Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal ripped Attorney General Bill Barr during Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
Blumenthal told Barr that “history will judge you harshly, and maybe a bit unfairly” for his handling of the Mueller report. Blumenthal also called Barr the “designated fall guy” for the Trump administration. (RELATED: Rod Rosenstein Defends Handling Of Mueller Report)
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Blumenthal also accused Barr of misleading Congress and the American people in both his initial summary of the Mueller report, and his statement to Democratic Florida Rep. Charlie Crist, in which he said he didn’t know how Mueller felt about his summary. (RELATED: Adam Schiff, Who Pushed False Collusion Narrative For 2 Years, Calls On Barr To Resign)
Barr claimed that his conclusion was not related to a letter obtained by The Washington Post on Tuesday, where Mueller expressed frustration with Barr’s summary.
“That conclusion was not related to my description of the findings,” Barr said. “That conclusion refers to my conclusion on the obstruction cases. It’s a different conclusion.”
Barr has come under fire in the past 24 hours for his initial summary of Mueller’s report, after a letter Mueller sent to Barr became public. In the letter, Mueller complained that Barr’s initial letter “did not fully capture the context, nature and substance” of the special counsel’s investigation into the matter of obstruction.
“There 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,” Mueller wrote.
Barr has spent Wednesday testifying on Capitol Hill about the report.