Mueller busts Barr for lying to Americans about Trump's crimes

Though it should come as no surprise, there is now proof positive William Barr has been lying all along.

The Washington Post obtained a letter that special counsel Robert Mueller wrote to Barr on March 27, just after Barr’s absurdly hasty exoneration of Trump only 48 hours after receiving Mueller’s 448-page report.

In the letter, Mueller told Barr that the four-page memo Barr wrote to Congress, where he purported to describe Mueller’s conclusions, “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of the special counsel’s work.

Barr’s deceitful framing allowed Trump to immediately claim the special counsel investigation had exonerated him. It wasn’t until the redacted Mueller report was issued — some three weeks later — that the country got to see how badly Barr had mischaracterized Mueller’s finding and how clear it was that Trump had obstructed justice.

Mueller’s letter also called Barr out for issuing a summary that led to “public confusion about critical aspects of the results” of the investigation and said that Barr’s actions likely undermined public confidence in the outcome of the investigation.

Now, Barr has to explain himself to Congress.

On Wednesday, Barr is in front of the more friendly confines of the GOP-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. However, although Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) may try to protect Barr by screaming at Democrats as he did during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, he can’t stop Judiciary Committee Democrats from asking questions or making statements.

On Thursday, Barr will be in front of the House Judiciary. It isn’t likely that he will be happy with what occurs there. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler issued a statement Tuesday night that condemns Barr’s behavior in powerful terms, saying:

The Attorney General should not have taken it upon himself to describe the Special Counsel’s findings in a light more favorable to the President. It was only a matter of time before the facts caught up to him.

Another member of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) told CNN on Tuesday that if Barr fails to show up Thursday — something Barr has already indicated he might do — he’ll push for contempt proceedings.

Other members of both the House and Senate have already called for Barr to step down. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) recounted that he asked Barr, back on April 20, whether Mueller supported Barr’s conclusion there had been no obstruction. Barr answered that he didn’t know. Van Hollen tweeted: “We now know Mueller stated his concerns on March 27 and that Barr totally misled me, the Congress, and the public. He must resign.” Sen. Mazie Hirano (D-HI) tweeted that Barr should no longer be attorney general. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) told MSNBC that Barr should resign and if he won’t, he should be impeached.

It’s important to remember that Barr auditioned for his job by writing unsolicited memos to the DOJ criticizing the Russia investigation. He said he thought there was more reason to investigate Hillary Clinton over the Uranium One deal than to investigate Trump about Russian election interference. Barr was always going to be, as Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) speculated, “a paid federal public defender for President Trump.”

Barr has been scrambling to stay one step ahead of the truth, spinning lies to protect his boss, but it looks like his luck — and Trump’s — just ran out.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.