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In a hearing that was originally slotted to be about the Justice Department’s budget, Attorney General William Barr was grilled on Tuesday by House Democrats about the Special Counsel Report. He told Congress that he asked Robert Mueller to review his letter (which Mueller declined), but not to help him prepare it. During ABC’s World News Tonight, Congressional correspondent Mary Bruce twisted that to suggest Barr blindsided the Special Counsel by not charging President Trump with obstruction of justice.
After reporting Barr’s promise to release the report within a week, complete with an explanation for each redaction, Bruce prepared to muddy the waters regarding the content of Barr’s letter of the principal conclusions of the investigation.
“Today, the Attorney General defended his decision to release his own four-page letter on the conclusions, even though the Mueller team reportedly prepared their own summaries,” she said.
Bruce then seemed to suggest it was improper of Barr, as the attorney general, to make a decision on obstruction of justice charges against Trump. “Mueller’s report did not weigh in on whether the president obstructed justice, but Barr's letter determined he had not. Today, the Attorney General was pressed on whether he ran that by the Special Counsel.”
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