WASHINGTON — In his first public testimony since the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report, Attorney General William Barr sought to defend himself Wednesday against accusations from Democrats that he misled Congress about the Mueller team's concerns over his description of their findings.
At a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Democrats pressed Barr about a letter Mueller sent him that said that the attorney general's initial four-page description of the special counsel's conclusions had caused public confusion and did not fully capture his report’s "context, nature and substance.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., asked Barr why he had testified to Congress last month that he didn’t know whether Mueller supported Barr’s conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to conclude President Donald Trump had obstructed justice, even though he had received Mueller’s letter about two weeks earlier.
Barr answered that he had spoken with Mueller by phone after receiving his letter, and the special counsel told him he did not think his description of the report's findings were inaccurate.
During Barr's earlier appearance before Congress last month, lawmakers had asked him about news reports that described "unidentified members expressing frustration over the accuracy relating to findings," Barr told Leahy. "I don't know what that refers to at all."
"I talked directly to Bob Mueller, not members of his team," Barr continued. Earlier in Wednesday's hearing, the attorney general said Mueller told him “the press reporting was inaccurate” and his concern focused on Barr's statement of the reasons that special counsel did not ultimately reach a conclusion on obstruction.
Mueller "wanted to put more out on the issue," Barr said. "He argued for putting out summaries written by his office" in the two volumes of the report. “He was very clear with me that he was not suggesting that we had misrepresented his report.”
Barr said, however, that he was not interested in putting out summaries or portions of the full report piecemeal because that could lead to further confusion about Mueller's report.
Speaking about Barr’s testimony to Congress in April about whether Mueller team's was concerned about the attorney general's description of their findings, Leahy said, “I feel your answer was purposely misleading, and I think others do too.”
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., also grilled Barr about his earlier testimony in light of Mueller's letter.
“Attorneys do not put things in writing unless they’re pretty serious,” Durbin said.
The Washington Post first reported on Mueller's letter late Tuesday.