Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., dodged Sunday when asked whether President-elect Donald Trump should try to maintain the Justice Department’s independence from the White House, telling moderator Kristen Welker that former President John F. Kennedy had previously appointed his brother Robert F. Kennedy as attorney general and that Trump “can choose whoever he wants.”
“I think John Kennedy appointed his brother, little brother Bobby, attorney general. The president can choose whoever he wants,” Barrasso told Kristen Welker, the moderator of NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
“We will hold hearings on whoever the President appoints as Attorney General of the United States. And I look forward to those discussions and hearings,” Barrasso added. “I look forward to taking swift action with the majority we have in the Senate to get the President’s Cabinet in place so he can start on January 20.”
His response comes just days after Trump was expected to take back the White House, cementing Republican control of the presidency and Senate.
Since the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, presidential administrations have typically sought to give the Justice Department relative independence from the White House, despite the attorney general being a political appointee.
Barrasso also spoke about Trump’s agenda, which prioritizes a massive plan to deport millions of undocumented immigrants from the US
On Thursday, Trump told NBC News in a phone call that “there is no price tag” when it comes to implementing his plan.
“It’s not a matter of a price tag. It’s not – really, we have no choice. When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries, and now they are going back to those countries because they will not stay here. There is no price tag on it,” the president-elect told Welker.
On Sunday, Barrasso dodged questions about whether there should be limits on how much Trump can spend on his deportation plan.
“I agree that there is no price tag on protecting the safety and security of our country and our citizens. President Trump is going to enforce the law, and we haven’t had that in the past four years,” the senator said in response to a question about whether he agrees that there should be “no price tag” on Trump’s plan.
Barrasso added that Trump’s deportation plan is part of what led to his successful presidential bid, telling Welker: “If you look… the number of people who support the deportation of these individuals, it’s a supermajority of Americans, and I believe it had a lot to do with the president’s success, his overwhelming success in the election last Tuesday.”
Barrasso continued to press the price tag for this plan, which could be in the billions of dollars, and continued to push Trump’s plan without answering the question directly, saying, “I agree with the president on where we have to start. We have to start with the people who are criminals, who have left here, who have remained in this country, people who are on the terrorist watch list, people who have been convicted of murder and rape in other countries, people who call crimes in this country that is the place to start. And that’s where President Trump is about to start.”
Barrasso, a doctor who specializes in orthopedics, also dodged a question about whether he would support Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a notorious vaccine and fluoride skeptic who would serve in the Trump White House.
“Well, since President Trump hasn’t made a single nomination along those lines, I’m not going to comment on one person,” the senator said.
In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Kennedy, who has a long history of spreading proven falsehoods about vaccines, said he was poised to take a leadership role on health care in the next Trump administration, something that Trump didn’t deny it.
Before the election, Trump said Kennedy would play a “major role in the government” if the election went his way, adding that he would be open to some of Kennedy’s more controversial ideas, such as banning certain vaccines or removing fluoride from the US. water system.
“He is a very talented man and has strong opinions,” Trump said at the time, adding at a campaign event that week that Kennedy “can do anything he wants.”
After the election, Kennedy told NBC News that he “wouldn’t take anyone’s vaccines away,” adding, “If vaccines work for someone, I’m not going to take them away. People should have a choice.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
