William Brangham:

That's right, Judy.

When Attorney General William Barr began his second stint as attorney general earlier this year, he was seen by many as a stabilizing force for the department. He ended up overseeing the tail end of Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the last presidential election.

But upon the release of the Mueller report, and in subsequent months, critics have accused him of acting more like the president's attorney, rather than the country's.

Now, according to The Washington Post, Attorney General Barr has been personally visiting with foreign intelligence officials to encourage them to help out with an investigation that President Trump hopes will discredit the entire Russia probe.

Devlin Barrett is one of the reporters at The Washington Post who helped break this story. And he joins me now.

Devlin, always good the see you on the "NewsHour." Thank you.

Before we get into Attorney General Barr's role in all of this, can you just remind us what this investigation that is going on at the DOJ is looking into?