ATTORNEY GENERAL/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Attorney General William P. Barr said in an interview broadcast on Thursday [5-30-19] 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…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.”
–Katie Benner, “Barr Says Mueller Could Have Decided Whether Trump Committed a Crime,” The New York Times online, May 30, 2019