Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday refused – for a second day – to say whether the White House has seen special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigative report, though he did open the door wider to the possibility that Congress would see more of it than he has previously acknowledged.
He also told a Senate hearing he didn't know whether Mueller supported his controversial conclusion that President Donald Trump had not obstructed justice........
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., asked Barr if Mueller had asked him to leave the question of whether Trump had engaged in obstruction of justice to Congress.
Barr said Mueller didn’t “say that to me, no,” and when asked if Mueller had said the decision should be left to the attorney general, Barr said, “He didn’t say that either.”
But Barr said that’s “generally the way it works" at the Justice Department.
Under pointed questioning from Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who asked if Barr agreed with the special counsel “that there were difficult issues of law and fact” as he considered whether Trump obstructed justice, the attorney general repeatedly refused to answer.
“The thing is, you put this out there. The president went out and tweeted the next day that he was exonerated,” blasted Van Hollen. “That wasn't based on anything in the Mueller report with respect to obstruction of justice. That was based on your assessment, on March 24th. Now you won't elaborate at all as to how you reached that conclusion?”
“It was a conclusion of a number of people, including me, obviously, as the attorney general,” Barr said, adding that he looks forward to explaining his position once the full report has been released.
“Did Bob Mueller support your conclusion?” Van Hollen then asked. “I don't know whether Bob Mueller supported my conclusion,” Barr shot back.
