‘Very Concerning Discrepancies’ Surrounding Mueller Report, Cites House Judiciary Chair
Beginning even before his nomination for attorney general and continuing through his ultimately successful confirmation for the post, William Barr has been under scrutiny regarding how he would handle the eventual completion of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. As attorney general, he alone is in control of the report now that it has been delivered and critics have consistently pointed out that previous statements by Barr have strongly suggested that he might not feel an obligation to be forthcoming when the report landed, which it ultimately did on Friday.
A source of that concern was a memo written by Barr which suggested a strong view of presidential power that feasibly allowed a president to shut down investigations such as this one with few checks or balances. The memo’s subject line was “Mueller’s ‘Obstruction’ Theory,” and it raised plenty of eyebrows when it was released, including among those who thought that Barr was competing for Donald Trump’s attention, and for consideration in the attorney general vacancy.
Regardless, Barr, in his letter to Congress on Friday, which outlined the next steps for the Justice Department with respect to Mueller’s report, pledged “as much transparency as possible” when it comes to dissemination of the findings.
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This weekend, as The Inquisitr covered, Barr has his first real opportunity to demonstrate how the report would be handled, as he delivered to Congress a four-page summary of Mueller’s findings, claiming that the special counsel had found no evidence of collusion between Russia and Trump or the Trump campaign.
Representative Jerry Nadler, who is the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, is apparently not convinced.
“In light of the very concerning discrepancies and final decision making at the Justice Department following the Special Counsel report, where Mueller did not exonerate the President, we will be calling Attorney General Barr in to testify before @HouseJudiciary in the near future,” Nadler tweeted.
The tweet furthered ongoing speculation that the House could call Barr, Mueller, or both, to testify to further clarify what has transpired and push for greater transparency in the review of the report.
Previously, Nadler had indicated that the Department of Justice owed the American people more than a four-page summary of the special counsel’s findings and reiterated the importance of a line in Barr’s summary that indicated that the report did not exonerate the president of wrongdoing in terms of potential obstruction of justice.
“Special Counsel Mueller worked for 22 months to determine the extent to which President Trump obstructed justice. Attorney General Barr took 2 days to tell the American people that while the President is not exonerated, there will be no action by DOJ,” Nadler added in the same series of tweets.
