Moscow Mitch McConnell
The Senate Judiciary Committee blocked an effort by Chairman Lindsey Graham to give the attorney general the power to veto investigations of Justice Department lawyers by the inspector general.

The committee instead backed -- over the objections of Graham and Attorney General William Barr -- a bipartisan bill by Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah that would empower the department’s inspector general to investigate such allegations on his own authority.

Graham said the attorney general, as the head of the Justice Department, should have discretion to overrule the agency watchdog in such cases. Under Graham’s failed amendment, which he said was crafted in consultation with current Inspector General Michael Horowitz, any dispute over what to investigate would be reported to Congress.

But his amendment was criticized by members of both parties, including former Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, the senior Republican in the Senate.

“I don’t care what the attorney general says on this IG thing,” Grassley said. Inspectors general need to be independent so they can handle sensitive investigations and cases, he said.

“We designed IGs to be very independent,” Grassley said.

★‘Guarding the Hen House’★

As an example of the need for independence, Grassley noted that former Attorney General Eric Holder once referred to himself as President Barack Obama’s “wingman.” Top Democrat Dianne Feinstein said Graham’s effort would have the “fox guarding the hen house.”

The existing law governing the Justice Department inspector general requires turning over allegations about misconduct by department lawyers and investigators to the Office of Professional Responsibility. Lee’s bill would excise that provision, which backers say would bring the DOJ more in line with the powers of inspectors general at other agencies.

Lee said he’s been trying to change the law since before Trump took office, and he complained that Barr hasn’t been willing to compromise.

Graham said he worried that Lee’e bill would give inspectors general too much power. They would be able to “basically do what they want, whenever they want” and investigate any discretionary decision made by anyone in the department, he said.

“If you don’t have some control on who decides what misconduct is, you’re going to turn the IG into a political operative,” Graham said. “I want the attorney general to make that call because he’s in charge of the department.”

Graham said Barr has told him he opposes both Lee’s bill and Graham’s amendment. Graham said Barr doesn’t want inspectors general to be investigating discretionary decisions made by Justice Department lawyers.

Graham, giving one example, expressed concern with a request by many former Justice Department officials for an inspector general investigation into the decision to end the prosecution of former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

Feinstein cited allegations in the House of political interference in the Roger Stone case as a reason to give the inspector general full discretion to investigate without giving Barr a veto.
By Steven T. Dennis
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