Joe Lockhart: AG Barr Did Incredible Disservice to the Country In ‘Lying’ About Mueller Report Findings
Former White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart shared harsh words for Attorney William Barr Monday morning, calling out the manner in which Barr presented the findings of the Mueller Report which he found to go beyond “spin” and called outright lying.
The trenchant commentary came after CNN New Day producers presented archived interview footage from the 1990s in which, during a discussion about then-President Bill Clinton, Barr talked about executive privilege in a very different manner, saying “maybe challenge privileges, ask the president to come before a grand jury.”
When asked to opine, Lockhart first joked that Barr was “smarter as a younger guy,” before ripping the Attorney General.
“I don’t know Bill Barr” Lockhart opened, adding “I don’t know that I believe all of the stories before his confirmation that he was some incredibly principled man. He was the guy for the job. If anyone believed that and they still believe it, they are just naive.”
Lockhart then turned to how Barr presented findings of the 400-page Mueller Report, first in a four-page summary letter, then in a pre-release press conference, which critics found to be, at best, somewhat misleading to the material findings revealed int the report.
Lockhart: “What he did was an incredible disservice to the country. The way he did it. The way he withheld the report and then on three separate occasions told the American public this is what the report says. So that everybody read it in that frame of mind. The fact is the report said just the opposite. You can call it misleading, spin. I call it lying. When you have the president of the United States, the press secretary, the attorney general all effortlessly lying something’s not to change.”
So there you have it. Joe Lockhart? Not a fan of Bill Barr.
Watch above via CNN.
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