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SCREEN CAPTURE / C-SPAN
Sen. Kamala Harris questions Attorney General William Barr's bias for Donald Trump |
After grilling Barr, Senators Mazie Hirono, D-HI, and Kamala Harris, D-CA, concluded that Barr should resign after the Attorney General allegedly lied to Congress in his attempts to protect Donald Trump.
"Bill Barr is acting more like the President’s personal attorney than the Attorney General of the United States," said Harris after the hearing. "His job is to defend the rule of law and serve the American people, not shield the President from justice. He made something very clear today: he must resign."
Hirono wasted no time in slamming the Attorney General in her opening statement, "Mr. Barr, now the American people know that you are no different from Rudy Giuliani or Kellyanne Conway or any of the other people who sacrificed their once decent reputation for the grifter and liar who sits in the Oval Office," referencing two of Donald Trump's top media surrogates.
During her no-holds-barred questioning of the Attorney General, Hirono pointed to exchanges Barr had with members of Congress where Barr said he did not know what objections Mueller's team had with his March 24 letter on the investigation's findings and if Mueller supported his conclusions.
She continued to slam Barr: "But when we read the report, we knew Robert Mueller’s concerns were valid and that your version of events was false. You used every advantage of your office to create the impression that the president was cleared of misconduct. You selectively quoted fragments from the special counsel report, taking some of the most important statements out of context and ignoring the rest. You put the power and authority of the office of the attorney general and the Department of Justice behind a public relations effort to help Donald Trump protect himself."
"You lied to Congress," Hirono said to his face.
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YOUTUBE
Sen. Mazie Hirono: 'America deserves better. You should resign.' |
If Hirono was the sledgehammer, Harris, a former prosecuting attorney, sliced and diced Barr.
Harris said, "I’ll be frank: Attorney General Barr refused to answer most of my questions -- and when he did, his answers were alarming. He admitted he had never even reviewed the underlying evidence of the Mueller report, and he refused to say whether the President has ever ordered him to investigate anyone. This is unacceptable."
When Harris asked Barr if anybody in the White House asked him to open an investigation on anybody, Barr hemmed and hawed and asked her to repeat the question.
“It seems you would remember something like that,” Harris said.
“I’m trying to grapple with the word ‘suggest’. They have not asked me to open an investigation,” he finally said.
“Perhaps they’ve suggested?” she persisted.
“I wouldn’t say suggested,” Barr responded
“Hinted?” pressed Harris.
Finally, he managed to say, “I don’t know.”
Barr's summary concluded that there was "no collusion," between Russia and the Trump campaign and that Trump did not obstruct the Mueller investigation.
A detailed reading of the report that Russia was aggressively trying to influence the election in favor of Trump. The question remains open whether or not members of the Trump campaign may have given Russia information about Trump's election strategy and whether Trump staffers were duped by individuals acting as agents for Russia.
Mueller's report said that while there was not enough evidence to "prove" there was obstruction, the report "did not exonerate" him either.
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