Barr's legacy is on the sidelines while Mueller's team ignites.

Barr has only been in office for seven weeks and is already in a political storm on the 400-page report by special advocate Robert Mueller on Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

His career legacy may be at stake. This is not the first time Barr has been Attorney General, after all. And before returning to the Department of Justice in February, he became an elite private lawyer and a key part of conservative legal circles. So many people in Washington were waiting for the 68-year-old former George H.W. Bush was appointed to strengthen the Justice Department under verbal assaults by the President against his own senior officials, senior federal prosecutors and FBI agents.

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Barr inherited his predecessor, Jeff Sessions, from the investigation of Russia. However, lawyers and lawmakers on both sides claim that his carefully crafted reputation is under threat, according to Mueller's well-known prosecutors, ex-repugnant prosecutors, about how the Attorney General described their work.

"He is an institutionalist and loves the Department of Justice.The only thing he has to lose at this stage of his career is his reputation," CNN told former FBI director James Comey. . Comey added that, for the moment, Barr "deserves the benefit of the doubt".

Some members of Congress even ask if Barr himself broke the law, claiming that his characterization of the Mueller investigation had allowed Trump and his allies to construct a public narrative allowing the president of any wrongdoing – all without, however, publishing a full text of the special advocate's text. results.

"If it turns out that justice has been hampered by the way he handled the Mueller report, his legacy will be profoundly tarnished," said Hank Johnson, Democrat of Georgia's representative and member of the Judiciary Committee. of the House, who warned Mr. Barr the conduct is difficult to assess without seeing the full report.

Barr's problems began last month when he published the first of a series of three letters to Congress on the much-awaited findings of the Mueller investigation.

In the first statement, published just after 5 pm On a Friday, Barr confirmed to the deputies that Russia's investigation into Washington since the beginning of Trump's presidency was indeed over and that he would spend the weekend on publication Mueller's "main conclusions". A senior DOJ official also quickly confirmed Mueller was not recommending any additional criminal charges, reinforcing the hopes of the president and his allies that the report clarifies his name.

Barr's next disclosure came this Sunday night, in the form of a four-page letter In stating that Mueller had not been established, there was a criminal plot or coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to interfere in the last presidential election. The Attorney General further explained that Mueller had not taken a stand on the fact that Trump was obstructing justice, citing however the special advocate, "even though this report does not conclude that the president has committed a crime, he does not exonerate him either. "

Barr noted that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who had appointed Mueller and oversaw his operation for a long time, concurred with his conclusion that the evidence amassed by Mueller was not sufficient to indict Trump of a crime committed by him. Obstacle to justice.

Five days later, like Trump popular Mueller's findings as a "Total EXONERATION" ridding him of the scandal, Barr weighed in again with a new two-page letter at the congress. This time, the Attorney General presented a new timeline for the review and drafting of the entire 400-page report that put it on the right track to make it public to lawmakers by mid-April. or sooner".

Barr also mentioned the special advocate, saying he was consulting Mueller to identify and delete several categories of sensitive information. The Attorney General also offered his first public recognition of the controversy he had helped to ignite by citing "some media reports and other public statements distorting" his second letter as a "summary" of the Mueller inquiry. . This letter was not intended to be "a comprehensive account" of the work of the Special Council, but only a summary of its "bottom line", the Attorney General wrote.

"Everyone will soon be able to read it on their own," added Barr. "I do not believe that it would be in the public interest that I attempt to summarize the report in its entirety or to publish it serially or case by case."

But the political damage may have already been done.

Greg Brower, the former head of the FBI's congressional affairs bureau, called him "ill-advised" for Barr to send the second letter outlining the key findings.

"It was just not an effective communication," Brower said.

Barr made it worse with his follow-up letter last Friday, which seemed to contradict the idea that he had just summarized Mueller's key findings. "The third letter was to clean up the second one and everyone was confused," Brower said.

David Kris, former Deputy Attorney General for National Security under President Barack Obama, said that Barr was in an impossible position when he heard of Mueller's findings and that the pressure was mounting for an explanation on this. which had just been returned.

"Of course, if he had not said anything, he would also have been criticized," said Kris, who now runs the intelligence consulting firm Culper Partners.

But Kris added that Barr could still be in trouble if the publication of the Mueller report showed that his letter of March 24 was "materially misleading or contains significant omissions".

"And we do not know it yet," warns Kris.

This week's Democrats have switched between Barr's direct criticism and the judgment's end until they see the whole Mueller report.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Adam Schiff, described the error as "error". The Senate would then have confirmed Mr. Barr "without committing himself to recuse himself".

Johnson, the Democrat of Georgia, said he would give Barr "an F for his performance" so far, by selecting the March 24 memo and his key findings.

"This is the story that followed the publication of the summary and a very bad service to the American public," he said.

Other Democrats said that they were willing to give Barr the place of a soft landing. "Yes, I think that if he produces the report and supporting documents in full, or with a few exceptions, he can restore the assurance that he will behave appropriately as Attorney General of the States. United States, "said Representative David Cicilline (DR.I.), a member of the Judiciary Committee of the Chamber.

But Cicilline also said Trump had placed Barr in an untenable position with his extraordinary public criticism of Sessions, which the president had torn apart as a weak leader who "never took control of the Justice Department."

"The president made it clear that he thought the Attorney General should be his Roy Cohn, someone whose primary responsibility is to protect him," said Cicillin, referring to the former advisor Senator Joe McCarthy, who later became Trump's lawyer and mentor.

Some Democrats have been wary of Barr since the beginning.

During his first term as Attorney General, Barr criticized the status of the underlying independent lawyer and advised the then President, George HW Bush must forgive half a dozen senior officials of the Reagan administration who had been trapped in the Iran-Contra affair.

More recently, while serving in a private firm at Kirkland & Ellis, Barr met with Trump in June 2017, but rejected his request to personally represent the president as part of the investigation into Russia.

A year later, Barr wrote and widely circulated an unsolicited article Memo of 19 pages Rosenstein explained why he did not think that Trump should be questioned or charged for obstruction of justice – the same subject he would rule on later, just days after Mueller officially released his report.

The Democrats have since criticized the memo Barr as a candidacy for a post, and outside observers have acknowledged that he had questioned his decisions while he was Attorney General.

"That fact confused things and confused them until they could not be satisfied without hearing Mueller," said Brower, referring to the prospect of Special Council testimony before Congress.

The Democrats also note that Republicans close to Trump's White House celebrated Barr's arrival and suggested that the Mueller inquiry be completed.

"Tomorrow will be the first day that President Trump will have a confirmed and fully operational Attorney General," said Matt Schlapp, conservative activist and husband of the White House's communications advisor, Mercedes Schlapp. tweeted in mid-February. "Let it sink in. Mueller will be gone soon."

On Thursday, DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec defended Barr after media coverage first appeared in the press. New York Times – that some Mueller prosecutors were dissatisfied with the way the Attorney General described their work.

Every page of Mueller's confidential report to Barr included an indication that it could contain information protecting the grand jury's information from the publication, she said. "Given the extraordinary public interest in this case, the Attorney General decided to immediately publish the findings of the report and its conclusions, without attempting to summarize it, on the understanding that the report itself would be made public after the drafting process, "she says.

Kupec also reiterated Barr's statement to legislators that he did not think the report should be published "in series or on a piecemeal basis".

Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Representative of Mueller and a member of the Judiciary Committee, said that Barr's criticism since he was in this position was of sour grapes run by Democrats.

"So does the credulity that the US Attorney General misinterpreted the Mueller report and jeopardized its reputation in the legal community," said the Florida Republican. "It's ridiculous to suggest, but Democrats are out of no ridiculous arguments to make."

But George Terwilliger, who served under Barr as Deputy Attorney General of George HW The Bush administration stated that his former boss had "treated the situation exactly as he had announced: aiming for maximum transparency while meeting the requirements of the law, including the special regulations of the United States. advice."

He also downplayed suggestions that Barr's decisions on the publication of the Mueller report would have a positive or negative impact on his legacy. "It seems to me that the" career definition "overestimates the circumstances a little," Terwilliger said. "It's certainly important. But he has coped successfully and has managed to overcome, I think, equivalent and more difficult challenges in the past. "

Another longtime associate, C. Boyden Gray, said the Attorney General would likely be a footnote in Mueller's story once the report was made public.

"I do not think at the end of the day, this is as much a test for him as for his system," said Gray White House lawyer for President George H. W. Buisson.

Regarding Barr's legacy, Gray added, "This is really the press. They write the first draft of the story.

Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein contributed.