Some Mueller team members say obstruction evidence was more ‘acute’ than what Barr suggested: report

Some members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team have reportedly complained that the evidence they uncovered of obstruction of justice during their investigation was stronger than what Attorney General William Barr suggested. 

The Washington Post, citing unidentified sources, reported on Thursday that members of Mueller’s team have voiced frustration about how Barr portrayed their investigation in his four-page summary to Congress. 

{mosads}According to the Post, the team members said that they gathered “alarming and significant” evidence when investigating whether President Trump committed obstruction of justice. 

“It was much more acute than Barr suggested,” one source told the newspaper. 

The New York Times reported Wednesday night that members of Mueller’s investigative team were frustrated with how Barr portrayed their investigation into Russian interference and Trump. 

In his four-page letter to Congress, Barr wrote that Mueller did not uncover evidence to conclude that the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow in an attempt to influence the 2016 election. 

Barr added that Mueller did not make a definitive conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice. But Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided Mueller did not provide sufficient evidence of obstruction of justice to pursue it. The summary noted that Mueller did not exonerate the president on the obstruction matter. 

Some members of Mueller’s team felt that Barr should’ve included more information from their own summaries of the investigation, according to the Times.

The Post added that some members were frustrated that Barr did not release summaries they had prepared. 

“There was immediate displeasure from the team when they saw how the attorney general had characterized their work instead,” one U.S. official briefed on the matter told the Post. 

The Times noted in its report that investigators did not explain why they believed their findings were more serious than what Barr indicated. It is unclear how many members of Mueller’s investigative unit share this opinion. 

The special counsel’s office declined to comment.