Rep. Justin Amash, who earlier this month became the first Republican member of Congress to call for President Donald Trump’s impeachment, took aim at Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday — charging that the nation’s top law enforcement officer has “used his position to sell the president’s false narrative to the American people.”
In a 25-post Twitter spree, the Michigan lawmaker accused Barr of having “deliberately misrepresented” the findings of Robert Mueller’s investigation in a March 24 letter to Congress summarizing the special counsel’s findings.
Amash wrote online Tuesday that Barr’s letter “selectively quotes and summarizes points in Mueller’s report in misleading ways,” and asserted that “the public and Congress were misled” as a result of the attorney general’s initial four-page summary.
Amash admonished Barr for not complying with Mueller’s request — articulated in a March 27 letter from the special counsel to the attorney general — to release the introductions and executive summaries of Mueller’s report.
The congressman also blasted the head of the Justice Department for subsequently testifying before lawmakers that he was not aware of dissatisfaction among members of Mueller’s team with his handling of the report’s rollout.
“Barr has so far successfully used his position to sell the president’s false narrative to the American people,” Amash tweeted. “This will continue if those who have read the report do not start pushing back on his misrepresentations and share the truth.”
……..
- Discussion
-
Rep. Justin Amash, the first Republican member of Congress to call for Trump’s impeachment, took aim at William Barr today — charging that the attorney general has “used his position to sell the president's false narrative to the American people”https://t.co/j9zwVgnai8
— POLITICO (@politico) May 28, 2019
Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented key aspects of Mueller’s report and decisions in the investigation, which has helped further the president’s false narrative about the investigation.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Mueller’s report says he chose not to decide whether Trump broke the law because there’s an official DoJ opinion that indicting a sitting president is unconstitutional, and because of concerns about impacting the president’s ability to govern and pre-empting possible impeachment.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
But, in fact, Mueller finds considerable evidence that several of Trump’s actions detailed in the report meet the elements of obstruction, and Mueller’s constitutional and prudential issues with indicting a sitting president would preclude indictment regardless of what he found.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Barr quotes Mueller saying the evidence didn’t establish that Trump was personally involved in crimes related to Russian election interference, and Barr then claims that Mueller found that fact relevant to whether the president had the intent to obstruct justice.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
As a result of Barr’s March 24 letter, the public and Congress were misled. Mueller himself notes this in a March 27 letter to Barr, saying that Barr’s letter “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Office’s work and conclusions.”
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
To “alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen,” Mueller urged the release of the report’s introductions and executive summaries, which he had told Barr “accurately summarize [Mueller’s] Office’s work and conclusions.”
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
In subsequent statements and testimony, Barr used further misrepresentations to help build the president’s false narrative that the investigation was unjustified.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
But whether there’s enough evidence for a conviction of a specific crime which Mueller thought was appropriate to charge is a different and much higher standard than whether the people whom Mueller investigated had done anything worthy of investigation.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
For instance, Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner took a meeting with a Russian lawyer whom Trump Jr. had been told worked for the Russian government and would provide documents to “incriminate Hillary,” as part of the Russian government’s “support for Mr. Trump.”
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Barr says the White House “fully cooperated” with the investigation and that Mueller “never sought” or “pushed” to get more from the president, but the report says Mueller unsuccessfully sought an interview with the president for over a year.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
The president instead gave written answers to questions submitted by the special counsel. Those answers are often incomplete or unresponsive. Mueller found them “inadequate” and again sought to interview the president.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Barr has so far successfully used his position to sell the president’s false narrative to the American people. This will continue if those who have read the report do not start pushing back on his misrepresentations and share the truth.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
I've been a sharp critic of Rep Amash for his rabidly anti-IC views, but MAN this thread is FIRE!
Bravo!https://t.co/ZHHHeqZwDw
— John Schindler (@20committee) May 28, 2019
Thread. Hot, hot, fiery hot thread. https://t.co/rtDR6B4sIY
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 28, 2019
Thanks for this thread regarding Mueller’s findings of Trump’s wrongful contacts with Russia and efforts to cover them up, @justinamash. One thousand former federal prosecutors agree. Anyone else who reads the report would, too. #ReadtheReport.
— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 28, 2019
Standing O for Amash as he walks in: pic.twitter.com/7IW1E14uib
— Sam Easter (@SamKWEaster) May 28, 2019
Well, Mr. Amash, that is why Barr was hired — to protect the president at all costs –even if it means lying . No, I won’t call it “misrepresentation.” It’s actual lying.
The vast majority of them simply must know better. https://t.co/EMqwhWBi3p
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) May 29, 2019
Amash said he’s open to new info about intelligence decisions, but he said Republicans are using complaints about FISA as an excuse to overlook Trump’s behavior.
“There might be problems in some aspects of the investigation. That doesn’t allow the president to obstruct justice.”
— Haley Byrd (@byrdinator) May 29, 2019
If it’s unclear, “they” in that quote was referring to Trump, GOP leaders, and HPSCI chair at the time Devin Nunes, specifically, who shepherded FISA 702 reauthorization through without adding new constraints that Amash and privacy advocates have pushed for.
— Haley Byrd (@byrdinator) May 29, 2019
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.