Private tensions between Justice Department leaders and Robert Mueller’s team broke into public view in extraordinary fashion Wednesday as Attorney General William Barr pushed back at the special counsel’s “snitty” complaints over his handling of the Trump-Russia investigation report.
Testifying for the first time since releasing Mueller’s report, Barr said he was surprised Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether President Donald Trump had tried to obstruct justice, and that he had felt compelled to step in with his own judgment that the president had committed no crime.
“I’m not really sure of his reasoning,” Barr said of Mueller’s obstruction analysis, which neither accused the president of a crime nor exonerated him. “I think that if he felt that he shouldn’t go down the path of making a traditional prosecutive decision then he shouldn’t have investigated. That was the time to pull up.”
Barr was also perturbed by a private letter Mueller sent him last month complaining that the attorney general had not properly portrayed the special counsel’s finding. Barr called the note “a bit snitty.”
“I said ‘Bob, what’s with the letter? Just pick up the phone and call me if there is an issue,'” Barr said.
The airing of disagreements over the handling of the report followed Mueller’s two-year investigation into Russian interference to help Trump in the 2016 campaign and the possibility that Trump’s team conspired with the Russians. During most of the investigation, the Justice Department and Mueller’s team seemed to be unified in approach.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers have been anything but unified. And their partisan divide was on full display during Wednesday’s contentious Judiciary Committee hearing, which included three Democratic presidential candidates.
Some Republicans, in addition to defending Trump, focused on the president’s 2016 Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton’s email and campaign practices and what they argued has been a lack of investigation of them.
As the hearing was getting underway, Trump tweeted his familiar “NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION.” Though Mueller reached no conclusion on obstruction, he did report that his probe established no collusion between the Trump team and Russia.
Democrats, for their part, moved to exploit the daylight between Barr and Mueller to attack the attorney general’s credibility and accuse him of unduly spinning the special counsel’s report in the president’s favor. Some also called for Barr to resign, or to recuse himself from Justice Department investigations that have been spun off from Mueller’s probe.
They also pressed him on whether he had misled Congress last month when he professed ignorance about complaints from the special counsel’s team. Barr suggested he had not lied because he was in touch with Mueller himself and not his team.
Unswayed, Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont said, “Mr. Barr, I feel your answer was purposely misleading, and I believe others do too.”
NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION. Besides, how can you have Obstruction when not only was there No Collusion (by Trump), but the bad actions were done by the “other” side? The greatest con-job in the history of American Politics!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 1, 2019
Barr sought to minimize the rift by suggesting the special counsel’s concerns were largely about process, not substance.
Barr’s appearance gave him his most extensive opportunity to explain the department’s actions, including his press conference held before the Mueller report’s release.
Barr has also been invited to appear Thursday before the Democratic-led House Judiciary panel, but the Justice Department has said he would not testify if the committee insisted on having its lawyers question him.
Neither side broke much new ground Wednesday on the specifics of Mueller’s investigation, though Barr did articulate a robust defense of Trump as he made clear his firm conviction that there was no prosecutable case against the president for obstruction of justice.
He was asked by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committee’s top Democrat, about an episode recounted in Mueller’s report in which Trump pressed White House Counsel Don McGahn to seek the removal of Mueller on conflict-of-interest grounds. Trump then asked McGahn to deny a press report that such a directive had been given.
Barr responded, “There’s something very different firing a special counsel outright, which suggests ending an investigation, and having a special counsel removed for conflict — which suggests you’re going to have another special counsel.”
Barr entered the hearing on the defensive following reports hours earlier that Mueller had complained to him in a letter and over the phone about the way his findings were being portrayed.
Two days after receiving Mueller’s report, Barr had released a four-page letter that summarized the main conclusions.
Mueller’s letter, dated March 27, conveyed his unhappiness that Barr released what the attorney general saw as the bottom-line conclusions of the investigation and not the introductions and executive summaries that Mueller’s team had prepared and believed conveyed more nuance and context than Barr’s own letter. Mueller said he had communicated the same concern two days earlier.
“There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation,” Mueller wrote in his letter to Barr. “This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.”
Barr appeared unmoved by the criticism. He said repeatedly that Mueller had assured him that Barr’s letter of conclusions was not inaccurate but he simply wanted more information out. Barr said he didn’t believe a piecemeal release of information was beneficial, and besides, it wasn’t Mueller’s call to make.
Once Mueller submitted his report, his work was done and the document was “my baby,” Barr insisted defiantly.
“It was my decision how and when to make it public. Not Bob Mueller’s.”
Barr also complained that Mueller did not, as requested, identify grand jury material in his report when he submitted it, slowing down the public release of the report as the Justice Department worked to black out sensitive information.
Barr noted that Mueller concluded his investigation without any interference and that neither the attorney general nor any other Justice Department official overruled the special counsel on any action he wanted to take.
Why didn’t President Obama do something about Russia in September (before November Election) when told by the FBI? He did NOTHING, and had no intention of doing anything!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 1, 2019
“No President in history has endured such vicious personal attacks by political opponents. Still, the President’s record is unparalleled.” @LouDobbs
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 1, 2019
“The Democrats can’t come to grips with the fact that there was No Collusion, there was No Conspiracy, there was No Obstruction. What we should be focused on is what’s been going on in our government, at the highest levels of the FBI….” Senator Josh Hawley
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 1, 2019
(AP)
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11 Responses
Talk about lack of context. This headline is a liberal disaster. Reading the article clarifies what Mueller’s issue really is – the media coverage – not the attorney general. Why is YWN always insisting on pushing a liberal agenda on a mostly conservative audience? If this website is to be a true alternative to goyish websites, they must do a better job at presenting a more conservative agenda. Stop blaming the wire services. Change the headlines of find other wire services.
The impression is that Muller is disappointed that Barr didn’t leave more leeway to continue to make a mockery out of the Judicial system and use the conclusions to take down the President. It would seem the charges of the investigation being a partisan witch hunt has more credibility now that Muller is revealing his hand in how he wants the conclusions to be slanted.
Mueller and his investigators had already prepared summaries that we’re ready for release, there was no need for Barr to do anything, he was spinning the report in a positive light and went even further in that intent with his “press conference”. Barr is acting as trump’s personal attorney rather than the attorney general of the U.S., a disgrace.
A hearing because Mueller is upset about how the “report” (or call it a new Dossier) is being handled and portrayed? A hurt feelings hearing in Congress????
Is the DOJ still obstructing Congress on the email investigation?
Thank G-d we have an honest Attorney General who, unlike the little pipsqueak Jeff Sessions, won’t allow himself to be pushed around by lifetime diseased rodents, Adam Schiff & Jerrold Nadler. The impeached criminal Eric Holder, illegally weaponized his position as Attorney General by going after all of his master, Obama’s, opponents. Not just all Republicans but also included Hillary Clinton and his very own VP, the honorable Joe Biden. These are well documented facts. He was let off the hook by every democrat because of the color of his skin. Eric Witholder was a personal hit man for Barack Obama.
rt, you never fail to expose yourself as demented conspiracies obsessed lunatic. you still believe you can find where “dead bodies” are berried in Mueller Report.
Barr is clearly a Trump partisan but that is to be expected. He is handling himself well and holding his ground without engaging in hyperbole. He has always been known to have an expansive view of the powers of the executive and to some extent, channels the Trump’s confident and arrogant style. However, that itself is not “criminal”. What he is saying is that while Trump’s style and actions in dealing with Mueller and the whole obstruction issue pushes the envelope (as compared to a “normal” President’s behavior) it does not cross a vague and blurry legal line as to what constitutes “obstruction”. Trump had contempt and animus for the SC but that itself is not illegal.
Mueller is clearly a Deep State and Democrat partisan but that is to be expected. He is handling himself well and holding his ground without engaging in hyperbole. He has always been known to have an expansive view of the powers of the executive and to some extent, channels the Clintons and Obama confident and arrogant style. However, that itself is not “criminal”. What he is saying is that while Hillary’s style and actions in dealing with Fusion GPS and Christopher Steel and the whole Deep State conspiracy issue pushes the envelope (as compared to a “normal” Hillary behavior) it does not cross a vague and blurry legal line as to what constitutes “obstruction”.Hillary and Obama had contempt and animus for the Rule of Law but that itself is not illegal.
This should be the final message to lunatic Democrats: No Collusion, No Obstruction, but this will not deter them because in their world “Truth is a lie, War is peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength”.
Rt: shame on you the disgrace lies with Mueller and his henchmen. If there was any way to bring down trump they would have. This is the best they can do by leaving some attempted obstruction innuendo on no crime. Oh please! Your hatred of trump for defending Israel and bringing a conservative agenda to restore this country has you totally off kilter and on the wrong side of things. May Schiff, Schumer and nadler have bitter political downfalls bkarov
Mueller is the political elite’s unsuccessful hatchet man. His past is littered with questionable activities which will be investigated now by an honest DOJ under Barr. None of the perpetrators in government ever expected to be brought up on charges, but here it comes.