Former FBI Director James Comey voiced a popular opinion Tuesday when he called Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s decision to punt the obstruction question in his report “really confusing.”
Neither Comey nor anyone aside from Attorney General William Barr and a few members of the Justice Department have seen the full report, and all outside those precious few are reacting based off of Barr’s four-page summary.
According to a Tuesday NBC News report, Comey spoke before an audience in Charlotte, North Carolina and said that he has “great faith in Robert Mueller” but “just can’t tell from the letter why didn’t he decide these questions when the entire rationale for a special counsel is to make sure the politicals aren’t making the key charging decisions.”
Comey also took issue with Barr’s decision to not pursue obstruction charges against President Donald Trump as a result of Mueller’s indecision.
“The notion that obstruction cases are somehow undermined by the absence of proof of an underlying crime, that is not my experience in 40 years of doing this nor is it the Department of Justice’s tradition,” Comey said. “Obstruction crimes matter without regard to what you prove about the underlying crime.”
It is unclear when a redacted version of the Mueller report will be released to the public, but a Justice Department official said Tuesday that the report would be released in “weeks not months.”
