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Live Updates: Barr Testifies as Democrats Criticize Handling of Mueller Report William Barr Testimony Updates: He Says He’ll Deliver Mueller Report Within a Week
(32 minutes later)
• Attorney General William P. Barr has begun testifying before Congress to discuss the Justice Department budget, a usually staid affair that could become dramatic if lawmakers grill him about the Mueller report. • Attorney General William P. Barr said he will deliver the Mueller report to Congress and the public within a week, reiterating his earlier promise to release it by mid-April.
• Mr. Barr said he would be transparent about redactions in the report. But he demurred when asked whether he has briefed the White House on it.
• Mr. Barr is testifying before Congress to discuss the Justice Department budget, a usually staid affair that Democrats used to immediately grill him about his handling of the Mueller report.
• Members of the House Appropriations Committees may also question him about the Justice Department’s decision to stop defending the Affordable Care Act in court.• Members of the House Appropriations Committees may also question him about the Justice Department’s decision to stop defending the Affordable Care Act in court.
• Mr. Barr is likely to try to keep the conversation focused on the department’s proposed $29.2 billion budget, which includes money for 100 new immigration judges as President Trump hardens his stance on immigration along the southwestern border. • Mr. Barr has tried to keep the conversation focused on the department’s proposed $29.2 billion budget, which includes money for 100 new immigration judges as President Trump hardens his stance on immigration along the southwestern border.
Appropriations hearings are ostensibly about asking cabinet officials to justify their budgets, but Democrats who lead the House Appropriations Committee were eager to press Mr. Barr on Tuesday on what one called “the elephant in the room”: his handling of the highly anticipated special counsel’s report. Mr. Barr, hit immediately with questions about his handling of the Mueller report by Democrats, reiterated his vow to be as transparent as possible and said that he will turn over a redacted version of the report to Congress and the public within a week.
“The American people have been left with many unanswered questions; serious concerns about the process by which you formulated your letter; and uncertainty about when we can expect to see the full report,” Representative José E. Serrano, Democrat of New York and the head of the appropriations subcommittee that covers the Justice Department, said in his opening remarks. Mr. Barr went back over the categories of information he says he must black out — like information that is subject to grand-jury secrecy rules — and said that whatever he censors in the report, he will identify the reason.
“This process is going along very well and my original timetable of being able to release this by mid-April stands,” he said. “And so I think that from my standpoint, within a week I will be in a position to release the report to the public.”
Representative José E. Serrano, Democrat of New York and the head of the appropriations subcommittee that covers the Justice Department, pressed Mr. Barr to say whether the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, or his staff had played any role in drafting or reviewing two letters that Mr. Barr sent to Congress late last month about the report. Mr. Barr said that the special counsel had not participated in writing those letters, nor seen them in advance, though he gave Mr. Mueller the chance to see his letter summarizing the investigation’s main findings.
“The letter of the 24th, Mr. Mueller’s team did not play a role in drafting that document, although we offered him the opportunity to review it before we sent it out and he declined that,” Mr. Barr said. “The letter on the 29th, I don’t believe that that was reviewed by Mr. Mueller or that they participated in drafting that letter.”
Later, Representative Nina M. Lowey, Democrat of New York and chairwoman of the full Appropriations Committee, pressed Mr. Barr to say whether the White House has seen or been briefed on the contents of the Mueller report beyond what was in his letters about it to Congress. But Mr. Barr refused to answer.
“I’ve said what I’m going to say about the report today,” he said. “I’ve issued three letters about it. I was willing to discuss the historic information of how the report came to me and my decision on Sunday,” March 24, when he wrote a four-page letter to Congress laying out the special counsel’s top-line findings.
“But I’ve already laid out the process that is going forward to release these reports hopefully within a week,” he added. “I’m not going to say anything more about it until the report is out and everyone has a chance to look at it.”
In the past, Justice Department officials have said that Mr. Barr had not shown the White House any part of the Mueller report or briefed Mr. Trump’s team about its contents. His demurral on Tuesday raised the possibility that the situation has shifted and the White House knows more than the public or Congress about what Mr. Mueller said.
Democrats who lead the House Appropriations Committee were eager to press Mr. Barr on Tuesday on what one called “the elephant in the room”: his handling of the highly anticipated special counsel’s report.
“The American people have been left with many unanswered questions; serious concerns about the process by which you formulated your letter; and uncertainty about when we can expect to see the full report,” Mr. Serrano said in his opening remarks.
“I think it would strike a serious blow to our system and yes to our democracy if that report is not fully seen,” he added.“I think it would strike a serious blow to our system and yes to our democracy if that report is not fully seen,” he added.
Democrats have criticized Mr. Barr’s decision to share Mr. Mueller’s top-line findings in a four-page letter that quoted sparingly from the report itself and his declaration that Mr. Trump had not committed an obstruction-of-justice offense after Mr. Mueller declined to make a prosecutorial judgment. They renewed their complaints after The New York Times revealed last week that some of Mr. Mueller’s investigators have complained that Mr. Barr failed to fully represent their findings and that they were more damaging for the president than the attorney general indicated.Democrats have criticized Mr. Barr’s decision to share Mr. Mueller’s top-line findings in a four-page letter that quoted sparingly from the report itself and his declaration that Mr. Trump had not committed an obstruction-of-justice offense after Mr. Mueller declined to make a prosecutorial judgment. They renewed their complaints after The New York Times revealed last week that some of Mr. Mueller’s investigators have complained that Mr. Barr failed to fully represent their findings and that they were more damaging for the president than the attorney general indicated.
On Tuesday, they had their first chance to level criticism in person.On Tuesday, they had their first chance to level criticism in person.
Representative Nita M. Lowey, Democrat of New York and the chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, called Mr. Barr’s handling of the Mueller report “unacceptable” and questioned how quickly he summarized the findings in his March 24 letter. Ms. Lowey called Mr. Barr’s handling of the Mueller report “unacceptable” and questioned how quickly he summarized the findings in his March 24 letter.
“Even for someone who has done this job before,” she said, referring to Mr. Barr’s first stint as attorney general in the 1990s, “I would argue it is more suspicious than impressive.”“Even for someone who has done this job before,” she said, referring to Mr. Barr’s first stint as attorney general in the 1990s, “I would argue it is more suspicious than impressive.”
Mr. Barr has insisted that he is being as transparent as he can be and that he wrote the letter to share the main investigative findings with the public as soon as possible while he and other law enforcement officials review the full report. He has vowed to give copies to Congress by mid-April, after lawyers from the special counsel’s office and the Justice Department have had time to redact classified materials, secret grand jury testimony and information related to open investigations.Mr. Barr has insisted that he is being as transparent as he can be and that he wrote the letter to share the main investigative findings with the public as soon as possible while he and other law enforcement officials review the full report. He has vowed to give copies to Congress by mid-April, after lawyers from the special counsel’s office and the Justice Department have had time to redact classified materials, secret grand jury testimony and information related to open investigations.
[Congress waits as Barr blacks out parts of the Mueller report.][Congress waits as Barr blacks out parts of the Mueller report.]
Mr. Barr was expected to avoid giving any answers that could generate headlines, especially given that his pick for the No. 2 spot at the Justice Department, Jeffrey A. Rosen, goes before senators for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. Mr. Barr is likely to decline to answer questions about the Mueller report and instead stick with his budget priorities, which include more money to combat the opioid epidemic, crack down on violent crime and protect the country against national security threats. Mr. Barr did not address the Mueller report during his opening statement, and he made clear that he did not intend to generate any big headlines. He gave the committee an overview of the department’s major budget requests, including money to combat the opioid epidemic, crack down on violent crime, enforce immigration laws and protect the country against national security threats.
Given that his pick for the No. 2 spot at the Justice Department, Jeffrey A. Rosen, goes before senators for his own confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Mr. Barr is likely to try keep his answers and comments as uncontroversial as possible so as not to overshadow that proceeding.
Mr. Barr is requesting an additional $72.1 million for immigration enforcement — an amount that would fund 100 new immigration judges — at a time when Mr. Trump has hardened his stance against illegal immigration and asylum seekers. Over the past two days, he has purged top immigration and security leaders to accelerate that goal.Mr. Barr is requesting an additional $72.1 million for immigration enforcement — an amount that would fund 100 new immigration judges — at a time when Mr. Trump has hardened his stance against illegal immigration and asylum seekers. Over the past two days, he has purged top immigration and security leaders to accelerate that goal.
[Trump says he alone can do it. His attorney general usually agrees.] While the additional judges will “provide some relief from a critical backlog in the immigration courts,” Mr. Barr said, he also said that an influx of cases “constrains our ability to manage the backlog of cases, and other reforms are necessary.”
Lawmakers have demanded that the White House provide answers.
While Mr. Barr said in his prepared remarks that the additional judges will “provide some relief from a critical backlog in the immigration courts,” he also said that the continuing influx of cases along the southwestern border “constrains our ability to manage the backlog of cases, and other reforms are necessary.”
The Justice Department oversees the nation’s immigration judges, who are separate from the judicial branch.The Justice Department oversees the nation’s immigration judges, who are separate from the judicial branch.
Mr. Barr also said that “attacking those transnational criminal organizations is a high priority” for the department and noted that the Justice Department is asking for more than $140 million in budget increases at the F.B.I., the Drug Enforcement Administration and elsewhere to address drug crimes.