Tag: Trump Justice Department

Read the letter Mueller sent Bill Barr objecting to description of report

On March 27, special counsel Robert Mueller sent a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr objecting to his March 24 characterization of his report into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Why it matters: Barr is about to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he is sure to be grilled about why he did not publicly release prepared summaries of the report, as Mueller requested. Some Democrats, who have already questioned Barr’s independence for his controversial rollout of the report, are calling on the attorney general to resign.

View the complete May 1 article by Zachary Basu on the Axios website here. The letter is embedded there.

‘I don’t know’: Barr’s professed ignorance prompts calls for his resignation after Mueller letter

In back-to-back congressional hearings on April 9 and 10, Attorney General William P. Barr disclaimed knowledge of the thinking of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and members of his team of prosecutors investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

“No, I don’t,” Barr said, when asked by Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.) whether he knew what was behind reports that members of Mueller’s team were frustrated by the attorney general’s summary of their top-level conclusions.

“I don’t know,” he said the next day, when asked by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) whether Mueller supported his finding that there was not sufficient evidence to conclude that President Trump had obstructed justice.

View the complete May 1 article by Isaac Stanley-Becker on The Washington Post website here.

After Disclosure Of Mueller Letter, Demands For Barr Resignation Mount

Attorney General Bill Barr frustrated Special Counsel Robert Mueller with his misleading portrayal of the Russia investigation’s final report in March, the Washington Post revealed Tuesday and the Justice Department confirmed. Mueller wrote a letter to Barr saying that his summary of the report he sent to Congress “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office’s work and conclusions,” the Post reported.

Many reporters and observers had argued from the beginning that Barr’s letter was likely purposely deceitful. Now that it’s been revealed that the notoriously taciturn Mueller objected to the attorney general’s portrayal, Barr is facing increasing calls for his resignation.

“Attorney General Barr willfully misled the American people to cover up attempted crimes by Donald Trump. He should resign his position or face an impeachment inquiry immediately,” said Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro.

View the complete April 30 article by Cody Fenwick with AlterNet on the National Memo website here.

Mueller expressed ‘frustration’ to Barr over lack of context in letter

A Justice Department spokeswoman said Tuesday that special counsel Robert Mueller expressed “frustration” to Attorney General William Barr in late March over the lack of context in the attorney general’s four-page memo describing his investigation’s findings.

Mueller “expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage” of his obstruction inquiry in a phone call following the release of Barr’s four-page letter, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement to The Hill.

Kupec said Barr called Mueller after receiving a letter in which, according to The Washington Post, the special counsel wrote that Barr’s March 24 memo did not “capture the context, nature, and substance” of his findings.

View the complete April 30 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Rod Rosenstein officially bows out — and bows to Trump

President Trump suggested Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein participated in the planning of “a very illegal act” against him. He suggested Rosenstein was a “totally conflicted” overseer of the Russia investigation. He flirted with firing him, saying he had the right to do so “absolutely.” And he regularly derided him as a Democrat from Baltimore, even though neither was true; Rosenstein is a Republican from Pennsylvania.

On Monday, after spending the last few weeks defending and lending his credibility to Attorney General William P. Barr’s handling of the end of the Russia probe, Rosenstein announced his resignation with a distinctly pro-Trump message.

In his resignation letter announcing his May 11 exit, Rosenstein praised Trump’s inaugural message two years ago and said he was grateful “for the courtesy and humor you often display in our personal conversations.” He even signed off by borrowing Trump’s political slogan, saying, “We keep the faith, we follow the rules, and we always put America first.”

View the complete April 29 article by Aaron Blake on The Washington Post website here.

Rosenstein submits resignation letter to Trump

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein notified President Trump on Monday that he will leave the Justice Department in two weeks, capping roughly two years in the Trump administration marked by scrutiny and controversy.

“I am grateful to you for the opportunity to serve; for the courtesy and humor you often display in our personal conversations; and for the goals you set in your inaugural address: patriotism, unity, safety, education, and prosperity, because ‘a nation exists to serve its citizens,’” Rosenstein wrote in his resignation letter. He said his last day at the Justice Department would be May 11.

Rosenstein’s resignation does not come as a surprise; he was expected to leave the Justice Department following the conclusion of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, having communicated to Attorney General William Barr that he intended to serve just two years in the administration.

View the complete April 29 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Barr Threatens Not to Testify Before House, but Democrats May Subpoena Him

WASHINGTON — The powerful chairman of the House Judiciary Committee threatened on Sunday to subpoena Attorney General William P. Barr if Mr. Barr refuses to testify this week, a move that could lead to a major escalation of the long-running feud between the White House and congressional Democrats over testimony and access to documents.

The threat by the chairman, Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, came on the eve of Democrats’ return to Washington after a two-week congressional recess that has been dominated by questions about the special counsel’s report. Mr. Barr is scheduled to come before Mr. Nadler’s committee on Thursday to testify about it.

But Mr. Barr and Democrats are at loggerheads over the Democrats’ proposed format for questioning him, and now the much-anticipated hearing is in doubt. The dispute spilled out into the open on Sunday when Democrats revealed that Mr. Barr was threatening to skip the session if they did not change their terms. Mr. Nadler said they have no intention of doing so.

View the complete April 28 article by Shertl Gay Stolberg on the The New Times website here.

‘I can land the plane’: How Rosenstein tried to mollify Trump, protect Mueller and save his job

Rod J. Rosenstein, again, was in danger of losing his job. The New York Times had just reported that — in the heated days after James B. Comey was fired as FBI director — the deputy attorney general had suggested wearing a wire to surreptitiously record President Trump. Now Trump, traveling in New York, was on the phone, eager for an explanation.

Rosenstein — who, by one account, had gotten teary-eyed just before the call in a meeting with Trump’s chief of staff — sought to defuse the volatile situation and assure the president he was on his team, according to people familiar with matter. He criticized the Times report, published in late September, and blamed it on former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, whose recollections formed its basis. Then he talked about special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and told the president he would make sure Trump was treated fairly, people familiar with the conversation said.

“I give the investigation credibility,” Rosenstein said, according to an administration official with knowledge of what was said during the call. “I can land the plane.”

View the complete April 26 article by Matt Zapotosky, Josh Dawsey and Devlin Barrett on The Washington Post website here.

Barr to testify before Senate panel next week on Mueller report

Attorney General William Barr is scheduled to testify next Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee on special counsel Robert Mueller‘s investigation.

Barr, who released a redacted version of Mueller’s report on Russian interference last week, is slated to appear before the committee on May 1 at 10 a.m.

The appearance will give lawmakers an opportunity to grill Barr on Mueller’s findings as well as his handling of the special counsel’s final report. The attorney general is also expected to testify before the House Judiciary Committee the following day.

View the complete April 24 article by Morgan Chalfant and Jacqueline Thomsen on The Hill website here.

The Mueller report: A profile of a president willing to sell out his country

It’s hard to come to any conclusion other than Donald Trump should be impeached and removed from office.

When Attorney General William Barr provided a brief, four-page summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation on March 22, it was obvious there were more questions remaining than answers. The full report was rumored to have clocked in at well over three hundred pages and Barr’s summary left much to be desired as to just what Mueller had uncovered. The message that Donald Trump would not be charged with offenses directly relating to Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, and that the Department of Justice had decided not to file charges of obstruction of justice, was met by celebration with some and puzzlement by others.

Having finally had a chance to look at an initial, redacted version of the report, Americans got a chance last Thursday to see for themselves just what horrors Attorney General Barr had been trying to bury for his president. In Mueller’s 448-page detailed narrative of his investigation, we saw the story of a campaign deeply steeped in Russian efforts to undermine our free and fair elections and a president attempting to or actively breaking the law to cover it up.

Continue reading “The Mueller report: A profile of a president willing to sell out his country”