Washington, DC – Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement regarding the Judiciary Committee testimony today of Attorney General William Barr:
“Attorney General Barr’s testimony was an exercise in dissembling. He tried to convince us that words like ‘summary’ don’t mean ‘summary’. He said Special Counsel Mueller’s concerns – expressed in a letter for everyone to see – weren’t concerns at all. He said Justice Department policy against indicting a president wasn’t the reason Mueller didn’t conclude the President broke the law, when the report says the opposite. He said authorized Justice Department investigations are ‘spying’ and that it’s the media’s fault that characterization rubbed anyone the wrong way. He indulged in hair-splitting the likes of which I’ve rarely seen in the Judiciary Committee.
“Attorney General Barr today confirmed that his goal is to help the President spin the facts rather than help the American people understand what happened. That’s why the Committee should hear directly from Special Counsel Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein.”
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