WASHINGTON — Attorney General William P. Barr said in an interview broadcast on Thursday that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, should have decided whether his findings about President Trump’s efforts to impede the Russia investigation amounted to criminal activity.“I personally felt he could have made a decision,” Mr. Barr told CBS News during an interview in Alaska, where he is visiting law enforcement officials. “But he had his reasons for not doing it, which he explained. And I’m not going to, you know, argue about those reasons.”Mr. Barr reiterated his criticism of Mr. Mueller for his decision not to definitively conclude whether the president obstructed justice in his report that detailed 11 instances in which Mr. Trump tried to derail the special counsel’s work.During a Senate hearing this spring, Mr. Barr also said that if Mr. Mueller was not going to “go down the path of making a traditional prosecutive decision, then he shouldn’t have investigated.”In the absence of a decision by Mr. Mueller, Mr. Barr cleared the president of any criminal activity.Mr. Barr’s latest criticism of the special counsel’s office reignited the debate over Mr. Mueller’s choice and shows how his demurral allowed Mr. Barr to initially control the narrative about the report’s most important findings.Mr. Barr has been widely criticized for stepping in to determine that the president had not obstructed justice. He wrote in a March 24 letter to Congress that Mr. Mueller’s refusal to decide “leaves it to the attorney general to determine whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime.”Democrats ramped up their attacks on that assertion this week, after Mr. Mueller made clear in his first public remarks since being appointed special counsel that he believed that others could weigh the evidence and come to a conclusion, including members of Congress, voters and perhaps even future prosecutors.“It is with the greatest respect for Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the deepest disappointment in the Department of Justice holding the president above the law, that I thank Special Counsel Mueller for the work he and his team did,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.But in his interview, taped during a weeklong trip to meet with law enforcement officials in Alaska, Mr. Barr played down the possibility that Mr. Mueller wanted Congress to act on his evidence. “The Department of Justice doesn’t use our powers of investigating crimes as an adjunct to Congress,” he said.Read the Mueller Report: Searchable Document and IndexThe findings from the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, are now available to the public. The redacted report details his two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.While Mr. Barr has been under fire for his handling of the Mueller report, he is not alone in saying that Mr. Mueller could have drawn stronger conclusions about Mr. Trump.From the outset, Mr. Mueller decided not to explore
Barr Says Mueller Could Have Decided Whether Trump Committed a Crime
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William P. Barr said in an interview broadcast on Thursday that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, should have decided whether his findings about President Trump’s efforts to impede the Russia investigation amounted to criminal activity.“I personally felt he could have made a decision,” Mr. Barr told CBS News during an interview in Alaska, where he is visiting law enforcement officials. “But he had his reasons for not doing it, which he explained. And I’m not going to, you know, argue about those reasons.”Mr. Barr reiterated his criticism of Mr. Mueller for his decision not to definitively conclude whether the president obstructed justice in his report that detailed 11 instances in which Mr. Trump tried to derail the special counsel’s work.During a Senate hearing this spring, Mr. Barr also said that if Mr. Mueller was not going to “go down the path of making a traditional prosecutive decision, then he shouldn’t have investigated.”In the absence of a decision by Mr. Mueller, Mr. Barr cleared the president of any criminal activity.Mr. Barr’s latest criticism of the special counsel’s office reignited the debate over Mr. Mueller’s choice and shows how his demurral allowed Mr. Barr to initially control the narrative about the report’s most important findings.Mr. Barr has been widely criticized for stepping in to determine that the president had not obstructed justice. He wrote in a March 24 letter to Congress that Mr. Mueller’s refusal to decide “leaves it to the attorney general to determine whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime.”Democrats ramped up their attacks on that assertion this week, after Mr. Mueller made clear in his first public remarks since being appointed special counsel that he believed that others could weigh the evidence and come to a conclusion, including members of Congress, voters and perhaps even future prosecutors.“It is with the greatest respect for Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the deepest disappointment in the Department of Justice holding the president above the law, that I thank Special Counsel Mueller for the work he and his team did,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.But in his interview, taped during a weeklong trip to meet with law enforcement officials in Alaska, Mr. Barr played down the possibility that Mr. Mueller wanted Congress to act on his evidence. “The Department of Justice doesn’t use our powers of investigating crimes as an adjunct to Congress,” he said.Read the Mueller Report: Searchable Document and IndexThe findings from the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, are now available to the public. The redacted report details his two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.While Mr. Barr has been under fire for his handling of the Mueller report, he is not alone in saying that Mr. Mueller could have drawn stronger conclusions about Mr. Trump.From the outset, Mr. Mueller decided not to explore
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