AG William Barr under fire of report management

WASHINGTON – Democrats are agitated by the reaction of Attorney General William Barr to the highly anticipated report of Special Advocate Robert Mueller, demanding that he cancel a press conference scheduled for Thursday on Mueller's findings before to make the report public.

For weeks, House Democrats have criticized Barr's handling of the report, but these criticisms intensified Wednesday, one day before the Justice Department released a redacted version of the 400-page report.

"Once again, Barr wants to shape the public's perception of the report," Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on Twitter. "It's not justice, just public relations."

In a joint statement, the presidents of the Democratic House called the Barr press conference "unnecessary and inappropriate" and called for the publication of the full report.

"These new actions of the Attorney General reinforce our concern that he is acting to protect President Trump," the statement said.

"He should let the full report speak for itself. The Attorney General should cancel the press conference and provide the full report to Congress, as we requested, "the statement said. As the task of advising the special advisor is over, it is now up to the Congress to evaluate the findings and the evidence proceed accordingly. "

Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will hold a press conference at 9:30 am Eastern Time, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said. The report should be presented to Congress between 11 am and noon, Eastern Time, and will likely be made public at the same time.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, ruled against the decision and cited a New York Times report stating that justice officials had informed the White House of the contents of the report before it was released. White House and Justice officials declined to comment on the Times' story.

More: AG William Barr will hold a press conference on Thursday before the Mueller report goes to Congress

"AG Barr has rejected his credibility and the independence of the DOJ with his determined effort to protect @realDonaldTrump foremost," Pelosi wrote on Twitter. "The American people deserve the truth, not a cleansed version of the Mueller report approved by Trump Administrator."

The Speaker of the Judiciary in the House, Jerry Nadler, said the idea of ​​publishing the report after Barr's press conference was misguided. "It's wrong," he wrote in a tweet. He went on to say that he was "deeply troubled" by the Times report on contacts between the Justice Department and the White House before the report was released.

Nadler, D-N.Y., As well as four House Democrats, held a last-minute press conference in New York to discuss late publication of the report by Barr and the treatment of the investigation as a whole.

"The Attorney General seems to be conducting a media campaign on behalf of President Trump, the very subject of the investigation at the heart of the Mueller report," Nadler said at a press conference. "Rather than letting the facts of the report speak for themselves, the Attorney General took unprecedented steps to conduct Mueller's nearly two-year investigation."

He went on to list the concerns expressed by his fellow Democrats, saying that Barr was trying to create a story about the report before it was published to help the White House.

"The main concern here is that Attorney General Barr is not letting the facts of the Mueller report speak for themselves, but is trying to narrate the report for the benefit of the White House," Nadler said.

Along with Nadler, Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Tweeted that Barr's treatment of the report was similar to a "dog and pony show" and invited Barr to "keep his mouth shut".

"The Attorney General presides over a dog and pony show, that's a thought – publish Mueller's report tomorrow morning and close your mouth," Jeffries said. "You have no credibility."

Representative David Cicilline, D-R.I, also questioned Barr's intentions.

"Why does Barr hold a press conference if he does not want to (again) try to frame the findings of the special advocate," he wrote on Twitter. "Just publish the full report and let the American people judge for themselves!"

On Twitter, Doug Collins, R-Georgia, criticized Nadler while defending Barr's handling of the report.

"The only person trying to produce the report is @RepJerryNadler," Collins tweeted. "The GA did nothing unilaterally, and after partnering with DAG Rosenstein to share the main conclusions, Barr voluntarily publishes the report and collaborates with Mueller's team."

Well before Wednesday, Barr had already become a magnet for Democratic critics.

The Democrats criticized him for having determined that Trump 's conduct was not a crime after the special advocate had not decided whether the actions of the president during the investigation amounted to to a hindrance to justice.

Barr was also criticized for his four-page letter to members of Congress citing aspects of Mueller's findings. Members of Mueller's team said that Barr's letter "did not accurately describe the findings of their investigation and that it was more troubling for President Trump than what Mr. Barr had said," according to the New York Times, which quotes a number of unnamed officials.

The Democrats asked Barr to publish the full report, without redacting it, and announced that they would assign a full copy. Barr will undoubtedly be criticized for any wording made in the report when it was released on Thursday.

A less redacted version would be made available to some members of Congress, according to a file filed Wednesday in court.

He was also targeted for his previous conduct before being appointed Attorney General by the President.

In June, Barr wrote a 19-page unsolicited memo outlining his opposition to an investigation for Trump's obstruction. He shared this note with White House lawyers.

This note, written several months before Trump designated him as the next Attorney General, described the theory of obstruction as "fatally misconceived" and said it was "based on a new and legally unbearable reading of the law." ". Barr acknowledged that he did not know what. type of deal that Mueller was pursuing, but claimed that the dismissal of the former FBI director by James Comey by Trump did not constitute an impediment and that the president should not be forced to testify before the Mueller investigators .

Contributor: Bart Jansen, USA TODAY & # 39; HUI

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