Did AG Barr Taint the Mueller Report: To Protect Trump and Misrepresent Mueller

Showtime Developing: Barr vs. Mueller

(Shady vs. Honorable)

This story is from Vox.com here.

Valid Question: Did Attorney General Bill Barr properly represent the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation?

Logical Answer: Some members of Mueller’s team don’t think he did — and they think the findings are worse for Trump than Barr let on, according to a new report here from the New York Times and their excellent reporters.

The sourcing for that claim is “government officials and others familiar with their simmering frustrations” — that is, the Times did not necessarily talk to members of Mueller’s famously leak-proof team. But the reporters describe what “some” Mueller team members have “told associates.”

Another interesting detail is that Mueller’s team had prepared “multiple summaries of the report” — but Barr did not use them in his letter.

This reporting poses two major questions:

First: How widespread is this feeling of frustration among special counsel team members? The Times defines the team broadly, saying it included “19 lawyers, about 40 FBI agents, and other personnel.” But the paper is vague about how many people have complained, just saying “some” did.

Second: What do these Mueller team members think Barr failed to convey? AG Barr wrote in a letter to Congress that the special counsel did not “establish a conspiracy between Trump associates and the Russian government to interfere with the election,” and that he declined to render a prosecutorial judgment on obstruction of justice.

Is either of these, or both, inaccurate? Or did Barr leave out other important points?

Background up to this point: On March 24, Barr wrote his 4-page summary of the Mueller 400-page report to Congress to advise them on Mueller’s “principal conclusions” – his point of view:

First Conclusion: Barr said Mueller’s investigation found that though the Russian government tried to interfere with the 2016 election, the special counsel “did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in these efforts.”

Second Conclusion: Barr said Mueller probed the question of whether President Trump tried to obstruct justice in interfering with the Russia investigation — but “determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment.” Barr went on to say, though, that upon his own review (conducted with Rosenstein), Mueller’s evidence “is not sufficient to establish that Trump obstructed justice.”

Trump soon put his own gloss on these findings (as we all knew he would), thus saying and tweeting (my emphasis): “No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION.” (Barr’s summary in fact quoted Mueller saying he was not exonerating Trump on obstruction of justice).

My 2 Cents: This story continues at the Vox link.

Note: This is not over yet and in fact, is apt to get much, much hotter.

Stay tuned, and thanks for stopping by.