Judd Legum: 1. In this thread, I'll keep track of things Bill Barr says that aren't accurate.

[demmiblue]

Link to tweet

1. In this thread, I'll keep track of things Bill Barr says that aren't accurate.

2. First one comes quickly. He said he would exercise his discretion to release as much of the report as possible. That's false. He redacted to protect the privacy of "peripheral third parties" which is a totally made up category with no basis in law.

3. Barr claims Mueller did not properly identify 6(e) -- Grand Jury -- material. Not sure if this is true or not but seems VERY unlikely.

4. The report is not "lightly" redacted. Nearly 15% of the report is redacted. There is no requirement to redact info related to ongoing cases.

5. Indeed, per Mueller's letter, the introductions and executive summaries contained no 6(e) grand jury material and could have been released immediately. Instead Barr released his misleading 4 page letter.

6. Barr said he didn't understand why Mueller didn't reach a formal decision on obstruction.

THAT IS VERY CLEAR BECAUSE HE'S CONSISTENTLY MISREPRESENTED MUELLER'S REASONING

8. Barr claims he evaluated obstruction versus the special counsel's "analytical framework." That is false. Mueller said the framework could only be applied in this case by CONGRESS not Barr.

9. Barr explains how he took the opposite view of Mueller on obstruction.

Then he says his letter summarized Mueller's BOTTOM LINE CONCLUSIONS

These two statements are in conflict.

10. Barr claims Mueller PERSONALLY TOLD HIM that Barr's original letter was accurate. Will be interesting what Mueller says about that.

Barr is trying to drive some kind of distinction between not accurately summarizing and lying

11. First, Barr won't state if Mueller objected to any redactions. Says that "objected" has different definitions. Acknowledges there were some different opinions. Then says he's "not aware" of objections.

12. Barr says he was "surprised" Mueller was going to let him decide on obstruction. This can't be true. Mueller was clear he did not leave it to Barr to decide.

13. Barr's first reason Trump did not obstruct justice is that there was no underlying crime, which he then quickly admits is not actually a requirement.

14. Barr never offered any other explanation

15. Barr admits that trying to get a witness to lie violates obstruction of justice. And Mueller found that's exactly what Trump did with respect to Don McGahn.

16. Barr now contradicting McGahn's own interpretation of Trump's order. Barr says Trump really just wanted to bring up the issue of conflict with Mueller. McGahn and Mueller explicitly found the opposite.

Barr quickly pivots to attacking the New York Times.

17. Barr says it's "not a crime" to instruct your lawyer to lie about you and your instructions.

This flatly false and he's having trouble defending it.

18. Barr says there is a difference between saying "fire Mueller" and "have Mueller removed"

THIS IS THE ENTIRE BASIS OF BARR DECIDING THERE WAS NO OBSTRUCTION

19. PANIC. An aide just passed Barr a note. His staff realizes this is going off the rails.

20. Yes, this is going very badly

Link to tweet

21. Barr says that if Mueller found evidence sufficient to constitute obstruction of justice he would have said so.

MUELLER SAYS THE EXACT OPPOSITE IN THE REPORT

22. Here is Mueller explaining why he would not state Trump obstructed justice no matter what evidence he found

23. Barr is now defending himself from allegations of perjury by saying he didn't know what "members" of the special counsel's staff a Congressman's question referred to

Basically, Barr says he gave a false statement because he didn't understand the question

24. Leahy now going after Barr's false claim that Trump fully cooperated with the investigation.

Barr says there is nothing wrong with telling former aides not to cooperate and dangling pardons if they comply

25. Barr repeats there is no conflict with Trump telling staff not to cooperate and Barr's statement that Trump fully cooperated.

An obvious lie. Shameless.

26. Next Democratic Senator needs to ask about this exchange

Link to tweet

27. Instead, Cornyn asking about Obama. Time for a snack.

28. If this thread is too much to keep up with and you want all the highlights summed up in one piece, that'll be my newsletter tomorrow and hit your inbox at 7AM.

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29. Barr now criticizing the FBI for not telling the Trump campaign that it was investigation the Trump campaign

30. Durbin asking Barr why he didn't disclose Mueller's letter when Christ asked him about dissatisfaction with his summary in the special counsel's office

Barr has absolutely no response.

31. Barr now explaining why his letter "summarizing" the Mueller report was not a "summary." Good grief.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1123595832685678592.html

I t is amazing how some people can fact check/analyze so fast (I'm looking at you, too, Daniel Dale)!

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Thanks for putting this post up, demmiblue!! Very nice! nt

[appal_jack]

2. On-point critiques here. k&r, nt