Under pressure, U.S. Justice Department defends handling of Mueller report

By Andy Sullivan

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Attorney General William Barr delivers remarks at a Justice Department African American History Month event in Washington, U.S., February 26, 2019. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday defended its handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report examining contacts between President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia as it faced increased pressure to make the document public.

 

The department said Attorney General William Barr must strike confidential information from the nearly 400-page document as reports surfaced in the news media that members of Mueller's team were unhappy with the way Barr had characterized its main conclusions.

 

House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, already pressing Barr to release the entire unredacted report to Congress, expanded his demands. Nadler, a Democrat, called on Barr to immediately release summaries of the document prepared by Mueller's team. He also asked Barr to hand over communications between the special counsel's team and the department about the report.

 

The department said those summaries include secret grand jury information that cannot under law be made public.

 

Barr, appointed by the Republican president, has pledged to release a redacted version of the report by mid-April.

 

Barr said last week that Mueller's 22-month inquiry did not establish that Trump's campaign conspired with Russia in the election. Barr also said Mueller also did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump had illegally interfered with the Russia investigation, which has cast a shadow over his presidency.

 

While Mueller did not exonerate Trump, Barr said he then concluded there was not enough evidence to show that Trump committed the crime of obstruction of justice.

 

The New York Times and the Washington Post reported that some investigators were unhappy with the way Barr had described their findings, in a sign of tensions between some members of Mueller's team and administration officials overseeing the report's release.

 

Every page of Mueller's report contains a warning that it might contain confidential material, so Barr decided first to release the report's main findings as quickly as possible, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said.

 

"The Department continues to work with the Special Counsel on appropriate redactions to the report so that it can be released to Congress and the public," Kupec said in a statement.

 

The Judiciary Committee authorized Nadler on Wednesday to subpoena the department to obtain Mueller's full report, moving closer to a legal clash with the Trump administration.

 

Congress, not Barr, should determine what gets made public, Nadler said. He has yet to issue a subpoena.

 

"We are entitled to that information and we need that information," Nadler told reporters on Thursday.

 

FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress he had not seen Mueller's report.

 

(Additional reporting by David Morgan and Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Will Dunham and Ross Colvin)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-04-05

Barr writes letter providing misleading summary to Congress, then writes two more letters trying to claim the first is not a summary.

Now we learn those who wrote the report are saying Barr is misrepresenting it’s findings.

 

It’s so often the attempted cover up

that reveals the crimes.

 

What a difference a House Majority makes.

 

 

 

 

Enough with the bs release the report the more they do the dance the worse Donald looks(if that’s possible)

Barr is walking a very thin line which could result in him getting called on obstruction himself, and he's obviously quite aware of it.

 

DT himself said he has nothing to hide, so why not release full report?

https://video.foxnews.com/v/6020320841001

 

 

Funny how Barr got sucked into the 45 web of corruption and lies. He had a solid reputation but felt he had to emerge from retirement to be an obvious lackey. This is how he'll be remembered now. Only this. Why?

44 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Barr writes letter providing misleading summary to Congress, then writes two more letters trying to claim the first is not a summary.

Now we learn those who wrote the report are saying Barr is misrepresenting it’s findings.

 

It’s so often the attempted cover up

that reveals the crimes.

 

What a difference a House Majority makes.

 

 

 

 

Amazing the world you live in where fantasy becomes fact. Mueller is the boss not his minions. Haven't heard a word from him.

10 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

Amazing the world you live in where fantasy becomes fact. Mueller is the boss not his minions. Haven't heard a word from him.

We shall be hearing from Mueller in due time, under oath and before Congress.

 

Then we’ll see what world you retreat into.

Special counsel's team may have misrepresented emails during probe, GOP senators warn

https://www.foxnews.com

Mueller hired to many Trump haters! I often wondered why Mr. Trump called them "12 angry dems". He has access to it all.

 

39 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

Mueller is the boss not his minions. Haven't heard a word from him.

 

This fact should tell you all you need to know, and speaks to the current state of trash journalism standards of todays media. Nobody knows who said this, how far detached from the investigative team they are, or what their motivations are.

 

Libs read this like it was Mueller himself that stated all this. 

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Funny how Barr got sucked into the 45 web of corruption and lies.

Noticed how nearly everyone who gets near DT eventually gets ruined? 

Sort of like he's radiating misfortune. 

Not just to the people who betray him, he takes pleasure in bashing those who kiss his backside.  Remember Sean Spicer? 

 

 

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Funny how Barr got sucked into the 45 web of corruption and lies. He had a solid reputation but felt he had to emerge from retirement to be an obvious lackey. This is how he'll be remembered now. Only this. Why?

 

Maybe there's something to that "Deep State" business. A cadre of benchwarmers that can be called upon at any time to keep the train on the tracks.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

The New York Times and the Washington Post reported that some investigators were unhappy with the way Barr had described their findings, in a sign of tensions between some members of Mueller's team and administration officials overseeing the report's release.

Tick, tick, tick...

3 hours ago, webfact said:

The department said those summaries include secret grand jury information that cannot under law be made public.

Need the Supreme Court Now !

 Mr. Barr can't release the Mueller report unredacted! 

This is what happens when the investigators are being investigated! The Grassley Letter

https://www.scribd.com/document/404946107/Grassley-Letter-to-Mueller#from_embed

"Shortly before Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed his report on the Russia investigation last month, Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., alerted Attorney General Bill Barr to what they described as the "selective" use of emails in Mueller court filings -- as well as potential “improper political influence, misconduct, and mismanagement” in the FBI's original Russia probe".

In a March 8 letter, Grassley and Graham referred Barr to a letter sent to Mueller in late 2017 that alleged his investigators had cherry-picked details from emails to include in court documents, urging him to review the materials. They also notified him that they had asked DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz a year earlier to review the original FBI probe.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-senators-alert-barr-to-allegations-that-mueller-team-misrepresented-emails

5 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Now we learn those who wrote the report are saying Barr is misrepresenting it’s findings.

This is not correct. You should not just believe unnamed sources just because it fits your beliefs.

8 minutes ago, DoctorG said:

This is not correct. You should not just believe unnamed sources just because it fits your beliefs.

Sounds more like that you don't believe the sources. Let's split it half way. Release the full unredacted report to congress! Release the full unredacted summaries by Mueller ASAP to the public. Then we can talk about what's real and what is not real.

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

Sounds more like that you don't believe the sources. Let's split it half way. Release the full unredacted report to congress! Release the full unredacted summaries by Mueller ASAP to the public. Then we can talk about what's real and what is not real.

There are no named sources.

My thoughts on the release have been well stated already.

Just now, DoctorG said:

There are no named sources.

My thoughts on the release have been well stated already.

I don't know your thoughts.

I do know that unnamed sources are used by the press all the time and just being unnamed is not conclusive that they are false sources.

6 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Barr writes letter providing misleading summary to Congress, then writes two more letters trying to claim the first is not a summary.

Now we learn those who wrote the report are saying Barr is misrepresenting it’s findings.

 

It’s so often the attempted cover up

that reveals the crimes.

 

What a difference a House Majority makes.

 

 

 

 

so you know without any doubt, based on facts of course, the summary is misleading. amazing

2 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I don't know your thoughts.

I do know that unnamed sources are used by the press all the time and just being unnamed is not conclusive that they are false sources.

or that they are real, or in any way factual

5 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Funny how Barr got sucked into the 45 web of corruption and lies. He had a solid reputation but felt he had to emerge from retirement to be an obvious lackey. This is how he'll be remembered now. Only this. Why?

nice assumptions without a shred of factual reality, bolstered by the biased opinion of you

1 minute ago, elmrfudd said:

or that they are real, or in any way factual

Let the report be released to congress in full ASAP.

The only reason to oppose that is if you think that Barr is covering up for 45.

 

Just now, elmrfudd said:

nice assumptions without a shred of factual reality, bolstered by the biased opinion of you

Yeah, you're not biased.

Of course I'm biased against 45. It's incompressible to me how anyone that has digested what we already know about him isn't. He's a total disgrace and dark stain on American history. 

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

Let the report be released to congress in full ASAP.

The only reason to oppose that is if you think that Barr is covering up for 45.

 

so when the grand jury portions are redacted, will you cry cover up, still?

1 minute ago, elmrfudd said:

so when the grand jury portions are redacted, will you cry cover up, still?

Stop the games.

The complete report including the grand jury portions must be released to congress.

Releasing to congress is not the same as releasing everything to the public.

It's not the AG's job to redact. Period. This is for congress to deal with. 

Just now, Jingthing said:

Yeah, you're not biased.

Of course I'm biased against 45. It's incompressible to me how anyone that has digested what we already know about him isn't. He's a total disgrace and dark stain on American history. 

fortunately, millions of people do not share your self righteous opinions, even if you continue to berate those who

disagree with you with your biased opinion. get over it

Just now, Jingthing said:

Stop the games.

The complete report including the grand jury portions must be released to congress.

Releasing to congress is not the same as releasing everything to the public.

It's not the AG's job to redact. Period. This is for congress to deal with. 

blather. the rules say what has to be redacted. throwing a tantrum won't get around it

Just now, elmrfudd said:

fortunately, millions of people do not share your self righteous opinions, even if you continue to berate those who

disagree with you with your biased opinion. get over it

Yes, I understand. About 35 percent of Americans are in the hard core 45 base. The portion of Americans that would still be with him, as he openly said, if he went out on the street and murdered someone. That's a crying shame but that's the dark reality Americans are dealing with.

1 minute ago, elmrfudd said:

blather. the rules say what has to be redacted. throwing a tantrum won't get around it

Actually, no they don't.

The AG is NOT legally bound to redact grand jury material.

That's a fake excuse.

Deal with the facts.

You're not fooling anyone here really.

It's obvious that you also realize that there is dark damaging to 45 stuff in that report. You want it suppressed. I consider that un-American. Are we an open democracy or a dictatorship by an unhinged authoritarian demagogue. Release it all to congress!

4 minutes ago, elmrfudd said:

fortunately, millions of people do not share your self righteous opinions, even if you continue to berate those who

disagree with you with your biased opinion. get over it

I guess we have to take your word  your opinions on TV are unbiased.

Just now, Jingthing said:

Yes, I understand. About 35 percent of Americans are in the hard core 45 base. The portion of Americans that would still be with him, as he openly said, if he went out on the street and murdered someone. That's a crying shame but that's the dark reality Americans are dealing with.

actually, you understand nothing. all the while, berating people who disagree with you and slinging

insults on those who disagree with your biased opinions from a pseudo intellectual self righteous perch.

 

that is the true dark reality