Barr: Mueller ‘could’ve reached a decision’ on whether Trump obstructed justice

Attorney General William Barr on Thursday said he believes special counsel Robert Mueller could have reached a decision on whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice, notwithstanding a DOJ policy that prohibits the indictment of a sitting president.

“I personally felt he could’ve reached a decision,” Barr said in an interview with CBS News’ Jan Crawford. 

Barr also said he is unsure whether Mueller was hinting that Congress should investigate the findings from his report.

“I am not sure what he was suggesting but, you know, the Department of Justice doesn’t use our powers of investigating crimes as an adjunct to Congress,” he said.

Barr’s comments come a day after Mueller publicly defended the findings from his report on the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, which also touched on possible obstruction of justice by Trump. 

More: Mueller’s first remarks stuck to the facts, refocused attention on Russia, rekindled impeachment talk

More: Democratic calls for Donald Trump impeachment grow after Mueller’s first public remarks

During his press conference, Mueller said there was “a concerted attack on our political system” waged by the Russian military. In addition, he detailed the findings in his report about whether Trump sought to derail the Russia investigation.

Mueller also laid out his decision to not bring charges against the president while also not clearing Trump of criminal wrongdoing.

“If we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that,” Mueller said, adding that investigators were essentially blocked by long-standing Justice Department policy that prohibits the criminal prosecution of sitting presidents.

“A president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. That is unconstitutional,” Mueller continued, pointing to how investigators had to abide by the Justice Department policy.

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“Even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view–that too is prohibited…Charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider,” he concluded.

What will Robert Mueller do next?: Here’s what happened to investigators of Watergate, Iran-Contra and Clinton

More: Donald Trump touts record, jabs at press in salute to Air Force Academy graduates

But Barr viewed the matter differently, explaining Thursday that the DOJ policy only prohibits a president from being indicted.

“The [controlling DOJ legal} opinion says you cannot indict a president while he is in office, but he could’ve reached a decision as to whether it was criminal activity,” Barr said. “But he had his reasons for not doing it, which he explained and I am not going to, you know, argue about those reasons.”

The attorney general added that because Mueller didn’t reach a decision he and then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein felt it was necessary to do so.

Mueller’s comments have sparked an increase of Democrats calling for an impeachment inquiry to begin. 

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