After nearly three years of investigation into Donald Trump and his campaign’s ties to Russia and their alleged collusion with Russian operatives, William Barr was appointed and announced that there was “no collusion, no obstruction” found by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team. The actual report wasn’t released for several weeks afterward, and that narrative from Barr stuck even though his summary of the report’s findings were more than questionable upon reading Mueller’s findings.
"…Attorney General Barr's lack of candor specifically, call into question Attorney General Barr's credibility" and the DOJ's arguments…, the judge added.
Judge orders DOJ to publish info redacted as privileged from Mueller report https://t.co/owcePg96ZM— Richard J Llewellyn Jr (@duhhh_duh) September 30, 2020
The report took several days to be released because Attorney General Barr needed time to redact “privileged” information, according to the Department of Justice, and the resulting report still didn’t hold up to his professions of Trump’s innocence. What wasn’t seen in that report, however, soon will be, and the Barr spin on the Mueller team’s findings may finally be undone.
The Hill reports that:
‘District Judge Reggie Walton said the Trump administration had failed to justify certain redactions from the report on the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.’
BREAKING: Barr’s motion to dismiss Andy McCabe’s lawsuit against him is DENIED. They will now proceed to discovery. https://t.co/gALvx4aGyg
— Mueller, She Wrote Podcast (@MuellerSheWrote) September 24, 2020
After reviewing the documents, the district judge had much to say on Barr’s complicity in covering up the truth from the American people. Saying that Barr lacked candor in his summary of the report to the public and damaged his own credibility in the process, Judge Walton ordered that certain redactions be removed because Barr had not shown that they included any privileged information.
Judge Walton’s decision stated that:
‘Based on the Court’s review of the unredacted version of the Mueller Report, the Court concludes that the Department has failed to satisfy its burden to demonstrate that the withheld material is protected by the deliberative process privilege.’
Former FBI Director James Comey slams AG Bill Barr for his attacks against the Russia investigation. Probe began under Comey; IG has said it was proper. Barr has said the investigation was "abhorrent" and has taken many steps as AG to undermine its legacy. Comey now pushing back. pic.twitter.com/8jdvFgWB3a
— Marshall Cohen (@MarshallCohen) September 30, 2020
So while Trump and Barr are still claiming that the Mueller report found “no collusion, no obstruction” – but included at least 10 separate incidences of obstruction and court cases since, such as Roger Stone’s, have made the possibility of collusion more questionable, a less heavily redacted report may tell an entirely different story.
‘In March, Walton ordered the DOJ to give him access to an unredacted copy of the report so that he could review their withholdings. He excoriated the department and Attorney General William Barr at the time for misrepresenting the report’s conclusions before it was actually released.’
"We did not anticipate the treachery of William Barr," says Andrew Weissmann on @Morning_Joe. "We were basically hoodwinked." Weissmann had a management role under Mueller after running criminal fraud for DOJ.
— Cat Rakowski (@catrakowski) September 29, 2020
