Mueller’s Team Disputes Barr’s Summary

New reports revealed that Barr’s summary mischaracterized Mueller’s findings so that they would be more favorable to Trump. This only increases the urgency that Mueller’s full report be released to the public.

 

BARR IGNORED MUELLER’S SUMMARIES: The special counsel’s team wrote multiple summaries of Mueller’s report, yet Barr refused to use them or include more of their material in his own summary, and instead wrote his own summary that was favorable to Trump.

 

New York Times: “The special counsel’s investigators had already written multiple summaries of the report, and some team members believe that Mr. Barr should have included more of their material in the four-page letter he wrote on March 24 laying out their main conclusions, according to government officials familiar with the investigation. Mr. Barr only briefly cited the special counsel’s work in his letter.”

 

MUELLER REPORT MORE DAMAGING FOR TRUMP: Mueller’s team said that Barr’s summary failed to adequately portray their findings, and that the full report is more troubling for Trump than his summary suggests, including on the question of obstruction of justice.

 

New York Times: “Some of Robert S. Mueller III’s investigators have told associates that Attorney General William P. Barr failed to adequately portray the findings of their inquiry and that they were more troubling for President Trump than Mr. Barr indicated, according to government officials and others familiar with their simmering frustrations.”

 

Washington Post: “Absent that, Barr told lawmakers that he concluded the evidence was not sufficient to prove that the president obstructed justice. But members of Mueller’s team have complained to close associates that the evidence they gathered on obstruction was alarming and significant.”

 

FULL REPORT MUST BE RELEASED: This new information makes it all the more urgent that Congress and the American people understand Mueller’s findings from the report itself, which is why the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed for the full report, without any redactions.

 

Washington Post: “Revelations that Mueller’s team is frustrated intensify pressure on Barr to release full report”

 

CNN: “The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday approved a subpoena to obtain the full confidential report from special counsel Robert Mueller, sending a warning to Attorney General William Barr not to redact Mueller’s report and setting the stage for a clash between Congress and the Trump administration.”

 

TRUMP’S LEGAL TROUBLES FAR FROM OVER: There are still several investigations related to Trump in New York, including for fraud and campaign finance violations stemming from the Michael Cohen case.

 

Esquire: New York doesn’t just mean the Southern District of New York, the federal prosecutorial outpost in Manhattan. The state’s Attorney General and its Department of Taxation and Finance also have active investigations of Trump entities. Across the East River, in Brooklyn, the Eastern District of New York is reportedly looking at Trump’s inaugural committee. But Trump may have the most to fear from SDNY. And if you want to understand the potential danger to Trump from SDNY, it’s worth re-visiting the case of Michael Cohen.”