Attorney General Nominee Strongly Opposed to Whistleblowers

William Barr called False Claims Act an “abomination”

December 11, 2018. Washington, DC.  In a public transcript given as part of the Presidential Oral History of the George H.W. Bush Presidency, President Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, William Barr, ferociously attacked America’s most successful whistleblower law, the False Claims Act.  Barr stated, on the record, that he “wanted to attack” the False Claims Act, and specifically called the law’s highly successful qui tam whistleblower provision “an abomination.” In a transcript of his April 5, 2001 interview with the Bush presidency’s oral history project, the content of which Barr personally approved, Barr stated:

“Yes, there were significant disagreements sometimes between the SG’s [Solicitor General] office and my office on a position. One of the big ones was the qui tam statute, which is basically a bounty hunter statute that lets private citizens sue in the name of the United States and get a bounty. I felt then, and feel now, that is an abomination and a violation of the appointments clause under the due powers of the President as well as the standing issue of the Supreme Court. So I wanted to attack the qui tam statute, and the SG’s office wanted to defend it. That was a big dispute.”

Upon learning this information, Stephen M. Kohn, Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center, released the following statement:

“Mr. Barr’s comments demonstrate a deep rooted contempt for whistleblowers.  His radical anti-whistleblower statements are disqualifying for any nominee for the position of U.S. Attorney General. More