Chris Christie: Mueller ‘contradicts’ Barr’s summary of his findings

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Wednesday said that special counsel Robert Mueller contradicted Attorney General William Barr in comments earlier that morning.

“Those comments by Bob Mueller about the other processes — obviously impeachment being the only constitutional way — definitely contradicts what the attorney general said when he summarized Mueller’s report and said he then had to draw the conclusion on that,” Christie said in a phone call to ABC News. “Mueller clearly contradicts that today in a very concise way.”

{mosads}Christie, a former U.S. attorney and longtime political ally of President Trump’s, agreed with host George Stephanoupolous that the comments, in which Mueller reaffirmed that his probe did not exonerate Trump, move the discussion “from the legal processes and put it right back into the political arena.”

Christie added that the question of whether Trump obstructed justice “was never going to be a special counsel call.”

“In the end, when [it’s] a sitting president, this is the call of the Congress, playing their role as a co-equal branch of government, and they’re now going to have to decide what it is they want to do.”

Congressional Democrats, many of whom are running for president, have been divided on whether Mueller’s remarks indicate Trump should be impeached. Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who are running for the Democratic nomination for president, both said they did, while House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) did not mention impeachment but said they reflected the role of Congress in investigating Trump going forward.

“Given that Special Counsel Mueller was unable to pursue criminal charges against the President, it falls to Congress to respond to the crimes, lies and other wrongdoing of President Trump – and we will do so,” Nadler said in a statement.