\u201cYou know, the letter is a bit snitty and I think it was probably written by one of his staff people,\u201d Barr said during\u2026<\/b>
\n\u201cYou know, the letter is a bit snitty and I think it was probably written by one of his staff people,\u201d Barr said during Senate testimony on Wednesday in response to Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
Barr also disputed Blumenthal\u2019s characterization of Mueller as a \u201ccareer prosecutor,\u201d describing him instead as a \u201cpolitical appointee.\u201d
Mueller said that he had his own summaries of his investigation, Barr revealed, and that the Special Counsel asked him to release them to help correct the media\u2019s characterization of the investigation\u2019s conclusion.
Barr defended his decision to release a short memo of the investigation\u2019s conclusions, explaining that it was \u201cmy baby\u201d after Mueller turned in the investigation to the Justice Department.
Mueller\u2019s letter was leaked to the media just hours before Barr\u2019s Senate testimony was scheduled to begin.
In the letter, Mueller disputed Barr\u2019s conclusion memo issued on March 24 declaring that the investigation found no campaign collusion with Russia and did not charge the president with obstruction.
\u201cThe summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this offices work and conclusions,\u201d Mueller\u2019s letter read, complaining of \u201cmisunderstandings\u201d of the investigation in the media.
Both Barr and Mueller spoke on the phone in response to the letter, as Mueller admitted that Barr\u2019s memo was not inaccurate, but expressed concerns about how the media was interpreting the investigation.
Barr confirmed that a staff member took notes of the conversation, but declined to provide the notes to members of Congress.<\/p>\n