AG Bill Barr Defends Trump On Obstruction: It’s Not A Crime To Tell Aides To Lie To Mueller On Your Behalf

This hearing today has just been unreal:

At a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) questioned Barr over whether Trump obstructed justice.

“You still have a situation where a president essentially tries to change the lawyer’s account in order to prevent further criticism of himself,” Feinstein said, referencing an episode detailed in Mueller’s report involving former White House counsel Don McGahn.

“Well that’s not a crime,” Barr responded. “So you can in this situation instruct someone to lie?” Feinstein asked. Barr argued that Trump would have to be “impairing the evidence in a particular proceeding” for it to amount to obstruction of justice.

.@SenFeinstein: “You still have a situation where a president essentially tries to change the lawyer’s account in order to prevent further criticism of himself.”

Attorney General William Barr: “Well, that’s not a crime.”

Watch LIVE on C-SPAN3 https://t.co/f5O4aCNCK8 pic.twitter.com/soFkA3FgyQ

— CSPAN (@cspan) May 1, 2019