Barr Calls Mueller Letter ‘A Bit Snitty’: Probably ‘Written by One of His Staff People’

Attorney General William Barr derided Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s letter objecting to the Barr memo as “snitty,” and suggested the missive was not written by Mueller, but by “one of his staff people.”

As Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing wound down, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) questioned Barr on the letter and phone call in which Mueller made his objections known.

Under questioning, Barr revealed that he called Mueller after receiving the letter, and that they spoke for “ten to fifteen minutes” in the presence of “multiple witnesses” including Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Barr said he put Mueller on speakerphone which, while not a crime, is super annoying.

Barr then described the conversation, ironically in snitty fashion.

“I said Bob, what’s with the letter? You know?” Barr recounted. “Why didn’t you just pick up the phone and call me if there’s an issue?”

“And he said that they were concerned about the way the media was playing this, and felt that it was important to get out the summary, which they felt would put their work in proper context, and avoid some of the confusion that was emerging,” Barr continued, silently disinviting Mueller from his pool party, probably.

After another minute of this, Blumenthal said “But there’s nothing in Robert Mueller’s letter to you about the press, his complaint to you is about your characterization of the report, correct?”

“Well, the letter speaks for itself,” Barr said. The letter does not reference press coverage.

“It does, and in fact and response to your question, why not just pick up the phone, this letter was an extraordinary act,” Blumenthal said. “A career prosecutor rebuking the attorney general of the United States, memorializing it in writing. Right? I know of no other instance of that happening. Do you?”

Barr then explained how he doesn’t actually consider Mueller a “career prosecutor,” just a guy who “had a career as a prosecutor,” and added “You know, the letter is a bit snitty, and I think it was probably written by one of his staff people.”

“Snitty” is a real word that was invented in 1978, which is very young for a word.

Blumenthal managed, with difficulty, to extract from Barr the fact that there were notes taken of the call, and asked “May we have those notes?”

“No,” Barr replied, mentally crossing Blumenthal off the pool party guest list as well, probably.

“Why not?” Blumenthal asked.

“Why should you have them?” Barr asked, at which point Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham stepped in and assured everyone that Robert Mueller would have an opportunity to give his own version of the call, and then the hearing ended.

Watch the clip above, via C-Span.