Democrats plan to lean heavily into William Barr’s decision-making process in crafting the summary. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo Congress Democrats plan to use hearing to press Barr on Mueller report

House Democrats plan to grill Attorney General William Barr about his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report when he appears before an Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday morning.

The hearing is ostensibly focused on the Justice Department’s budget, but it will be Barr’s first public appearance since crafting a four-page summary of Mueller’s findings. Members of Mueller’s team were reportedly frustrated with the summary, claiming it doesn’t accurately represent their 22-month investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and potential Trump-Russia collusion.


Democrats plan to lean heavily into Barr’s decision-making process in crafting the summary.

“In extremely quick fashion, you turned a 300-plus page report into a four-page letter that supposedly summarized the findings,” Rep. José Serrano (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies subcommittee, will say in his opening statement. “The American people have been left with many unanswered questions; serious concerns about the process by which you formulated your letter; and uncertainty about when we can expect to see the full report.”

Barr told lawmakers recently that he was aiming to release a public version of the report by mid-April. Democrats have demanded that Congress have the opportunity to see the full, unredacted report and all of its underlying evidence and grand jury information.

Sign up here for POLITICO Huddle A daily play-by-play of congressional news in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Serrano told POLITICO that he intended to ask Barr basic questions about the report, such as when Americans might see it and how much of it would be redacted. “It’s going to come up. It’s the issue in the room,” he said, but added that he didn’t expect the report to be the dominant focus of his hearing.

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), the chairwoman of the full Appropriations Committee, will also use her opening statement to home in on what she called Barr’s “unacceptable handling” of the report.

“All we have is your four-page summary letter, which seems to cherry pick from the report to draw the most favorable conclusion possible for the president,” Lowey will say. “In many ways, your letter raises more questions than it answers. “I must say, it is extraordinary to evaluate hundreds of pages of evidence, legal documents, and findings based on a 22-monthlong inquiry and make definitive legal conclusions in less than 48 hours. Even for someone who has done this job before, I would argue it is more suspicious than impressive.”

Lowey also plans to hammer Barr on his 2018 memo — written months before he became attorney general — arguing that Mueller’s obstruction investigation was “fatally misconceived.” According to Barr’s four-page summary, Mueller presented evidence on both sides of the obstruction question, but Barr said the evidence was insufficient to determine President Donald Trump’s “intent.”

Rep. Robert Aderholt of Alabama, the top Republican on the panel questioning Barr, said he was concerned that the Mueller report would dominate the hearing and that Democrats would use Barr’s presence as an opportunity to attack Trump.

“The more we talk about the Mueller report, the more we talk about that, the less time we can talk about opioids, the less we talk about the Bureau of Prisons, the less we talk about other aspects,” Aderholt said, adding that he had no burning questions for Barr on the special counsel’s findings. “This is all about Trump. It’s to make Trump look bad. They were very frustrated that something has not already surfaced that there was some collusion involved. Nothing’s going to come out of it, and Barr is doing what he has to do by law to release the report.”

The attorney general’s appearance on Capitol Hill is expected to generate protests from advocates for the report’s full public release. Demonstrators affiliated with Public Citizen intend to gather outside the House office building where Barr is set to testify.