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Mueller’s investigators frustrated by summary of their findings
The New York Times report, which first said the misgivings these investigators have about the four-page summary written by attorney general William Barr, came amidst intensifying confrontation between the president and the Democratic-led House of Representatives.
Some of Robert Mueller’s investigators are reportedly frustrated that a summary of their report released last week did not adequately convey the more damaging findings regarding President Donald Trump, who has since claimed he has been exonerated from both collusion and obstruction of justice.
The New York Times report, which first said the misgivings these investigators have about the four-page summary written by attorney general William Barr, came amidst intensifying confrontation between the president and the Democratic-led House of Representatives.
A House committee sought Wednesday six years of the president’s income tax returns, adding one more probe to the those already under way, including a sweeping investigation of Trump’s businesses, charity, campaign-related bodies for alleged corruption and abuse of power.
The New York Times report, which had not been disputed either by the US department of justice or the White House till the writing of this report, will likely add to the growing demand for an early release of the full Mueller report. A House committee voted earlier in the day to authorize subpoenaing the report.
The news report did not specify which parts of Barr’s summary were found troubling by Mueller’s investigators. But, it said, they had prepared several summaries of their findings and though they were not binding they felt shortchanged by what made it through, Barr’s report, creating a first, and, they feared, a lasting impression.
Barr’s four-page summary used just two direct quotes from the nearly 400-page Mueller report. The first said there was no evidence of collusion by Trump or his campaign team with Russian meddling in the 2016 election. And the second, tellingly, said while it found no evidence to charge the president with obstructing justice, it was not exonerating him from it — “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him”.
Barr went a step further and cleared Trump of obstruction of justice as well, a conclusion, he said, he reached in consultation with senior member of his department.
A visibly relieved Trump, whose presidency had been under a cloud because of the 22-month probe, ran with it, claiming “total” exoneration, from both collusion and obstruction of justice.
