Attorney General William Barr Is ‘In Open Warfare’ With Mueller’s Team, Says Legal Analyst
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s unreleased report on the Trump administration’s alleged collusion with Russia to influence the 2016 United States election reportedly lies at the center of a battle between Mueller’s team and Attorney General Bill Barr. After The New York Times reported that Mueller’s team is angry with Barr over his portrayal of the investigation and its findings, the Justice Department shot back, suggesting that Barr was unhappy with Mueller and his team.
Per Salon, Matthew Miller, a legal analyst and former spokesperson under President Barack Obama’s Department of Justice, claims that Barr is in “open warfare” with Mueller’s team. He suggests that Barr is being unclear in his actions, highlighting the fact that he first said that his letter on Mueller’s report was a summary of the main conclusions reached by the special counsel, but has shifted and now says that the letter was called a “summary'” by mistake.
“Barr has also moved the goalposts on what categories of information would be redacted from the report, adding two new ones to the list he announced on March 24, while refusing so far to ask a court for permission to release grand jury material, as the Justice Department did at the conclusion of two previous investigations into presidential misconduct.”
Barr is now under fire, being accused of misrepresenting the findings of the report and acting in Trump’s interests. Back in 2018, Barr wrote a memo to the Justice Department suggesting that Trump did not obstruct justice, despite never having seen any of Mueller’s findings. After this, Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions and replaced him with Barr.
Barr also helped President George H.W. Bush issue pardons to halt the investigation of the Iran-Contra scandal that cast a shadow over the Bush administration, which was the last time he was attorney general.
Barr is "in open warfare" with Mueller’s team as his own credibility crumble: former DOJ official https://t.co/mPhm4wRENU
— Salon (@Salon) April 5, 2019
Miller claims that the Justice Department must release the report and let it — along with Mueller’s “hard-earned reputation” — speak for itself. He also suggests that failing to do so will harm the department’s already tarnished reputation.
“Barr should get out of the way and let that happen. Otherwise, he will deserve all the criticism he gets, and both he and the Justice Department will suffer for it.”
As The Inquisitr reported, an NBC News national security correspondent suggested on Thursday that Mueller’s report contains “very compelling” evidence that Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia, although it fell short of establishing a criminal conspiracy. Prior to this, NBC News released a report that suggested Mueller found that members of the Trump campaign were manipulated by a Russian intelligence operation.
