Below is the full testimony by AG Barr from this morning’s exchange with Senator Feinstein on why the Mueller report account of Trump instructing Bob McGahn to ‘fire’ Mueller and then telling McGahn to ‘lie’ about it did not obstruct justice.
Watch below:
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You really should watch the full video of Barr’s testimony, but I’ll point out a few highlights.
First, Barr says McGahn felt that Trump was directing him to push Rosenstein to invoke a conflict of interest to push Mueller out.
But Trump, according to Barr, said later that’s not what he meant, that he wanted the issue of a conflict of interest raised with Rosenstein, but that the decision should be left with Rosenstein.
Barr further notes that a New York Times article unequivocally stated that Trump told McGahn to fire Mueller, which is very different from the accounts by Trump and McGahn.
His point being that there’s a huge difference between ordering McGahn to fire Mueller outright in order to end the investigation, versus wanting Mueller removed for a conflict of interest that would indicate the appointment of another special counsel.
Barr also adds that there was evidence to suggest that Trump truly felt the article in the New York Times was inaccurate and wanted McGahn to correct it.
The bottom line, Barr points out, is that it would have been impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump understood, in asking McGahn to deny that he ordered him to fire Mueller, that he was instructing McGahn to say something false. Because, according to Barr, it wasn’t necessarily false.
The video continues with Barr further explaining to Feinstein, in a more technical way, how Trump asking McGahn to change his account in order to prevent further criticism is not a crime and is not obstruction of justice, which you can watch above.