Thread by @jeremyherb

The Barr hearing is underway. Barr is accompanied by Assistant AG Lee Lofthus, because he wasn't around for the budget preparations and, you know, this is an appropriations hearing and all

Rep. Serrano, the chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee, goes off his prepared remarks to urge Barr to release the full Mueller report: "I think it would strike a serious blow to our system and yes to our democracy, if that report is not fully seen."

Rep. Aderholt, the top R on the subcommittee, does not mention Mueller in his opening statement

House Appropriations Chairwoman @NitaLowey told Barr that his handling of Mueller's report was "unacceptable" and the summary he released "raises more questions than it answers."

Barr's opening statement could be a sign of how he will handle Democrats' Mueller questions today -- no mentions of Mueller or the report

Serrano starts right off the bat with a question about Mueller's report and whether Mueller's team helped in drafting his letters

Barr says Mueller and his team did not assist in the writing of his four-page summary. He says Mueller was offered an opportunity to review it and declined

Barr on redactions from the report: "We will color code the decisions from the report and we will provide explanatory notes describing the basis for each redaction."

Barr says the redaction process is going "very well" and he expects he will be in a position to release the report "within a week"

Asked about Nunes' criminal referrals and the FISA process, Barr says that the DOJ IG report on the FISA process could be finished around May or June

Barr won't answer Lowey's questions about whether the report is a "complete and total exoneration" for Trump, noting it's "hard to answer" that Q without the report and he will likely address it at next month's hearings

Barr leaves the door open to providing more than the redacted report to Congress, saying once the public version is out he will "see if there's a way we can accommodate" Nadler's demand for additional info

Barr says Mueller given chance to review summary, expects redacted version of Mueller report to be released within a week cnn.com/2019/04/09/pol…

Rep. Graves is the first Republican who brings up the Mueller report, and gets Barr to go a little further: "I don’t intend at this stage to send the full unredacted report to the committee."

Rep. Aderholt chides Dems for focusing on Mueller, lamenting that "so many of the questions here this morning have gone toward a grassy knoll conspiracy theory regarding the Mueller report.”

Now hearing probably a third or fourth different pronunciation of Mueller at this hearing from members...

Barr says he doesn't know why Mueller didn't review his letter, saying his sense was "he understood this was the function of the attorney general."

Rep. John Ratcliffe, of the Judiciary and Intel Committees, just took a seat in the audience at the Barr hearing

This exchange between Rep. Case and Barr over grand jury material is the key battle line in looming court fight over the Mueller report.

Barr's stance: "Until someone shows me a provision in 6-E that permits its release, Congress doesn’t get 6-E." (6-E = grand jury material)

And that's a wrap. Let's do it again tomorrow in the Senate!