Politics

White House On Mueller Team ‘Concerns’ With Barr Letter: ‘Sore Losers’

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Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
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White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders brushed off reports that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigative team are troubled by Attorney General Bill Barr’s summary of their report in a Thursday interview on Fox News.

“Democrats continue to show day in and day out, they’re nothing but sore losers. At some point, they have to realize that they have been beat by President Trump in the 2016 election,” Sanders declared. “They’re getting beat … on issues that actually matter, and I think they’re a sad excuse for a political party right now. At some point, they have to decide if they want to govern.”

Sander’s blasé dismissal comes after The New York Times and The Washington Post reported that associates of some investigators on Mueller’s team are troubled by Barr’s declaration that they found that President Donald Trump did not obstruct justice during the course of the Russia investigation.

Barr also revealed that the final report is approximately 400 pages in length, excluding tables and appendices, and that the White House will not have a chance to review the document before it is released with some redactions for national security purposes. (RELATED: Justice Department Delivers Mueller Conclusions To Congress, Determines No Collusion) 

Barr wrote in his letter to lawmakers that Mueller’s team found no evidence of collusion and not enough evidence to recommend prosecution of obstruction of justice. The attorney general later revealed, “I anticipate we will be in position” to release the redacted report “by mid-April, if not sooner.”

“Some members of Mr. Mueller’s team are concerned that because Mr. Barr created the first narrative of the special counsel’s findings, Americans’ views will have hardened before the investigation’s conclusions become public,” The NYT wrote.

The Post similarly wrote “members of Mueller’s team have complained to close associates that the evidence they gathered on obstruction was alarming and significant,” quoting one source saying “It was much more acute than Barr suggested.”