Reporting by Bo Erickson
2020 Democratic hopeful and former Vice President Joe Biden said he thought Attorney General William Barr should resign after his testimony Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I think he’s lost the confidence of the American people, I think he should” resign, Biden told reporters in Des Moines, Iowa.
Speaking before the Senate Judiciary Committee — a committee Biden chaired for eight years — Barr defended the way he handled the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. Barr’s testimony came just one day after it became public that Mueller had expressed concern to Barr over his four-page characterization of the report.
Biden’s call for Barr to resign followed many of his 2020 Democratic hopefuls, including Sens. Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke. Harris, Booker and Amy Klobuchar, who stopped short of calling on Barr to resign, are all members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and grilled Barr on Wednesday.
Barr, meanwhile, will not testify Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee, the Department of Justice said.
Biden is in Iowa campaigning. In a speech in Iowa City earlier in the day, he did not mention Barr or his testimony.