Attorney General William Barr was defiant Wednesday while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Here are five takeaways from the hearing:
1. Calls for Barr to resign
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, demanded Barr resign, accusing him of lying to Congress and covering up for President Trump.
“You lied to Congress.” Hirono said. “Now we know more about your deep involvement and trying to cover up for Donald Trump. Being attorney general of the United States is a sacred trust. You have betrayed that trust. America deserves better. You should resign.”
2. “Misleading” testimony
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, accused Barr of “purposely misleading” the committee when he suggested he was “not aware of any challenge to the accuracy of the findings.”
Leahy pointed out that Mueller expressed his misgivings with Barr about his handling of the Mueller report.
“Mr. Barr, I feel that your answer was purposely misleading, and I think others do, too,” Leahy told the attorney general.
3. Barr suggests Trump ‘fully cooperated’
Barr insisted Trump “fully cooperated” with Mueller’s investigation, drawing criticism from Democrats.
Mueller’s report repeatedly indicated that Trump and his team failed to cooperate with a lot of the investigation and that the president refused to sit down for an interview.
The report states, “We again requested an in-person interview, limited to certain topics, advising the President’s counsel that ‘this is the President’s opportunity to voluntarily provide us with information for us to evaluate in the context of all of the evidence we have gathered.’ President Trump declined.”
4. Barr has no qualms with Mueller testifying
When Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, asked Barr if Mueller should testify, Barr responded, “I already said publicly, I have no objection.”
But when Durbin asked if former White House counsel Don McGahn should testify, Barr said, “That’s a call for the President to make.”
Durbin responded, “Well, he’s a private citizen at this point.”
Barr said, “I assume he would be testifying about privileged matters.”
5. Barr refers to Mueller report as “my baby”
Barr testified that Mueller’s report was “my baby” after the special counsel turned it over to the Justice Department.
“His work concluded when he sent his work to the attorney general,” Barr said. “At that point, it was my baby, and I effective overrode the regulations, used discretion, to lean as far forward as I could to make that public. And it was my decision how and when to make it public, not Bob Mueller’s.”
Barr is scheduled to testify Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee.
