Trump picks new attorney general and UN envoy while airing grievances against Mueller, Tillerson
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Friday picked an establishment Republican with a polished legal career to lead the Justice Department and a political loyalist and brash media personality to represent the U.S. at the United Nations, underlining the political tensions in a White House scrambling for a reset.
Trump said he would nominate William "Bill" Barr to serve as attorney general, putting the white-shoe lawyer back atop the Justice Department that he led under President George H.W. Bush in the early 1990s.
If confirmed, Barr would take over supervision of the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, which has shadowed Trump's tenure.
Barr has criticized the inquiry, echoing some of Trump's complaints. He has suggested, for example, that it is partisan in nature because some of the prosecutors under Robert S. Mueller III, a Republican, had contributed to Democrats' campaigns.
At the same time, however, some who worked with Barr said they were relieved by the choice, noting that he had deep ties
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