Barr hearing: AG reveals tensions with Mueller team over Russia report conclusion, no-obstruction punt

Attorney General William Barr, in highly anticipated Senate testimony Wednesday, revealed tensions between the Justice Department and Robert Mueller’s team over the special counsel’s final report on the Russia investigation, pointedly saying he was surprised Mueller didn’t come to a conclusion over whether President Trump obstructed justice.

“We did not understand exactly why the special counsel was not reaching a decision,” Barr told the Senate Judiciary Committee. Barr later released his own letter saying he determined, from Mueller’s investigation, that obstruction charges against Trump were not warranted -- a decision that exposed him to harsh criticism from Democrats.

But Barr suggested Mueller should have taken a stance on the issue: “We don’t conduct criminal investigations just to collect information and put it out to the public. We do so to make a decision.”

Barr also defended his decision to release a summary of Mueller’s findings initially, before later releasing a redacted version of the report. He suggested the full report would have been released sooner, if Mueller’s team had cooperated with their request to identify sensitive grand jury material from the start.

“Unfortunately, it did not come in that form,” Barr said. “And it quickly became apparent that it would take about three or four weeks to identify that material and other material that had to be redacted. So there was necessarily going to be a gap between the receipt of the report and getting the full report out publicly.”