Attorney General Bill Barr testified Wednesday that when making redactions to protect unindicted third parties in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, he will redact information related to private individuals — not President Trump.
At a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) asked Barr if he was planning to redact information “to protect the reputational interests of the President.”
“No,” Barr replied. “I’m talking about people in private life, not public office holders.”
The Attorney General has identified information that would infringe on the privacy and reputation of unindicted, peripheral third parties as one of four buckets of redactions he plans to make to the highly-anticipated report. The other three are secret grand jury information, classified intelligence information, and material that could jeopardize ongoing investigations.
Democrats are concerned that Barr, a handpicked Trump appointee, is trying to conceal details of the report that would damage the President. Barr danced around the question of whether the White House has been briefed on the Mueller report during Tuesday testimony before a House Appropriations subcommittee but appeared to clarify his comments on Wednesday.
