Some members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team who investigated President Trump’s campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election believe that Attorney General William Barr’s assessment of the Mueller report is not only inadequate, but that it doesn’t paint a proper picture of President Trump’s misdeeds, The New York Times and The Washington Post reported.
Members of Mueller’s team are reportedly primarily frustrated with Barr’s conclusion that Trump did not obstruct justice, telling the Post that their findings were “alarming and significant.” One person told the Post the evidence of obstruction was “much more acute than Barr suggested.”
The special counsel’s team reportedly prepared summary information for various sections of the investigation for the Justice Department to make public, but Barr opted to write his own assessment, two people familiar with the matter told the Post.
“There was immediate displeasure from the team when they saw how the attorney general had characterized their work instead,” one official briefed on the matter told the Post.
Some on Mueller’s team are concerned that because Barr was first to release his summary of the report, his assessment will remain hardened in people’s minds, according to the Times. Those interviewed by the Times wouldn’t say exactly why their findings are actually more troubling for Trump than Barr indicated. It is also unclear if this is a belief shared by the majority of Mueller’s team of prosecutors, according to the Times.
