CNN's Don Lemon slams AG Bill Barr as 'political hack', 'mercenary for president' over summary of Mueller report
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CNN’s Don Lemon assailed Attorney General William Barr as a “political hack” amid Special Counsel Robert Mueller reported complaints about the way his report was characterized.
The network’s star made the comments during a discussion on Tuesday with Chris Cuomo, another CNN star, who noted that the latest revelations show that Barr “has been an agent for the president more than the American people.”
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Or a political hack, if you just want to be that blunt about it,” Lemon quipped. “A kinder word would be a mercenary for the president. That sounded more to me like a guidance counselor, or maybe a psychologist. Or maybe an excuse that your parents would make for you.”
Or a political hack, if you just want to be that blunt about it. A kinder word would be a mercenary for the president. That sounded more to me like a guidance counselor, or maybe a psychologist. Or maybe an excuse that your parents would make for you.”
The Washington Post reported Tuesday evening that Mueller contacted – in a letter and phone call – the attorney general to let him know that his summary “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of the Russia investigation report.
Mueller reportedly pushed Barr to release the executive summaries written by his office, though at no point did Mueller suggest that Barr's summary of the report was inaccurate. Instead, Mueller told Barr that media coverage of the letter had “misinterpreted” the results of the probe concerning obstruction of justice.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Barr is expected to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday.
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Cuomo said during the same discussion that while it is difficult to prove the charge of obstruction of justice, it is not the role of the attorney general to defend the White House.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Lemon, meanwhile, suggested Barr got the job as the top law enforcement official in the country just because he was willing to “pull the wool over your eyes.”
“You don’t have to be a lawyer to understand how William Barr got this job, how he auditioned for it, how he conducted himself during the hearings, and how he conducted himself at the press initial press conference with the letter and the second press conference,” Lemon said. “He tried to shape the narrative.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Everything that we have been reporting about this letter and the A.G. trying to shape the narrative has turned out to be true,” he added. “You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.”