WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) released the following statement announcing his opposition to the nomination of William Barr to serve as United States Attorney General. In his statement, King points to Barr’s sweeping view of executive power and refusal to commit to an open process for the release of the Mueller investigation’s findings as the driving factors of his decision.

“After carefully studying William Barr’s record, attending a portion of his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and meeting with him one-on-one to pose additional questions, I will be voting no on his nomination to serve as Attorney General.

“I do not cast this vote lightly; while there are any number of critical policy areas where Mr. Barr and I have serious differences, he is clearly a knowledgeable nominee who has a deep respect for the Department of Justice. I imagine that, under typical circumstances, Mr. Barr would meet my standard that the President should be able to appoint his or her chosen leaders to federal departments, provided that they are not grossly unqualified and do not stand in opposition to the department’s mission. However, I do not consider the present moment to be ‘typical circumstances,’ and two of the nominee’s key positions are so concerning to me as to require a ‘no’ vote.

“First: it is clear from his record and from the unsolicited 19-page memo he wrote arguing in the President’s favor on a potential area of inquiry for the Mueller investigation that Mr. Barr believes in sweeping executive powers. It is my belief that his view does not align with the intentions of the Framers of the Constitution, who took great care to establish checks and balances and ensure that the American people are not subject to the whims of any one person – even if that person is the President.

“My concern regarding Mr. Barr’s position is compounded by the fact that our current President has repeatedly taken or proposed actions that extend well beyond the power of the executive as imagined by our Framers – from imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum in the name of national security where no such reason existed, to his recent threats to build a wall on the southern border by declaring a ‘national emergency,’ even as the data released by his own administration indicates that the number of illegal border crossings is actually decreasing. The President seems to be under the impression that he is still the CEO of a family-owned company – a dangerous misunderstanding that could be exacerbated by the presence of an Attorney General who holds Mr. Barr’s expansive view of executive power.

“Second: while Mr. Barr has asserted he would allow Robert Mueller to complete his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, he has repeatedly refused to commit to make Mueller’s findings public. As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I fully understand that there may be pieces of the investigation that must remain confidential – but as a U.S. Senator and as an American, I believe that we must restore America’s full faith and confidence in our system of government through higher standards of transparency than Mr. Barr has committed to support. The Intelligence Community is clear that foreign powers sought to interfere in the 2016 election; preventing future incursions in our electoral process should be our top priority, and the best way to defend our elections is by educating the American public on how to identify foreign attempts to interfere in our public discourse.

“Unfortunately, the President has regularly expressed doubt regarding the conclusions of our intelligence agencies, and has referred to the Mueller probe as a ‘witch hunt.’ He also exerted extensive pressure on then-Attorney General Sessions, publicly urging him to end or curtail the investigation. It is clear that the President believes that the DOJ should be protecting him from any investigation, and as a result, I feel that additional scrutiny must be applied to any nominee for Attorney General to ensure that he or she would not take any action to undermine the Mueller investigation. Mr. Barr, who wrote the aforementioned memo arguing in the President’s favor on a potential area of inquiry for the Mueller investigation and distributed it to top DOJ officials without solicitation, does not stand up to this additional scrutiny.

“To reiterate: this vote is the product of intense research and thought, and my final decision is defined as much by the circumstances as it is by the nominee. If Mr. Barr is indeed confirmed, I hope that I am correct in my belief that he will be a good steward of the Department of Justice – and I hope that he proves me wrong by standing up for the rule of law and the Constitutional limits on executive power, even when the President disagrees.”