Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) has taken the lead in calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump and has released several lengthy Twitter threads rallying people against Trump. Amash’s criticism rests largely on the credibility of special counsel Robert Mueller and the testimony provided in his report.
One of those Twitter threads targeted Attorney General Bill Barr in particular with accusations that Barr misled the public on the contents of the report.
Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented key aspects of Mueller’s report and decisions in the investigation, which has helped further the president’s false narrative about the investigation.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Amash also wrote, “Barr has so far successfully used his position to sell the president’s false narrative to the American people. This will continue if those who have read the report do not start pushing back on his misrepresentations and share the truth.”
There’s only one problem with Amash’s attacks: Mueller himself disagrees with them. He went out of his way to praise his long-time colleagues handling of the report while addressing the public this week.
“We conducted an independent criminal investigation and reported the results to the Attorney General—as required by Department regulations,” Mueller said. “The Attorney General then concluded that it was appropriate to provide our report to Congress and the American people.”
Mueller even noted that Barr went even further than he recommended when it came to transparency, releasing the entire report to the public when Mueller wanted to release it in snippets.
“At one point in time I requested that certain portions of the report be released. The Attorney General preferred to make the entire report public all at once. We appreciate that the Attorney General made the report largely public. I do not question the Attorney General’s good faith in that decision,” Mueller said.
Another deception that Amash engaged in while issuing his criticism of Barr included the misrepresentation of the following quote from Mueller:
Mueller: “There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.”
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
What Amash failed to note was that Barr promptly complied with Mueller’s request at the end of the letter containing that quote.
“Release at this time would alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen and would answer congressional and public questions about the nature and outcome of our investigation,” Mueller wrote to Barr.
As Mueller noted, Barr released even more of his report than he would have. The AG’s commitment to transparency throughout the process has earned him Mueller’s appreciation.
Amash continues to stake out a position on impeachment that is to the left of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and will likely continue his crusade despite the fact that Mueller proved his criticism of Barr to be littered with falsehoods.
