Stacey Abrams smiled as she told a Los Angeles audience that having William Barr release a brief letter to Congress outlining Mueller's twenty-two-month investigation is “like having your brother summarize your report card to your parents.”
William Barr, who auditioned to be Trump's new Attorney general by sending a detailed memo to Rod Rosenstein describing why he feels a president can't really obstruct justice (pdf link) unless in extraordinary circumstances.
And since Mueller allegedly left the question of "did Trump did obstruct justice" open, Barr did what we knew he would do.
It is shocking how quickly he tried to vindicate Trump.
Abrams continued, "it is deeply inappropriate for someone who is an avowed partisan, who in part auditioned for the job by disparaging the report, to be responsible for summarizing the report."
Abrams remarked, “As someone who has had a recent experience of having the referee being in charge of the scorekeeping, and being the contestant, I am always suspect of a process that does not have transparency and independence.”
She has first hand knowledge as we all know.
Neal K. Katyal writes a great piece in the NY Times, "On the facts, Mr. Barr says that the government would need to prove that Mr. Trump acted with “corrupt intent” and there were no such actions. But how would Mr. Barr know? Did he even attempt to interview Mr. Trump about his intentions? What kind of prosecutor would make a decision about someone’s intent without even trying to talk to him? Particularly in light of Mr. Mueller’s pointed statement that his report does not “exonerate” Mr. Trump. Mr. Mueller didn’t have to say anything like that. He did so for a reason. And that reason may well be that there is troubling evidence in the substantial record that he compiled."
