WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Latest on President Donald Trump and special counsel Robert Mueller (all times local): 9:10 a.m. Attorney General William Barr is declining to agree with President Donald Trump\u2019s assertion that senior FBI officials were engaged in treason when they investigated whether Trump\u2019s campaign was coordinating with Russia. In an interview broadcast Friday [\u2026]<\/b>
\nWASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Latest on President Donald Trump and special counsel Robert Mueller (all times local):
9:10 a.m.
Attorney General William Barr is declining to agree with President Donald Trump\u2019s assertion that senior FBI officials were engaged in treason when they investigated whether Trump\u2019s campaign was coordinating with Russia.
In an interview broadcast Friday on \u201cCBS This Morning,\u201d Barr said there is a \u201cvery specific criteria\u201d to satisfy the legal definition of treason and those conditions were not met.
Last week, Trump tweeted that the investigation into his campaign amounted to treason.
Treason only occurs when a U. S. citizen, or a non-citizen on U. S. territory, wages war against the country or provides material support to a declared enemy of the United States. Nothing of that sort has been alleged.
Though Barr didn\u2019t agree with Trump\u2019s assertion, he did fault what he said was biased decision-making by a \u201csmall group at the top\u201d of the FBI.
Barr said unnamed senior FBI officials fell into the trap of thinking they\u2019re acting in the best interests of the country when in reality, \u201cwhat they\u2019re doing is really antithetical to the democratic system.\u201d
__
8 a.m.
Attorney General William Barr is defending his short summary of special counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s report on his Russia investigation. Barr says his summary accurately captured the report\u2019s conclusions.
In an interview broadcast Friday on \u201cCBS This Morning,\u201d Barr said he was \u201cjust trying to state the bottom line.\u201d
Mueller subsequently protested in a letter to Barr that the four-page summary \u201cdid not fully capture the context, nature and substance\u201d of his report on Russia meddling in the 2016 election and contacts with the Trump campaign.
Critics have accused Barr of spinning the report\u2019s findings to favor President Donald Trump. In a public statement earlier this week, Mueller pointedly denied that his investigation exonerated Trump of wrongdoing. Mueller said that if he \u201chad had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime,\u201d the report would have said so.
Mueller said Justice Department policy prevented charging the president with a crime.
Barr, in the CBS interview, said he disagreed with Mueller\u2019s assessment that the evidence didn\u2019t exonerate Trump. He said that Mueller \u201ccould have reached a decision as to whether it was criminal activity.\u201d
__
2:11 a.m.
President Donald Trump is expressing his displeasure with special counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s motives after Mueller blunt dismissal of Trump\u2019s repeated claims that the Russia investigation had cleared him of obstructing justice.
The president also offered mixed messages on Russia\u2019s efforts to help him defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign. Early in the day, Trump tweeted he had \u201cnothing to do with Russia helping me get elected.\u201d
That was the first time he seemed to acknowledge that Russia tried to help his campaign. Then on the White House South Lawn, Trump told reporters: \u201cRussia did not help me get elected.\u201d He said he got himself elected.<\/p>\n