"I started off in Washington at the Central Intelligence Agency and went to law school at night while I was working at CIA," recalled William Barr in a 2001 oral history for the University of Virginia.

Trump's nominee to be attorney general has what Trump might call "deep state" credentials. Barr came to Langley in 1973. He was a 23-year-old graduate of Columbia with a master's in political science and Chinese studies. His resume shows he toiled at the CIA by day and attended George Washington University law school at night. The Watergate scandal was ravaging the agency's reputation and destroying the presidency of Richard Nixon.

A close examination of Barr's legal career indicates a high tolerance for presidentially sanctioned law-breaking.

Barr spent four formative years in the Intelligence Directorate and the Office of Legislative Counsel. He even made the acquaintance of CIA director George H.W. Bush. In 1977 Barr moved on to a prestigious clerkship for a federal judge and then a series of jobs in private practice and the Justice Department. In 1991, Bush, now president, appointed Barr to be attorney general.