House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., will hammer Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday over his “suspicious” four-page summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of allegations the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
Barr, in his first congressional appearance since Mueller finished his two-year probe, will appear before the House Appropriations’ Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, which funds the Justice Department.
He’ll be met by frustrated Democrats.
“I want to address a serious oversight matter – your unacceptable handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report,” Lowey plans to tell Barr, according to testimony obtained by the Washington Examiner. “It’s been reported that the report is 300-400 pages, and I use the term ‘reported’ because we have no idea how long it actually is. All we have is your four-page summary letter, which seems to cherry pick from the report to draw the most favorable conclusion possible for the President. In many ways, your letter raises more questions than it answers.”
The House Judiciary Committee voted last week to subpoena Barr at some point for the entire report. Barr told Congress he plans to send more of the report to them by mid-April. It’s likely to contain redactions to exclude grand jury testimony and some classified information.
Watch the hearing:
House and Senate Democrats want to see the report in its entirety and have become increasingly angry with Barr, who sent a four-page summary last month exonerating the president of collusion within days of the report’s completion. The summary also showed Mueller could not establish obstruction by President Trump, and after the special counsel left it an open question, Barr said he concluded there was insufficient evidence to establish that the president committed a crime.
“I must say, it is extraordinary to evaluate hundreds of pages of evidence, legal documents, and findings based on a 22-month long inquiry and make definitive legal conclusions in less than 48 hours,” Lowey will tell Barr on Tuesday. “Even for someone who has done this job before, I would argue it is more suspicious than impressive.”
Lowey said Barr’s conclusion “is something we’ve seen before,” and she made reference to a memo Barr wrote in 2018 questioning the validity of an obstruction case against the president.
Lowey will tell Barr she accepts “some portions of it must be redacted as a matter of law” but that the rest should be provided to the public and Congress.
