Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., called Attorney General William Barr’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee “baloney” while Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said Barr was misleading the panel about how he handled the findings in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian collusion.
Barr made his first appearance before Congress since the release of the Mueller report on April 18.
Democratic senators grilled Barr over a newly released letter from Mueller expressing his frustration over how the press reported on Barr’s March memo about the reports bottom-line findings.
Barr told Congress last month that Mueller had no complaints about Barr’s four-page memo, an apparent contradiction in the eyes of the Democrats.
Democrats said Barr hid Mueller’s dissatisfaction when he testified before congressional spending panels in March.
“Baloney,” Durbin said, when asked about Barr’s explanation to Democrats. “He had already received a letter from Mueller. He knows there were problems with it and he was dodging it.”
Durbin said he is “not happy” with Barr’s testimony so far.
Coons questioned the three-week gap between Barr’s memo, which exonerated Trump of wrongdoing, and the release of the redacted Mueller report.
Coons said he plans to question Barr about his decision to send the memo out before the full report was released, which he said provided “three weeks where President Trump could claim he was fully exonerated when the report makes it clear he was not.”
Coons said Barr was “being too cute by half,” in explaining why he did not reveal Mueller’s frustration with his memo and his answer “was intended to mislead.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said the Senate must question Mueller.
“Mueller may have a different account of their conversation,” Blumenthal said.
