GRAHAM:

Senator Klobuchar.

KLOBUCHAR:

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Barr. I take it as a positive that your grandson has gotten out a pen, a pen and a pad of paper to take notes during my questions.

(LAUGHTER)

I also impressed by your daughters in that they all chose to go into public service but as you know employees at the Justice Department now are either furloughed or they are working without pay and I've talked to a number of them at home and it's an outrage. Very briefly what do you have to say to them?

BARR:

I--I would--I would like to see a deal reached whereby Congress recognizes that it's imperative to have border security and that part of that border security as a common-sense matter needs barriers.

KLOBUCHAR:

And you are aware that in the comprehensive Senate immigration bill that we passed there was literally billions of dollars for border security back in 2013?

BARR:

I'm generally aware of that.

KLOBUCHAR:

And that also we had an agreement earlier last year which would allow the dreamers to stay legally that also had money for border security?

BARR:

The point is we need money right now for border security--

KLOBUCHAR:

Yes, but we have--

BARR:

--including a--including a barriers and walls and slats and other things. Anything that makes sense in--in different areas of the border.

KLOBUCHAR:

Okay, in different areas. That's a good point. So President George H.W. Bush said back in 1980 that he didn't want to see six and eight-year-old kids being made to feel that they are living outside the law and you were his attorney general. He also said that immigration is not just a link to America's past but it's a bridge to America's future. Do you agree with those statements?

BARR:

Yes, I think--I think as I said I think legal immigration has--we have a great system potential. I think it needs reforming but legal immigration has been good for the United States. It's been great for the country.

KLOBUCHAR:

And that's why we were trying to work on that comprehensive reform. I want to just briefly turn to FBI leadership.

The president has made statements accusing the FBI of making politically-motivated decisions, many of us up here and in the Senate have confidence in Director Wray and the leadership at the FBI and believe they can do their jobs without politics getting in the way. Do you agree with that?

BARR:

I'm--I'm looking if I'm confirmed I'm looking forward to getting to know Chris Wray. From what I know I think very highly of him.

KLOBUCHAR:

Okay, thank you. In the memo from back in June the one comment that Senator Grassley made, he talked about how much the Mueller investigation was costing and actually did a little googling here and there was a CNBC report that it actually could bring in more money than it costs because of the wealthy people being prosecuted, that Manafort's assets could be well over $40 million. I don't know if that includes that ostrich jacket. But do you think that's possible based on your experience with white-collar crime?

BARR:

I--I don't know enough about it.

KLOBUCHAR:

Okay. The--in your memo you talked about the--the Comey decision and you talk about obstruction of justice and you already went over that which I appreciate. You wrote on page 1 that a president persuading a person to commit perjury would be obstruction. Is that right?

BARR:

That--y--yes.

KLOBUCHAR:

Okay.

BARR:

Any--any, well any person who persuades another yeah.

KLOBUCHAR:

You also said that a president or any person convincing a witness to change testimony would be obstruction. Is that right?

BARR:

Yes.

KLOBUCHAR:

Okay. And on page 2 you said that a president deliberately impairing the integrity or availability of evidence would be an instruction. Is that correct?

BARR:

Yes.

KLOBUCHAR:

Okay. And so what if a president told a witness not to cooperate with an investigation or hinted at a pardon?

BARR:

You know I--I'd have to know the specific--I'd have to know the specific facts.

KLOBUCHAR:

Okay, and you wrote on page 1 that if a president knowingly destroys or alters evidence that would be obstruction.

BARR:

Yes.

KLOBUCHAR:

Okay. So what if a president drafted a misleading statement to conceal the purpose of a meeting. Would that be obstruction?

BARR:

Again, you, I'd--I'd have to know, I'd have to know the specifics.

KLOBUCHAR:

All right. You would seek the advice of career ethic--ethics officials in the Department of Justice for any recusal and I appreciate that. And you said in--in the past that you commended Attorney General Sessions for following the advice of those ethics lawyers but you didn't commit today to following that advice. Is that right?

BARR:

No, I did--I didn't, I didn't commend him for following the advice as the agency had--he makes his--he is the one responsible for making the recusal decision. I don't know why he said--locked himself into following the advice that's an advocation of his own responsibility.

KLOBUCHAR:

So what did you think about what Acting Attorney General Whitaker did when he rejected the Justice Department ethics advice to recuse himself out of an abundance of caution?

BARR:

I--I haven't seen the advice he got and I don't know the specific facts but--but abundance of caus--caution suggests that it could have gone either way.

KLOBUCHAR:

You have committed to recuse yourself from matters involving the law firm where you currently work. Are you aware of any of your firm's clients who are in any way connected to the special counsel's investigation?

BARR:

I--I'm not--I'm not aware. You know I--I tell you the truth I am of counsel there and I have one client which I'm representing and I don't pay very much attention to what else is going on.

KLOBUCHAR:

Okay, you can also supplement (INAUDIBLE).

BARR:

Yeah, I--I'll supplement I'll supplement my answer.

KLOBUCHAR:

No problem. Will you commit to make public all of the report's conclusions, the Mueller report, even if some of the evidence supporting those conclusions can't be made public?

BARR:

You know that certainly is my goal and intent. It's hard for me to conceive of a conclusion that would you know run afoul of the regs as currently written but that's certainly my intent.

KLOBUCHAR:

Secure elections, you and I have a talk about that in my office. Do you think back-up paper ballots are a good idea? This is a bill that Senator Lankford and I have introduced and with the Senator Graham and Senator Harris?

BARR:

Yeah, I--I don't know what's a good idea, what's a bad idea right now because I haven't gotten into this area. But--

KLOBUCHAR:

I'll just tell you back up paper ballots is a good idea.

BARR:

Okay.

KLOBUCHAR:

And we can talk about it later as well--

BARR:

Yeah.

KLOBUCHAR:

--audits. Along the lines of voting state election officials in North Carolina as you know contacted the Justice Department about the integrity of their elections. The Justice Department may have failed to take action in a timely manner. What steps would you take to make sure these failures don't occur again?

BARR:

Not specifically with respect to North Carolina you're talking generally?

KLOBUCHAR:

Um-hmm.

BARR:

Yeah. Well, as I say I want to make one of my priorities the integrity of elections and so this is not an area I have been involved with deeply before and when I get to the department if I'm confirmed I'm going to start working with the people and fi--making sure that those kind of things don't--

KLOBUCHAR:

And part of this, of course, is also how voting rights and our concern about some of the changes in department policy and I hope you will seriously look at that because the last thing we should be doing is suppressing voting and that is what we have been seeing under this current administration.

My dad was a reporter so I grew up knowing the importance of a free press. We obviously have the tragic case of a journalist who worked right here at the Washington Post, Jamal Khashoggi, and it's a particular concern. So want to ask you something I asked Attorney General Sessions. If you are confirmed will the Justice Department jail reporters for doing their jobs?

BARR:

I think that you know I know there are guidelines in place and I--I can conceive of situations where you know as a--as a last resort and--and where a news organization has run through a red flag or something like that, knows that they are putting out stuff that will hurt the country there might be a sit--there could be a situation where--where someone would be held in contempt. But--

KLOBUCHAR:

Attorney General Sessions had said he was going to look at chan--potentially changing those rules at one point. So I'd like you to maybe respond in writing to this because that was very concerning.

And last, when you and I were in my office we talked about your work with Time Warner, with this major merger on appeal from the Justice Department and I just wanted you to commit today to what you committed to me in the office that you would recuse yourself from any matters regarding that appeal.

BARR:

Absolutely.

KLOBUCHAR:

Okay. And as you know you were on the board of Time Warner at the time and you signed a sworn affidavit questioning whether the Justice Department's decision to block the merger was politically motivated given and this is from the affidavit the president's prior public animus towards the merger. Are you talking here about his view on CNN? What did you mean by prior public animus?

BARR:

I'm sorry. Could you--could you repeat that?

KLOBUCHAR:

Sure. You were on the Board of Time Warner and you signed a sworn affidavit questioning whether the Justice Department's decision to block the merger was politically motivated given the president's prior public animus toward the merger. And so what did you mean by that?

BARR:

I--I mean the affidavit speaks for itself in that at that meeting I was concerned that the antitrust division was not engaging with some of our arguments and I got concerned that they weren't taking the merits as seriously as I had hoped they would. But I have, you know I have no--I'm not sure why they acted the way they did.

KLOBUCHAR:

Okay. Very good. And I'll ask you more on antitrust policy-wise in the second round but and I appreciated the discussion we had on that. It's very important. Thank you very much.

BARR:

Yep.