美国司法部长威廉巴尔在2019年10月3日DC华盛顿证券交易委员会刑事协调会议上发表讲话后挥手告别。纽约律师协会发表声明，抨击巴尔，称其对总统个人忠诚，而不是对他所服务的办公室忠诚。
纽约市律师协会周三要求司法部长威廉·巴尔回避司法部对唐纳德·特朗普总统举报者投诉的任何审查，称他似乎认为“他的首要义务是对总统个人的忠诚，而不是对国家的忠诚。”
该协会在一份声明中表示:“无论巴尔在2019年7月25日电话会议之前、之时或之后是否知道总统的计划，很明显，一旦总统向塞拉斯基总统提供巴尔的服务，巴尔就有义务回避参与DOJ对举报者投诉或总统行动实质的审查。”。
巴尔在7月25日的电话中被传唤，除其他通信外，该电话促使一名情报界告密者对唐纳德·特朗普总统提出投诉，指控他与乌克兰的交易不当。在电话中，总统似乎暗示，对东欧国家的军事援助将取决于对前副总统乔拜登(他2020年的主要竞争对手)的调查，或者是一个阴谋论的核心域名服务器。
特朗普告诉乌克兰总统沃洛迪米尔·泽兰斯基，除了美国司法部长威廉·巴尔(William Barr)之外，他还应该与他的私人律师鲁迪·朱利安尼(Rudy Giuliani)“一个备受尊敬的人”沟通。
司法部后来与该呼吁保持距离，声称巴尔没有与特朗普谈论他对乌克兰的愿望。
司法部发言人克里·库佩奇在9月下旬表示:“总统没有要求司法部长就此事或任何其他事项与乌克兰联系。”。“总检察长没有就这一问题或任何其他问题与乌克兰沟通。司法部长也没有和鲁迪·朱利安尼讨论这件事或任何与乌克兰有关的事情。”
司法部参与了电话的一些附带影响，建议举报人的投诉不必提交国会，而是可以由司法部通过刑事转介来处理。最终，该部门在评估特朗普向泽兰斯基提出的提议没有违反竞选金融法后，排除了刑事起诉。
周三的声明称，巴尔“似乎参与了DOJ对举报者投诉的审查，并决定不将该投诉转交国会”。“他没有回避审查，而且(据我们所知)仍然没有回避DOJ正在对乌克兰问题的其他方面进行的任何审查，这严重违反了他保护DOJ在乌克兰问题调查中不受合理质疑的义务。”
该声明由协会主席罗杰·马尔多纳多及其法治工作队主席斯蒂芬·卡斯撰写。
目前还不清楚司法部是否或如何参与对举报者指控实质的调查，但卡斯告诉记者新闻周刊他认为巴尔有必要宣布任何未来的审查都不受他的影响。
WILLIAM BARR SHOWS 'LOYALTY' TO TRUMP, NOT U.S., SAYS NYC BAR IN STATEMENT CALLING FOR AG'S RECUSAL IN UKRAINE MATTER
U.S. Attorney General William Barr waves goodbye after delivering remarks during the Criminal Coordination Conference at the Securities and Exchange Commission Oct. 3, 2019 in Washington, DC. The NYC Bar Association released a statement assailing Barr for what it alleges is loyalty to the president personally rather than the office he serves.
The New York City Bar Association demanded Wednesday that Attorney General William Barr recuse himself from any Justice Department review of the whistleblower complaint involving President Donald Trump, saying he appeared to view "his primary obligation as loyalty to the President individually rather than to the nation."
"Regardless of whether Mr. Barr was in fact aware of or part of the President's plans, either before, at the time of, or after the July 25, 2019 telephone call, it is clear that Mr. Barr was obligated to recuse himself from any involvement in DOJ's review of either the whistleblower complaint or the substance of the President's actions once the President offered Mr. Barr's services to President Zelensky," the association said in a statement.
Barr was invoked on the July 25 call which, among other communications, prompted an intelligence community whistleblower to lodge a complaint against President Donald Trump for alleged improprieties related to his dealings with Ukraine. On the phone call, the president appeared to suggest that military aid for the Eastern European country would be contingent upon an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, his chief 2020 rival, or a DNC server central to a conspiracy theory.
Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he should communicate with his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, "a highly respected man," in addition to the U.S. Attorney General, William Barr.
The Justice Department later distanced itself from the call, claiming that Barr had not spoken with Trump about his wishes regarding Ukraine.
"The President has not asked the Attorney General to contact Ukraine, on this or any other matter," Justice Department spokesperson Kerri Kupec said in late September. "The Attorney General has not communicated with Ukraine, on this or any other subject. Nor has the Attorney General discussed this matter, or anything relating to Ukraine, with Rudy Giuliani."
The Justice Department has been involved in some of the fallout from the phone call, advising that the whistleblower's complaint need not be referred to Congress and could instead be managed by the department through a criminal referral. Ultimately, the department ruled out criminal prosecution after assessing that no campaign finance laws were broken with Trump's offer to Zelensky.
Barr "appears to have participated in the DOJ review of the whistleblower's complaint and its decision not to forward that complaint to Congress," Wednesday's statement said. "That he failed to recuse himself from that review, and still has not yet (to our knowledge) recused himself from any ongoing DOJ review of other aspects of the Ukraine Matter, is a serious violation of his obligation to protect the DOJ from reasonable questions as to its impartiality in the investigation of the Ukraine Matter."
The statement was authored by the association's president, Roger Maldonado, and the chair of its Task Force on the Rule of Law, Stephen Kass.
It is unknown whether or how the Justice Department is involved in any ongoing investigation into the substance of the whistleblower's allegations, but Kass told Newsweek that he believes it is imperative for Barr to announce that any future review would not be subject to his involvement.
The Justice Department did not respond to Newsweek's request for comment.
