White House hopeful Julián Castro called on the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate Attorney General William Barr Bill BarrFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Why a backdoor to encrypted data is detrimental to cybersecurity and data integrity FBI official who worked with Mueller raised doubts about Russia investigation MORE in light of a burgeoning scandal surrounding President Trump Donald John TrumpFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Former Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick MORE’s dealings with Ukraine.

“The Attorney General has zero credibility, demonstrated by his handling of the Mueller Report,” Castro, a former secretary of Housing and Urban Development, tweeted Wednesday. “William Barr must recuse himself from any investigation involving Ukraine—and the DOJ’s Inspector General must investigate his conduct.”

The Attorney General has zero credibility, demonstrated by his handling of the Mueller Report.



William Barr must recuse himself from any investigation involving Ukraine—and the DOJ’s Inspector General must investigate his conduct. https://t.co/b9aOcIO8Su — Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) September 25, 2019

The statement came in the aftermath of a five-page memorandum of a July call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Trump said he would direct Barr to speak with Zelensky about opening a probe into former Vice President Joe Biden Joe BidenFormer Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick Bloomberg rolls out M ad buy to boost Biden in Florida MORE and his son.

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“There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great,” Trump said on the July 25 call. “Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it... It sounds horrible to me.”

“I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call and I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call and we will get to the bottom of it. I'm sure you will figure it out,” Trump added, referring to Rudy Giuliani Rudy GiulianiThe Hill's Campaign Report: GOP set to ask SCOTUS to limit mail-in voting CIA found Putin 'probably directing' campaign against Biden: report Democrats fear Russia interference could spoil bid to retake Senate MORE, his personal lawyer.

Trump’s gripes with Biden center around his claims that Biden abused his power when he lobbied Ukraine to fire a prosecutor who was investigating a natural gas company on whose board his son sat. No evidence has emerged that Biden was working with his son’s interests in mind.

The Justice Department was further thrust into the spotlight Wednesday when it announced it had declined to pursue an investigation into whether the call violated campaign finance law, determining that “no further action was warranted” after it received a whistleblower complaint expressing alarm over the conversation.

Democrats have panned Trump for requesting Ukraine investigate a political rival, with some suggesting he threatened to leverage military aid to Kiev contingent on Zelensky’s compliance and have called on Barr to testify in front of Congress over the scandal.

“I asked Attorney General Barr in May: did the White House ever ask him to investigate anyone? He wouldn't answer Barr needs to come back to Congress and answer that question again. Under oath. This time, he better have an answer,” Sen. Kamala Harris Kamala HarrisTexas Democratic official urges Biden to visit state: 'I thought he had his own plane' The Hill's Campaign Report: Biden on Trump: 'He'll leave' l GOP laywers brush off Trump's election remarks l Obama's endorsements A game theorist's advice to President Trump on filling the Supreme Court seat MORE (D-Calif.), another White House contender, warned.

I asked Attorney General Barr in May: did the White House ever ask him to investigate anyone? He wouldn't answer.



Barr needs to come back to Congress and answer that question again. Under oath.



This time, he better have an answer. https://t.co/ybObJ1GC53 — Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) September 25, 2019

Speaker Nancy Pelosi Nancy PelosiDemocratic senator to party: 'A little message discipline wouldn't kill us' Overnight Health Care: New wave of COVID-19 cases builds in US | Florida to lift all coronavirus restrictions on restaurants, bars | Trump stirs questions with 0 drug coupon plan Overnight Defense: Appeals court revives House lawsuit against military funding for border wall | Dems push for limits on transferring military gear to police | Lawmakers ask for IG probe into Pentagon's use of COVID-19 funds MORE (D-Calif.) Tuesday announced that House Democrats would open a formal impeachment investigation into Trump over his conversation with Zelensky.