Eli Lake, Columnist

Barr Released the Mueller Report. How Is That a Scandal?

The attorney general has acted properly in his oversight of the Mueller report and investigation.

May 1, 2019 at 9:01 PM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

What exactly did he do wrong?
Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

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It was only a month ago that many Democrats were hoping Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election would lead to indictments — perhaps even of President Donald Trump’s family and inner circle — for conspiring with the Russians. That did not come to pass, nor will it, so the focus has turned to “the narrative.” The term itself is a sign that this story is now entirely about politics.

The narrative is what the latest scandal regarding Attorney General William Barr is all about: How he summarized Mueller’s report, who he talked to about it, when he released it. Yet there is no disagreement about the central facts of the investigation: It found no conspiracy, and while it did find many possible instances of obstruction of justice, it did not recommend prosecution.