Judge: Barr arouses public mistrust with Mueller report processing

Attorney General William Barr has aroused public mistrust of the Justice Department's willingness to share as much as possible the findings of the investigation into Russia, a federal judge said Tuesday.

"The Attorney General has created an environment that has caused a significant portion of the public (…) to be concerned about whether or not there would be complete transparency," said the District Court Judge. American, Reggie Walton, at a hearing Tuesday afternoon about a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act. requesting access to a report detailing the findings of the special advocate Robert Mueller.

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Walton, appointed by President George W. Bush, did not specify what actions or statements of the Attorney General had generated these perceptions.

Democrats and other critics blamed Barr for adding his own favorable findings to President Donald Trump in a letter to Congress last month summarizing the report's key findings. In addition, Barr announced that it was considering deleting the report for reasons such as confidentiality and grand jury secrecy, which would have resulted in more complaints.

Despite Walton's criticism, he rejected an application by BuzzFeed to issue a preliminary injunction asking the Department of Justice to release Mueller's report by Thursday.

A spokeswoman for the Justice Ministry said Monday that the nearly 400-page report, including the redactions, would be made public that morning. However, the online media has requested an order requiring the release of the parties to be disclosed under FOIA.

Matthew Topic, a BuzzFeed lawyer, said at the hearing that setting up a court order would speed up litigation over the redacted information from the report.

"The government claims to be able to make an unlimited extension without any precise deadline," said Topic.

Justice attorney Courtney Enlow has refused to say whether the version of the report released Thursday would be identical to what the department publishes under FOIA. Nor could she say whether she would be willing to commit to it at another May 2 hearing on the BuzzFeed case and related action.

"I can not give you a schedule," Enlow said.

Walton had previously refused to set a deadline for the publication of a larger set of documents related to Mueller in a lawsuit filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a rights group for life private non-profit.

However, the judge said on Tuesday that he planned to "promptly process" the report's question and the information contained therein to disclose, and then deal with other recordings of Mueller's investigation.

"We would treat the report separately," said Walton. He also stated that he would like to examine the possibility of ordering the government to provide him with an unwritten copy of the report so that he could determine whether the deletions were appropriate.

"It's something we'll have to work on. I will have to think about it, "he said.

Walton said he hoped all litigation would be limited because the Department of Justice released the bulk of the document.

"I hope the government is as transparent as possible," said the judge.