Last night's New York Times story saying that some members of the Mueller team are unhappy with how Bill Barr characterized the Mueller report was chewed on at length on CNN's New Day:
"The New York Times does address this issue. The Justice Department quickly determined that the summaries contained classified information, these summaries prepared by the Mueller team, like classified materials, secret grand jury testimony and information related to current federal investigations that must remain confidential, according to two government officials. So that would be the response about why they didn't use the Mueller summarie,s because there was stuff in there that they didn't feel was ready yet for public consumption. Is that adequate to you?" John Berman asked.
"No, it isn't adequate at all because if that was the case first of all, I would imagine the Mueller team would have all that in mind in drafting the summaries and as it pertains to classified information, they might have included that in a separate annex. So that doesn't explain it at all and in particular, doesn't explain why Barr felt he had to draft his own summary rather than seeking court permission to release grand jury material and providing the Mueller findings when they were ready instead of trying to color the public's perception," Schiff said.
"And now we are two weeks into this, all we have is Bill Barr's word for this and of course that comes from someone who was picked for his hostility to the obstruction case, which appears to be what some of the Mueller team is taking issue one."
"There's one thing that obviously could clear this up which is the release of the report, which is something the American people and every poll have said they're eager to see. Mr. Chairman, I do want to --
"Yes, and John, on that point, you're absolutely right," Schiff said.
"There's little as you can see that unites the American people about the Russian investigation, but everyone is united on the need to make this report public and this underscores why.
"But completely public, 100% public? Do you feel that every person in America has the right to see all the grand jury material? All material that might be classified? All the material that has to do with ongoing investigations?" Berman asked.
"I think that the attorney general should have done what he pledged to do in his senate confirmation, which is be as transparent as law and policy allows and that would mean going to the court to seek the court's permission to, yes, release the grand jury material," Schiff said.
"There may need to be small redactions if there is a classified annex that can be shared with Congress in a closed session, but these broad categories that the attorney general is trying to redact are unnecessary redactions and it looks like trying to hide information rather than be forthcoming as he promised."
"All I will say is, again, we don't know if they're necessary or unnecessary because we haven't seen the report," Berman responded.
