Mueller complains that Barr's letter does not indicate the "context" of the Trump investigation

The special advocate, Robert S. Mueller III, wrote at the end of March in a letter complaining to the Attorney General, William P. Barr, that a four-page memo to Congress describing the Key findings of the investigation into President Trump "did not fully capture the context, nature and substance" of Mueller's work, according to a copy of the letter revised Tuesday by the Washington Post.

At the time of sending the letter, on March 27, Barr had announced that Mueller had not found any plot between the Trump campaign and Russian officials seeking to interfere in it. 2016 Presidential Election. Barr also stated that Mueller had not yet determined whether Trump had attempted to obstruct the justice, but Barr considered the evidence and found it insufficient to support such an accusation.

A few days after Barr's announcement, Mueller wrote to the Department of Justice a private letter hitherto unknown, revealing his dissatisfaction with the public discussion of Mueller's work that shocked senior officials of the Department of Justice, according to people familiar with the discussions.

[Justice Dept., House Democrats at impasse over Barr hearing]

"The summary letter that the Department sent to Congress and made public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully reflect the context, nature and substance of the work and findings of this office." Mueller writes. "There is now a confusion in the public opinion regarding the critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This may compromise a central purpose for which the Department has appointed the special advocate: to ensure the full public confidence in the results of the investigations. "

The letter made a key request: that Barr publish the introductions and summaries of the 448-page report, as well as the first suggested redactions, officials of the Department of Justice said.

Officials from the Justice Ministry said Tuesday they were surprised by the tone of Mueller's letter and were surprised to see that he had such concerns. Until they receive the letter, they thought that Mueller was in agreement with them on the process of reviewing the report and deleting certain types of information, process that took Several weeks. Barr has already testified before Congress that Mueller had refused to revise his four-page letter to legislators, which summarized the essence of the Special Advocate's findings.

In his letter, Mueller wrote that the drafting process "need not delay the publication of the attached documents. Communicating at this time would relieve the misunderstandings that have arisen and answer questions from Congress and the public about the nature and outcome of our investigation. "

Barr must appear Wednesday morning before the Senate Judiciary Committee, a long-awaited public confrontation between the country's top law enforcement official and the Democratic legislator, during which he will likely be questioned extensively about his relationship with the country. Mueller.

A day after sending the letter, Barr and Mueller phoned about 15 minutes, according to law enforcement officials.

During the appeal, Mr. Mueller expressed concern that the coverage of the investigation for obstructing communication may have been judiciously guided and that the public does not understand the work of the office, according to Mr. Mueller. officials of the Ministry of Justice.

When Barr asked him if he thought Barr's letter was inaccurate, Mueller said no, but felt that the media coverage of the letter misinterpreted the investigation, officials said.

In their appeal, Barr also challenged Mueller's characterization of his letter as "summary", stating that he had never intended his letter to summarize the voluminous report, but instead provide a summary of the key findings. said officials.

Representatives of the Department of Justice stated in some respects that the telephone conversation was more cordial than the letter that preceded it, but expressed differences of opinion on how to proceed.

Barr said that he did not want to publish elements of the report, but rather publish it as a block with deletions, and that he did not want to change course now, according to officials.

Throughout the conversation, Mueller's main concern was that the public did not have a good understanding of the security breach investigation, officials said.

"After receiving the letter from the Special Prosecutor Mueller, the Attorney General called him to discuss it," a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said Tuesday. "In a cordial and professional conversation, the special counsel pointed out that nothing in the March 24th Attorney General's letter was inaccurate or misleading. But he expressed his frustration at the lack of context and the resulting media coverage of the Special Advisor's analysis of the obstruction. They then discussed whether the context of the report would be useful and could be published quickly.

"However, the Attorney General has finally decided that it would not be productive to publish the report piecemeal," the spokesman continued. "The Attorney General and the special advocate agreed to write the full report with the necessary deletions as soon as possible. The following day, the Attorney General sent a letter to Congress in which he reaffirmed that his letter of 24 March was not a summary of the report, but contained only the main conclusions of the special council. May 1st and 2nd. "

Senior Ministry of Justice officials were frustrated by Mueller's complaints, as they expected the report to come with the proposed redactions the first time, but this was not the case. Even when Mueller sent his suggested deletions, they only covered a few protected areas of information and the documents had yet to be examined, said these people.

Wednesday's hearing will be the first time lawmakers have been questioning Barr since the publication of the Mueller report on April 18, and he should face a host of thorny questions from Democrats about his public announcement of the findings. , his private interactions with Mueller, and his views on the conduct of President Trump.

Republicans on the committee are expected to question Barr on the statement he made earlier this month that government officials have been "spying" on the Trump campaign. a comment retained by supporters of the president as evidence that the investigation on the president was biased.

Barr must also testify Thursday before a House committee, but this hearing could be canceled or postponed due to a dispute over whether the lawyers on this committee will question the Attorney General.

Democrats accused Barr of downplaying the gravity of the evidence against the president.

In the report, Mueller described ten major episodes of possible hindrance to justice, but explained that because of the Justice Department's long-standing policy that a president in office can not to be charged, did not conclude whether the president had committed a crime.