Special Counsel Robert Mueller complained to the attorney general over his characterization of the Russia probe that allowed President Donald Trump to declare himself cleared of obstruction of justice, US media reported Tuesday.
Trump cast himself as fully exonerated after Bill Barr delivered a four-page memo to Congress on March 24 that he called a summary of the two-year probe’s key findings, telling lawmakers the evidence was insufficient to support criminal obstruction charges.
The release of a redacted version of the full 400-plus page report on April 18 however revealed that Mueller had detailed numerous attempts by the president to thwart the investigation.
The Washington Post said Mueller’s letter to Barr three days later complained that the attorney general’s memo “did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this office’s work and conclusions.”
“There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation,” Mueller reportedly wrote, in stark language that apparently surprised Justice Department officials.
“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.”
Democrats in Congress are expected to question Barr at length over his role in the probe and interactions with Mueller as he appears for two days of hearings on Capitol Hill later this week.
A rift between the special counsel’s office and Barr, Mueller’s boss and longtime friend, appeared to emerge in the days following the release of the attorney general’s memo, as investigators let it be known through intermediaries that they felt frustrated by Barr’s representation of their work.
Source: AFP
