That tension boiled over this week ahead of Barr’s scheduled testimony before the Senate and House Judiciary committees, with Barr threatening not to show up in front of the House panel on Thursday because of a dispute over the format, and where Democrats will surely press him on his decisions surrounding the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and his full vindication of the President. A new CNN-SSRS poll finds opinion on Barr’s actions nearly evenly split, with 44% approve of Barr’s handling of the special counsel’s report and 43% disapprove. Beyond his handling of the report, 34% have a favorable opinion of Barr and 35% have an unfavorable opinion of him.

Yet even some critics of Barr say his decisions on the Mueller report are not “Trump-centric.” Robert Bauer, the White House counsel for President Barack Obama, told CNN’s Gloria Borger that Barr has held his views of expansive presidential power to influence the Justice Department’s investigations “for decades.”