William Barr testimony: Graham says ‘it’s over’ as Democrats call for attorney general’s resignation
Follow along from our coverage of Mr Barr's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee
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William Barr has testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, doubling down on his interpretation of the Mueller report and claiming that he never misled Congress about the special counsel's frustrations.
The testimony came just after the public release of a March letter from special counsel Robert Mueller to the attorney general, in which the investigator expressed frustration with how Mr Barr had presented the findings of the Trump-Russia report ot the public.
Mr Barr had released a four page summary of the report to Congress, which said that the nearly two year investigation found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016, and that there was not sufficient evidence to charge Donald Trump with obstruction.
But, Mr Barr was met with criticism from Senate Democrats who expressed amazement that Mr Barr had told a Congressional committee in April that he had not been aware of any frustration from the special counsel or his team related to his presentation of the summary. The recently released letter, Democrats said, showed that Mr Barr had been directly confronted on the issue, even though Mr Barr claimed that he called Mr Mueller personally after receiving the letter.
The hours-long testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee ended with committee chairman Lindsey Graham — a prominent Trump supporter — telling reporters that the issue is "over", and that he had no intention of asking Mr Mueller to testify before his committee. Democrats meanwhile, pushed for that testimony in the Senate, while the House announced Mr Mueller would testify there.
Mueller investigation: The key figures
Show all 12Since the report's release, Mr Trump and the right-wing media have hailed the findings of the report as a “total exoneration”, despite Mr Mueller declaring the opposite and the report painting a highly unflattering portrait of Mr Trump and his inner circle.
Mr Barr, during his testimony, stood by his determination not to charge Mr Trump for obstruction — arguing that, since there was no collusion or conspiracy, that the president could not have obstructed justice by firing former FBI director James Comey and then repeatedly attempt to get others to fire Mr Mueller.
When pushed on whether it was appropriate for Mr Trump to lie to the American people about contacts between his campaign and Russians, about his intentions with regards to Mr Mueller's employment as special counsel, and other questionable instances surfaced by the report, Mr Barr said that his job is not to determine who is behaving well or not.
"I'm not in the business of determining wether lies were told to the American people," Mr Barr said of the president. "I'm in the business of determining whether crimes were committed."
Mr Barr will return to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.
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Not had enough outrage for one morning?
The Washington Post has another report out saying the Trump Organisation exploited undocumented workers from Mexico, Ecuador and Nicaragua at its Westchester golf course in affluent Briarcliff Manor, New York, by making them put in extra hours for no pay, calling it "side work".
"You know, where are they going to go?" a very poor specimen of a human being asked The Post in justifying their behaviour.
Trump's current social media director, Dan Scavino, was a general manager at the resort an hour north of Manhattan for part of the time the newspaper's investigation concerns.
Trump himself regularly dined at the clubhouse on Sundays, sitting at Table 5 of the Grille Room, drinking Diet Coke and watching TV.
Maybe the president shouldn't be so hasty in slamming shut the nation's borders since he's profiting so nicely for migrant labour.
A majority of Americans believe they are not seeing the benefits of their country's booming economy, according to a new Monmouth poll.
Here's more from Chris Riotta.
The president has gone on a fairly mad retweeting spree in the last hour, posting no fewer than 59 replies to Trump fan and podcaster Dan Bongino's comments about firefighters disliking Joe Biden.
One of the replies was this one, which is, as Trump himself would say, a real beauty.
The account appears to have baited Trump with the comment and then changed their name to reveal their true affiliations once he'd snapped it up. And they're pretty delighted with the outcome.
Classic distraction tactics from the Don there, you have to hand it to him. A creative new way to shield an ally from unfavourable press.
He's now back to business as usual - Dem bashing, self-promotion and any other business.
Move along folks, nothing to see here. Ahem.
A little more Trump-Fox cross-pollination.
The president has hired the channel's former host Kimberly Guilfoyle to serve on his 2020 campaign.
The fact that she's Don Jr's girlfriend is surely just a coincidence.
George Conway is, naturally, delighted by this morning's gaffe.
Here's our tech correspondent, Andrew Griffin, on what on earth just happened.
This remark takes on new significance in light of that letter.
A reminder that Bill Barr is not the only Trump ally currently being accused of lying to Congress.
House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff yesterday confirmed he will send a criminal referral to the Justice Department over the conduct of Erik Prince before his panel.
The Blackwater Security founder denied that a meeting he attended in the Seychelles with a top Russian financier just prior to the president taking office in January 2017 had anything to do with the Trump campaign, but Schiff smells a rat.
Here's the full story from Chris Stevenson.
Here's a wonderful reminder of one of President Trump's more ludicrous business ventures.
Trump Steaks were launched in 2007 but discontinued after just two months due to poor sales on shopping channel QVC.
"The world's greatest steaks... Trump Steaks are by far the best-tasting, most flavourful beef you've ever had". The lad is beyond parody.
This "patriotic painting" by Jon McNaughton was doing the rounds yesterday. It deserves a wide audience.
One Twitter user described the artist as the "Nazi Norman Rockwell" this morning and it's a remark that's hard to top.
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