why it isn’t more troubling to Trump, who, Barr said, is aware of the relationship, remains a mystery. Barr and Mueller first crossed paths at the Justice Department during the George H.W. Bush administration. But the relationship goes further: Their wives are close friends who attend Bible study together, and Mueller attended the weddings of two of Barr’s daughters.”
–Darren Samuelsohn, “New Trump-Russia subplot: Mueller and Barr are ‘good friends’,” Politico, January 15, 2019 5:47 pm