Attorney General William Barr testified this morning in front of a House appropriations subcommittee.
While the hearing was scheduled to be about the Justice Department’s budget, Democrats asked questions on a number of topics, including special counsel Robbert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
Here are the key takeaways from the hearing:
Attorney General William Barr says China poses a “very serious threat” and is “probably our highest priority” when it comes to counter-espionage.
Rep. Steven Palazzo, a Republican from Mississippi, asked Barr to “elaborate on the growing threat” and “call out some of these overseas adversaries” the the US should be concerned with.
Here’s how Barr responded:
Rep. Ed Case, a Democrat from Hawaii, just held up one of the most coveted documents of the Robert Mueller investigation as a prop to criticize what are sure to be the coming redactions.
It’s the Aug. 2017 memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to Mueller, expanding Mueller’s mandate. It’s almost completely redeacted, except the part about potential collusion by Paul Manafort.
Barr replied, “I appreciate the importance of releasing as much of the information in the report as I can consistent with the law.”
About that document: In August 2017, Rosenstein sent special counsel Robert Mueller a memo. It expanded on Mueller’s public mandate and listed several points that Mueller was specifically authorized to investigate. But it was almost entirely redacted when it became public in the run-up to Paul Manafort’s trial. The one visible portion says Mueller should investigate whether Manafort “committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials.”
Here’s a closer look:
Attorney General William Barr was asked about reports that members of the special counsel’s team were frustrated with Barr’s limited summary of the Mueller report.
He answered, “I suspect that they probably wanted more put out. But, in my view I was not interested in putting out summaries or trying to summarize because I think any summary, regardless of who prepares it, not only runs the risk of being under inclusive or over inclusive but also would trigger a lot of discussion and analysis that really should wait everything coming out at once.”
What we have reported: Several investigators on Robert Mueller’s team have expressed frustration to people outside the special counsel about the way the investigation findings were summarized by Attorney General Bill Barr in his letter Congress, according to sources familiar with the conversations.
In particular, some investigators felt the letter did not adequately describe how the investigation of obstruction included derogatory information about President Trump’s actions, according to one of the sources. Barr’s letter obliquely referenced evidence on both sides of the issue, but did not explain it further.
Reporting from CNN’s Jeremy Herb, Laura Jarrett and Evan Perez
Rep. Robert Aderholt, a Republican from Alabama, said questions at Attorney General William Barr’s hearing “have gone toward a grassy knoll conspiracy theory,” referencing the never-ending swirl of conspiracy theories around the John F. Kennedy assassination.
Aderholt criticized his fellow representatives for asking non-budget questions at a budget hearing.
“Justice has submitted almost $30 billion dollars of taxpayer dollars to use, and I want to remind my colleagues that that is what the purpose of the Attorney General being here today is, to talk about that $30 billion of taxpayer dollars that’s going to be used,” Aderholt said.
He continued:
Attorney General William Barr just echoed one of President Trump’s recent talking points, highlighting what the two men view as Democratic hypocrisy when it comes to releasing the Mueller report.
That’s because some of the Democrats who want Mueller’s full report released actually spoke out against the full release of the Starr report in the late 1990s. Ken Starr’s investigation led to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment proceedings.
“Many of the people right now who are calling for the release of this report were basically castigating Ken Starr and others for releasing the Starr report,” Barr said.
Trump tweeted a similar statement last week:
Rep. Matt Cartwright asked Attorney General William Barr about the Affordable Care Act, which the Trump administration recently said should be struck down.
Barr said he wants to let the courts “do their job” when it comes to the lawsuit.
Here’s how the exchange went down:
CARTWRIGHT: Let me be the one to inform you that should the law be struck down, millions of people who get their coverage through the ACA marketplace would lose their coverage, and tens of millions more would see their premiums skyrocket. In addition if you are successful, 12 million people nationally and 750,000 in my home state of Pennsylvania who have coverage under the Medicaid expansion would also likely lose that coverage. Am I correct in that, sir?
BARR: I do think it’s likely we’re going to prevail.
CARTWRIGHT: If you prevail — well, you’re devoting scarce resources of your department to that effort, are you not Attorney General?
BARR: We’re in litigation — we have to take a position — we take position in litigation…
CARTWRIGHT: The answer is yes. You are trying to get it invalidated and if you succeed, that many people will lose their coverage nationally from Medicaid, and 750,000 from Pennsylvania alone, right?
BARR: I’m just saying, if you think it’s such an outrageous position, you have nothing to worry about. Let the courts do their job.
While Attorney General William Barr answers questions on Capitol Hill about the special counsel report, Department of Justice attorneys are in court discussing the same topic.
DOJ attorney Courtney Enlow told a federal judge in Washington this morning that Barr is “well along” in the process of redacting the report for Congress.
Remember: Barr just said this to Congress, too, and added that the redacted report should be ready to release “within a week.”
In court, the Justice Department wouldn’t say when the Mueller report will be released or if executive summaries provided by the Mueller team — as described in recent media reports— will be included in the report that Barr is currently redacting.
Why the DOJ is in court: The early lawsuit over the Mueller report’s release ultimately may prompt the court system to get involved in checking Barr’s redaction decisions, and perhaps fashion the release of a version of the report that’s redacted differently from what will be given to Congress this month.
That’s what the transparency group that brought the suit is hoping, the group said in court Tuesday.
The federal judge overseeing this request asked for a detailed update from DOJ on May 2 about the possible release of documents from the special counsel’s investigation to the public under the Freedom of Information Act.
The judge, Reggie Walton, said he would not step in immediately to get more information to the document requestor, a transparency group called the Electronic Privacy Information Center, but rather would allow for the Mueller report to be released first to Congress before asking for more details about the report’s subsequent release under the FOIA law.
Walton would “keep the parties on the fast track,” he said. “The public has the right to know what it can know.”
“This is an extremely important subject matter to the nation,” he added. It’s “important the government be as transparent as possible in what it produces.”
We’re about an hour into Attorney General William Barr’s testimony before the House appropriations subcommittee. If you’re just tuning in, here’s what you need to know.
Barr is there to talk about the Justice Department’s budget, but Democratic aides say no topics are off limits, and a lot of the questions so far have focused on special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Here’s what we’ve learned about it:
Attorney General William Barr smartly dodged Rep. Nita Lowey’s question about whether Trump’s claims of “total” exoneration are accurate.
Trump has said that the report gave him “total and complete exoneration” on collusion and obstruction – even though Barr said in his 4-page summary that Mueller specifically noted in the original report that it “does not exonerate” Trump of obstruction.
Lowey, the Democratic chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, asked Barr the question twice. He did not answer the specific question, instead saying that everyone will get a chance to read the report soon, and that would be the right time to discuss what’s in it.
By declining to answer, Barr protected himself from having to contradict his boss on national television.
Attorney General William Barr just shut the door on Chairwoman Nita Lowey when she asks if the White House has seen or been briefed on Mueller report.
“I’m not going to say anything more about it,” Barr responded.
What he did say: He’s planning on releasing the redacted report “within a week.” Until then, Barr wants to wait on discussing it further.
Attorney General William Barr said the Department of Justice is working on redacting special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. The special counsel’s office is helping with the process.
Barr said there are four areas of information that need to be redacted before the report can be released:
Barr has already released his summary of the report. He said the special counsel was given the opportunity to review his original March 24th letter, but Mueller declined to review it.
Attorney General William Barr said the process of redacting special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election is going well, and he expects to release the report within the next week.
“Ay original timetable of being able to release this by mid-April stands. So I think that from my standpoint, by within a week, I will be in a position to release the report to the public,” he said.
Attorney General William Barr’s opening statement touched on the opioid crisis, immigration and cybercrime — but not special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Barr is testifying before the House appropriations subcommittee about the Justice Department budget. He detailed President Trump’s budget requests and how the Justice Department would use the funds.
Remember: Even if Attorney General William Barr declines to speak about the special counsel probe at this hearing, he is coming back to Capitol Hill on May 1 and May 2 for hearings specifically to answer questions about the Mueller investigation.
Those hearings will be before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees.
House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey told Barr that his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report was “unacceptable” and the summary he released “raises more questions than it answers.”
Right off the top, Chairman Jose Serrano mentioned “the elephant in the room” and said he believes “the American people deserve to see the full Mueller report.”
Here’s his full quote:
Attorney General William Barr is making his first public appearance at a congressional budget hearing since releasing a summary of the special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
Democratic aides say no topics are off limits for Tuesday’s hearing, and they’re likely to ask Barr about…
Republican lawmakers, on the other hand, are not expected to ask questions about Mueller and will focus on budget issues in the hearing, according to a GOP aide.
We’re talking a lot about immigration this week: Kirstjen Nielsen — the secretary of Homeland Security who has become a face of Trump’s hardline immigration push — is leaving the administration. Meanwhile, there’s been an influx of migrants, and Trump is growing increasingly frustrated.
Why it matters today: Attorney General William Barr may be pressed on the Justice Department’s role in Trump’s polarizing immigration policies, including its role in “zero tolerance” policies that led to the separation of immigrant families at the border, as well as the administration’s request for additional immigration judges to ease a backlog of cases.
Even if Attorney General William Barr declines to speak about the special counsel probe at this week’s budget hearings, he is coming back to Capitol Hill on May 1 and May 2 for hearings specifically to answer questions about the Mueller investigation.
Those hearings will be before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees.
When will we see the report? Barr told Congress earlier this month he expected to release a redacted version of Mueller’s nearly 400-page report by “mid-April, if not sooner.” He said four types of information would be redacted, including grand jury material, classified information, material tied to ongoing investigation, and information that could harm “peripheral third parties.”
What Democrats want: But Democrats said Barr’s redactions plans are unacceptable, and they are demanding he provide Congress with the full, unredacted report and Mueller’s underlying evidence. The House Judiciary Committee voted last week to authorize a subpoena for the full report and evidence.
Special counsel Robert Mueller will be the elephant in the room Tuesday when Attorney General William Barr makes his first public appearance at a congressional budget hearing since releasing a summary of the special counsel’s conclusions.
What this hearing is about: Barr is testifying at a House appropriations subcommittee hearing to discuss the Justice Department budget and the department’s priorities, but the Mueller report — which Barr is in the process of redacting before releasing publicly — will loom over the proceedings.
But here’s the thing: It’s still unknown how much — if anything — Barr will say about the special counsel during his testimony Tuesday or when he returns for a Wednesday Senate appropriations hearing.
Barr’s nine-page written statement that was released Monday ahead of the hearing made zero mention of Mueller or the special counsel’s report.
