Sen. Graham: 'Would you recommend that this committee and every other committee...do our best to harden our infrastructure against future Russian attacks?' AG William Barr: 'Absolutely, yes.' Graham: 'You think Russia's still up to it?' Barr: 'Yes.'
Attorney General William Barr faced a grilling from lawmakers on Wednesday over his controversial handling of special counsel Robert Mueller's report as the nation's top law enforcement officer returned to Capitol Hill for the first time since releasing the probe's highly anticipated findings earlier this month.
BREAKING: The Justice Department informed the House Judiciary Committee that Attorney General William Barr would decline to testify before the panel tomorrow amid disagreements over the hearing's format, according to a committee aide https://t.co/oYmIhIiCOi pic.twitter.
2:53 p.m.: Barr says he believes Mueller didn't mean for his report to be used as a roadmap for Congress 2:44 p.m.: After grilling from Democratic presidential hopefuls, former GOP presidential candidate Cruz says Democrats 'ain't got nothing' California Democrat Sen. Kamala Harris sparred with Barr over his decision not to find the president committed obstruction of justice. Harris accused Barr of being"biased in this situation" and"having a conflict of interest."
GOP chairman Graham interjected,"This line of questioning – listen, you've slandered this man …seven minutes and you slandered this man top to bottom." "And, you know, to listen to some of the rhetoric, you would think that the Mueller report had found the opposite," Barr added.A fiery Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., lashed out at the attorney general for his handling of the Mueller report,
"The job of the Justice Department is now over, that determines whether or not there's a crime. The report is now in the hands of the American people. Everyone can decide for themselves, there's an election in 18 months, that's a very democratic process. We have to stop using the Justice Department as a political weapon," Barr concluded.
"I think what the president's lawyers would say, if this were ever actually joined, is that the president's statements about flipping are quite clear and express and uniformly the same," Barr said."Which is by flipping, he meant succumbing to pressure on unrelated cases to lie and compose in order to get lenient treatment on the cases. That is not -- discouraging flipping in that sense is not obstruction.
Among those who have yet to question the attorney general are three Democratic presidential hopefuls: Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.After about two hours of questioning, the committee took a break so senators could vote. Barr argued that Mueller did not appear frustrated with the accuracy of his four-page letter."I talked directly to Bob and Bob told me he did not have objections to the accuracy," Barr said,"but that he wanted more out there to provide additional context to explain his reasoning on why he didn't reach a decision on obstruction."
Sen. Patrick Leahy repeatedly presses Barr on his previous testimony:"Why did you testify on April 9 that you didn't know the concerns being specified by Mueller's team when in fact, you had heard those concerns directly from Mr. Mueller 2 weeks before?" https://t.co/ZSrldyxI31 pic.twitter.com/JFjcgdWiKu
Attorney General Barr on special counsel Mueller declining to make a judgment on obstruction of justice:"I think that if he felt that he shouldn't go down the path of making a traditional prosecutive decision, then he shouldn't have investigated." https://t.co/uONkgQpLUJ pic.twitter.com/RYgx2JyogaDuring questioning by Democratic Sen.
10:44 a.m.: Barr says he told Mueller he wasn't interested in putting out report summaries as Mueller wanted "I wanted to get the whole report out," he continued."And I thought summaries by very definition, regardless of who prepared them, would be underinclusive and we would have sort of a series of different debates and public discord over each information that went out and I wanted to get everything out at once and we should start working on that."
In the first line of questioning, Sen. Graham peppered Barr with yes or no questions about the process of the special counsel's probe. Barr answered in the affirmative when asked whether he respects Mueller and whether her"feels good" about his decision to clear Trump on obstruction of justice. As Barr looked on, Graham urged members of the committee to"work to do to defend democracy against the Russians and other bad actors. And I promise the committee we will get on with that work hopefully in a bipartisan fashion."
The revelation of Mueller's sentiment toward the Justice Department's rollout of his report has further stoked Democrats' concerns about the attorney general's impartiality. In the weeks since Barr made a redacted version of Mueller's 448-page report available to the public, congressional Democrats have criticized what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called his"regrettably partisan handling of the Mueller report.
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