The attorney general’s analysis of Trump’s efforts to push out the special counsel provided the most revealing look yet at Barr’s rationale for concluding that there was not sufficient evidence to charge the president.
Attorney General William P. Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. By Carol D. Leonnig Carol D. Leonnig National investigative reporter focused on the White House and government accountability Email Bio Follow May 1 at 8:00 PM It was one of the most dramatic cases of potential obstruction of justice laid out by federal investigators: President Trump directing the top White House lawyer to seek the removal of special counsel Robert S.
“It would be difficult for the government to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt,” Barr said of the idea that Trump was trying to get McGahn to create a fraudulent record to fend off prosecutors. “There are very plausible alternative explanations.” The special counsel declined to offer an assessment of whether Trump’s actions amounted to a crime. But at the end of his 448-page report, Mueller pointedly wrote, “If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar , a former prosecutor, was among those on the Senate Judiciary Committee who questioned the attorney general’s conclusion that there was no obstruction-of-justice case against the president. And even if Trump had wanted Mueller removed because of conflicts, Barr said, that wasn’t criminal. It would have led to naming a new special counsel, not the end of the investigation.Sen. Richard J. Durbin complained that Barr was trying to stage some complicated “kabuki dance” to distract from the copious evidence that Trump’s instructions to McGahn rose to the level of criminal conduct.
After the New York Times published a story in February 2018 saying Trump ordered McGahn to fire Mueller, the president told McGahn he needed to write a letter denying the stories, according to the report.“Did I say the word ‘fire?’ ” Trump asked McGahn, according to the report.
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