Attorney General William Barr defended his handling of the release of the Mueller report Thursday, dismissing criticism that he was acting as if he were President Trump’s personal attorney.
CBS correspondent Paula Reid confronted him at his press conference by mentioning the criticism that his handling of the report roll-out has been overly defensive of Trump.
Barr: “I’m not sure what your basis is for saying I’m being generous to the President.”
A reporter then brings up his use of the word “unprecedented.”
“Is there another precedent for it,” Barr asks.
“No,” the reporter answers.
“OK so unprecedented is an accurate description.” pic.twitter.com/5Mkso4BOCR
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 18, 2019
Reid said that Barr was “generous” to Trump in his interpretation of the instances of potential obstruction of justice identified in the report by special counsel Robert Mueller. She specifically questioned his comment that Trump behaved as he did in part because he faced an “unprecedented” situation and that he acted out of anger and frustration rather than a desire to obstruct justice.
“What do you say to people on both sides of the aisle concerned you are trying to protect the president?” Reid asked.
Barr responded that his comments about Trump’s anger and frustration were based on information in the Mueller report. Then he added, “I’m not sure what your basis is for saying that I’m being generous to the president. Is there another precedent for that?”
Reid responded: “No.”
“OK, so ‘unprecedented’ is an accurate description,” Barr shot back, before moving on to another question.
