Barr's lies about Mueller report did 'grave disservice to the country'

Members of Congress slammed Attorney General William Barr on Thursday for lying to them and the American public about what special counsel Robert Mueller’s team discovered about Trump and his campaign.

Even with only a censored version of the Mueller report available to the public, congressional leaders said, it is clear that Barr gave wildly misleading statements about Mueller’s conclusions.

“Attorney General Barr presented a conclusion that the president did not obstruct justice while Mueller’s report appears to undercut that finding,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement.

In both his initial four-page summary and at his press conference Thursday morning, Barr twisted Mueller’s words to spin a false narrative of Trump’s exoneration. But anyone who read the report itself could see that it was far more damning to Trump and his team than Barr acknowledged.

“The attorney general did a grave disservice to the country by misrepresenting significant parts of the Mueller report by attempting to put a positive spin for the president on the special counsel’s findings,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), chair of the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters Thursday. “The attorney general is not the president’s personal lawyer, although he may feel he is.”

Schiff added that, despite Barr’s eagerness to declare Trump innocent of any crimes, the Mueller report shows that Trump’s conduct was “unquestionably dishonest, unethical, immoral, and unpatriotic, and should be condemned by every American.”

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), chair of the Judiciary Committee said in a statement that the Mueller report exposes “disturbing evidence that President Trump engaged in obstruction of justice and other misconduct.”

“Contrary to the Attorney General’s statement this morning that the White House ‘fully cooperated’ with the investigation, the report makes clear that the President refused to be interviewed by the Special Counsel and refused to provide written answers to follow-up questions; and his associates destroyed evidence relevant to the Russia investigation,” Nadler added.

The report “catalogues in excruciating detail a proliferation of lies by the President to the American people, as well as his incessant and repeated efforts to encourage others to lie,” Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), chair of the Oversight Committee said in a statement. Cummings also slammed Barr’s “misdirection” in previous statement regarding the report.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said Barr “fundamentally mischaracterized” Mueller’s findings, and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) slammed Barr’s “political spin” on the report.

Most congressional Democrats have echoed a similar refrain and are calling for the full, uncensored Mueller report to be released.

Barr has proven himself to be a partisan, untrustworthy mouthpiece of the Trump administration. And if even the censored version of the Mueller report contains so much credible evidence implicating Trump in crimes or deeply unethical behavior, “just imagine what remains hidden from our view,” Nadler said.

The only way to find out what else Barr is hiding is for Congress to have access to the full, uncensored Mueller report.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.