In an op-ed that appeared on the Fox news website, (https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/judge-andrew-napolitano-did-attorney-general-william-barr-deceive-congress) the Fox News senior legal analyst said that William Barr's four-page summary of the 448 page Mueller report was misleading, disingenuous, deceptive and was a foolish attempt to sanitize the Mueller report.
That is a powerful rebuke of Donald Trump's attorney general and the conclusions in the Meuller report itself.
Judge Napolitano lists what William Barr tried to accomplish, but during his testimony to Congress he opened up a can of worms against himself.
"While government officials often disagree with each other, this little spat over whether Barr's summary was faithful to Mueller's report became important because of the following seemingly innocuous event: When Barr was testifying before a House subcommittee about his budgetary requests for the Department of Justice in the next fiscal year, he was asked by a member of the subcommittee if he knew anything about any criticisms by members of Mueller's team about his four-page summary of Mueller's conclusions. He replied, "No, I don't."
But of course, Barr did know because Mueller told him in his letter of the complaints his office had about the four-page letter. Did the attorney general deceive Congress? The Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee grilled the attorney general later on this, and he offered that a follow-up telephone call between himself and Mueller dissipated Mueller's written complaint. Yet, the fact that Mueller -- a seasoned government official -- wrote a letter about this knowing its near certain permanent residence in government files is telling. He made a permanent record of his complaint about Barr's sanitized letter, and Barr hid that record from Congress."
Judge Napolitano then bashed William Barr for not taking the appropriate legal actions after he was subpoenaed by Congress. Instead of challenging its validity in court, he failed to show up which is triggered the House to hold him in contempt.
"This is a gravely serious charge against the attorney general. Barr's prosecutors regularly prosecute defendants for doing what it now appears Barr has done. And the president last weekend added fuel to this fire by changing his mind on whether he will allow Mueller to testify publicly about his report. He now won't permit it.
History teaches that these unpleasant events -- like Watergate and Whitewater -- can take on lives of their own, and can often have unintended consequences. But the lesson is always the same: It would be better for all of us if the whole truth comes out and comes out soon."
