Many people wondered when or even if, Robert Mueller was going to take a public stance on William Barr’s misleading four page summary, or if he essentially agreed with the summary — which didn’t seem possible. Now we don’t have to worry about that anymore. Mueller did complain to Barr, and contents of that letter were released today. Bottom line: “Mueller’s main worry was that the public was not getting an accurate understanding of the obstruction investigation,” officials said. Well, we certainly knew that. Washington Post:
“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,” Mueller wrote. “There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.”
A day after the letter was sent, Barr and Mueller spoke by phone for about 15 minutes, according to law enforcement officials.
In that call, Mueller said he was concerned that news coverage of the obstruction investigation was misguided and creating public misunderstandings about the office’s work, according to Justice Department officials.
Now, as you recall, Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler got on this rather quickly. They wanted to get testimony from both Mueller and Barr and this was not immediately forthcoming, to understate the case. Now, as of the news about Mueller’s letter to Barr, there is going to be no further delay. Daily Beast:
Shortly after it was reported on Tuesday night that Mueller had written and called Barr to complain that he not fully represented his findings, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) sent out a statement demanding both appear before his committee and revealing that he had been stonewalled so far.
“The Attorney General has expressed some reluctance to appear before the House Judiciary Committee this Thursday,” Nadler said. “These reports make it that much more important for him to appear and answer our questions. The Department of Justice has also been reluctant to confirm a date for Special Counsel Mueller to testify.”
Mueller has never said he would not testify. This is not about reluctance on his part. This is about Barr. Nadler sent a letter to the DOJ right after the release of the Mueller report, requesting that Mueller appear for questioning no later than May 23. Now, Barr has gone on record saying that he wouldn’t object to Mueller testifying, but what else is he going to say? I think it behooves us more to see what Barr has done, and that is run to protect Trump first on all occasions. So, of course any delay in Mueller testifying is to Trump’s benefit.
In all events, it looks like it’s not a question of if, but when and the only concrete question seems to be whether the testimony would take place in public or behind closed doors. I don’t know about you, but I would pay good money to watch Adam Schiff question Robert Mueller about what actually went down with the Trump Russia Investigation. I can’t imagine a more fascinating exchange than on that topic, and between two legal and governmental minds like those two have. This could be epic.
But even if it takes place behind closed doors — fine — just as long as it takes place. I’ll wait to read the transcript.
I find myself asking, yet again, what is Barr getting out of all this that will be worth the eventual price tag?
What is Barr getting out of all this? like all the rest of the Trump stooges, lackeys, and suckups, it’s money, and the idea that they can create an empire of sorts to loot, pillage, rape, and kill anyone and everyone they see fit.
I think I pretty much have to go along with that. I was told by a Republican many years ago that the dogma of the Republican party was to “preserve” the Republic and all it’s fine values — which sounds good until you realizes it translates into a group of elitist white men who want to hang onto the purse strings and exploit everybody. The Republican party used to have more honorable people in it, but this iteration? Truly lame.
In other words, White-topia. Those idiots aren’t careful, they’ll be getting the same treatment that the Haitian slaves eventually gave their masters and “the white god who thirsts for your tears.”
A lot of the clowns in Trump’s coterie are having a kind of last stand, as I see it. Franklin Graham is a perfect example. He’s been savaged by the press for his narrow bigoted views on Pete Buttigieg and now he’s walking them back. Same with Pence. The dinosaurs were hoping to retake all the ground that they’ve lost in the past 50 years, or even more, and it’s not working out that way for them.
Trump probably promised him a supreme court seat, and they are both salivating for RBG to die. To say I hate these bastards is an understatement!
Much more interested in Mueller testifying about the investigate, underlying evidence and the report than hearing anything more from LowBarr who is about to be disbarred. For instance, the public has not seen the 3,000+ pages of attachments, references and footnotes. Also the report moving forward recommendations that were redacted. Why were those left out? Also would like to ask Mueller to clarify whether the redacted 400+ page report was the same report he delivered to Barr. Initial reports indicated the body of the report was over 700 pages.
As stated, nothing would please me more than to see Schiff and Mueller parse through all this. That is what we need and that might be what we get.