Trump applauds Barr's Senate testimony and his 'outstanding legal mind'


One person who adored Attorney General William Barr's testimony Wednesday in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee is President Trump, who said he did "a fantastic job, I'm told."
Trump called into Fox Business on Wednesday night, and shared that he only watched a bit of Barr's testimony, but was impressed by his "outstanding legal mind." He also stands behind the attorney general's decision not to testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, despite the possibility of Barr being held in contempt of Congress.
Barr objects to the committee counsel being able to ask him questions, and Trump said incorrectly that lawmakers "want to treat him differently than they have anybody else. For many, many years, they've never done it this way where they're bring in outside counsel or something, you know, you elect people they're supposed to be able to do their own talking."
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Televisions across the West Wing were tuned in to cable news coverage of the Barr hearings, The Associated Press reports, and privately, Trump "has told those around him that, after being disappointed by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, he has found an attorney general loyal to him."
Several Democrats have called on Barr to resign, including Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), saying he made misleading statements about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report before the redacted version was made public. That is "ridiculous," Trump said, adding that Harris was "probably very nasty" during her questioning.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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