Demands that William Barr should either recuse himself from the Robert Mueller investigation, should his nomination as attorney general be confirmed, or that he should have withdrawn his nomination altogether because of his opinions is "a bunch of bovine waste," Sen. John Kennedy said Tuesday.
"Anybody with an intellect above [that of] a single-cell organism has a view," the Louisiana Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
"I wouldn't want Bill Barr if he hadn't thought about things. The issue is not his letter to Rod Rosenstein about the investigation. The issue is, is he dogmatic about it, or is he willing to consider other points of view? Is he willing to test his assumptions?"
In December, The Wall Street Journal reported Barr had sent an unsolicited memo to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on June 8, criticizing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Kennedy said that during Barr's hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, he wants to get to know him better.
"Is he smart, is he honest, does he have integrity?" said Kennedy. "I want to judge his authenticity. I want to hear what he has to say about the Mueller investigation."
Kennedy said he didn't meet with Barr, as he was not asked, but what he does want to know "if he is willing to divorce himself from his personal points of view and follow the rule of law. That's it."
Meanwhile, if Barr "turns out to be a meathead," Kennedy told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" he'll vote against him.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.