Manatt’s Jack Quinn, a partner in the government and regulatory group, spoke to CNN about Attorney General William Barr’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 1 regarding the Mueller Report.
On April 18, the Department of Justice released a full version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on alleged collusion between Russia and President Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Barr appeared before the Senate to discuss his handling of the report, including the letter he sent to Congress on March 24 describing his interpretation of the main conclusions of the investigation.
Quinn felt Barr’s responses to questions posed by the Senate Judiciary Committee were not effective.
“I can’t count the number of clients to whom I’ve said ‘when you’re explaining, you’re losing,’ and he was explaining all day,” he said.
Quinn also commented on two letters, written by Mueller and sent to Barr, expressing concerns about Barr’s four-page summary of Mueller’s report.
Quinn believes the letters are a sign Mueller was “really irked” about Barr’s characterization of the report.
“He must believe that Barr misrepresented,” Quinn said. “Mueller’s language was very respectful. But he made it very clear that he thinks that the four-page summary the attorney general put out was misleading, and that it undermined this two-year-long investigation. I think he’s probably upset.”
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