GOP Rep. Justin Amash Shreds AG Barr in Epic Tweetstorm: ‘Used His Position’ to Sell Trump’s ‘False Narrative’
Congressman Justin Amash (R-MI) went all out on Tuesday when he released a major tweetstorm accusing Attorney General Bill Barr of using his position to shill for President Donald Trump on a false narrative.
Amash has drawn significant attention lately as the sole Republican congressman who believes Robert Mueller‘s report lays out the grounds for Trump’s impeachment. In his latest online screed, Amash used 25 tweets to spell out how Barr “deliberately misrepresented key aspects of [Robert] Mueller’s report and decisions in the investigation, which has helped further the president’s false narrative about the investigation.”
Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented key aspects of Mueller’s report and decisions in the investigation, which has helped further the president’s false narrative about the investigation.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Amash kicked off the thread by asserting that Barr repeatedly took Mueller out of context, distorted the special counsel’s assessments, and tried to frame those findings as though Mueller agrees with his summary letter on the full report.
After receiving Mueller’s report, Barr wrote and released a letter on March 24 describing Barr’s own decision not to indict the president for obstruction of justice. That letter selectively quotes and summarizes points in Mueller’s report in misleading ways.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Barr’s letter doesn’t mention those issues when explaining why Mueller chose not to make a prosecutorial decision. He instead selectively quotes Mueller in a way that makes it sound—falsely—as if Mueller’s decision stemmed from legal/factual issues specific to Trump’s actions.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
In noting why Barr thought the president’s intent in impeding the investigation was insufficient to establish obstruction, Barr selectively quotes Mueller to make it sound as if his analysis was much closer to Barr’s analysis than it actually was:
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
But Mueller’s quote is taken from a section in which he describes other improper motives Trump could have had and notes: “The injury to the integrity of the justice system is the same regardless of whether a person committed an underlying wrong.” None of that is in Barr’s letter.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Later, Amash noted how Mueller’s team has objected to Barr’s characterizations of his findings, and the AG “allowed the confusion to fester” by refusing to release their executive summaries on the most pressing matters. The congressman also remarked on how Barr “absurdly” claimed he never received any complaints even though Mueller’s letter suggests the opposite was true.
Mueller: “There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.”
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Barr declined; he allowed the confusion to fester and only released the materials three weeks later with the full redacted report. In the interim, Barr testified before a House committee and was misleading about his knowledge of Mueller’s concerns:
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Barr absurdly replied: “No, I don’t…I suspect that they probably wanted more put out.” Yet Mueller had directly raised those concerns to Barr, and Barr says he “suspect[s]” they “probably” wanted more materials put out, as if Mueller hadn’t directly told him that.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
In subsequent statements and testimony, Barr used further misrepresentations to help build the president’s false narrative that the investigation was unjustified.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Amash then dissected the “false narrative” Trump-world has tried to put on the Mueller report — concluding that Barr contributed to this spin with his “misrepresentations,” and is effectively helping Trump gaslight the country.
The report says the president’s counsel was told that interviewing him was “vital” to Mueller’s investigation and that it would be in the interest of the public and the presidency. Still Trump refused.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
The president instead gave written answers to questions submitted by the special counsel. Those answers are often incomplete or unresponsive. Mueller found them “inadequate” and again sought to interview the president.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Ultimately, the special counsel “recogniz[ed] that the President would not be interviewed voluntarily” and chose not to subpoena him because of concerns that the resulting “potentially lengthy constitutional litigation” would delay completion of the investigation.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Ultimately, the special counsel “recogniz[ed] that the President would not be interviewed voluntarily” and chose not to subpoena him because of concerns that the resulting “potentially lengthy constitutional litigation” would delay completion of the investigation.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Barr has so far successfully used his position to sell the president’s false narrative to the American people. This will continue if those who have read the report do not start pushing back on his misrepresentations and share the truth.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
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