Thread by @kyledcheney

There's NO "agreement" to have Mueller testify. Nadler was referring to Barr's earlier public statement that he was fine with Mueller testimony.

Reports to the contrary are not correct.

Remember. though Graham says he didn't read the full report, he is one of just two lawmakers who viewed the less-redacted version as of yesterday PM politico.com/story/2019/04/…

BARR: "The other thing that was confusing to me was that the investigation carried on for awhile as additional episodes [of obstruction] were looked into. The question is, or was, why were those investigated at the end of the day If you weren’t going to reach a decision?"

BARR said Mueller told him "The facts of the case against a president might be such that a special counsel would recommend abandoning the OLC opinion but this is not such a case."

But Mueller's report doesn't say that. It says a president could be prosecuted after leaving office

Language of Mueller's report: "While the OLC opinion concludes that a sitting President may not be prosecuted, it recognizes that a criminal investigation during the President’s term is permissible...also recognizes that a President does not have immunity after he leaves office."

This isn't a disagreement of legal theories here. This is just Barr interpreting the evidence differently:

https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/1123601922336940033

BARR: "The evidence now suggests the accusations against [Trump] were false."

BARR says "If [Mueller] had found" enough evidence for an obstruction charge, "I think he would state it."

But Mueller spent a lot of ink explaining why he *wouldn't* say that because it would unfairly taint Trump's presidency with no legal recourse in a courtroom.

BARR says again he has no objection to Mueller testifying to Congress.

LEE: Is there any evidence that Vladimir Putin "has something" on President Trump.

BARR: "None that I'm aware of."

This would seem to characterize potential counterintelligence, not criminal, findings which are not part of Mueller's public report.

Barr said he didn't understand Mueller's explanation of the OLC decision preventing the indictment of a sitting president.

That was a central element of Mueller's non-decision on obstruction, and the AG says he didn't get what Mueller was saying.

And we have an hour lunch break

Still 14 more members to grill Barr -- including three presidential candidates (Klobuchar, Booker, Harris)

The latest: politico.com/story/2019/05/…

Klobuchar, the next Dem to question Barr, is the only senator who has returned to the room so far.

BARR starts by clarifying that the Trump campaign received a general security briefing, which is "lesser" than a defensive briefing, which is given to the target of a possible foreign intelligence operation.

BARR says he could not possibly conceive of Trump's comments about Michael Cohen's family possibly committing crimes could be construed as witness tampering.

BIG: Barr says he doesn't believe the president's public statements could generally constitute corrupt intent. That's a break from Mueller's analysis, which said public statements -- while they change the nature of the incident -- could still be part of an obstruction crime.

Mueller's words: "While it may be more difficult to establish that public-facing acts were motivated by a corrupt intent, the President's power to influence actions, persons, and events is enhanced by his unique ability to attract attention through use of mass communications."

Mueller's words part 2: "And no principle of law excludes public acts from the scope of obstruction statutes. If the likely effect of the acts is to intimidate witnesses or alter their testimony, the justice system's integrity is equally threatened."

Sasse, out of context: "I'd like to go back to Russia."

SASSE: Deripaska is a "bottom-feeding scum sucker"

BARR, asked if a campaign receiving dirt on an opponent from a foreign intelligence service should report it to the FBI: “If a foreign intelligence service does, yes.”

BARR says "I don't recall" if he gave anyone at the White House information about any of the ongoing cases Mueller spun off to other prosecutors.

HIRONO starts out at an 11, says there's no difference between Barr and Giuliani and calls Trump "the grifter and liar who sits in the Oval Office."

She now says: "You lied to Congress ... you lied." She's alleging, essentially, that Barr committed a crime.

More HIRONO: "You should resign."

GRAHAM fires back at HIRONO: "You've slandered this man from top to bottom."

BARR: Mueller assembled a "very competent team." He called them "tenacious investigators."

But he said he wouldn't necessarily characterize them as "the best and brightest."

BARR again contradicts Mueller, says it's not clear the Trump campaign sought to benefit from Russia's interference. But that's what Mueller explicitly states.

BARR questions whether the sharing of poll data with Kilimnik by Manafort (via Gates) constitutes sharing info with a foreign power.

Mueller relied on FBI assessment to say Kilimnik was linked to Russian intelligence.

BARR tells @KamalaHarris that he treated statements in Mueller's report as facts.

Yet he just questioned Mueller's conclusion that the Trump camp shared daily polling data with a figure linked to Russian intelligence -- facts Mueller found.

@KamalaHarris BARR says he doesn't know how the Washington Post got Mueller's letter. He says he assumes they got it from DOJ.

@KamalaHarris A Judiciary Committee Democrat raises the prospect of an AG going to prison:

https://twitter.com/davidcicilline/status/1123657808493330432

Barr says that if the president feels an investigation is unfounded, "the president does not have to sit there constitutionally and allow it to run its course. The president could terminate the proceeding and it would not be a corrupt intent because he was being falsely accused."

BARR tells Klobuchar: "You can ask Bob Mueller when he comes" about whether he viewed Trump's taxes and financials.

BARR: Mueller's letter was "a bit snitty" (!!!)

Barr went on to suggest it must've been written by a staffer, not Mueller himself.

GRAHAM tells reporters his interest in Mueller is only in whether he disagrees with anything Barr said today, hasn’t decided whether to call him for a full hearing.