Attorney General William Barr is set to appear at 10 am ET before the GOP-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee amid outrage after it was revealed that Special Counsel Robert Mueller had wrote the attorney general a letter objecting to his characterization of the contents of the Mueller Report. To open this page in a new window, click HERE.
CLIPS: ‘Attorney General William Barr defended his handling of the special counsel’s report before the Senate Judiciary Committee and addressed a newly released letter from Robert Mueller that expressed concerns about how the report was being portrayed. Barr said in a phone call following up on the letter sent last month, Mueller told the attorney general his summary of the report was not inaccurate, but that the media reporting on the letter, and specifically the matter of obstruction, was inaccurate. “He was very clear with me that he was not suggesting we had misrepresented his report,” Barr said.’
‘Attorney General William Barr told the Senate Judiciary Committee that special counsel Robert Mueller did not take issue with the accuracy of Barr’s set of principal conclusions on the Russia report, but was frustrated “that the press reporting had been inaccurate.” Barr said Mueller’s concern “focused on his explanation of why he did not reach a conclusion on obstruction [of justice], and he wanted more put out on that issue.” Barr said he told Mueller that he would not release summaries of the various sections of the report, and instead pushed to prepare a redacted version of the full document.’
“Attorney General William Barr said there was little disagreement with the special counsel’s team about what should be redacted from the report detailing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Responding to questions from Sen. Lindsey Graham, Barr said he did not recall any disagreement over whether classified information in the report should be redacted.”
“Attorney General William Barr said he was surprised that special counsel Robert Mueller did not come to a conclusion as to whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice. Barr said he made the decision there was not enough evidence that Trump committed an obstruction offense —a decision that Barr said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein agreed with.”
‘Attorney General William Barr told a Senate committee that he was “not really sure” why special counsel Robert Mueller did not reach a conclusion in his report on whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice. “I really could not recapitulate his analysis,” Barr said in response to a question from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. The attorney general said if Mueller thought he should not make the traditional prosecutorial decision on whether or not Trump obstructed justice, he should not have continued investigating the issue.’
‘Attorney General William Barr told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he trusts special counsel Robert Mueller. The statement came in response to a series of quick-fire questions from Sen. Lindsey Graham, the committee chairman. Graham asked whether Mueller had the time, money and resources he needed to complete his investigation and whether he did a thorough job. Barr answered “yes” to all of the questions. ‘
‘Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, questioned whether the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election should have looked into how the investigation began and considered whether the Christopher Steele dossier was part of a Russian disinformation campaign. Attorney General William Barr said he was still digesting the report and said he envisioned providing “some sort of reporting” on his findings after looking into whether the probe followed proper procedures.’
‘Attorney General William Barr told Sen. Chris Van Hollen during a an April 10 hearing with the Senate Appropriations Committee that he did not know whether special counsel Robert Mueller agreed with his assessment of the Mueller report. Barr’s comments have come under renewed scrutiny after it was revealed this week that Mueller sent the attorney general a letter on March 27 expressing concern that there was “public confusion” after Barr provided his four-page summary of the report. Barr’s summary “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Office’s work and conclusions,” Mueller wrote.’
