House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., wants Attorney General William Barr to resign.
Schiff’s comments come after the Washington Post first reported Tuesday that special counsel Robert Mueller sent a letter to Barr arguing that Barr’s four-page summary of the Russia investigation “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of the investigation. The letter was subsequently released Wednesday morning by the House Judiciary Committee.
“I think his statement is deliberately false and misleading, and yes, most people would consider that to be a lie,” Schiff said in an interview with CBS on Wednesday morning. “Look, there’s no sugar coating this, I think he should step down. It’s hard, I think, for the country to have confidence in the top law enforcement official in the country if he’s asked a direct question as he was and he gives a directly false answer, so this is serious business.”
“After two years and work and investigation implicating the president of the United States, for the attorney general to mislead the public for an entire month before releasing that report is inexcusable,” Schiff said.
When Barr appeared before lawmakers on a House appropriation subcommittee last month, he denied having knowledge of whether the special counsel’s team was irritated by his summary as media reports indicated. But in Mueller’s letter, dated three days after the release of the summary on March 27, Mueller claimed the summary didn’t provide complete context and substance of the investigation.
As a result, Mueller requested that Barr share the introduction and executive summary of each of the report’s two volumes.
A redacted version of Mueller’s report was released last month. The report concluded that the Trump campaign did not collude with the Kremlin, however, it did not clear President Trump of obstruction of justice.
Barr is testifying before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday morning.
