The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold confirmation hearings on Jan. 15 and 16 for attorney general nominee William Barr . | AP Photo/Alex Brandon Congress Barr to meet with more Dems after Klobuchar says she was denied visit

Attorney general nominee William Barr will meet with Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who raised concerns that she was unable to meet with the nominee earlier.

The Justice Department confirmed that Barr would meet with Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Chris Coons of Delaware, and Klobuchar of Minnesota.


“Mr. Barr is meeting with senators from both parties on the Senate Judiciary Committee, despite the holidays, reduced DOJ staff and resources due to the partial government shutdown, and the compressed timeline to prepare for the upcoming hearing,” Kerri Kupec, a spokesperson for the Justice Department, said in a statement, “He looks forward to continued meetings with both Republican and Democrat senators before and after the hearing.”

Feinstein said after her meeting that "it went fine." When asked whether Barr provided any assurance about how he'd oversee special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, Feinstein said that "the assurances come in public on the record."

Leahy said after his meeting that he had no trouble getting a hold of Barr.

"I didn't have any problem having a meeting," Leahy said, when asked about criticism from Judiciary Committee Democrats about Barr's meeting schedule. "I just called and said let's have a meeting. I assume that he wants to meet with everybody. Knowing Mr. Barr, he'd want to meet with them."

Klobuchar tweeted Wednesday night that she and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) tried to meet with Barr prior to his confirmation hearing but was told he couldn’t meet with her because of the shutdown. Although Klobuchar will meet with Barr Thursday, a spokesperson for Blumenthal said he was told his request for a meeting before the hearing "couldn’t be accommodated due to the 'truncated schedule'."

Some Senate Democrats on the committee voiced frustration that Barr did not reach out to their offices.

"I'm not on the list yet," said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). "It's the first time, there have been seven people aspiring to be attorney general who have come by my office, make a courtesy call and they've decided not to ... I don't think it's helpful to his nomination.

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Jeff Giertz, a spokesperson for Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) also said that Barr did not reach out to Booker’s office about a meeting. “William Barr has not reached out to schedule a meeting with Senator Booker even though Presidential administrations typically arrange meetings between committee members and cabinet appointees prior to confirmation proceedings,” Giertz said in an e-mail.

Kupec, the Justice Department spokesperson, reiterated that Barr is working within his schedule to meet with senators who want to meet with him.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold confirmation hearings on Jan. 15 and 16 for Barr. Senate Democrats are expected to grill Barr on a memorandum he wrote to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last year criticizing Mueller’s Russia investigation. In the memo, Barr said Mueller’s inquiry into possible obstruction of justice by the president was “fatally misconceived.”

Trump nominated Barr in December to replace former Attorney General Jeff Sessions after Sessions resigned in early November. Matthew Whitaker, who has been criticized for condemning Mueller’s probe, has served as acting attorney general in the interim. The president grew frustrated with Sessions for recusing himself from overseeing the Mueller investigation, a probe Trump has repeatedly called a “witch hunt.”

