Attorney General Barr would rather not have Mueller explaining what his report actually says

[DonViejo]

By Philip Bump
July 9 at 9:52 AM

Attorney General William P. Barr told reporters on Monday that he simply didn’t understand why former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III needed to testify before Congress. Mueller’s testimony, scheduled for next week, is not a “useful exercise,” Barr said, with Democrats simply seeking to create “some kind of public spectacle."

"I don’t see the point in subpoenaing him and bringing him up to testify if he’s going to stick with his report,” Barr said, “which I think he will."

This is an entirely unsurprising response from Barr, given how fervently he's tried to offer a summary of Mueller's findings that is particularly generous to President Trump. It's a summary that, in the absence of other voices or Americans reading Mueller's actual report, has carried the day.

Mueller “sticking with the report” in speaking about it publicly is precisely the outcome about which Trump is least enthusiastic. The special counsel and his team spent nearly two years investigating how Russian actors interfered in the 2016 election and where those efforts overlapped with Trump's presidential campaign. It spent tens of millions of taxpayer dollars considering whether federal laws were broken, including by members of Trump's family. It looked at numerous occasions in which Trump himself appeared to have taken actions meant to impede or derail the Mueller investigation itself.

The final result, as you are no doubt aware, was that report, more than 400 pages in length, documenting not only Russia's interference efforts but its outreach to Trump's campaign. It details how Trump attempted to throw roadblocks in front of the probe in ways that legal experts outside the Department of Justice consider criminally obstructive. It explains not how Trump and his team were exonerated but, instead, how Mueller's team didn't or couldn't gather enough evidence to prove coordination between Trump's team and Russia's. The findings are nuanced, offering details but often not conclusions, marking paths that still haven't been fully explored.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/attorney-general-barr-would-rather-not-have-mueller-explaining-what-his-report-actually-says/2019/07/09/600c2a8d-60a7-40bf-98bd-33ceb6f7e15b_story.html

[kentuck]

1. If nothing else...

It is going to make AG Bill Barr look very bad.

[Botany]

3. Could these be the reasons why Barr doesn't want Mueller to testify?

Mueller Report in less than 280 characters

Mueller Report: 1) A hostile foreign power intervened aggressively to rig our 2016 elections to help Trump. 2) During the campaign, Trump welcomed & encouraged it. 3) As president, Trump obstructed justice, abused his power, slandered, fired & lied to block the investigations.

*****

"I don’t see the point in subpoenaing him and bringing him up to testify if he’s going to
stick with his report,” Barr said, “which I think he will."

[Claritie Pixie]

4. Awww Barr is scared. Doesn't want people to hear the truth.

Just by reading his report, Mueller will have a huge impact. Barr knows the stakes.

[Takket]

5. Idiot with vested interest in suppressing Mueller

Doesn’t think mueller should testify. Shocking!

[ScratchCat]

6. There are two questions

That they do not want Mueller asked in open public:

1) Mr. Mueller, if Donald Trump were not POTUS, would you have filed charges for obstruction of justice?

2) Mr. Mueller, since you have confirmed that the only thing preventing you from filing charges was the OLC memo, was it your intent of this being taken care of by Congress as prescribed by the Constitution?

When he answers those two questions, impeachment must begin. Everyone knows this. Fox News will not be able to spin it.

[LuckyCharms]

7. He will sidestep and answer as follows:

1) That is a hypothetical question, and I don't answer hypotheticals, I answer reality.

2) My intent was to report the facts, and nothing more.

Good questions, but they will be sidestepped.