Thread by @kyledcheney

The Bill Barr welcoming committee

And Barr has arrived

His notes are handwritten on a legal pad

Top Dem on the panel, Rep. SERRANO: "This Congress voted unanimously to see that report. The Congress and committees of jurisdiction want to see the report and the American people want to see the report."

He asked Barr to explain any redactions.

BARR sits stone-faced while Rep. LOWEY rips him for "unacceptable handling" of the Mueller report.

NEW: Democrats rip Barr for "unacceptable handling" of the Mueller report. Updates w/ @desiderioDC from his testimony to a House appropriations panel this AM:

politico.com/story/2019/04/…

BARR says he'll be able to release a redacted version of Mueller report *within a week.*

He says he'll explain each redaction.

Breaking: Barr pronounces it NOON-YEZ

BARR confirms he "had an inkling" of what Mueller was going to conclude because of briefings and conversations before Mueller filed his report.

BARR refuses to say whether the White House has been briefed on any aspect of the Mueller report. "I’ve said what I’m going to say about the report today."

BARR confirms he won't initially provide Congress with an unredacted version of the Mueller report.

"I’m glad to talk to Chairman Nadler and Chairman Graham as to whether they feel they need more information and see if there’s a way we could accommodate that."

As Rep. Cartwright presses Barr on DOJ's effort to strike down Obamacare, Barr asks the congressmanwhether he thinks the effort is likely to prevail.:

"If you think it's such an outrageous position, you have nothing to worry about. Let the courts do their job."

UPDATE: BARR says he's personally looking into the GOP claims of politically motivated FISA abuse-dismissed by Democrats as a conspiracy theory-and an IG report on the matter could be done in weeks.

Barr tries to shut down further talk of Mueller report. politico.com/story/2019/04/…

Rep. GRAVES tries to get Barr to agree that his four-page memo concluded "No collusion, no obstruction."

BARR doesn't bite: "Well, the letter speaks for itself."

BARR says it would be against the law for members of Congress to reveal grand jury information. He also claims some Dems are being hypocritcal:

"Many of the members who are calling for the release of the report were basically castigating Ken Starr."

Q: Do you know why members of Mueller team are frustrated?

BARR: "No I don’t. I suspect that they wanted more put out but in my view, I was not interested in putting out summaries."

ODD: BARR mused about Mueller leaking the report to NADLER before calling it unlikely.

"I don't intend to, at this stage, to send the full unredacted report to the committee ... If [NADLER] got it directly from the counsel, that would be unfortunate. I doubt that would happen."

BARR says he has no intention to ask a court to provide 6e information to Congress: "My intention is not to ask for it at this stage."

BARR bristles under questioning about whether he opposed the White House's push to overturn Obamacare. Says he won't discuss internal deliberations but declines to say if he's invoking executive privilege.

"Call it what you wish. I’m not discussing," he said.

BARR declines to say whether he's heard from any upset investigators on Mueller's team.

Asked about that, he underscores that the news stories cited "associates" of people on Mueller's team. "I'm not sure who it refers to," he says.

BARR also emphasized he saw no evidence that anyone on the special counsel's team had leaked classified information.

BARR on Obamacare:

"I’m a lawyer. I’m not in charge of health care."

BARR says he "didn't talk to [Mueller] directly" about his decision to decline to review Barr's four-page memo.

BARR says it's the Mueller team's job to identify grand jury material for redaction -- not his.

He also says he "can envision" sharing redacted information with Congress under appropriate circumstances.

Lots of shoving by Barr security team as small gaggle of reporters tried to ask him questions. His only response was a smile when one person asked whether the report might come out over the weekend.

Rep. Cicilline, member of the judiciary committee, says if Barr’s positions from this AM’s hearings hold, they’ll be fighting it out in court soon.