Attorney general nominee William Barr on Tuesday wouldn’t commit to telling Congress about all of the deletions he could make in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian election interference and related matters. Mueller will submit his report to the attorney general — whoever that is — and the attorney general will then have the authority to pass a report on to Congress.
When asked by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) if he would commit to “explaining to us what the reasons are for your deleting any information that the special counsel includes that you are preventing us or the public from seeing,” Barr said that would be his “intent.”
“I don’t know what kind of report is being prepared, I have no idea, and I have no idea what Acting Attorney General Rosenstein has discussed with special counsel Mueller,” Barr added. (He later corrected himself: the acting attorney general is actually currently Matt Whitaker.)
The attorney general nominee said he would check in with Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to “see what’s being contemplated, and what they’ve agreed to, and what their interpretation — what game plan they have in mind,” but that “my purpose is to get as much accurate information out as I can consistent with the regulation.”
Watch below:
Barr won't commit to transparency on changes he makes to Mueller report. pic.twitter.com/tPlrkie7TP
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) January 15, 2019
This post has been updated.
