For those not up on game, shortly after Special counsel Robert Mueller released the findings of his two-year investigation into whether Russia colluded with the Trump administration to steal the 2016 presidential election, Attorney General William Barr condensed this 448-page report down to a four-page memo given to Congress in which Barr claimed that the president didnโt commit obstruction of justice.
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Whatโs odd about this is that Muellerโs report didnโt conclude whether or not the president committed obstruction of justice. But for some reason, Barr, aka Fred Flintstone Face, aka Evil John Goodman Face, decided he would conclude that the president didnโt commit obstruction of justice even though no one asked him to. The president took a Twitter victory lap, claiming that heโd been exonerated and that all of itโthe investigation, all the indictments, all the claimsโwere a part of a larger witch hunt by Democrats to throw him out of office, and that it didnโt work.
Now, The Washington Post has uncovered a letter sent from Mueller to Barr in late March that basically statedโand Iโm paraphrasing hereโโBitch, you played my 448-page investigation into a four-page memo that gutted all the feeling I put into it!โ
Not only did Mueller send a letter, but the two menโone of whom has a side job at Slate Rock and Gravel Companyโhopped on the phone to try and hash it out. While The Root was unable to get a transcript of the actual phone call, I have been writing about this shit long enough to be able to channel Muellerโs voice, which I will do here: โBitch, you played me. Are you working for that Bama? I shouldโve know that you werenโt to be trusted. It was 448-pages; ainโt no way in hell you read it that fast. Oh, youโre a speed reader now? I should kick your...hello?โ
Fine, hereโs what Muellerโs letter to the Justice Department actually said, according to The Post:
The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this officeโs work and conclusions,โ Mueller wrote, according to The Washington Post. โThere is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.
The Post notes that the letter also requested that Muellerโs long-ass homework project be released in full and noted a few places that could be redacted.
Justice Department officials told The Post that they were taken aback by the tone of Muellerโs letter (told yโall he was pissed) and added that they were surprised that he had these concerns. Barr told Congress that Mueller didnโt want to review his four-page letter because it was fucking four-pages of โcome watch Trump throw a football over a mountain.โ
From The Post:
A day after Mueller sent his letter to Barr, the two men spoke by phone for about 15 minutes, according to law enforcement officials. In that call, Mueller said he was concerned that media coverage of the obstruction investigation was misguided and creating public misunderstandings about the officeโs work, according to Justice Department officials.
Mueller did not express similar concerns about the public discussion of the investigation of Russiaโs election interference, the officials said. Barr has testified previously he did not know whether Mueller supported his conclusion on obstruction.
When Barr pressed Mueller on whether he thought Barrโs memo to Congress was inaccurate, Mueller said he did not but felt that the media coverage of it was misinterpreting the investigation, officials said.
In their call, Barr also took issue with Mueller calling his memo a โsummary,โ saying he had never intended to summarize the voluminous report, but instead provide an account of its top conclusions, officials said.
Justice Department officials told The Post that the conversation was more cordial than the letter, but the two men couldnโt agree on how to move forward. Barr wanted to release the full report with redactions and didnโt see the reasoning for releasing portions of the report as Mueller reportedly suggested.
According to claims, Mueller was more concerned with the publicโs interpretation of Barrโs four-page summary and not the full report.
โAfter the Attorney General received Special Counsel Muellerโs letter, he called him to discuss it,โ a Justice Department spokeswoman told The Post Tuesday evening. โIn a cordial and professional conversation, the Special Counsel emphasized that nothing in the Attorney Generalโs March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading. But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the Special Counselโs obstruction analysis. They then discussed whether additional context from the report would be helpful and could be quickly released.โ
โHowever, the Attorney General ultimately determined that it would not be productive to release the report in piecemeal fashion,โ the spokeswoman said. โThe Attorney General and the Special Counsel agreed to get the full report out with necessary redactions as expeditiously as possible. The next day, the Attorney General sent a letter to Congress reiterating that his March 24 letter was not intended to be a summary of the report, but instead only stated the Special Counselโs principal conclusions, and volunteered to testify before both Senate and House Judiciary Committees on May 1 and 2.โ
Mueller punted. Thatโs the takeaway here. Mueller couldโve concluded that that the president did or didnโt commit obstruction of justice. The report he created described at least 10 significant episodes of possible obstruction of justice. But Mueller, who we already know knows how to work a phone because he surely called Barr to complain about his four-page summation, couldnโt call someone to ask if he had to adhere to a long-standing Justice Department policy that says a sitting president cannot be indicted and for that reason, here we are. Mueller punted and Fred Flintstone Face ran it back for a touchdown.
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