Eric Holder: 'Hard for me to imagine' Robert Mueller asked William Barr to make decision on obstruction

Former Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday he doesn't think special counsel Robert Mueller would have requested Attorney General William Barr make a determination on whether President Trump obstructed justice. In an interview on MSNBC, Holder said Barr’s summary to Congress rightly clears Trump's campaign of collusion, but remains skeptical of Barr saying he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined there was no obstruction after Mueller declined to make a judgment.

“It seems hard for me to imagine that Bob Mueller asked Bill Barr to do this,” Holder said. “Because that would be Bob Mueller shifting the responsibility from making the call to the attorney general. That's just not the way in which Bob Mueller is wound. That's just not the way he is wound.” Holder, who has known and worked with Mueller for the last 30 years, said during the interview that Barr and Mueller testifying before the House was “critical" and would help answer many questions that both he and the public have about Mueller’s 22-month investigation. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler has vowed to bring Barr before his committee.

With regard to obstruction, I think we're really at the beginning, maybe the middle of this whole process,” Holder said. “We need to see exactly what was the nature of the interaction between Bob Mueller and Bill Barr. And then we also need to understand how was it that Bill Barr reached these conclusions.”

Holder said he believes Mueller did what he thought he was supposed to do under the circumstances. “This is a guy who has the ability to, and the constitution to, make tough decisions,” Holder said. “So, the fact that he did not make a call here I think is an indication that he did what he thought he was supposed to do given the strictures that he was under.”

When asked whether he thought Barr’s statement on obstruction of justice in his summary was warranted given past precedent of other special counsel investigations, Holder said he did not. “I think he is wrong. I think he is taking on to himself a role that has not typically been used by people in the position that [sic] Bob Barr has had,” Holder said. Despite his uncertainty about obstruction, Holder said he thinks the report clears Trump of any collusion or conspiracy with Russia. “I think it does,” Holder said. “I have not seen the Mueller report. But certainly on the basis of the letter that Attorney General Barr put together, it would it seem to me that that is a substantial finding there.”

Holder added that he thinks the report is “good news” for Trump and his 2020 campaign for re-election. Since the summary’s release Sunday, Democrats have called for the whole report to be released to the public, an effort Holder supports. On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked a Democratic measure calling on Barr to release the full report.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/eric-holder-hard-for-me-to-imagine-robert-mueller-asked-william-barr-to-make-decision-on-obstruction