Special Counsel Robert Mueller III has known Attorney General William Barr for over 30 years. They have been friends, but the AG has done something so atrocious that their friendship may not be able to survive it. Mueller sent Barr an intense letter condemning the AG’s summary that completely waylayed the entire Mueller report’s findings, but that was not the only letter.
In the first, late March letter, Mueller urged the attorney general to release at least part of the investigative findings in his report. The report was the result of two years’ investigation into Russia’s internet attack on the U.S.’s 2016 presidential election and any conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Moscow.
In case Barr did not get his intent, according to The New York Times, Mueller wrote:
‘…OUTLINED THE INQUIRY’S MAN CONCLUSIONS IN A LETTER TO CONGRESS CITING A GAP BETWEEN MR. BARR’S INTERPRETATION AND MR. MUELLER’S REPORT.’
Mueller’s people told the Department of Justice (DOJ) how concerned they were the day following Barr’s letter that exonerated Donald Trump and refused to let go of the special counsel’s actual results.
Mueller sent Barr a second letter within just two days. When a member of the intelligence community puts information into writing, that means it is serious documentation of the issue and not common. He wrote:
‘WE COMMUNICATED THAT CONCERN TO THE DEPARTMENT ON THE MORNING OF MARCH 25. THERE IS NOW PUBLIC CONFUSION ABOUT CRITICAL ASPECTS OF THE RESULTS OF OUR INVESTIGATION.’
The special counsel continued:
‘THE SUMMARY LETTER THE DEPARTMENT SENT TO CONGRESS AND RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC LATE IN THE AFTERNOON OF MARCH 24 DID NOT FULLY CAPTURE THE CONTEXT, NATURE, AND SUBSTANCE OF THIS OFFICE’S WORK AND CONCLUSIONS.’
Even though Mueller’s second letter requested that the DOJ release his own summaries of the findings and contained suggestions for redactions, Barr said no.
The special counsel added that the AG’s letter:
‘(T)HREATENS TO UNDERMINE A CENTRAL PURPOSE FOR WHICH THE DEPARTMENT APPOINTED THE SPECIAL COUNSEL: TO ASSURE FULL PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN THE OUTCOME OF THE INVESTIGATIONS.’
