This Tuesday, a major bombshell dropped with the revelation of a letter from Special Counsel Robert Mueller objecting to Trump appointee Attorney General William Barr’s characterization of Mueller’s Russia probe as having cleared the president. The fire is now getting turned up around the controversial attorney general, with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) abruptly demanding he resign this week.
Schiff shared:
‘Attorney General Barr should resign. He misled the American people with his inaccurate summary of Mueller’s report. Then he misled the Congress when he denied knowledge of Mueller’s concerns. How can he be trusted to impartially administer justice? Short answer: He can’t.’
Attorney General Barr should resign.
He misled the American people with his inaccurate summary of Mueller’s report.
Then he misled the Congress when he denied knowledge of Mueller’s concerns.
How can he be trusted to impartially administer justice?
Short answer: He can’t. pic.twitter.com/aJpxHj1mc6
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) May 1, 2019
Before the Mueller letter dropped, there were already widespread concerns about Barr’s handling of the findings from the probe. In a particularly high-profile incident, Barr read off a statement from which he’d lopped off the first half; the butchered version only shared the “innocence” of the Trump team, while the rest showed how far off the path they’d gone even if it didn’t reach the level of a criminally prosecutable conspiracy with Russian agents seeking to tilt the election.
Another front of concern opened up over Barr’s handling of the obstruction of justice component of the probe. After Mueller’s team spent almost two years investigating the issue and explicitly declined to exonerate the president even in the absence of criminal charges, Barr swooped in only some two days after receiving Mueller’s findings and alongside Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein declared the president to be innocent in the face of obstruction of justice allegations.
This gross mishandling of the Russia probe by any objective legal standard has allowed President Donald Trump the basis to falsely declare himself innocent and exonerated. Even in the face of the Mueller report itself asserting it “does not exonerate the president,” he has ran far and wide with the line of “No collusion, no obstruction! Total exoneration!”
Now House Democrats have to deal with the aftermath.
As Schiff put it:
‘Now it is confirmed Mueller objected to the “context, nature, and substance” of Barr’s misleading summary of the report. And the false public narrative it allowed the White House to create. No one can place any reliance on what Barr says. We need to hear from Mueller himself.’
Now it is confirmed Mueller objected to the “context, nature, and substance” of Barr’s misleading summary of the report.
And the false public narrative it allowed the White House to create.
No one can place any reliance on what Barr says. We need to hear from Mueller himself. https://t.co/ET7tQxnGQG
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) May 1, 2019
Besides demanding Barr get out of the way and resign, Schiff pointed out that it appears Barr blatantly lied to Congress because the letter from Mueller arrived at the Justice Department all the way back in March. On April 9 — after the letter — Barr told Congress that he had no idea what media reports about the Mueller team breaking with his conclusions were referring to.
Barr’s answer to @RepCharlieCrist, denying knowledge of Mueller’s concerns over his summary, was deliberately false and misleading.
If he were an ordinary citizen, it might be considered perjury. As our top law enforcement official, it’s even worse.
He must step down. https://t.co/SRQuEArPIU
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) May 1, 2019
In other words, by all appearances, the attorney general of the United States lied to Congress — for the third time under Trump! Jeff Sessions wrongly claimed no contacts with Russia during his confirmation hearings, acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker lied about the president having asked him to intervene in investigations, and now there’s this guy, William Barr, who expects us to trust him when the misconduct is this glaring.
Check out Twitter’s response to Schiff…
Featured Image via screenshot
