Sen. Patrick Leahy pressed Attorney General William Barr on his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe during a contentious Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday.
Leahy, D-Vt, opened by questioning Barr about his testimony regarding his handling of the release of the Mueller report and his four-page summary of Mueller’s findings.
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Leahy said he was “somewhat troubled” Barr testified before a House subcommittee on April 9 that he was not aware of the Mueller team’s concerns about his characterization of their report.
“Now we know, contrary to what you said April 9, that on March 27 Robert Mueller wrote to you expressing very specific concerns that your March 24 letter … failed to capture … ‘the context, nature and substance’ of his report,” Leahy said. “Why did you testify on April 9 that you didn’t know the concerns?”
Barr responded by saying he had spoken directly to Mueller about his March 24 letter, and he was not aware of reported concerns "relating to unidentified members" of the probe.
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“Mr. Barr, I feel that your answer was purposely misleading, and I think others do too,” Leahy responded.
The Vermont Democrat then asked Barr about his previous testimony that President Trump “fully cooperated” with the Mueller probe, despite reports that Trump instructed an aide to tell then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to un-recuse himself and fire Mueller and also that he floated pardons for associates if they did not cooperate with the investigation.
"He fully cooperated," Barr stated.
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"Asking Jeff Sessions to recuse himself, we believe, is not obstruction,” he continued. “I don't see any conflict between that and fully cooperating with the investigation.”