Attorney General William Barr says he feels Special Counsel Robert Mueller “could have reached a decision” on whether or not President Trump obstructed justice during the Russia investigation.
In an interview with CBS News, Barr was asked if he agreed that Mueller could not make a decision on the eleven instances of possible obstruction.
“I personally felt he could’ve reached a decision,” Barr said. “…he could’ve reached a conclusion.”
“The opinion says you cannot indict a president while he is in office,” Barr continued. “But he could’ve reached a decision whether it was criminal activity, but he had his reasons for not doing it, which he explained.”
“I am not going to argue about those reasons but when he didn’t make a decision, the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I felt it was necessary for us as heads of the Department to reach that decision.”
NEW: Attorney General Barr tells @JanCBS he “personally felt” Special Counsel Robert Mueller “could've reached a decision” on obstruction of justice by President Trump.
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On Wednesday, Mueller made his first public appearance since taking charge of the hoax Russia investigation, and announced that charging President Trump was “not an option” due to the Department of Justice policy which states a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while in office.
“If we had confidence that the president clearly had not committed a crime, we would have said so,” he said. “We did not however make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime.”
“The special counsel’s office is part of the Department of Justice and by regulation it was bound by that department policy. Charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider,” he continued.
Watch full statement: Robert Mueller says he "did not make a determination as to whether" President Trump "did commit a crime" as he closes down the special counsel's office and departs the Justice Department. https://t.co/HEo1vzAgOv pic.twitter.com/jV28xImqvr
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