5/7/2019

ATTORNEY GENERAL/CONGRESS/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “When President Trump declared that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, ‘should not testify’ before Congress, he contradicted Attorney General William P. Barr, who had already told lawmakers that he had no objection to letting Mr. Mueller talk to them. That clash has raised the prospect of a major test of Justice Department independence on Mr. Barr’s watch. Defying Mr. Trump would be awkward for Mr. Barr in part because he has long subscribed to a sweeping theory of executive power under which Mr. Trump may rightfully override and control any discretionary decision by a subordinate executive branch official. In Mr. Barr’s words, the president, not the attorney general, is the nation’s ‘top law enforcement officer.’ And while the Trump team has been pleased with Mr. Barr’s handling of the Mueller investigation, disregarding Mr. Trump’s desires risks angering a mercurial president who turned on other once-favored subordinates — including excoriating Mr. Barr’s predecessor, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, for his refusal to retain oversight of the Russia investigation.”

Charlie Savage and Katie Benner, “Trump’s Opposition to Mueller Testimony Poses a Test for Barr,” The New York Times online, May 7, 2019