William Barr defends President Trump

It's the question that has dominated politics for more than two years -- what exactly happened with counterintelligence activities conducted during the 2016 election and the Russia probe.

Now, in his first interview since joining the Trump administration, Attorney General Bill Barr detailed how he plans to get to the bottom of the origins of the probe, his thoughts on James Comey, Robert Mueller and other issues related to the special counsel's investigation.

While in El Salvador, Attorney General Barr told the Wall Street Journal that it wasn’t that he was trying to protect President Trump himsself, but rather the presidency:

POLITICAL WIRE – Attorney General William Barr told the Wall Street Journal that “his long-held belief in executive power is more about protecting the presidency than the current officeholder.”

Said Barr: “I felt the rules were being changed to hurt Trump, and I thought it was damaging for the presidency over the long haul.”

He added: “At every grave juncture the presidency has done what it is supposed to do, which is to provide leadership and direction. If you destroy the presidency and make it an errand boy for Congress, we’re going to be a much weaker and more divided nation.”

I’ve said before that I always felt like Sessions was a good man in a tough position, especially when Trump started yelling at him on Twitter.

But now that Barr has taken his place, you can really see just how limited Sessions was by his recusal for the Russia investigation.

I still don’t think that Sessions deserves all of the hate he got from the right, but I must say that I am glad it worked out this way with Barr becoming his replacement. He’s certainly got a thick skin he seems as honorable as they come. I can’t imagine a better man as Trump’s AG given how hostile the left has become at him.